Patent attributes
A method and apparatus is disclosed for managing administrative data transfers to/from hosted applications. Administrative data transfers (ADT) include: application maintenance and electronic data transfers (EDT). In an embodiment of the invention an application manager is provided for managing a plurality of host servers each hosting a corresponding application accessible to clients across a network for the exchange of client data. The application manager manages ADT for at least one of application maintenance of the corresponding application and electronic data transfers (EDT) between selected ones of the clients on the network and selected ones of the plurality of host servers. In an embodiment of the invention a control file manager is disclosed which is accessible to an administrative member of each group of clients for managing setup, scheduling and execution of control files for each client group. Each control file defines an ADT with a data source, a data target, and a schedule for effecting the ADT. The control file manager includes a migration module responsive to a migration request by the administrative member of a corresponding client group to migrate a control file from a one to an other hosted environment. The environmental mapper maps the corresponding one of the data source and the data target of the corresponding control file from the one to the other of the hosted environments. In alternate embodiments of the invention methods and software for managing a plurality of host servers is disclosed.
