Patent ID: 8438271

Claim:
A method for performing a service, the method comprising: a computer identifying information about a configuration of hardware and software in a network data processing system for performing the service on the network data processing system, the information comprising at least one of a type of operating system in the network data processing system, a type of cluster used in the network data processing system, and a configuration of the cluster; the computer identifying a plurality of steps used to perform the service; based in part on the identified information, the computer identifying a set of software tools needed in each step in the plurality of steps to perform the service on the network data processing system; the computer initiating performance of the plurality of steps by one or more agent programs in the network data processing system; the computer monitoring the performance of the plurality of steps to identify performance information; the computer identifying a cost to perform the service using the performance information; and the computer generating an audit report that tracks completion of each of the plurality of steps taken by the one or more agent programs.