System and methods for quantitatively evaluating complexity of computing system configuration

• US 20070043525A1
• Filed: 07/28/2006
• Published: 02/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GlobalFoundries, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hellerstein, Joseph, Brown, Aaron
• Granted Patent: US 7,472,037 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/81
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for quantitatively evaluating the complexity of configuring computing systems. By way of example, a technique for quantitatively evaluating a complexity associated with a configuration of a system under evaluation comprises the following steps/operations. Configuration-related data for the system under evaluation is collected. At least a portion of the configuration-related data is quantitatively analyzed to estimate a configuration complexity of the system under evaluation. The configuration complexity of the system under evaluation is reported based on the quantitative analysis. The technique may further comprise assessing a quality of the configuration of the system under evaluation. Then, the reporting step/operation may further comprise reporting the configuration complexity of the system under evaluation based on the quantitative analysis and the quality assessment.

Claims

1. A method for quantitatively evaluating a complexity associated with a configuration of a system under evaluation, comprising the steps of:

collecting configuration-related data for the system under evaluation;

quantitatively analyzing at least a portion of the configuration-related data to estimate a configuration complexity of the system under evaluation; and

reporting the configuration complexity of the system under evaluation based on the quantitative analysis.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of assessing a quality of the configuration of the system under evaluation.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the reporting step further comprises reporting the configuration complexity of the system under evaluation based on the quantitative analysis and the quality assessment.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of collecting configuration-related data for the system under evaluation further comprises capturing one or more configuration processes.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of capturing one or more configuration processes further comprises one or more of:

monitoring a behavior of one or more human operators;

analyzing documentation or a script;

allowing direct manual entry of a configuration process; and

loading one or more explicit specifications of a configuration process.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of collecting configuration-related data for the system under evaluation further comprises gathering data on one or more configuration controls.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of gathering data on one or more configuration controls further comprises gathering data comprising one or more of parameters, executable operations, status displays, and configuration repositories.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of quantitatively analyzing at least a portion of the configuration-related data to estimate the configuration complexity of the system under evaluation further comprises computing one or more configuration complexity scores.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of reporting the configuration complexity of the system under evaluation further comprises reporting results of the complexity analysis in one or more of a human-readable format and a machine-readable format.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the automated method is useable to dynamically adapt one or more configuration interfaces to minimize configuration complexity.

11. Apparatus for quantitatively evaluating a complexity associated with a configuration of a system under evaluation, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and operative to;

(i) collect configuration-related data for the system under evaluation;

(ii) quantitatively analyze at least a portion of the configuration-related data to estimate a configuration complexity of the system under evaluation; and

(iii) report the configuration complexity of the system under evaluation based on the quantitative analysis.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor is further operative to assess a quality of the configuration of the system under evaluation.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the reporting operation further comprises reporting the configuration complexity of the system under evaluation based on the quantitative analysis and the quality assessment.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the operation of collecting configuration-related data for the system under evaluation further comprises capturing one or more configuration processes.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the operation of collecting configuration-related data for the system under evaluation further comprises gathering data on one or more configuration controls.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the operation of gathering data on one or more configuration controls further comprises gathering data comprising one or more of parameters, executable operations, status displays, and configuration repositories.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the operation of reporting the configuration complexity of the system under evaluation further comprises reporting results of the complexity analysis in one or more of a human-readable format and a machine-readable format.

18. An article of manufacture for quantitatively evaluating a complexity associated with a configuration of a system under evaluation, comprising a machine readable medium containing one or more programs which when executed implement the steps of:

collecting configuration-related data for the system under evaluation;

quantitatively analyzing at least a portion of the configuration-related data to estimate a configuration complexity of the system under evaluation; and

reporting the configuration complexity of the system under evaluation based on the quantitative analysis.

19. A system for quantitatively evaluating a complexity associated with a configuration of a system under evaluation, comprising:

a configuration-related data collector for collecting configuration-related data for the system under evaluation;

a complexity analyzer for quantitatively analyzing at least a portion of the configuration-related data to estimate a configuration complexity of the system under evaluation; and

a reporter for reporting the configuration complexity of the system under evaluation based on the quantitative analysis.