Patent ID: 7962596

Claim:
An automated provisioning system embodied on hardware memory for enabling activation of users and services in a distributed electronic system, which provisioning system is adapted to use an LDAP or X.500 compatible directory enabled information repository comprising one or more directories; the system further comprising a service manager interfacing with the information repository and components of the distributed electronic system, and the information repository comprises a scalable data model; and the service manager is adapted to log on to a directory and interacts therewith to create, delete, amend or search for information in the information repository, wherein the service manager interacts, through a plurality of interfaces, with components and users of the distributed electronic system to enable authentication and authorization to use services running on the components such that the services can be activated; wherein each of the services is assigned to at least one of a plurality of profiles; wherein each of the users is assigned to at least one of the plurality of profiles; wherein the users are authorized by the service manager to use the services based on the plurality of profiles, such that for a particular one of the plurality of profiles assigned to a particular one of the services, a plurality of the users assigned to the particular one of the profiles are authorized to use the particular one of the services; wherein for each of the profiles, configuration objects are utilized such that user to service configuration objects collate user service attributes provided by the profile which represent user specific parameters including a username and password, profile to service configuration objects for the profile allow the user assigned to the profile to access specific service parameters, and a service to infrastructure configuration object is utilized to find one of the services that is required by the user assigned to the profile; wherein the users are authorized by the service manager to use the services based on the plurality of profiles such that services are assigned to the users via the profiles and are prevented from being directly assigned to the users.