Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention pertain to prioritizing services based on business objectives is described. According to one embodiment, a probability of a service violation occurring within a predetermined time period is determined based on a service level jeopardy threshold being exceeded. The probability of a service violation corresponds to an incident. An alignment of the service level violation with a business objective is computed based on the probability of the service level violation. The incident is prioritized based on the alignment.

Abstract: It is often difficult to reliably monitor contract performance and receive timely information as to whether a party is actually going to carry out their contractual obligations. Accordingly the invention provides an apparatus and methods for communicating the changes in states of the contractual commitments of contracting parties according to an agreed commitment model and using agreed messaging protocols. There is a storage facility for the commitment data which is accessible by an encoding engine, in addition to a commitment state store that forms a part of the commitment model and stores the known commitment state of parties. The encoding engine encodes commitment data according to the commitment model and data received by an external information source, before passing the message to a messaging module for formatting and sending out to the other contracting party.

Abstract: Apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention comprises a contract repository (200) in which details of each of a plurality of contracts established with a supplier of a good or service is stored. Similarly, each of a plurality of purchase orders (30) submitted by one or more buyers are stored in a purchase order repository 300. A subsystem (1) for linking purchase orders (30) to contracts (20) and for aggregating information is provided.

Abstract: It is often difficult to reliably monitor contract performance and receive timely information as to whether a party is actually going to carry out their contractual obligations. Accordingly the invention provides an apparatus and methods for communicating the changes in states of the contractual commitments of contracting parties according to an agreed commitment model and using agreed messaging protocols. There is a storage facility for the commitment data which is accessible by an encoding engine, in addition to a commitment state store that forms a part of the commitment model and stores the known commitment state of parties. The encoding engine encodes commitment data according to the commitment model and data received by an external information source, before passing the message to a messaging module for formatting and sending out to the other contracting party.

Abstract: At present, there does not seem to be an expedient and reliable automated way of constructing contracts as existing automated systems only allow the searching and cross-referencing of documents. They do not cater for the process of constructing a contract. Accordingly the invention provides an apparatus and automated method of drafting contracts in a structured model-based manner, re-using existing information. A drafting tool assigns appropriate values to descriptors as defined by a chosen formal contract model. A formatter downloads a layout model and tools from a modeller for creating a structured textual contract on the basis of a contract image stored in an image repository. Reference tags generated by an encoder are used for associating the descriptors of the formal contract to the descriptors of the structured textual contract. The encoder then assembles the required contract according to the descriptors using the drafting tool.

Abstract: The present invention provides apparatus for facilitating management of a plurality of inter-related contracts, which apparatus comprises:

Abstract: The invention concerns method and apparatus for the selection of a service provider for providing a service to a system—for instance, for selecting a telecommunciations service provider. The apparatus comprises a system monitor 20, a data gathering system 30 and an analysis engine 50. The system monitor 20 is arranged to monitor and store data concerning system usage, to capture parameters relating such usage and store them in a data store 22. The data gathering system 30 gathers data relating to costs of service provision and contract terms associated with such provision from potential service providers. The analysis engine 50 comprises a controller 52 and a database 54. The database 54 contains details of contract terms associated with service provision that are potentially acceptable to the user and those which are not acceptable.

Abstract: The invention concerns a method and apparatus arranged for fulfilling and updating an electronic contract. In one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of fulfilling and updating an electronic contract. The method comprises a first step of storing details of electronic contracts in a contract repository in a format in which individual contract terms are susceptible of automatic inspection. In a further step, the repository is inspected to inspect the state of fulfilment of individual contract terms of contracts stored therein. If it is detected that at least one contract in the repository has one or more unfulfilled contract terms outstanding which require a physical transaction to complete, then details of said at least one contract are loaded in electronic form into a portable device.

Abstract: It is often difficult to reliably monitor contract performance and receive timely information as to whether a client is actually going to carry out its contractual obligations. Accordingly the invention proposes a method and apparatus for binding business protocols to abstract actions defined in an e-contract. This allows one to separate the creation of business protocols from their regulation. Consequently, e-contracts are published independently from business processes. The binding is achieved by following a binding protocol where an agreement is reached as to how contract actions will be represented concretely by business processes and, in addition, an advisal protocol is defined which allows participants to declare that a stream of messages of a business protocol corresponds to contract action. This allows a third party to monitor the interaction without having to understand the business protocol agreed between primary participants and perform an auxiliary function such as data storage.

Abstract: The invention relates to the automatic configuring of systems. In one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for configuring a system between contracting parties, the method comprising: (1) establishing a contract between a user and a provider in an electronic document; (2) defining within the contract aspects related to the configuration of a system to be established by the provider for the user; (3) automatically configuring the system in accordance with the contract; and (4) providing on-going monitoring of the system and the contract to ensure that compliance is maintained between the configuration of the system and a current or updated state of the contract.

Abstract: A method of optimising the allocation of resources by a supplier in the event of the supplier being unable to fulfil one or more of a plurality of contractual obligations, the contractual obligations being defined in electronic contracts, and the method being performed by a processor and comprising: (a) determining the resources due to be allocated in order to fulfil each contractual obligation; (b) determining the gain to the supplier in respect of each contractual obligation were it to be fulfilled; (c) determining the penalty that would be incurred by the supplier in respect of each contractual obligation were it not to be fulfilled; and (d) determining the combination of contractual obligations for which their fulfilment, by the allocation of the said resources, would give the greatest utility to the supplier, utility being defined as the total gain to the supplier as a result of resources allocated minus the total penalty incurred by the supplier as a consequence of unfulfilled contractual obligations.

Abstract: The invention concerns an apparatus and method for the automation of rental procedures. In one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method comprising the steps of: (1) in an on-line contract initiation phase between a user and a rental company (a) remotely browsing resources of the rental company; (b) when it is established by the user that the rental company has a resource required for rental by the user, remotely checking availability of the required resource; (c) electronically transferring a rental agreement contract from the rental company to a user device for inspection by the user; (d) if following inspection the user agrees with the contract terms, then electronically signalling acceptance by the user.

Abstract: A method for a service provider (60) on a private network to provide a service for an external client (10) on an external network via a gateway (13) bridging the private and external networks, including the service provider carrying out the steps of allocating a virtual name to the service provider, making the virtual name available to a client (10) on the external network, binding the virtual name to the routing address of the gateway (60) on the external network and binding the virtual name to the routing address of the service provider (60) on the private network. The method finds particular application to network arrangements in which there is end-to-end security between the client (10) and the service provider (60) by providing a virtual name used globally for all routing so obviating the need for remapping of message address by the gateway (13).