METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING A PORTION OF TOTAL COSTS OF AN ENTITY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to the field of distribution of costs in a system, in which multiple users or entities have access to a product. In particular, the present invention relates to such a system, in which the total costs are related to a total maximum number of accesses of all entities occurring in a predetermined time window over a time interval, and in which a fair and transparent distribution of the costs among the participating entities is required.
[0002] Licenses are an example of a kind of an access to a product that are very expensive. There are two places to influence their costs: (1) the contract that determines the cost model underlying the licensing and (2) the licensee-usage patterns, which altogether determine the actual costs according to the cost model.
[0003] In order to determine licensing costs, several possibilities exist. One well-known cost model will be explained below. A company is considered, which is organized in different entities that can be cost centers. The company has decided that it needs, let us say, twenty licenses for, for example, a word processing software residing on a network server. The company has, for example, forty potential users of the software product. Twenty licenses allow twenty users to concurrently have access to the software program on the server. When the twenty-first user wants to have an access to the program, the access is denied, since the company only purchased twenty licenses. When, on the other hand, none of the users or only a small number of users uses the software product concurrently, this does not result in a cost-reduction for the licenses. This is the case, since the cost model states that the company has to pay for the twenty licenses, irrespective of the number of users using the software product. In this case, the cost-distribution to different cost centers is generally made such that each cost center is assigned the same portion of the overall costs, or is assigned a portion of the overall costs according to the number of users belonging to each cost center.
[0004] This license model has two problems. One problem is that, if more than twenty licenses are required, it is not possible to obtain a twenty-first access to the program product. On the other hand, when there are only a few accesses to the product, the costs do not decrease, but are the same, irrespective of the actual usage of the twenty licenses.
[0005] A new licensing model has recently been developed. This licensing model depends on peak usage and not on the number of purchased licenses or, alternatively, on the amount of license checkout times. In this license model, the customer is granted an option for a very high number of licenses. What the customer has to pay for is, however, the maximum number of simultaneous accesses, i.e., licenses, to the product in a certain billing interval. This cost model does not consider any usage times, etc., but is only directed to the maximum number of simultaneous accesses, i.e., accesses in a certain time window during the time interval.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a method and an apparatus for determining a portion
of total costs of an entity which overcome the abovementioned disadvantages of the prior art methods and devices of this general type, which achieve a fair cost distribution among different entities having access to the same product.
[0007] With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention, a method for determining a portion of total costs for each entity of a plurality of entities. The total costs relate to a total maximum number of accesses of all the entities occurring in a predetermined time window over a time interval having a plurality of time windows, to a product, and there exists a predetermined relationship between the total maximum number of accesses of all the entities and the total costs. The method includes obtaining, for each of the entities, a maximum value relating to a maximum number of accesses of the entity in all the time windows over the time interval resulting in a group of maximum values for the plurality of entities. The smallest maximum value is found among the group of maximum values for all the entities. Costs for the smallest maximum value are distributed among all the entities having access to the product in the time interval. A next-higher maximum value is found among the group of maximum values. A difference in costs for the smallest maximum value and the next-higher maximum value is determined from the predetermined relationship. The difference in costs is distributed among the entities having an equivalent or a higher maximum value than the next-higher maximum value. A further next-higher maximum value is repeatedly found from the group of maximum values and a determined difference in costs for the further next-higher maximum value is distributed among the entities having an equivalent or a higher maximum value. The costs obtained in the steps of distributing are accumulated for each of the entities individually to obtain an accumulated cost result. The portion of the total costs for each of the entities based on the accumulated cost result for each of the entities are output.
[0008] As has been outlined above, the total costs for the product are determined by the total maximum number of accesses in a predetermined time window. The predetermined time window can have different lengths dependent on the actual license model. A length suitable for one case can be one second, while a length suitable for another case can be as long as one hour. Accesses from different entities that take place during the predetermined time window are also termed "simultaneous" accesses. The simultaneous accesses to the product form an access peak or simply a peak, the peak height being equal to the number of simultaneous accesses, i.e. the accesses that take place in the predetermined time window.
[0009] The present invention is based on the finding that cost-transparency and fairness can only be obtained when those single-user access peaks that contribute to the overall peak are determined and considered when distributing costs. It is, however, not fair to distribute all the costs to the entity or user group who caused the overall maximum peak, since then, the other entities that incidentally have a lower access peak would not have to pay anything. A fair cost distribution is, therefore, achieved when, based on the costs staircase, i.e., the predetermined relationship between the maximum number of accesses and license costs, the costs for a peak or maximum value of one entity are e. g. equally distributed to
all entities having the same or a higher maximum number of accesses in the time interval. The entity having a smaller maximum value than the peak, however, does not have to pay for the peak of the other entity. This feature clarifies the peak-oriented costs distribution that is performed step-bystep based on determining cost slices for each entity and accumulating the determined cost slices for each entity individually.
[0010] When the maximum peak on which the overall costs are based is not caused by a single entity alone, but is caused by accesses of multiple entities, this so-called multiuser peak is broken down into single-user or single-entity peaks. This is performed for all multi-user peaks in a given time interval. When the maximum values for the different entities are extracted, the costs are distributed as described above. The so-called residual costs or allocation costs arising from the fact that more than one entity contributed to the peak decisive for billing are distributed equally among the entities.
[0011] In another embodiment of the present invention, hierarchies can be considered. The term hierarchy stands for a system in which an entity includes several sub-entities. The costs of each entity are distributed based on the fixed relationship between the maximum number of accesses and costs. The sub-distribution among sub-entities is performed similar to the original distribution among entities. While the original distribution is directly based on the costs staircase, i.e., the predetermined relationship between accesses and costs, the sub-distribution is only indirectly related to the fixed relationship. In particular, only ratios of the fixed relationship are used, rather than absolute values. The cost sub-distribution is performed by using the cost portion distributed to an entity multiplied by certain ratios derived from the predetermined relationship between accesses and costs.
[0012] With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention, a method for determining a portion of total costs for each entity of a plurality of entities. The total costs relate to a total maximum number of accesses for all of the entities occurring in a predetermined time window over a time interval having a plurality of time windows, to a product, and there exists a predetermined relationship between the total maximum number of accesses of all the entities and the total costs. The method includes obtaining, for each of the entities, a maximum value relating to a maximum number of accesses of the entity in all the time windows over the time interval resulting in a group of maximum values. A highest maximum value is found from the group of maximum values for the entities and a next-lower maximum value is found from the group of maximum values. A difference in cost is determined for the highest maximum value and the nextlower maximum value from the predetermined relationship. The difference in cost is distributed to the entity having the highest maximum value. Another next-lower maximum value is repeatedly found among the group of maximum values and a determined difference for the next-lower maximum value is distributed among the entities having an equivalent or a higher maximum value. The costs obtained in the steps of distributing are accumulated for each of the individual entities to obtain an accumulated cost result and
the portion of the total costs are output for each of the entities based on the accumulated result for each of the entities.
[0013] With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with a third embodiment of the invention, an apparatus for determining a portion of total costs for each entity of a plurality of entities. The total costs relate to a total maximum number of accesses of all the entities occurring in a predetermined time window over a time interval having a plurality of time windows, to a product, and there exists a predetermined relationship between the total maximum number of accesses of all the entities and the total costs. The apparatus contains a processing unit programmed to:
[0014] a) obtain, for each of the entities, a maximum value relating to a maximum number of accesses of the entity in all time windows over the time interval resulting in a group of maximum values;
[0015] b) find the smallest maximum value among the group of maximum values for the entities;
[0016] c) distribute costs for the smallest maximum value among all the entities having access to the product in the time interval;
[0017] d) find a next-higher maximum value among the group of maximum values;
[0018] e) determine a difference in costs for the smallest maximum value and the next-higher maximum value from the predetermined relationship;
[0019] f) distribute the difference in costs among the entities having an equivalent or a higher maximum value than the next-higher value;
[0020] g) repeatedly find a further next-higher maximum value among the entities and distribute a determined difference in costs for the further next-higher maximum value among the entities having an equivalent or a higher maximum value; and
[0021] h) accumulate costs obtained for each of the entities individually to obtain an accumulated cost result and output the portion of the total costs for each of the entities based on the accumulated result for each of the entities.
[0022] With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the invention, an apparatus for determining a portion of total costs for each entity of a plurality of entities. The total costs relate to a total maximum number of accesses of all the entities occurring in a predetermined time window over a time interval having a plurality of time windows, to a product, and there exists a predetermined relationship between the total maximum number of accesses of all the entities and the total costs. The apparatus includes a processing unit programmed to:
[0023] a) obtain, for each of the entities, a maximum value relating to a maximum number of accesses of the entity in all the time windows over the time interval resulting in a group of maximum values for the entities;
[0024] b) find the highest maximum value among the group of maximum values for the entities;
[0025] c) find a next-lower maximum value among the group of maximum values;
[0026] d) determine a difference in cost for the highest maximum value and the next-lower maximum value from the predetermined relationship;
[0027] e) distribute the difference costs to the entity having the highest maximum value;
[0028] f) repeatedly find another next-lower maximum value among the group of maximum values and distribute a determined difference for the another next-lower maximum value among the entities having an equivalent or a higher maximum value; and
[0029] g) accumulate the costs obtained for each of the entities individually to obtain an accumulated cost result and output the portion of the total costs for each of the entities based on the accumulated result for each of the entities.
[0030] In accordance with an added mode of the invention, there is the step of calculating the total costs by combining the total maximum numbers of accesses in more than one time interval. In which the maximum value for each of the entities obtained in the obtaining step is calculated by using a maximum of the maximum number of accesses in the more than one time interval as the maximum value for the entity for the more than one time interval.
[0031] In accordance with another mode of the invention, there is the step of performing the repeatedly finding step until a highest maximum value among the entities is processed in the case where the total maximum number of accesses of all the entities is equal to the maximum value of a single one of the entities.
[0032] In accordance with an additional mode of the invention, in a case where the total maximum number of accesses is produced by more than one of the entities, performing the following steps before performing the outputting step: calculating a residual cost being a difference between the total maximum number of accesses and a highest maximum value of a single one of the entities; and distributing the residual cost among all the entities equally, and the portion of the total costs for each of the entities equals the accumulated cost result plus a part of the residual costs distributed to each of the entities.
[0033] In accordance with a further mode of the invention, there are the steps of organizing at least one of the entities into a plurality of sub-entities; providing a maximum value of accesses for each of the sub-entities; and distributing the portion of the total costs of the entity among the sub-entities based on percentage ratios derived from the predetermined relationship.
[0034] In accordance with a further added mode of the invention, there are the steps of performing the distributing of the portion of the total costs of the entity step with the following sub-steps: calculating a ratio of the costs for the maximum value of a sub-entity to the costs for the maximum value of the entity from the predetermined relationship; calculating a cost amount by multiplying the ratio by the portion of the total costs for the entity; and distributing the
cost amount among the sub-entities having a maximum value equal to or greater than the maximum value, on which the cost amount is based.
[0035] In the invention, the costs are license costs for use of the product and the entities are formed as cost centers.
[0036] Alternatively, the entities can be formed as business units, and the sub-entities are formed as the cost centers.
[0037] In accordance with a concomitant feature of the invention, there are the steps of allowing a plurality of users to have access to the product; attributing each of the users to one of the entities; and performing the obtaining steps to include sub-steps. The sub-steps include counting a number of accesses of the users attributed to the entity in subsequent time windows to obtain a series of access numbers for the time interval; and searching for a maximum access number in the series to obtain the maximum value for the entity in the time interval.
[0038] Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
[0039] Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a method and an apparatus for determining a portion of total costs of an entity, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
[0040] The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0041] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a general setting in which the present invention can be carried out;
[0042] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the method in two embodiments according to the invention;
[0043] FIG. 3 is a bar graph illustrating an example of a predetermined relationship between a maximum number of accesses and total costs;
[0044] FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating an inventive distribution of costs to the entities;
[0045] FIG. 5 is a graph illustrating a number of multiuser peaks over a time interval;
[0046] FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating multi-group peaks from FIG. 5, after breaking down to the peaks of the single entities and after extracting the maximum values for each entity;
[0047] FIG. 7 is a chart for explaining the inventive method when the license model includes peak averaging;
[0048] FIG. 8a is a graph showing multi-group peaks caused by sub-entities in a hierarchical organization; and
[0049] FIG. 8b is a graph showing business unit peaks for the example shown in FIG. 8a.
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