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SaaS Framework Overview

This page provides an overview of the ConnectSoft SaaS Framework — a reusable, domain-driven design framework for building multi-tenant SaaS solutions. It is written for architects, engineers, and product teams building SaaS applications on the ConnectSoft platform.

The SaaS Framework provides a comprehensive blueprint for implementing multi-tenant SaaS solutions with built-in support for tenants, products, editions, entitlements, billing, usage metering, compliance, and extensibility. It is designed to be reusable across all ConnectSoft SaaS products, ensuring consistency, compliance, and rapid development.

Tip

Reusable Framework - The SaaS Framework is part of the ConnectSoft framework and can be reused across all SaaS products built on the platform, ensuring consistency and reducing time-to-market.

What This Framework Provides

The SaaS Framework provides:

  • Domain-Driven Design Blueprint - Strategic and tactical DDD patterns for modeling multi-tenant SaaS domains
  • Entity Specifications - Implementation-ready domain model with aggregates, entities, value objects, and enumerations
  • High-Level Design - Architecture patterns, bounded contexts, and integration strategies
  • Multi-Tenancy Support - Tenant management, isolation, and residency patterns
  • Product & Edition Management - Product catalog, editions, features, and entitlements
  • Billing & Subscriptions - Subscription lifecycle, pricing models, invoicing, and payments
  • Usage & Metering - Usage tracking, quota enforcement, and billing integration
  • Configuration & Feature Flags - Runtime configuration with precedence and evaluation
  • Audit & Compliance - Immutable audit streams, retention policies, and eDiscovery
  • Notifications & Extensibility - Communication channels and webhook support
  • AI Orchestration - Guardrails for AI-assisted workflows and automation

Who It Is For

  • Architects - Understanding the strategic and tactical DDD patterns for SaaS platforms
  • Engineers - Implementing multi-tenant SaaS solutions with consistent patterns
  • Product Teams - Building SaaS products that require multi-tenancy, billing, and compliance
  • Platform Teams - Creating reusable SaaS platform components

Key Capabilities

Multi-Tenancy & Tenant Management

  • Tenant lifecycle management (provisioning, activation, suspension, deletion)
  • Regional residency and data isolation
  • Tenant-scoped operations and data access
  • Edition defaults and provisioning workflows

Identity & Authorization

  • Multi-tenant authentication and authorization
  • RBAC and ABAC with edition-aware entitlements
  • Service principal management
  • External federation (OIDC/SAML/SCIM)

Product Catalog & Entitlements

  • Product, edition, and feature management
  • Entitlement materialization and distribution
  • SLA management and compliance
  • Feature deprecation and migration

Billing & Subscriptions

  • Subscription lifecycle management
  • Multiple pricing models (flat, per-seat, tiered usage, hybrid)
  • Invoice generation and payment processing
  • Proration, promotions, and dunning

Usage & Metering

  • High-throughput usage event ingestion
  • Real-time quota enforcement
  • Billing window aggregation
  • Anti-tamper protections

Configuration & Feature Flags

  • Multi-scope configuration (product, edition, tenant)
  • Deterministic precedence model
  • Low-latency evaluation with caching
  • Kill switches and overrides

Audit & Compliance

  • Immutable audit streams with integrity chains
  • Retention policies and legal holds
  • Data classification and redaction
  • eDiscovery and export workflows

Notifications & Extensibility

  • Multi-channel communications (email, SMS, push)
  • Tenant branding and templating
  • Signed webhooks with replay protection
  • Preference management

AI Orchestration

  • Guardrails for AI-assisted workflows
  • PR-based mutation flows
  • Least-privilege tool grants
  • Full traceability and audit

Framework Documentation

The SaaS Framework is documented across three main documents:

DDD Design Blueprint

Domain-Driven Design blueprint covering:

  • Strategic DDD (bounded contexts, context map, ubiquitous language)
  • Tactical DDD (aggregates, entities, value objects, domain events)
  • Event-first integration patterns
  • Multi-tenancy and isolation patterns
  • Security and compliance considerations

Use this when: You need to understand the strategic architecture and domain modeling approach.

DDD Entities Specification

Implementation-ready specification including:

  • Aggregate boundaries and relationships
  • Entity and value object definitions
  • Property-level documentation
  • ORM mapping guidance
  • Invariants and state machines

Use this when: You are implementing the domain model and need detailed entity specifications.

High-Level Design

High-level architecture design covering:

  • Platform capabilities and bounded contexts
  • Integration patterns and contracts
  • Technology stack and infrastructure
  • Scalability and reliability patterns
  • Observability and operations

Use this when: You need to understand the overall system architecture and integration patterns.

How It Relates to ConnectSoft Framework

The SaaS Framework is a core component of the ConnectSoft framework:

  • Reusable Across Products - All ConnectSoft SaaS products can leverage this framework
  • Factory Integration - The AI Software Factory can generate SaaS solutions based on this framework
  • Template Alignment - Microservice templates align with framework patterns
  • Platform Services - Core platform services (Identity, Audit, Config) implement framework patterns

Getting Started

  1. Read the DDD Design Blueprint - Understand the strategic architecture and domain modeling
  2. Review the Entities Specification - Familiarize yourself with the domain model
  3. Study the High-Level Design - Understand integration patterns and architecture
  4. Apply to Your SaaS Product - Use the framework patterns when building your SaaS solution