Configurable as a single-tenant application with isolated databases or as a multi-tenant, web-based application

Description

This requires the CPM vendor offer different hosting packages with their product. This includes the ability to isolate the customer's instance of the tool for security and performance reasons, or to use the vendor's standard multi-tenant capabilities.

Example Use Case

Scenario: A business plans an enormous CPM deployment and are concerned about performance when sharing their server resources with unknown companies. They also have a critical requirement for isolating their data owing to stringent data security policies and compliance requirements.

Solution: The enterprise opts for a single-tenant CPM application, wherein each customer has an isolated database for its functions. This configuration not only ensures data security but also allows them to add more dedicated server resources as they grow.

Considerations

Single-tenancy can provide a significant level of data security and compliance with legal regulations as compared to multi-tenancy. Specifically, in industries like healthcare or finance, where sensitive data is frequently dealt with. This capability will only be offered by vendors serving enterprise customers, as the cost for this is dramatically higher than a multi-tenant solution.

Multi-tenancy is much easier to upgrade and maintain for the vendor. It also will provide you with updates faster. The vast majority of companies go with this option.

There are hybrid models out there that will give you a database in a single-tenant environment and the application code in a multi-tenant environment. This isn't either good or bad, it is simply different. It all depends on the quality of the vendor and their ability to scale their service for you as they grow in customers.

Questions to Ask a Vendor

• Configuration Options: Can your CPM software be configured as both a single-tenant and a multi-tenant application? If so, why would we want to?
• Data Isolation: How robust is your data isolation in single-tenant configurations? Is the entire application single-tenant, or will it be a hybrid of some sort?
• Cost Implications: What are the potential cost implications of single tenancy versus multi-tenancy?