An automated provisioning system for provisioning a service or device in a communications network, which system comprises a listener (2) adapted to receive a request from a user and a driver adapted to control operation of the service or device. The driver supports a describe operation, which enumerates which operations are available for the user and co-operates with a control processor (22), which mediates between the driver and a data store holding information on which operations are available for the user. When a request to provision an available operation is received, the control processor (22) mediates between the data store and driver to determine what information is required to provision the service or device and to permit the driver to provision the service or device. The system dispenses with the table driven approach of known systems.