Patent ID: 8294593

Claim:
A method of collecting usage data of an on-demand service provided to a subscriber, the method comprising: provisioning a first manageable resource in order to provide the on-demand service to the subscriber, the first manageable resource being associated with a first underlying resource, the first underlying resource comprising a first collector for collecting first usage data of the first underlying resource while the on-demand service is provided; creating a first metering component for the first manageable resource, wherein a metering system is adapted to read out the first usage data from the first collector, wherein the first metering component initiates the metering system to retrieve the first usage data from the first collector, and wherein the retrieved first usage data is stored on the metering system; instructing the first metering component to initiate retrieval of the first usage data from the first collector prior to termination of the first metering component and de-provisioning of the first manageable resource; storing the retrieved first usage data for further evaluation; creating a second manageable resource when the subscriber requests the on-demand service, the second manageable resource initiating provisioning of the first manageable resource; creating a second metering component for the second manageable resource; instructing the second metering component to collect metering events relating to provisioning of the second manageable resource to the subscriber; and storing the collected metering events on the metering system for further evaluation.