Managing reusable software assets

• US 20030046282A1
• Filed: 03/26/2002
• Published: 03/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Akana, Inc. (Perforce Software Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Logic Library Incorporated
• Inventors: Graser, Timothy J., Tamminga, Paul W., Carlson, Brent A., Palof, John J., Gross, Dave H., Mariner, Debra L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,149,734 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/6
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access

Abstract

In general, techniques are described that facilitate the reuse of software assets within an enterprise. A software asset, as used herein, refers to a set of one or more related artifacts that have been created or harvested for the purpose of applying that asset repeatedly in subsequent development environments. A system, for example, is described that includes a repository to store artifacts, and an asset source to generate a software asset based on the artifacts. The system further includes an asset management system to receive the software asset from the asset source and store the software asset within an asset library. The system may further include a model having one or more elements, and an asset retrieval module to selectively retrieve a subset of the software assets from the asset library based on input from a user identifying one or more of the elements.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a capture module to map data types and resource functions to a domain model; and

a database to store the data representative of the mapping.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the domain model comprises:

a process model comprising processes and use cases; and

a structural model comprising reference components, reference interfaces, and reference functions.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein portions of the process model are linked to reference components, reference interfaces, or reference functions of the structural model.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the domain model comprises a plurality of process models, portions of each process model linked to reference components, reference interfaces, or reference functions of the structural model.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the capture module allows the user to map data types to the structural model.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the capture module allows the user to map functions to the structural model.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the capture module use synonyms to suggest mapping candidates.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a search engine to selectively retrieve elements of the model from the database.

9. A method of classifying a resource comprising functions and data types, the method comprising:

receiving a domain model comprising model functions and model data types;

mapping resource data types to model data types to produce data type maps;

mapping resource functions to model functions to produce function maps; and

storing the data type maps and function maps in a searchable database.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the domain model comprises:

a process model comprising processes and use cases; and

a structural model comprising reference components, reference interfaces, and reference functions.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein portions of the process model are linked to reference components, reference interfaces, or reference functions of the structural model.

12. A system comprising:

a repository to store artifacts;

an asset source to generate a software asset based on the artifacts; and

an asset management system to receive the software asset from the asset source and to store the software asset within an asset library.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the asset source generates the software asset to include references to the artifacts within the repository.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the asset source generates the software asset upon detecting a new or updated artifact within the repository.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the asset source generates the software asset in a format that complies with a data description language.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the data description language comprises the extensible markup language (XML).

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the asset source comprises a staging area to store the software asset prior to storage within the asset library by the asset management system.

18. The system of claim 12, further wherein the asset source generates the software asset in a normalized format in accordance with an asset template.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the asset template defines a schema for the software asset in accordance with a data description language.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the asset source comprises a writable interface for editing the software asset.

21. The system of claim 12, wherein the asset source comprises an artifact storage to cache artifacts extracted from the repository.

22. The system of claim 12, further comprising an asset capture tool to update the software asset based on additional artifacts.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the asset capture tool includes a user interface to receive the additional artifacts from a user.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the asset capture tool includes scripts to generate the additional artifacts.

25. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

an asset template that defines a schema for a software asset in accordance with a data description language; and

an asset capture tool to update the software asset in accordance with the asset template, wherein the asset capture tool identifies missing artifacts from the software asset based on the asset template.

26. The system of claim 12, further comprising a rules engine to generate metadata that maps the software asset to elements of one or more models.

27. The system of claim 26, further comprising an asset retrieval module to selectively retrieve the software asset from the asset library based on the metadata.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the models comprises at least one of a process model, a structural model, a resource model, and an implementation model.

29. The system of claim 12, further comprising an asset retrieval module to receive input from a user selecting an element of a model, and to selectively retrieve the software asset from the asset library based on the input.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the asset retrieval module generates a search specification based on the user input.

31. The system of claim 30, further comprising a scoring engine to score the software asset within the asset library against the search specification.

32. The system of claim 12, wherein the artifact comprises one of source code, binary code, a requirements specification, a design document, a model, a use case, and a collaboration diagram.

33. A system comprising:

a model having one or more elements;

a database to store reusable software assets; and

an asset retrieval module to receive input from a user selecting an element of the model, and to selectively retrieve a subset of the software assets from the database based on the input.

34. The system of claim 33, further comprising a rules engine to generate metadata that maps the software assets to the elements the model.

35. The system of claim 33, wherein the model comprises one of a process model, a structural model, a resource model, and an implementation model.

36. The system of claim 33, wherein the asset retrieval module generates a search specification based on the user input.

37. The system of claim 36, further comprising a scoring engine to score the software assets within database against the search specification.

38. A method comprising:

receiving input from a user selecting one or more elements of a model; and

retrieving software assets from an asset library based on the selected elements.

39. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause a processor to:

receive input from a user selecting one or more elements of a model; and

retrieve software assets from an asset library based on the selected elements.

40. A computer-readable medium comprising data structures that store:

software models having elements; and

software assets having metadata that maps the software asset to the elements of the software models.