Process automation system and method employing multi-stage report generation

• US 20080082588A1
• Filed: 10/03/2006
• Published: 04/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cloudebees Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Electric Cloud, Inc.
• Inventors: Ousterhout, John, Tamhankar, Sandeep, Wallgren, Anders, Muzaffar, Usman, Stanton, Scott
• Granted Patent: US 8,042,089 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

The embodiments of the invention described herein employ sophisticated techniques for managing distributed processes in a process automation system. Specifically, one embodiment of the invention implements a general purpose property mechanism in which arbitrary data is attached to any object in the system (e.g., projects, procedures, jobs, job steps, resources, etc), thereby providing a convenient way to configure the system without modifying the underlying program code. In addition, in one embodiment, a three-tier hierarchy of data object is employed: “projects,” “procedures,” and “steps” (or “projects,” “jobs” and “job steps” during runtime). A property may be attached to any object on any tier of the hierarchy to configure that object and (potentially) all of the objects which reference the property. The properties and property sheets may be attached both statically (before runtime) and dynamically (during runtime). Moreover, one embodiment of the invention employs a unique property substitution syntax to allow the value for a particular property to be located and substituted dynamically at runtime.

In addition, advanced report generation techniques are described below in which the report generation process is logically separated into a data gathering stage and a report generation stage. The data gathering stage extracts certain specified properties and diagnostic information from each job step. The extracted information is then stored in a highly flexible, reusable data format which is used to create different types of user-configurable reports.

Claims

1. A system for generating reports within a process automation system comprising:

a post processor module to scan through a log file and responsively generate a set of properties and specified diagnostics information from the log file; and

a report generator to generate one or more reports using both the set of properties and the specified diagnostics information.

2. The system as in claim 1 wherein the log file is generated following the execution of a job step, the log file containing an indication of the commands which executed during the job step and the results of the commands.

3. The system as in claim 2 further comprising:

property attachment logic to attach the set of properties to the job step following execution.

4. The system as in claim 1 wherein the report generator embeds hyperlinks in the displayed properties of one of the reports, the hyperlinks pointing to a subset of the diagnostics information related to the properties.

5. The system as in claim 1 wherein the set of properties include number of compiles, tests failed, tests passed, warnings and errors.

6. The system as in claim 1 wherein, to identify the set of properties and specified diagnostics information, the post processor scans through the log file to identify specific patterns indicating specific properties and diagnostics information.

7. The system as in claim 1 wherein the diagnostics information is stored in an XML file.

8. A method for generating reports within a process automation system comprising:

scanning through a log file and responsively generating a set of properties and specified diagnostics information from the log file; and

generating one or more reports using both the set of properties and the specified diagnostics information.

9. The method as in claim 8 wherein the log file is generated following the execution of a job step, the log file containing an indication of the commands which executed during the job step and the results of the commands.

10. The method as in claim 9 further comprising:

attaching the set of properties to the job step following execution.

11. The method as in claim 8 further comprising embedding hyperlinks in the displayed properties of one of the reports, the hyperlinks pointing to a subset of the diagnostics information related to the properties.

12. The method as in claim 8 wherein the set of properties include number of compiles, tests failed, tests passed, warnings and errors.

13. The method as in claim 8 further comprising:

scanning through the log file to identify specific patterns indicating specific properties and diagnostics information to identify the set of properties and specified diagnostics information.

14. The method as in claim 8 wherein the diagnostics information is stored in an XML file.

15. A machine-readable medium having program code stored thereon which, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the operations of:

scanning through a log file and responsively generating a set of properties and specified diagnostics information from the log file; and

generating one or more reports using both the set of properties and the specified diagnostics information.

16. The machine-readable medium as in claim 15 wherein the log file is generated following the execution of a job step, the log file containing an indication of the commands which executed during the job step and the results of the commands.

17. The machine-readable medium as in claim 16 comprising additional program code to cause the machine to perform the operations of:

attaching the set of properties to the job step following execution.

18. The machine-readable medium as in claim 15 further comprising embedding hyperlinks in the displayed properties of one of the reports, the hyperlinks pointing to a subset of the diagnostics information related to the properties.

19. The machine-readable medium as in claim 15 wherein the set of properties include number of compiles, tests failed, tests passed, warnings and errors.

20. The machine-readable medium as in claim 15 comprising additional program code to cause the machine to perform the operations of:

scanning through the log file to identify specific patterns indicating specific properties and diagnostics information to identify the set of properties and specified diagnostics information.

21. The machine-readable medium as in claim 15 wherein the diagnostics information is stored in an XML file.