Streamline Software Procurement Across Your Organization with Private Marketplace

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Understanding Private Marketplace
  3. Setting Up Your Private Marketplace
  4. End User View
  5. Best Practices for Implementing Private Marketplace
  6. Conclusion

Introduction

Imagine a tool that seamlessly aligns software procurement with your organization's specific needs, enhances agility, and strengthens governance. Welcome to the AWS Private Marketplace. This powerful solution enables enterprises to curate approved product catalogs, tailored to distinct organizational units, thereby simplifying and governing software procurement processes across the board.

In this blog post, we will delve into the fundamentals of setting up a Private Marketplace, explore its roles and permissions, and provide a step-by-step guide for creating and managing private marketplace experiences within AWS Organizations. By the end of this comprehensive guide, you'll understand how to effectively leverage this powerful tool to streamline and enhance your software procurement processes.

Understanding Private Marketplace

What is Private Marketplace?

Private Marketplace in AWS allows organizations to create customized catalogs comprising approved products from the extensive AWS Marketplace. This feature provides fine-grained control over software procurement, ensuring that only vetted and compliant software tools are accessible to your organization's various business units.

AWS Organizations facilitate centralized management across multiple accounts, grouping them into organizational units (OUs) and applying distinct access policies. With the scalability of AWS Private Marketplace, organizations can now manage software procurement at the OU level, fostering a more tailored approach.

Key Personas and Permissions

The success of Private Marketplace hinges on clearly defined roles and permissions. Key stakeholders generally include:

  1. Management Account Administrator: Holds the ultimate control, necessary for security and final approvals.
  2. Delegated Administrator: Appointed from a trusted member account, this role assumes daily operational responsibilities.

These personas ensure that software procurement aligns with security standards while remaining flexible and responsive to specific needs of various business units.

Setting Up Your Private Marketplace

Step 1: Enable Private Marketplace

To get started, the first step is to enable the Private Marketplace function within your AWS Organization. Here’s how:

  1. Go to AWS Organizations in the AWS Management Console.
  2. Enable trusted access to allow the Private Marketplace to interact with your AWS accounts.

Enabling trusted access is a foundational step that paves the way for subsequent configuration and management activities.

Step 2: Appoint a Delegated Administrator

For efficient management, it’s optimal to delegate administrative duties to a trusted member account, thus reducing the operational burden on the main management account. Follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to the Private Marketplace Settings.
  2. Register an account from your organization as a delegated administrator.

This role-based delegation ensures secure, streamlined, and efficient management practices.

Step 3: Create and Curate Experiences

The next phase involves creating distinct experiences within your marketplace:

  1. Create an Experience: Initiate a new experience using the Private Marketplace interface. An experience refers to a curated subset of products branded specifically for an audience.
  2. Curate Products: Add relevant products to your experiences. You can streamline this by bulk adding products.
  3. Set Experience Live: Publish the curated experience so it becomes accessible to the designated audience.

Step 4: Associate Audiences to Experiences

Defining and associating audiences to experiences is crucial for targeted delivery:

  1. Define Audience: An audience can be an entire organization, specific OUs, or individual accounts.
  2. Associate with Experience: Assign the curated experience to the relevant audience.

The organizational structure is visually represented within the AWS Management Console, allowing administrators to view and manage hierarchical relationships and permissions.

End User View

From an end user's perspective, the Private Marketplace ensures a streamlined experience while maintaining governance:

  1. End users will access the AWS Management Console.
  2. They can apply the Approved products filter to view items that have been sanctioned for use.
  3. If a particular product is not found in the approved list, users can submit a request for its inclusion, which will be reviewed by the Private Marketplace administrator.

The seamless interface not only enhances user experience but also ensures procurement governance and compliance.

Best Practices for Implementing Private Marketplace

Customization and Branding

Leverage the customization options to align the Private Marketplace with your company's branding. This is not only aesthetically pleasing but also reinforces the organization's identity across its various units.

Continuous Monitoring and Updates

Regularly update the catalog to reflect the latest approved products and remove obsolete or non-compliant ones. Continuous monitoring and updates ensure that your marketplace remains relevant and compliant.

Cross-functional Collaboration

Encourage collaboration between IT, procurement, and various business units to understand and meet diverse software needs. Effective cross-functional engagement can drive the success of your Private Marketplace implementation.

Security and Auditing

Ensure stringent security measures are in place and conduct regular audits to maintain compliance. Security practices should evolve to address emerging threats and vulnerabilities.

Conclusion

AWS Private Marketplace revolutionizes the way organizations manage software procurement, providing a robust, scalable framework for creating curated catalogs aligned with specific needs. By following this guide, you can set up, manage, and optimize your Private Marketplace, ensuring enhanced governance, agility, and efficiency in your software procurement processes.

FAQ

Q: Can multiple delegated administrators be appointed? A: No, only one delegated administrator can be registered per organization to maintain streamlined control and management.

Q: How often should the product catalog be updated? A: Regular updates are recommended to ensure the catalog reflects the latest approved products and aligns with evolving organizational needs.

Q: What happens if an unapproved product is needed urgently? A: End users can request the inclusion of the unapproved product through the AWS Management Console, subject to review and approval by the Private Marketplace administrator.

By leveraging the AWS Private Marketplace, organizations can not only streamline procurement processes but also ensure a high level of compliance and operational efficiency. Get started today and transform your software procurement strategy.