CAPTURING EFFORT LEVEL BY TASK UPON CHECK-IN TO SOURCE CONTROL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20080066071A1
• Filed: 09/11/2007
• Published: 03/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Opshub, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Opshub, Inc.
• Inventors: Jain, Sandeep, Knight, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,645,907 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Techniques are provided for capturing the ID of a work item, and the corresponding effort level information, as a part of the actual check-in process of the artifacts into the underlying change management system. This effort information can then be propagated to an external system for subsequent reporting and analysis. In one embodiment, tasks (or similar items such as issues or bugs) are entered into a common task or issue tracking system. As part of this process each task is assigned a unique identifier. A “call-out” is added to the source control management system which captures the effort level and task ID associated with the proposed change. The data entered is validated to ensure that the task ID is valid and that the effort entered is within a valid range. If the data entered is valid, the change to the underlying artifact is allowed to proceed and the effort and task information is stored for later analysis. If the data is not valid, the proposed change is rejected and an appropriate error message is returned to the user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving input representing a proposed change to a software source file;

in response to the input, capturing an effort level and task ID associated with the proposed change;

making said proposed change;

storing data that indicates the task ID; and

storing data, in association with the task ID, that indicates the effort level.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of, before making said proposed change, validating the captured effort level and task ID to ensure that the effort level is within a valid range, and the task ID is a valid task ID.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the steps of

making said proposed change;

storing data that indicates the task ID; and

storing data, in association with the task ID, that indicates the effort level;

are all performed in response to determining that the effort level is within the valid range and the task ID is a valid task ID.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving input representing a proposed change to a software source file includes intercepting a proposed change that is being submitted to a source code management system.

5. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for:

receiving input representing a proposed change to a software source file;

in response to the input, capturing an effort level and task ID associated with the proposed change;

making said proposed change;

storing data that indicates the task ID; and

storing data, in association with the task ID, that indicates the effort level.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5 further comprising instructions for the step of, before making said proposed change, validating the captured effort level and task ID to ensure that the effort level is within a valid range, and the task ID is a valid task ID.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 wherein the instructions include instructions that ensure that the steps of

making said proposed change;

storing data that indicates the task ID; and

storing data, in association with the task ID, that indicates the effort level;

are all performed in response to determining that the effort level is within the valid range and the task ID is a valid task ID.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5 wherein receiving input representing a proposed change to a software source file includes intercepting a proposed change that is being submitted to a source code management system.