Cross Channel Subscription Platform

Our client needed to monetize its web content in order to thrive in the digital age. Together we decided to implement a metered model where access to initial content is free, after which a subscription is required.

The system had to: 

• Be reliable and flexible enough to handle massive customer base 

• Support many digital products and subscription types 

• Provide a seamless user experience across devices and print properties 

• Integrate with corporate accounting systems 

• Calculate domestic and international taxes, and 

• Generate reports for financial auditing and management

We developed a solution based on an idempotent architecture that ensures data is always in a known state, even if individual processes are restarted multiple times. Using this approach, we assembled an array of components to power the metered model, including: 

Product Fulfillment Engine

• Product catalog that customers use to bundle different offerings into one subscription

• We developed supporting services to enable computer-to-computer communication, authentication, auditing, and management 

Billing and Licensing Engine

• Provides core e-commerce functionality for all digital services (web sites, mobile applications, downloadable content, etc.).

• Supports a wide variety of subscription types, and allows complex aggregation and integration of licensing models and payment types.

• Immutable audit trail and event-based reporting

• Tax-aware invoicing and revenue recognition

• High-grade encryption of sensitive data, PCI compliance 

Notification Service

• Detects changes in customer state and manages the customer communications chain

Ecommerce Database

• An Oracle database containing all pertinent encrypted customer information, and provides complete audit of all tax-related transactions