Apparatus, system, and method for analyzing the association of a resource to a business process

• US 20060036405A1
• Filed: 08/10/2004
• Published: 02/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Klingenberg, Bernhard Julius, Hillsberg, Bruce Light, Byrd, Stephen A., Fox, J. Kristofer, Czerwinski, Steven, Krishnan, Rajesh Francisco, Thirumalai, Balaji
• Granted Patent: US 7,630,955 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/186
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/022 Knowledge engineering; Knowledge acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

An apparatus, system, and method are provided for analyzing the association of a resource to a business process. The invention includes an origination module, an evaluation module, and an identification module. The origination module receives an identifier and derives a seed resource associated with the identifier. The evaluation module applies heuristic routines to trace data and derives a set of candidate resources, and each heuristic routine assigns each candidate resource a probability value. The evaluation module further combines the probabilities for each candidate resource into a combined probability. The identification module identifies a resource associated to a business process by examining the combined probability of a candidate resource with a threshold value. The heuristic routines, thresholds, techniques for combining probabilities and the like are modifiable to accommodate user needs and system changes over time.

Claims

1. An apparatus for identifying resources associated with a computer process, the apparatus comprising:

an evaluation module configured to apply one or more heuristic routines to trace data associated with a logical application representative of a business process to derive a set of candidate resources, each heuristic routine assigning a probability to each candidate resource, the evaluation module combining the probability values assigned to a candidate resource by each heuristic routine to define a combined probability for the candidate resource; and

an identification module configured to identify at least one candidate resource as a member of the logical application in response to the combined probability satisfying a threshold value.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an origination module configured to derive an initial member of the logical application.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, the initial member of the logical application comprises a resource related to a business process identifier.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the origination module is further configured to search system information in order to determine the resource related to the business process identifier.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the business process identifier is selected from the group consisting of a network socket, a process name, a process identifier, a universal resource locator (URL), and a file.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the business process identifier is provided by a user.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein one heuristic routine comprises determining whether one of the candidate resources matches a user-defined criterion.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the evaluation module is further configured to remove a candidate resource from the set of candidate resources in response to a result from a heuristic routine.

9. A system for analyzing the association of a resource to a business process, comprising:

an operating system configured to manage execution of processes;

a process manager configured to provide information on running processes;

an Input/Output (I/O) module configured to provide file activity information;

a file system configured to manage files stored in storage and provide metadata about the files;

a monitoring module configured to collect trace data during execution of at least one software process within the operating system, the monitoring module interacting with at least one of the process manager, the I/O module, and the file system to collect the trace data directly related to operation of a software application; and

an analysis module configured to evaluate a set of candidate resources using one or more heuristic routines, the heuristic routines assigning a probability to each member of the set of candidate resources, and to identify a candidate resource as a member of a logical application representative of the business process in response to the probability of the candidate resource satisfying a threshold value.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the analysis module is further configured to add a candidate resource in response to a result from a heuristic routine.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the analysis module is further configured to derive an initial member of the logical application.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the initial member of the logical application is uniquely identified by a business process identifier, the business process identifier selected from the group consisting of a network socket, a process name, a process identifier, a universal resource locator (URL), and a file.

14. A signal bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform operations to identify resources associated with a business process, the operations comprising:

applying at least one heuristic routine to trace data associated with a logical application representative of a business process to derive a set of candidate resources, each heuristic routine assigning a probability to each candidate resource,

combining the probability assigned to a candidate resource by each heuristic routine to define a combined probability for the candidate resource; and

identifying at least one candidate resource as a member of the logical application in response to the combined probability satisfying a threshold value.

13. The system of claim 17, wherein the monitoring module is further configured to interact with a plurality of file systems.

15. The signal bearing medium of claim 14, wherein the logical application includes at least one initial member.

16. The signal bearing medium of claim 15, further comprising deriving the initial member.

17. The signal bearing medium of claim 16, wherein the initial member of the logical application comprises a resource related to a business process identifier.

18. The signal bearing medium of claim 17, wherein the business process identifier is selected from the group consisting of a network socket, a process name, a process identifier, a universal resource locator (URL), and a file.

19. The signal bearing medium of claim 17, wherein the business process identifier is provided by a user.

20. The signal bearing medium of claim 17, further comprising searching system information in order to determine the resource related to the business process identifier.

21. The signal bearing medium of claim 14, wherein one heuristic routine comprises determining whether a member of the logical application accessed one of the candidate resource.

22. The signal bearing medium of claim 14, wherein one heuristic routine comprises determining whether a member of the logical application accessed a second resource residing in a parent directory containing one of the candidate resources.

23. The signal bearing medium of claim 14, wherein one heuristic routine comprises determining whether a member of the logical application owns a parent directory containing one of the candidate resources.

24. The signal bearing medium of claim 14, wherein one heuristic routine comprises determining whether a member of the logical application accessed a resource contained in a package manager group that also includes one of the candidate resources.

25. The signal bearing medium of claim 14, wherein one heuristic routine comprises determining whether a time interval between the start of a member of the logical application and an access request for one of the candidate resources is less than a selected value.

26. The signal bearing medium of claim 14, wherein one heuristic routine comprises determining whether one of the candidate resources matches a user-defined criterion.

27. The signal bearing medium of claim 14, further comprising removing a candidate resource from the set of candidate resources in response to a result from a heuristic routine.

28. The signal bearing medium of claim 14, wherein each of the probabilities assigned to a candidate resource by a heuristic routine and the threshold value are user configurable.

29. A method for identifying resources associated with a business process, the method comprising:

applying at least one heuristic routine to trace data associated with a logical application representative of a business process to derive a set of candidate resources, each heuristic routine assigning a probability to each candidate resource;

combining the probability assigned to a candidate resource by each heuristic routine to define a combined probability for the candidate resource; and

identifying at least one candidate resource as a member of the logical application in response to the combined probability satisfying a threshold value.

30. A signal bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform operations to identify resources associated with a business process, the operations comprising:

a means for applying at least one heuristic routine to trace data associated with the logical application representative of a business process to derive a set of candidate resources, each heuristic routine assigning a probability to each candidate resource;

a means for combining the probability assigned to a candidate resource by each heuristic routine to define a combined probability for the candidate resource; and

identifying a resource associated with the logical application in response to the combined probability satisfying a threshold value.