The Cloud User Portal (CUP)
The Cloud User Portal (CUP) is a management service built to provide the strong management and flexibility for SaaS services delivered through the G-Cloud initiative.
The DDS Cloud User Portal (or CUP), is a central portal which automates the procurement and provisioning process for G-Cloud SaaS
services.
The CUP is used by both suppliers and customer; suppliers to load product details into a global catalogue; customers to procure application instances, selecting configuration and charging choices from options registered by supplier for the product. Once ordered, the CUP manages the provisioning of the application by the supplier and making it available to users by the application’s administrator using the portal. Users are informed via the workflow system when their applications are ready for them and ‘launch icons’ are automatically added to their area of the portal. Where applications have a suitable provisioning API (as do Google Apps and
MS SharePoint), the entire provisioning process is carried out without manual intervention. Where the product cannot be so provisioned, the portal provides a fall-back with each stage of the process controlled by its integral workflow system.
Additionally, the CUP has a full user directory that allows it to build application usage data from which monthly invoices and payment advices can be generated. This, together with a clever supply-chain management system, and links to the Government’s eMarketplace portal (GeM), allow the CUP to cater for the end-to-end needs of the government for its G-Cloud initiative.