System and method for visually rendering resource policy usage information

• US 20060085836A1
• Filed: 10/14/2004
• Published: 04/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Schaubach, Christopher Johan, Lyons, Theodore Patrick Jr., Zhang, Hong S., Searcey, Carrie Weaver
• Granted Patent: US 7,512,966 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

A system and method for visually rendering resource policy usage information are provided. The system and method make use of policy performance data and relative weighting values of policies to generate, for each system resource, a graphical representation of the system resource with regard to the affect of policies on their behavior within the IT infrastructure. The resulting visual depiction of the IT infrastructure provides a visual representation that quickly communicates to the user which resources have the most/least policies guiding their behavior and the frequency of evaluation of these policies. For example, a large graphical element with a negative color may alert the user that the system resource is heavily affected by policies but that the policies are not being evaluated frequently enough.

Claims

1. A method, in a data processing system, for visually rendering a representation of a system resource, comprising:

determining a size characteristic of a graphical element representing the system resource based on one or more relative weighting values corresponding to one or more policies associated with the system resource;

determining an emphasis characteristic of the graphical element based on performance data corresponding to the one or more policies associated with the system resource; and

generating a visual representation of the system resource using the graphical element having the size characteristic and the emphasis characteristic.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the emphasis characteristic is at least one of a color of the graphical element and a visual effect to be applied to the graphical element.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical element is one of a geometric shape, a bar in a bar-chart, a line in a line-graph, a portion of a pie-chart, and an element in a block diagram.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising retrieving the performance data from a performance data storage device associated with a policy evaluation engine.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an emphasis characteristic of the graphical element based on performance data corresponding to the one or more policies associated with the system resource includes determining the emphasis characteristic based on a number of times the one or more policies associated with the system resource are evaluated.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a visual representation of a system, in which the system resources is a part, based on the visual representation of the system resource and visual representations of other system resources, wherein system resources in the visual representation of the system that have higher relative weighting values associated with their associated policies are depicted as larger than other system resources in the visual representation of the system, and wherein system resources that have had their associated policies evaluated more often than other system resources are depicted with emphasis in the visual representation of the system.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining one or more relative weighting values corresponding to one or more policies associated with the system resource from a policy database.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance data includes one or more of a number of times each of the one or more policies was evaluated for the system resource, timestamp information regarding when each of the one or more policies was evaluated, a number of times each of the one or more policies was evaluated positively, a number of times each of the one or more policies was evaluated negatively, and a number of times the one or more policies were evaluated for each decision point of the system resource.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a size characteristic of a graphical element representing the system resource includes determining the size characteristic based on a number of the one or more policies that are associated with the system resource and a sum of the relative weighting values associated with the one or more policies.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the sum of the relative weighting values associated with the one or more policies is normalized.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a size characteristic of a graphical element representing the system resource includes determining the size characteristic based on a number of decision points in the system resource.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a size characteristic of a graphical element representing the system resource includes determining the size characteristic based on a number of policy evaluations within a predetermined period of time performed by the system resource and the relative weighting values of the one or more policies associated with the system resource.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an emphasis characteristic of the graphical element based on performance data corresponding to the one or more policies associated with the system resource includes determining the emphasis characteristic based on a number of times policies are evaluated by the system resource.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an emphasis characteristic of the graphical element based on performance data corresponding to the one or more policies associated with the system resource includes determining the emphasis characteristic based on a hit-ratio of the one or more policies associated with the system resource.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the hit-ratio is determined by dividing a number of times a policy is evaluated positively by a total number of times a policy is evaluated by the system resource.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the emphasis characteristic based on a hit-ratio of the one or more policies associated with the system resource includes averaging the hit-ratios for each of the one or more policies to determine a value for identifying the emphasis characteristic.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the hit ratio is determined by dividing a number of times the one or more policies were evaluated positively by a total number of the one or more policies that were evaluated in association with the system resource.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an emphasis characteristic of the graphical element based on performance data corresponding to the one or more policies associated with the system resource includes determining the emphasis characteristic based on a number of times the one or more policies were evaluated for all decision points of the system resource.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein determining the emphasis characteristic based on a number of times the one or more policies were evaluated for all decision points of the system resource includes dividing the number of times the one or more policies were evaluated for all decision points of the system resource by a total number of decision points of the system resource.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an emphasis characteristic of the graphical element based on performance data corresponding to the one or more policies associated with the system resource includes determining the emphasis characteristic based on a number of times the one or more policies were evaluated positively for the system resource and a total number of positive evaluations for policies across all system resources.

21. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for visually rendering a representation of a system resource, comprising:

instructions for determining a size characteristic of a graphical element representing the system resource based on one or more relative weighting values corresponding to one or more policies associated with the system resource;

instructions for determining an emphasis characteristic of the graphical element based on performance data corresponding to the one or more policies associated with the system resource; and

instructions for generating a visual representation of the system resource using the graphical element having the size characteristic and the emphasis characteristic.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the emphasis characteristic is at least one of a color of the graphical element and a visual effect to be applied to the graphical element.

23. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the graphical element is one of a geometric shape, a bar in a bar-chart, a line in a line-graph, a portion of a pie-chart, and an element in a block diagram.

24. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising instructions for retrieving the performance data from a performance data storage device associated with a policy evaluation engine.

25. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the instructions for determining an emphasis characteristic of the graphical element based on performance data corresponding to the one or more policies associated with the system resource include instructions for determining the emphasis characteristic based on a number of times the one or more policies associated with the system resource are evaluated.

26. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising:

instructions for generating a visual representation of a system, in which the system resources is a part, based on the visual representation of the system resource and visual representations of other system resources, wherein system resources in the visual representation of the system that have higher relative weighting values associated with their associated policies are depicted as larger than other system resources in the visual representation of the system, and wherein system resources that have had their associated policies evaluated more often than other system resources are depicted with emphasis in the visual representation of the system.

27. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising:

instructions for obtaining one or more relative weighting values corresponding to one or more policies associated with the system resource from a policy database.

28. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the performance data includes one or more of a number of times each of the one or more policies was evaluated for the system resource, timestamp information regarding when each of the one or more policies was evaluated, a number of times each of the one or more policies was evaluated positively, a number of times each of the one or more policies was evaluated negatively, and a number of times the one or more policies were evaluated for each decision point of the system resource.

29. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the instructions for determining a size characteristic of a graphical element representing the system resource include instructions for determining the size characteristic based on a number of the one or more policies that are associated with the system resource and a sum of the relative weighting values associated with the one or more policies.

30. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the sum of the relative weighting values associated with the one or more policies is normalized.

31. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the instructions for determining a size characteristic of a graphical element representing the system resource include instructions for determining the size characteristic based on a number of decision points in the system resource.

32. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the instructions for determining a size characteristic of a graphical element representing the system resource include instructions for determining the size characteristic based on a number of policy evaluations within a predetermined period of time performed by the system resource and the relative weighting values of the one or more policies associated with the system resource.

33. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the instructions for determining an emphasis characteristic of the graphical element based on performance data corresponding to the one or more policies associated with the system resource include instructions for determining the emphasis characteristic based on a number of times policies are evaluated by the system resource.

34. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the instructions for determining an emphasis characteristic of the graphical element based on performance data corresponding to the one or more policies associated with the system resource include instructions for determining the emphasis characteristic based on a hit-ratio of the one or more policies associated with the system resource.

35. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein the hit-ratio is determined by dividing a number of times a policy is evaluated positively by a total number of times a policy is evaluated by the system resource.

36. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein the instructions for determining the emphasis characteristic based on a hit-ratio of the one or more policies associated with the system resource include instructions for averaging the hit-ratios for each of the one or more policies to determine a value for identifying the emphasis characteristic.

37. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein the hit ratio is determined by dividing a number of times the one or more policies were evaluated positively by a total number of the one or more policies that were evaluated in association with the system resource.

38. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the instructions for determining an emphasis characteristic of the graphical element based on performance data corresponding to the one or more policies associated with the system resource include instructions for determining the emphasis characteristic based on a number of times the one or more policies were evaluated for all decision points of the system resource.

39. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein the instructions for determining the emphasis characteristic based on a number of times the one or more policies were evaluated for all decision points of the system resource include instructions for dividing the number of times the one or more policies were evaluated for all decision points of the system resource by a total number of decision points of the system resource.

40. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the instructions for determining an emphasis characteristic of the graphical element based on performance data corresponding to the one or more policies associated with the system resource include instructions for determining the emphasis characteristic based on a number of times the one or more policies were evaluated positively for the system resource and a total number of positive evaluations for policies across all system resources.

41. A system for visually rendering a representation of a system resource, comprising:

means for determining a size characteristic of a graphical element representing the system resource based on one or more relative weighting values corresponding to one or more policies associated with the system resource;

means for determining an emphasis characteristic of the graphical element based on performance data corresponding to the one or more policies associated with the system resource; and

means for generating a visual representation of the system resource using the graphical element having the size characteristic and the emphasis characteristic.