Automated lifecycle management of a computer implemented service

1. A system for automated lifecycle management of a computer implemented service, according to requirements, the system having a processor to implement:

a service model arranged to represent at least part of the service at a given development state in the lifecycle,

a transition model representing allowed operations to change the service model to a different one of the development states of the service, according to the requirements, and the transition model having a transparent structure suitable for automated inspection of the allowed operations, and suitable for automated adaptation of the allowed operations, and

a service model state manager arranged to cause the service model to be developed to another of its states of development according to the allowed operations,

the service model having an encoding of allowed operations associated with a given entity in the service model, and the system being arranged to check for inconsistency between the operations in the transition model relating to the given entity, and corresponding allowed operations encoded in the service model for the same entity.

2. The system of claim 1 , the transition model also having a representation of how to adapt itself.

3. The system of claim 1 , the transition model further comprising a representation of how to get the requirements for use in developing the service.

4. The system of claim 1 having one or more transition model tools arranged to analyse and adapt the allowed operations of the transition model according to the requirements.

5. The system of claim 1 , the transition model having explicit encoding of execution constraints of the operations.

6. The system of claim 4 , the transition model tools being arranged to add or include only allowed operations applicable to the requirements, or to remove allowed operations not applicable to the requirements.

7. The system of claim 4 , the one or more transition model tools being arranged to adapt the transition model to fully populate the transition model at the outset of the lifecycle.

8. The system of claim 1 , the processor further to implement a system model arrange to clone a service instance, wherein the clone operates in parallel with the service instance.

9. The system of claim 1 , the transition model having allowed operations relating to more than one transition between the states, and an identification of which allowed operation relates to which transition.

10. The system of claim 1 , the transition model having explicit identification of allowed transitions of the states and preconditions for allowing transitions.

11. The system of claim 1 , the transition model having conditional statements to make the operations dependent on the requirements.

12. The system of claim 1 , the service model having development states representing at least a design of the service, modelled configuration of software components to implement the service steps, and modelled infrastructure for running the software components.

13. The system of claim 1 , arranged to deploy the service on shared virtualised infrastructure according to the service model.

14. A method of providing a computer implemented service using a system for automated lifecycle management of the service, according to requirements, the system having:

a service model arranged to represent at least part of the service at a given development state in the lifecycle, the service model having an encoding of allowed operations associated with a given entity in the service model,

a transition model representing allowed operations to change the service model to a different one of the development states of the service, according to the requirements, the transition model being arranged to be open to automated inspection of the allowed operations, and open to automated adaptation of the allowed operations,

the method having the steps of:

developing the service model to a deployable state using the allowed operations represented in the transition model,

deploying the service according to the service model to make the service available to users, and

causing a check for inconsistency between the operations in the transition model relating to the given entity, and corresponding allowed operations encoded in the service model for the same entity.

15. The method of claim 14 having the step of causing automated tools to inspect the transition model and check for errors.

16. The method of claim 14 , having the steps of causing development of the service model through development states representing at least a design of the service, modelled configuration of software components to implement the service steps, and modelled infrastructure for running the software components.

17. The method of claim 14 having the steps of providing shared infrastructure for service providers to use for providing the service,

allowing the service provider to input service requirements, and to cause the service model state manager to develop the service model to a deployable state using the allowed operations represented in the transition model, and

allowing the service provider to deploy the service on the shared infrastructure according to the service model to make the service available to users.

18. A computer program stored on a non-transitory machine readable medium and arranged when executed, to carry out the steps of providing a computer implemented service and providing automated lifecycle management of the service, according to service requirements, the system having:

a service model arranged to represent at least part of the service at a given development state in the lifecycle,

a transition model representing allowed operations to change the service model to a different one of the development states of the service, according to the requirements, the transition model being arranged to be open to automated inspection of the allowed operations, and open to automated adaptation of the allowed operations,

the service model having an encoding of allowed operations associated with a given entity in the service model, and the system being arranged to check for inconsistency between the operations in the transition model relating to the given entity, and the corresponding allowed operations encoded in the service model for the same entity, and

the management of the service involving:

developing the service model to a deployable state using the allowed operations represented in the transition model, and

deploying the service according to the service model to make the service available to users.

19. The computer program of claim 18 , the transition model also having a representation of how to adapt itself.

20. The system of claim 1 , the system model further arranged to archive the service instance for later use.