US Patent 8019860 Service accounting method and apparatus for composite service

A system for an accounting infrastructure, including monitoring and reporting, for individual services within a composite service. An accounting engine integrates with the composite service to monitor components and parameters of at least one service in the composite service, to provide reporting on the measurements and statistics associated therewith over time. The accounting engine aggregates data for components and services. One example provides the accounting infrastructure as an object-oriented program model, instantiating statistics as objects. The reporting distinguishes each statistic allowing analysis and optimization of processes and services.