International Business Machines Corporation

Thomas A Jobson, Jr

Jarir Kamel Chaar

Joseph P Huchel

Krishna Chaitanya Ratakonda

Daniel V Oppenheim

Naomi Meiko Mitsumori

Ronald D Finlayson

Francis Xavier Reddington

Yi-Min Chee

Fausto Bernardini

Daniel Nikolaus Bauer

Frank Bagehorn

Adeel Qureshi

Charles Matula

Roy Froehlich

Arnold M Rosenberg

Howard S Bloom

Edith A Kanyock

Raman Harishankar

Mark A Henderson

Michael P Murray

Al A Hamid

Christine L Quintero

Brian L Merzbach

Catherine G Bala

F Jay Kolb

Scott Selvia

An approach is provided for aggregating business data. Based on received columns, attributes, and keys of a dataset, the dataset is registered in a central hub of datasets which include data that is independently and locally maintained. Other datasets in the central hub that include columns, attributes, or keys that match the received columns, attributes, or keys, respectively, are determined and displayed. Responsive to receiving a user selection of one or more of the displayed datasets, cross-links between the dataset and each of the one or more selected datasets are generated. Based on a modification of a selected one of the cross-links and a second user interacting with the central hub, the modification and other cross-link(s) are displayed.

User driven business data aggregation and cross mapping framework

An approach is provided for aggregating business data. Based on received columns, attributes, and keys of a dataset, the dataset is registered in a central hub of datasets which include data that is independently and locally maintained. Other datasets in the central hub that include columns, attributes, or keys that match the received columns, attributes, or keys, respectively, are determined and displayed. Responsive to receiving a user selection of one or more of the displayed datasets, cross-links between the dataset and each of the one or more selected datasets are generated. Based on a modification of a selected one of the cross-links and a second user interacting with the central hub, the modification and other cross-link(s) are displayed. Based on the second user's selection of the modification or one of the other cross-link(s), an analysis of data in the dataset is performed.

An approach is provided for aggregating business data. Based on received columns, attributes, and keys of a dataset, the dataset is registered in a central hub of datasets which include data that is independently and locally maintained. Initial or updated data is loaded into the dataset in the central hub. Other datasets in the central hub that include columns, attributes, or keys that match the received columns, attributes, or keys, respectively, are determined and displayed. In response to receiving a user selection of one or more of the displayed datasets, cross-links between the dataset and each of the one or more selected datasets are automatically generated. The cross-links are based on the columns, attributes, or keys of the displayed datasets that match the received columns, attributes or keys. The cross-links provide an aggregation of business data in the dataset and the one or more selected datasets.

A computer-implemented method, system, and computer-readable medium for determining if a software factory is ready to take on a software project is presented. In a preferred embodiment, the computer-implemented method includes the steps of: determining if an infrastructure for a software factory has been procured; determining if operational software needed to assemble work packets in an assembly line in the software factory has been installed; determining if a workflow event model for an assembly line in the software factory has been configured; determining if workload in the assembly line has been balanced; determining if communication channels between the software factory and a customer's computer system have been defined and cleared for data transmission; and in response to determining that any element described above has been determined not to have occurred, prohibiting an induction of a software project into the software factory.

Software factory readiness review

A method, system, and computer-readable medium for maintaining a health of a software factory that creates custom software in a standardized manner is presented. In a preferred embodiment, the method includes the steps of: defining work packets to perform sub-functions of a custom software; tracking a transmission of the work packets to an assembly line in a software factory; monitoring any retrieval of software artifacts that are used to create the work packets; monitoring any on-going changes of work activities that are contained in the work packets; determining if execution of the work packets conforms to governance guidelines for the software factory; monitoring the software factory to ensure that the work packets comply with an architecture of the software factory; tracking quality metrics for an execution of the work packets in an assembly line in the software factory; and transmitting all tracked and monitored information to a dashboard.

Software factory health monitoring

A computer-implemented method, system, and/or computer program product supports a user who is servicing a work packet request within a software factory. A tooling environment that is necessary to service a work packet request in a software factory is established. The software factory includes an assembly line that executes work packets to create the deliverable software, and a published set of services that describes what assembly services for assembling the work packets are offered by the assembly line. A full work packet-aware Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that is specific for a work packet identified by the work packet request is created. The full work packet-aware IDE and an associated Graphical User Interface (GUI) are transmitted to a user who has been assigned to service the work packet request, thus allowing resources depicted in the GUI to be interactively supplied to that user.

Supporting a work packet request with a specifically tailored IDE

A method, system, and/or computer-readable medium analyzes problems in a software factory. Factory metrics that describe resources and operations within the software factory are collected and analyzed to detect problems that might have occurred during an execution of a work packet within the software factory. If the detected problems exceed one or more threshold criteria, then a detailed analysis of the detected problems is performed by matching each detected problem to one or more specific root causes through an analysis of the factory process building blocks.

Analyzing factory processes in a software factory

A method for managing projects in a software factory is presented. A project management tool includes an end-to-end project plan for a project to create a software product by using a software factory in a global delivery network. A status block is appended to a work packet that is utilized when executing the project. After initiating the project, an alert is automatically triggered whenever the execution status of the work packet changes. The alert is transmitted to the project management tool to update a project schedule for the project, such that a completion status of the end-to-end project plan reflects a status of a project schedule for the project described by the end-to-end project plan.

Work packet enabled active project management schedule

A method, system, and computer-readable medium for staged validation of work packets within a software factory are presented. In one embodiment, the method includes creating a preliminary work packet. A validation constraint is appended to the preliminary work packet to create a constrained work packet. The constrained work packet is submitted to the software factory, within which the validation constraint is validated at different stages to confirm that the validation constraint is proper for the constrained work packet. If a validation result fails to meet all requirements of the validation constraint at each stage, the validation constraint is resolved, and the constrained work packet is re-submitted at that stage.

Staged automated validation of work packets inputs and deliverables in a software factory

A method and system for rewriting Structured Query Language (SQL) statements. A SQL statement having search criteria including conditions pertaining to fields in database tables is received. A table from the SQL statement listing all combinations of the search criteria is created, every combination reflecting a subset of information used to determine combined results. A set of patterns among the possible combinations of the SQL statement based on the fields referenced in the combinations is identified. The table based on the set of patterns is sorted. Based on the sorting, the table is divided into temporary tables which are joined with the SQL statement. New temporary tables are generated. Each new temporary table includes results of a search conducted using a separate portion of the SQL statement as joined with the set of temporary tables. All results from the new temporary tables are combined into a single result table.

Method, system and program product for rewriting structured query language (SQL) statements

A method, system, and computer-readable medium for determining competence levels of factory teams are presented. In a preferred embodiment, the method includes the steps of: creating a template for an initial work packet, wherein the initial work packet is a self-contained work unit that is assembled within the software factory; creating a partially instantiated work packet by populating the template with details that describe pre-conditions and post-conditions necessary to execute the work packet; provisionally selecting a human team to complete coding of the partially instantiated work packet to create a final work packet; determining whether the human team is competent to create the final work packet; and in response to determining that the human team is competent to create the final work packet, ordering the human team to create the final work packet within the software factory.

Determining competence levels of teams working within a software

A method, system, and computer-readable medium for predicatively selecting which work packets will be needed by a software factory to create a deliverable custom software are presented. In a preferred embodiment, the computer-implemented method includes: presenting an initial checklist that consists of a series of question groups; receiving answers to the initial checklist; in response to determining that received answers to the initial checklist indicate that a new series of questions is required to predict which work packets will be needed to create the deliverable custom software, dynamically generating a new checklist; evaluating leading indicators for the received answers; based on relevancy of answers and the leading indicators, eliminating irrelevant questions from the new checklist; and based on answers to remaining relevant questions, determining if a particular work packet will be needed to create the deliverable custom software in the software factory.

Work packet forecasting in a software factory

A method, system and computer-readable medium for utilizing the design centers, assembly line and job shops of a global delivery network across multiple software factories are presented. Pre-qualified factory organizational units in a software factory are identified. Identified qualified factory organizational units, including design centers, assembly lines and job shops, are matched to customer requirements. If the identified qualified factory organizational units are available, then they are load balanced and deployed to create software deliverables to the customer.

Configuring design centers, assembly lines and job shops of a global delivery network into 'on demand' factories

A method, system, and computer-readable medium for managing a work packet's life cycle, wherein the work packet is assembled in a software factory that creates custom software in a standardized manner, are presented. In a preferred embodiment, the computer-implemented method comprises the steps of: defining a work packet to perform a sub-function of a custom software, wherein the work packet is a pre-stored, reusable, self-contained, discrete unit of software code; assembling the work packet; archiving the work packet in an asset repository; retrieving the work packet from the asset repository; and sending the work packet to an assembly line for consolidation with other work packets to create a custom software.

Life cycle of a work packet in a software factory

A method, system, and computer-readable medium for maintaining a project schedule of projects being executed within a software factory are presented. A project management tool receives alerts from the software factory as completion statuses, of software packets being used within the software factory, change. These alerts enable a consolidated and coordinated updating of the project schedule.

Growing community of inventors

New Paltz, NY, United States of America

Thomas A Jobson, Jr