7 - Consumers establish a Contract with the Provider for selected Catalogue items

7 - Consumers establish a Contract with the Provider for selected Catalogue items

Description

To help understand the content of this document, readers should familiarize themselves with the key definitions and actors and the business process introduction containing the diagram legend.

This process outlines the steps involved when a Consumer seeks to access a Provider's data, application, or infrastructure resource. To gain access, both parties must establish a Usage Contract Agreement. This legally binding contract defines the rights, limits, and obligations of both parties, including pricing, usage limits, data retention policies, and service level agreements (SLAs). The Consumer also agrees to the licensing terms set by the Provider. While the possibility of usage contract term negotiation has been discussed, it is not a current requirement in this process. We have prioritized other areas for initial implementation and will re-evaluate the need for negotiation as our business requirements develop.

When are Contracts Established?

Usage Contract Agreements are established in two scenarios:

1. New Resource Consumption: Whenever a Consumer wants to access a new resource from a Provider.
2. Contract Expiration: As contracts are immutable, a new contract must be created when an existing one expires to allow continued resource usage.

The following actors are involved in this process: Consumers, Providers

Business process prerequisites:

To initiate the Usage Contract Agreement process, the following prerequisites must be fulfilled:

• End-User Authentication and Authorization: The End-User must be authenticated and possess the necessary roles and permissions to execute the process steps (Business Process - 3B).
• Consumer Discovery and Decision: The Consumer must have discovered and selected the desired resource from the Dataspace's Catalogue, reviewed the associated terms and conditions within the Usage Contract template (Business Process - 06), and made the decision to consume the resource (Business Processes - 08, 09A, and 09B).
• No Existing Contract: There must not be an existing Usage Contract in place for the requested period that covers the specific resource and terms of the current consumption request.

Business Process Diagram & Steps

This chapter presents a diagram visualising the business process, labelled with specific steps. Each step is further detailed in the accompanying 'Step Description'.

The flow diagram above outlines the process for establishing a Usage Contract between a consumer and a provider. It highlights the key steps involved in initiating the contract, negotiating the terms, signing the agreement, and persisting the contract. 

Steps Description:

1. Consumer Requests Usage Contract: The Consumer initiates the process by requesting a Usage Contract based on their selection of a desired resource from the Dataspace catalog (BP-08, BP-09A, BP-09B).
2. Provider Provides Usage Contract Agreement: The provider creates a formal Usage Contract Agreement in response to the Consumer's contract request.
3. Consumer Agrees to Terms and Conditions: The Consumer reviews the Usage Contract Agreement and decides whether to agree to the terms and conditions.
4. Consumer Signs Usage Contract Agreement: If the Consumer agrees to the terms, they sign the Usage Contract Agreement.
5. Consumer Stores Usage Contract Agreement: The Consumer stores the signed Usage Contract Agreement in their records.
6. Provider Validates Agreement: The Provider validates that the Consumer has formally agreed to the Usage Contract Agreement, ensuring they have accepted the terms and conditions established by the Provider.
7. Provider Signs Usage Contract Agreement: If the validation is successful, the Provider signs the Usage Contract Agreement.
8. Provider Stores Usage Contract Agreement: The Provider securely stores the finalized Usage Contract Agreement as part of their official business records for future reference, compliance, and operational needs.
9. Provider Notifies Consumer: The Provider notifies the consumer that they have signed and stored the Usage Contract Agreement. The signed agreement is made available to the Consumer
10. Consumer Validates Agreement: The Consumer validates the signed agreement from the Provider against the original contract request (as initiated in Step 1). This validation is to ensure consistency and accuracy. The Consumer then stores  the validated agreement.

11. End of process

    a. Finalized: If all steps are completed successfully, the process is finalized, and the Usage Contract is considered active. Both parties are notified of the successful completion of the process. The Consumer can now consume the assets agreed upon according to the terms of the contract.

    b. Terminate Process: If any step fails or is rejected, the process is terminated, and no Usage Contract is established. Both parties are notified of the termination and the reason for it. This may occur if the Consumer rejects the offer, if the parties cannot agree on the terms of the contract, or if there is a security breach or other unforeseen event.

Associated L1s - High Level Requirements

• 7.1 - Establishing a usage contract agreement between provider and consumer
  Simpl shall support the process of establishing contracts between ...

  See more details

Back to Simpl requirements overview