Patent ID: 8839249

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, in a process determination module of a first computer system, an event occurring on a second system of a multi-tenant environment of a data center coupled to the first computer system, the second system associated with a first customer of the data center; accessing a process stack of a storage coupled to the process determination module, the process stack including a matrix for a process associated with the event, the process including a plurality of modules each formed of one or more elements corresponding to steps to be performed, the matrix including for each of the modules a respective set of entries, wherein each entry corresponds to a business unit entity of a plurality of business unit entities and has a value that is one of a customized value, an enforced value, and an inherited value, wherein the plurality of business unit entities are hierarchically arranged in the matrix to define a plurality of business hierarchy levels; generating from the process stack an execution stack for the process, the execution stack including, for each of the modules, a respective list of entries comprising each entry from the respective entry set of the module which has either a customized value or an enforced value; selecting, in accordance with a first layer of inheritance analysis on the execution stack, an entry from each of the lists, building an actual process from the selected entries, and storing the actual process in a process action matrix, wherein the first layer of inheritance analysis includes for each list: determining if one or more entries of the list have an enforced value; when the determination is positive, selecting the entry of the one or more entries having the enforced value with the highest corresponding business hierarchy level to be the selected entry; and when the determination is negative, selecting the entry of the list having the customized value with the lowest corresponding business hierarchy level to be the selected entry; determining a lifecycle of the process based at least in part on information obtained with the event; based on the lifecycle, accessing one or more modules of the actual process to determine actual process steps, including detailed operations, and storing the actual process steps in a process action elements table; utilizing the process action matrix and the process action elements table to obtain instructions stored in a second storage for the actual process steps; and executing the instructions in one or more control engines of the data center to perform the actual process.