System and method for a collaborative information technology governance

• US 10,395,213 B2
• Filed: 09/04/2008
• Issued: 08/27/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Borowski, Zbigniew J., Palo, Robert A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ruhl, Dennis W
• Application Number:
  US12/204,517
• Publication Number:
  US 20100057522A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,009 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management

Abstract

A system and method for a situational solution for collaborative information technology governance. The system comprises a situational environment information technology governance (SEIG) tool configured to facilitate one or more processes including: an entry process; a selection process; an authentication process; and a communication process. The method comprises entering a situation using the SEIG tool and describing the situation. The method further comprises choosing one or more applicable teams or subject matter experts and communicating with the one or more applicable teams and the subject matter experts using a collaborative technology.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a computer infrastructure which comprises a computing device including a processor and a memory which includes a situational environment technology governance (SEIG) tool, the computer infrastructure being configured to;

provide a field for entry of one or more questions in an entry screen which is provided by the SEIG tool in order to facilitate communications with one or more of a user, a subject matter expert, a stakeholder, and a decision maker;

receive a selection of the one or more of the user, the subject matter expert, the stakeholder, and the decision maker using the SEIG tool;

initiate an invitation to the selected one or more of the user, the subject matter expert, the stakeholder, and the decision maker using the SEIG tool; and

allow collaboration between the selected one or more of the user, the subject matter expert, the stakeholder, and the decision maker using a collaborative technology of the SEIG tool,

wherein the receiving the selection of the one or more of the user, the subject matter expert, the stakeholder, and the decision maker using the SEIG tool includes receiving a selection of one or more teams from a plurality of teams via the SEIG tool,

wherein a landing page interface of the SEIG tool comprises a virtual representation which includes a graphical user interface (GUI) comprising graphical elements of the selected one or more teams using the SEIG tool, a design order identifier associated with each of the graphical elements of the selected one or more teams of the plurality of teams, a graphical link which allows the user to be taken to one of a social networking site, blog, and java applet to input situations and collaborate with key stakeholders when selected, and a status indicator which is a circular graphical element that is filled when at least one team member of the one or more teams is online and available for communication and is unfilled when no team member of the one or more teams is online and is available for communication,

wherein the design order identifier associated with each of the selected one or more teams indicates an order in which a design flow occurs for each of the selected one or more teams,

wherein the SEIG tool collaborating between the one or more of the user, the subject matter expert, the stakeholder, and the decision maker utilizes a plurality of collaboration tools which include instant messaging, teleconferencing, video conferencing, white board, and wikis, and

wherein the SEIG tool comprises a social tagging tool which categorizes content that is used in the collaborating between the one or more of user, the subject matter expert, the stakeholder, and the decision maker,

wherein the SEIG tool is a web client application that provides the GUI which includes the field of entry, links, and interfaces to one or more of the plurality of collaboration tools,

wherein the graphical elements of the selected one or more teams in the landing page interface comprise a link to a separate subject matter experts (SME) page which includes a list of questions and answers to the list of questions to show whether a situation has been previously addressed,

wherein the collaborative technology of the SEIG tool includes a chat session between the selected one or more of the user, the subject matter expert, the stakeholder, and the decision maker, graphical elements of the selected one or more teams using the SEIG tool, the status indicator which is the circular graphical element that is filled when at least one team member of the one or more teams is online and available for communication and is unfilled when no team member of the one or more teams is online and is available for communication, a section including additional information such as at least one links to pages, links to tools, common questions and answers, and a collaborate now feature to schedule meetings, track participation, and record participation.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the SEIG tool is further configured to enter a situation in the SEIG tool using a wiki, the white board, and a blog.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the SEIG tool is further configured to receive the selection of the one or more of the user, the subject matter expert, the stakeholder, and the decision maker using the SEIG tool in order to collaborate.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the SEIG tool providing the field for entry of the one or more questions in an entry screen further includes receiving a situation entered into the entry screen of the SEIG tool via a user interface of the SEIG tool embodied as a web client;

wherein the landing page further comprises;

a visual representation of the plurality of teams and the status indicator has first and second states indicating that a member of a respective one of the plurality of teams is available or unavailable, respectively, for communication; and

the SEIG tool collaborating between the one or more of the user, the subject matter expert, the stakeholder, and the decision maker further includes creating a collaboration session in which respective members of the selected one or more teams are participants, wherein the collaboration session occurs in a separate session from the entry process and the selection process, and the collaboration session utilizes an electronic collaboration tool of the SEIG tool.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the entry screen is linked to the landing page.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the entry screen includes a plurality of sections for a plurality of subject matter experts and each section includes questions for the plurality of subject matter experts.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the entry screen further includes a submission button for allowing the users, the stakeholders, the subject matter experts, and the decision maker to view the situation.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the design flow defines the order in which the design flows occurs through a plurality of groups, the plurality of groups including at least one subject matter expert.

9. A computer implemented method, which is executable on program code embodied in a computer readable storage medium, for collaborative governance comprising:

entering a situation using a situational environment information technology governance (SEIG) tool;

describing the situation;

updating the situation as new information becomes available;

receiving a choosing of one or more applicable teams or subject matter experts using the SEIG tool;

initiating an invitation to the chosen one or more applicable teams or subject matter experts using the SEIG tool; and

communicating with the chosen one or more applicable teams and the subject matter experts using a collaborative technology of the SEIG tool;

wherein the entering, the describing, the receiving, and the communicating, are performed using a computer device comprising a processor and the describing includes entering at least one question into a field of an entry screen provided by the SEIG tool to facilitate the communicating with the one or more applicable teams and subject matter experts using the collaborative technology, the field describing one or more of an application contact, a situation description, major objectives, an application type, application users, a timeframe for deployment, and questions for the one or more applicable teams or subject matter experts, and

wherein the SEIG tool is a Web client and configured to provide links and interfaces to one or more tools that enable decision making processes in a situational style, and further configured to enable situational governance capabilities for an on demand enterprise, and the links are included in a landing page that provides information for users and a visual representation of the one or more applicable teams or the subject matter experts,

wherein the choosing includes selecting the one or more applicable teams from a plurality of teams via the SEIG tool,

wherein a landing page interface of the SEIG tool comprises a virtual representation which includes a graphical user interface (GUI) comprising graphical elements of the selected one or more applicable teams using the SEIG tool, a design order identifier associated with each of the graphical elements of the selected one or more applicable teams of the plurality of teams, a graphical link which allows the user to be taken to one of a social networking site, blog, and java applet to input situations and collaborate with key stakeholders when selected, and a status indicator which is a circular graphical element that is filled when at least one team member of the one or more available teams is online and available for communication and is unfilled when no team member of the one or more available teams is online and is available for communication,

wherein the design order identifier associated with each of the selected one or more teams indicates an order in which a design flow occurs for each of the selected one or more applicable teams,

wherein the SEIG tool communicating with the one or more applicable teams and the subject matter experts utilize a plurality of collaboration tools which include instant messaging, teleconferencing, video conferencing, white board, and wikis,

wherein the SEIG tool comprises a social tagging tool which categorizes content that is used in the collaborating between the one or more of user, the subject matter expert, the stakeholder, and the decision maker,

wherein the graphical elements of the selected one or more applicable teams in the landing page interface comprise a link to a separate subject matter experts (SME) page which includes a list of questions and answers to the list of questions to show whether a situation has been previously addressed, and

wherein the collaborative technology of the SEIG tool includes a chat session between the selected one or more applicable teams, graphical elements of the selected one or more applicable teams using the SEIG tool, the status indicator which is the circular graphical element that is filled when at least one team member of the one or more applicable teams is online and available for communication and is unfilled when no team member of the one or more applicable teams is online and is available for communication, a section including additional information such as at least one links to pages, links to tools, common questions and answers, and a collaborate now feature to schedule meetings, track participation, and record participation.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the steps of claim 9 are implemented in hardware or a combination of software and hardware.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the steps of claim 9 are offered by a service provider based on one of a fee and subscription basis.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein:

describing the situation includes providing at least one of an application contact, a major objective, an application type, an application user, and a timeframe for deployment the question; and

the choosing of the one or more applicable teams or the subject matter experts is based on the situation.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein:

the entering and the describing are performed using one or more user interfaces of the SEIG tool;

wherein the status indicator has first and second states indicating that a member of a respective one of the plurality of teams is available or unavailable, respectively, for communication; and

the communicating includes creating a collaboration session in which respective members of the selected one or more teams are participants, wherein the collaboration session occurs in a separate session from the entry process and the selection process, and the collaboration session utilizes an electronic collaboration tool of the SEIG tool.

14. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable storage medium having readable program code stored in the storage medium, the program code when executed on a computer device causes the computer device to:

enter a situation using a situational environment information technology governance (SEIG) tool;

receive a selection of at least one team having an available subject matter expert using the SEIG tool;

initiate an invitation to the selected at least one team having the available subject matter using the SEIG tool; and

communicate with the selected at least one team having the available subject matter expert using a collaborative network of the SEIG tool, wherein entering the situation permits entry of at least one question into a field of an entry screen provided by the SEIG tool to facilitate the communicating with the at least one team and the subject matter expert using the collaborative technology and the entering a situation is completed before the communicating with the available subject matter expert using the collaborative network,

wherein the selection of at least one team includes selecting the at least one team from a plurality of teams via the SEIG tool,

wherein a landing page interface of the SEIG tool comprises a virtual representation which includes a graphical user interface (GUI) comprising graphical elements of the selected at least one team, a design order identifier associated with each of the graphical elements of the selected at least one team of the plurality of teams, a graphical link which allows the user to be taken to one of a social networking site, blog, and java applet to input situations and collaborate with key stakeholders when selected, a status indicator which is a circular graphical element that is filled when at least one team member of the at least one team is online and available for communication and is unfilled when no team member of the at least one team is online and is available for communication, and a collaborate now feature which allows collaboration to occur in a separate session utilizing instant messaging,

wherein the design order identifier associated with each of the selected at least one team indicates an order in which a design flow occurs for each of the selected at least one team,

wherein the collaborative network includes instant messaging, teleconferencing, video conferencing, white board, and wikis,

wherein the SEIG tool comprises a social tagging tool which categorizes content that is used in the collaborating between the one or more of user, the subject matter expert, the stakeholder, and the decision maker,

wherein the SEIG tool is a web client application that provides the GUI which includes the field of entry, links, and interfaces to one or more of the plurality of collaboration tools,

wherein the graphical elements of the selected at least one team in the landing page interface comprise a link to a separate subject matter experts (SME) page which includes a list of questions and answers to the list of questions to show whether a situation has been previously addressed, and

wherein the collaborative technology of the SEIG tool includes a chat session between the selected at least one team using the SEIG tool, the status indicator which is the circular graphical element that is filled when at least one team member of the at least one team is online and available for communication and is unfilled when no team member of the at least one team is online and is available for communication, a section including additional information such as at least one links to pages, links to tools, common questions and answers, and the collaborate now feature to schedule meetings, track participation, and record participation.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the SEIG tool is configured for use by a process team, methodology team, standards teams, design consulting team, architecture team, asset reuse team, innovation team, and deployment team.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the SEIG tool includes a project repository tool and an application delivery tool.

17. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the SEIG tool provides on demand collaboration and feedback between a user and the available subject matter expert.

18. A method, comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure comprising a computer device having a processor which performs a plurality of steps of;

inputting a situation using a situational environment information technology governance (SEIG) tool that provides a field for entry of one or more questions in an entry screen which is provided by the SEIG tool in order to facilitate communications with one or more available team members from at least one team, the at least one team including at least one of a process team, a methodology team, a standards teams, a design consulting team, an architecture team, an asset reuse team, an innovation team, and a deployment team;

hiding the situation from unauthorized users to prevent the unauthorized users from gaining access to details of the situation;

receiving a selection of at least one team having the available member, the at least one team including at least one of the process team, the methodology team, the standards teams, the design consulting team, the architecture team, the asset reuse team, the innovation team, and the deployment team using the SEIG tool;

initiating an invitation to the selected available member from the chosen at least one team using the SEIG tool;

collaborating with the selected available member via one or more of instant messaging, teleconferencing, video conferencing, white board, and wikis using a collaborative technology of the SEIG tool,

wherein the inputting, the receiving, the initiating, and the collaborating are performed using the SEIG tool of the computer device,

wherein the selection of at least one team includes selecting the at least one team from a plurality of teams via the SEIG tool,

wherein a landing page interface of the SEIG tool comprises a virtual representation which includes a graphical user interface (GUI) comprising graphical elements of the selected at least one team, a design order identifier associated with each of the graphical elements of the selected at least one team of the plurality of teams, a graphical link which allows the user to be taken to one of a social networking site, blog, and java applet to input situations and collaborate with key stakeholders when selected, and a status indicator which is a circular graphical element that is filled when at least one team member of the at least one team is online and available for communication and is unfilled when no team member of the at least one team is online and is available for communication,

wherein the design order identifier associated with each of the selected at least one team indicates an order in which a design flow occurs for each of the selected at least one team, and

wherein the SEIG tool comprises a social tagging tool which categorizes content that is used in the collaborating between the one or more of user, the subject matter expert, the stakeholder, and the decision maker,

wherein the SEIG tool is a web client application that provides the GUI which includes the field of entry, links, and interfaces to one or more of the plurality of collaboration tools,

wherein the graphical elements of the selected at least one team in the landing page interface comprise a link to a separate subject matter experts (SME) page which includes a list of questions and answers to the list of questions to show whether a situation has been previously addressed, and

wherein the collaborative technology of the SEIG tool includes a chat session between the selected at least one team, graphical elements of the selected at least one team using the SEIG tool, the status indicator which is the circular graphical element that is filled when at least one team member of the at least one team is online and available for communication and is unfilled when no team member of the at least one team is online and is available for communication, a section including additional information such as at least one links to pages, links to tools, common questions and answers, and a collaborate now feature to schedule meetings, track participation, and record participation.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the SEIG tool is configured to supplement existing corporate processes or company-specific governance processes and includes a project repository tool and application delivery tool.

20. A non-transitory computer program product for executing a situational environment information technology governance (SEIG) tool, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage media;

first program instructions to implement an entering process that includes an entry screen with a field provided by the SEIG tool and which provides entry of one or more questions to facilitate communications with one or more of a user, a subject matter expert, a stakeholder, and a decision maker;

second program instructions to receive a selection of the one or more of the user, the subject matter expert, the stakeholder, and the decision maker using the SEIG tool;

third program instructions to initiate an invitation to the selected one or more of the user, the subject matter expert, the stakeholder, and the decision maker using the SEIG tool; and

fourth program instructions to implement a communication process for collaborating between the selected one or more of the user, the subject matter expert, the stakeholder, and the decision maker using a collaborative technology of the SEIG tool, and wherein the first, second, and third, program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media,

wherein the receiving the selection includes receiving a selection of one or more teams from a plurality of teams via the SEIG tool,

wherein a landing page interface of the SEIG tool comprises a virtual representation which includes a graphical user interface (GUI) comprising graphical elements of the selected one or more teams using the SEIG tool, a design order identifier associated with each of the graphical elements of the selected one or more teams of the plurality of teams, a link which allows the user to be taken to one of a social networking site, blog, and java applet to input situations and collaborate with key stakeholders when selected, and a status indicator which is a circular graphical element that is filled when at least one team member of the one or more teams is online and available for communication and is unfilled when no team member of the one or more teams is online and is available for communication,

wherein the design order identifier associated with each of the selected one or more teams indicates an order in which a design flow occurs for each of the selected one or more teams,

wherein the SEIG tool collaborating between the one or more of the user, the subject matter expert, the stakeholder, and the decision maker utilizes a plurality of collaboration tools which include instant messaging, teleconferencing, video conferencing, white board, and wikis,

wherein the SEIG tool comprises a social tagging tool which categorizes content that is used in the collaborating between the one or more of user, the subject matter expert, the stakeholder, and the decision maker,

wherein the SEIG tool is a web client application that provides the GUI which includes the field of entry, links, and interfaces to one or more of the plurality of collaboration tools,

wherein the graphical elements of the selected one or more teams in the landing page interface comprise a link to a separate subject matter experts (SME) page which includes a list of questions and answers to the list of questions to show whether a situation has been previously addressed,

wherein the collaborative technology of the SEIG tool includes a chat session between the selected one or more of the user, the subject matter expert, the stakeholder, and the decision maker, graphical elements of the selected one or more teams using the SEIG tool, the status indicator which is the circular graphical element that is filled when at least one team member of the one or more teams is online and available for communication and is unfilled when no team member of the one or more teams is online and is available for communication, a section including additional information such as at least one links to pages, links to tools, common questions and answers, and a collaborate now feature to schedule meetings, track participation, and record participation, and

wherein the chat session comprises a web conferencing tool.