Application Directory

• US 20080133594A1
• Filed: 12/01/2006
• Published: 06/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Goldman Sachs & Company (Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Husain, Syed, Bessette, James M., Fotinatos, Perry, Lew, Melvin
• Granted Patent: US 10,152,687 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/104.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

Building and maintaining an accurate and up-to-date inventory of applications deployed throughout an organization are described. In one aspect, an application directory facilitates automated and standardized entry of information on an application. The application directory provides a series of browser-rendered interfaces that collects data about the application. These different types of data are organized according to a logical data model that defines multiple hierarchical levels of data types and relationships amongst the hierarchical levels. The collection of registered applications forms an inventory that may be used to manage these assets. In another aspect, the application directory allows authorized users to manage the inventory of applications.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

maintaining an inventory of applications that are distributed throughout an organization;

receiving a request to identify what applications are available in a particular physical location of the organization;

searching the inventory responsive to the request; and

presenting a listing of applications from the inventory that are available in the particular physical location of the organization.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the applications comprise a logical set of resources including computing devices, software programs, and telecommunications devices that together perform a specific business function.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the inventory comprises information pertaining to one or more of a family to which the application belongs, deployment data pertaining to deployment of the application, component data identifying components used by the application, and owner data identifying a business owner responsible for the application.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising organizing the inventory according to a data structure having multiple levels and relationships amongst the levels, the data structure comprising:

a family level that defines a collection of one or more applications that one of perform a set of related business functions or have a common support structure;

an application level to define the applications;

a deployment level to define instances of the applications that run in specific locations; and

a component level to define components used to implement the applications.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising storing the inventory in a first database, and feeding at least some data of the inventory to a second database.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising facilitating online registration of a new application for addition into the inventory.

7. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed on one or more processing units, perform the method recited in claim 1.

8. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

presenting a user interface to facilitate entry of information pertaining to an application, wherein the application comprises a logical set of resources including one or more of computing devices, software programs, or telecommunications devices that perform a specific business function;

collecting, as part of the entry of information, family data describing a family to which the application belongs, deployment data pertaining to deployment of the application, component data identifying components used by the application, and owner data identifying a business owner responsible for the application; and

organizing the information to form an inventory of applications that are distributed throughout an organization.

9. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 8, wherein the deployment data comprises one or more of a physical location of the application, a unique identifier, or a list of computing resources.

10. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 8, wherein the component data comprises one or more of (1) external data feeds into and out of the application, (2) other deployments upon which the deployment of the application may be dependent, or (3) a listing of the components.

11. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

storing the inventory of applications in a database; and

querying the database to identify applications satisfying specified criteria.

12. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 8, further comprising ascertaining, from the inventory, what applications are deployed in a particular physical location.

13. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

storing the inventory of applications in a first database; and

feeding at least a portion of the inventory from the first database to a second database that maintains a global inventory of assets distributed throughout the organization.

14. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed on one or more processing units, perform the computer-implemented method recited in claim 8.

15. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

facilitating entry of information pertaining to applications distributed throughout an organization using a Web-based data entry tool having a series of web pages for input of different types of information about the applications, wherein the different types of information adhere to a logical data model defining multiple hierarchical levels and relationships amongst the hierarchical levels;

displaying on the web pages a visual cue of the logical data model to convey how data is being organized; and

changing a focus within the visual cue of the logical data model in coordination with the information being collected by the Web-based data entry tool.

16. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 15, wherein the logical data model comprises:

a first level that defines a collection of one or more applications that one of perform a set of related business functions or have a common support structure;

a second level to define the applications;

a third level to define instances of the applications that run in specific locations; and

a fourth level to define components used to implement the applications.

17. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 15, further comprising storing the information in a data structure defined by the logical data model to form an inventory of applications distributed throughout the organization.

18. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed on one or more processing units, perform the computer-implemented method recited in claim 15.

19. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed on one or more processors, performs acts comprising:

maintaining an inventory of applications that are distributed throughout an organization;

facilitating online registration of new applications being added to the inventory, the online registration including prompts for different types of data according to a hierarchical logical data model;

collecting operational data in an ongoing manner from at least some of the applications in the inventory; and

responsive to requests, identifying in real-time applications in the inventory that satisfy certain criteria.

20. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 19, wherein the maintaining comprises storing the inventory in a first database and feeding at least a portion of the inventory to a second database.

21. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 19, wherein the hierarchical logical data model comprises:

a first level that defines a collection of one or more applications that one of perform a set of related business functions or have a common support structure;

a second level to define the applications;

a third level to define instances of the applications that run in specific locations; and

a fourth level to define components used to implement the applications.

22. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 19, wherein the facilitating online registration comprises:

displaying on a series of web pages a visual cue of the hierarchical logical data model to convey how data is being organized; and

changing a focus within the visual cue of the logical data model in coordination with the information being collected during the online registration.

23. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 19, wherein the identifying comprises:

receiving a request to identify what applications are available in a particular physical location of the organization;

searching the inventory responsive to the request; and

presenting a listing of applications from the inventory that are available in the particular physical location of the organization.

24. A computing system comprising:

at least one processing unit; and

the one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 19, the computer-executable instructions being executable on the processing unit.

25. A graphical user interface that can be rendered on a computing device, comprising:

a series of data entry interfaces to facilitate user entry of different types of information about applications deployed throughout an organization, wherein the different types of information adhere to a logical data model defining multiple hierarchical levels of information types and relationships amongst the hierarchical levels; and

a visual cue representative of the logical data model displayed in conjunction with the series of data entry interfaces to convey which data is being sought for user entry and how that data is being organized within the logical data model.

26. A graphical user interface as recited in claim 25, wherein the logical data model comprises:

a first level that defines a collection of one or more applications that one of perform a set of related business functions or have a common support structure;

a second level to define the applications;

a third level to define instances of the applications that run in specific locations; and

a fourth level to define components used to implement the applications.

27. A graphical user interface as recited in claim 25, wherein the visual cue includes a focus portion to represent data is being sought for user entry and a non-focused portion to represent data not currently being sought for user entry.

28. A graphical user interface as recited in claim 27, wherein the focus changes within the visual cue in coordination with which data is being sought for user entry.

29. A system comprising:

memory;

at least one processing unit coupled to access the memory;

an application directory tool stored in the memory and executable on the processing unit to facilitate online registration of applications deployed throughout an organization, wherein individual applications comprise a logical set of resources including one or more of computing devices, software programs, or telecommunications devices that perform a specific business function; and

the application directory tool being further configured to access an inventory of the applications that have been registered to identify where applications are physically deployed within the organization.

30. A system as recited in claim 29, wherein the applications are stored in the inventory according to a logical data model that defines multiple hierarchical levels of information pertaining to the applications and relationships amongst the hierarchical levels.

31. A system as recited in claim 29, wherein the application directory tool presents a series of web pages for the registration, wherein individual web pages depict a visual cue of a hierarchical logical data model to convey how data is being organized.

32. A system as recited in claim 31, wherein the application directory tool changes a focus within the visual cue in coordination with what information is being collected during the registration.

33. A system as recited in claim 31, wherein the hierarchical logical data model comprises:

a first level that defines a collection of one or more applications that one of perform a set of related business functions or have a common support structure;

a second level to define the applications;

a third level to define instances of the applications that run in specific locations; and

a fourth level to define components used to implement the applications.

34. A system comprising:

means for facilitating registration of applications deployed throughout an organization in an automated online manner to form an inventory of applications, the registration facilitation means presenting a series of interfaces to gather systematically different types of information about the applications, wherein the different types of information adhere to a logical data model defining multiple hierarchical levels and relationships amongst the hierarchical levels; and

means for discovering applications in the inventory that satisfy search criteria.

35. A system as recited in claim 34, wherein the logical data model comprises:

a first level that defines a collection of one or more applications that one of perform a set of related business functions or have a common support structure;

a second level to define the applications;

a third level to define instances of the applications that run in specific locations; and

a fourth level to define components used to implement the applications.

36. A system as recited in claim 34, wherein the interfaces depict a visual cue of the logical data model to convey how the information is being organized, and modify a focus within the visual cue during the registration to visually convey what information is being sought.