The Provisioning OSID provides a means for requesting and assigning Resources . There are many aspects to this service from the set up of a provisioning system to the acquisition and return of Resources .

Provisionables

A Provisionable represents a resource to be provisioned. A Provisionable is an OsidRelationship between a Resource and a resource Pool . A Pool is a set of like Provisionables that can be assigned. For example, a Resource may be used to represent a car. A Pool may be used to represent an entire set of cars that can be rented. The rental agency may have different classes of cars such as compact cars and full-size cars. Pools may be created for each class of cars.

Requests

A Request is made to request a Provisionable . The requester makes a Request for entry into a Queue . The Queue serves as a wait list for a Provisionable out of one or more Pools . The Request may optionally support a Request for a Provisionable out of a specific Pool , or a Request for a specific set of Provisionables .

A Request may be made for any seat on a flight, any seat in the coach Pool , or any seat within the aisle coach Pool , or one of seats 1B, 1C in the first class Pool .

Multiple Requests may be bundled into a single RequestTransaction . A RequestTransaction is processed atomically in that all Requests are fulfilled or none of the Requests are filled. A RequestTransaction may be made for a Request for a flight from Boston to New York and another Request for a flight from New York to Barcelona. The Barcelona Request should not be processed if there are no available flights to New York.

Provisions

A Provision is the result of fulfilling a Request . A Provision is an OsidRelationship between a Provisionable and a Request . As OsidRelationships , Provisions have effective dates and may optionally require a Provision to be returned. A ProvisionReturn captures information about the return of a Provision .

Brokers

A Broker represents the governance of Queues and Pools . The Broker manages behind-the-scenes operations such as consraints on entering a Queue , the processing of a Queue , and how Provisionables are automatically assigned to Requests . The Broker is the entity to which these various constraints and processing rules are related. While all Queues and Pools may be cataloged in various ways, they belong to a single Broker .

Distributor Cataloging

All Provisions , Requests , Provisionables , Queues , Pools , and Brokers may be organized into federateable OsidCatalogs called Distributors .

Sub Packages

The Provisioning OSID includes a Provisioning Rules OSID for managing constraints and processing rules.