Identifying information assets within an enterprise using a semantic graph created using feedback re-enforced search and navigation

• US 10,162,892 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2011
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Byrne, Brian P., Oberhofer, Martin A., Pandit, Sushain, Wolfson, Charles D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Park, Grace
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shechtman, Cheryl M
• Application Number:
  US13/037,187
• Publication Number:
  US 20120221558A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,857 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide an approach for creating, evolving and using a weighted semantic graph to manage and potentially identify certain information assets within an enterprise. The semantic graph may be generated by monitoring users navigating through search results which provide a set of information assets responsive to a search query. By recording the navigation path taken by many users, relationships between information assets may be identified. Further, once generated, the semantic graph may be used to present users with an indication of related information assets as part of the search results. Further still, the semantic graph may also be used to identify information assets “hubs” as well as information assets that may provide low utility to individuals within the enterprise.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for identifying information assets, the method comprising:

monitoring users navigating query search results, each search result presenting a list of information assets responsive to a corresponding search query, wherein each information asset in the list corresponds to a computing resource available within an enterprise computing network;

generating, by operation of one or more computer processors, a semantic graph representing relationships between the information assets, wherein nodes of the semantic graph each correspond to one of the information assets, wherein relationships between nodes are identified by monitoring users navigating from one of the information assets presented in the search results to another one of the information assets presented in the search results, and wherein the semantic graph includes metadata specifying an operational state of each information asset as being either a formally managed information asset within the enterprise computing network or an informally managed information asset within the enterprise computing network;

periodically evaluating the semantic graph using predefined criteria;

upon determining at least a first one of the plurality of nodes in the semantic graph corresponds to a first information asset which satisfies the predefined criteria and is one of the informally managed information assets within the enterprise computing network, providing an indication of the first node as corresponding to an information asset which is a target for being a formally managed information asset within the enterprise computing network;

classifying a second one of the plurality of nodes in the semantic graph corresponding to a second information asset as a first hub, based on determining that the second one of the plurality of nodes has a number of edges to other nodes that exceeds a predefined value and upon further determining that the second information asset is a formally managed information asset;

responsive to classifying the second information asset as the first hub;

determining to divide the second information asset into a plurality of specialized information assets, wherein each of the plurality of specialized information assets has functionality that is more specialized than functionality of the second information asset;

dividing the second information asset into the plurality of specialized information assets, wherein each of the plurality of specialized information assets is a formally managed information asset; and

updating the semantic graph by adding nodes corresponding to the plurality of specialized information assets; and

classifying a third one of the plurality of nodes in the semantic graph corresponding to a third information asset as a second hub, based on determining that the third one of the plurality of nodes has a number of edges to other nodes that exceeds the predefined value and upon further determining that the second information asset is a formally managed information asset;

responsive to classifying the third information asset as the third hub;

assigning a first priority to the third information asset, wherein the first information asset is assigned a relatively lower priority; and

allocating additional computing resources to the third information asset.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the predefined criteria specifies a minimum threshold edge count to/from a given one of the plurality of nodes is required to satisfy the predefined criteria.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of information assets include at least one of a database system, a web service and a server application.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein monitoring users navigating the query search results comprises:

presenting a given user with search results responsive to a corresponding one of the search queries;

monitoring the given user accessing a first one of the information assets identified in the set of search results, and subsequently, accessing a second one of the information assets; and

updating a weighted relationship between the first information asset and the second information asset in the semantic graph.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein a weight specified by the weighted relationship is increased each time one of the users navigates from the first information asset to the second information asset, and further comprising, upon determining the weight exceeds a specified threshold, updating the semantic graph with an edge connecting nodes in the semantic graph corresponding to the first information asset and the second information asset.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

periodically evaluating the semantic graph using second predefined criteria; and

upon determining at least a second one of the information assets in the semantic graph satisfies the second predefined criteria and is one of the formally managed information assets within the enterprise computing network, providing an indication of the second information asset as being an underutilized information asset within the enterprise computing network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the operational state of each respective information asset is determined based on how formally the respective information asset is administered.

8. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

determining that a fourth one of the plurality of nodes in the semantic graph has a number of edges to other nodes that is less than a predefined minimum, wherein the fourth one of the plurality of nodes corresponds to a fourth information asset which is one of the formally managed information assets within the enterprise computing network;

determining to phase out the fourth information asset based on determining that the fourth node has a number of edges to other nodes that is less than the predefined minimum; and

removing the fourth information asset from the enterprise computing network.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata specifying the operational state of the first information asset classifies the first information asset as being an informally managed asset because the first information asset was created as an ad-hoc local database.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing an application, which, when executed on a processor, performs an operation for identifying information assets, the operation comprising:

monitoring users navigating query search results, each search result presenting a list of information assets responsive to a corresponding search query, wherein each information asset in the list corresponds to a computing resource available within an enterprise computing network;

generating, by operation of one or more computer processors, a semantic graph representing relationships between the information assets, wherein nodes of the semantic graph each correspond to one of the information assets, and wherein relationships between nodes are identified by monitoring users navigating from one of the information assets presented in the search results to another one of the information assets presented in the search results, and wherein the semantic graph includes metadata specifying an operational state of each information asset as being a formally managed information asset within the enterprise computing network or an informally managed information asset within the enterprise computing network;

periodically evaluating the semantic graph using predefined criteria;

upon determining at least a first one of the plurality of nodes in the semantic graph corresponds to first information asset which satisfies the predefined criteria and is one of the informally managed information assets within the enterprise computing network, providing an indication of the first node as corresponding to an information asset which is a target for being a formally managed information asset within the enterprise computing network;

classifying a second one of the plurality of nodes in the semantic graph corresponding to a second information asset as a first hub, based on determining that the second one of the plurality of nodes has a number of edges to other nodes that exceeds a predefined value and upon further determining that the second information asset is a formally managed information asset;

responsive to classifying the second information asset as the first hub;

determining to divide the second information asset into a plurality of specialized information assets, wherein each of the plurality of specialized information assets has functionality that is more specialized than functionality of the second information asset;

dividing the second information asset into the plurality of specialized information assets, wherein each of the plurality of specialized information assets is a formally managed information asset; and

updating the semantic graph by adding nodes corresponding to the plurality of specialized information asset; and

classifying a third one of the plurality of nodes in the semantic graph corresponding to a third information asset as a second hub, based on determining that the third one of the plurality of nodes has a number of edges to other nodes that exceeds the predefined value and upon further determining that the second information asset is a formally managed information asset;

responsive to classifying the third information asset as the third hub;

assigning a first priority to the third information asset, wherein the first information asset is assigned a relatively lower priority; and

allocating additional computing resources to the third information asset.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the predefined criteria specifies a minimum threshold edge count to/from a given one of the plurality of nodes is required to satisfy the predefined criteria.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the plurality of information assets include at least one of a database system, a web service and a server application.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein monitoring users navigating the query search results comprises:

presenting a given user with search results responsive to a corresponding of the search queries;

monitoring the given user accessing a first one of the information assets identified in the set of search results, and subsequently, accessing a second one of the information assets; and

updating a weighted relationship between the first information asset and the second information asset in the semantic graph.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein a weight specified by the weighted relationship is increased each time one of the users navigates from the first information asset to the second information asset, and wherein the operation further comprises, upon determining the weight exceeds a specified threshold, updating the semantic graph with an edge connecting nodes in the semantic graph corresponding to the first information asset and the second information asset.

15. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing an enterprise information asset management application program, which, when executed on the processor, performs an operation for identifying information assets, the operation comprising;

monitoring users navigating query search results, each search result presenting a list of information assets responsive to a corresponding search query, wherein each information asset in the list corresponds to a computing resource available within an enterprise computing network,

generating, by operation of one or more computer processors, a semantic graph representing relationships between the information assets, wherein nodes of the semantic graph each correspond to one of the information assets, and wherein relationships between nodes are identified by monitoring users navigating from one of the information assets presented in the search results to another one of the information assets presented in the search results, and wherein the semantic graph includes metadata specifying an operational state of each information asset as being a formally managed information asset within the enterprise computing network or an informally managed information asset within the enterprise computing network,

periodically evaluating the semantic graph using predefined criteria,

upon determining at least a first one of the plurality of nodes in the semantic graph corresponds to a first information asset which satisfies the predefined criteria and is one of the informally managed information assets within the enterprise computing network, providing an indication of the first node as corresponding to an information asset which is a target for being a formally managed information asset within the enterprise computing network;

classifying a second one of the plurality of nodes in the semantic graph corresponding to a second information asset as a first hub, based on determining that the second one of the plurality of nodes has a number of edges to other nodes that exceeds a predefined value and upon further determining that the second information asset is a formally managed information asset;

responsive to classifying the second information asset as the first hub;

determining to divide the second information asset into a plurality of specialized information assets, wherein each of the plurality of specialized information assets has functionality that is more specialized than functionality of the second information asset;

dividing the second information asset into the plurality of specialized information assets, wherein each of the plurality of specialized information assets is a formally managed information asset; and

updating the semantic graph by adding nodes corresponding to the plurality of specialized information assets; and

classifying a third one of the plurality of nodes in the semantic graph corresponding to a third information asset as a second hub, based on determining that the third one of the plurality of nodes has a number of edges to other nodes that exceeds the predefined value and upon further determining that the second information asset is a formally managed information asset;

responsive to classifying the third information asset as the third hub;

assigning a first priority to the third information asset, wherein the first information asset is assigned a relatively lower priority; and

allocating additional computing resources to the third information asset.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the predefined criteria specifies a minimum threshold edge count to/from a given one of the plurality of nodes is required to satisfy the predefined criteria.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of information assets include at least one of a database system, a web service and a server application.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein monitoring users navigating the query search results comprises:

presenting a given user with search results responsive to a query to a corresponding one of the search queries;

monitoring the given user accessing a first one of the information assets identified in the set of search results, and subsequently, accessing a second one of the information assets; and

updating a weighted relationship between the first information asset and the second information asset in the semantic graph.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein a weight specified for the weighted relationship is increased each time one the users navigates from the first information asset to the second information asset, and wherein the operation further comprises, upon determining the weight exceeds a specified threshold, updating the semantic graph with an edge connecting nodes in the semantic graph corresponding to the first information asset and the second information asset.