MANAGING REQUIREMENTS PLANNING IN A COLLABORATIVE COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT

• US 20080163072A1
• Filed: 12/27/2006
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cudmore, Sean P., Akbulut, Muhtar B., Khan, Aamer, Clemm, Geoffrey M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,996,982 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/751
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for managing requirements planning in a collaborative computing environment. In one embodiment of the invention, a requirements planning management method can include identifying each approving stakeholder for a version of a requirement in a requirements plan, creating traceability links between each approving stakeholder and the version of the requirement, and notifying each approving stakeholder having a traceability link to the version of the requirement whenever a new version of the requirement is proposed by a stakeholder. The method also can include merging multiple versions of the requirement into a single document, displaying the single document to a viewing stakeholder, and marking up the single document to reflect differences between the single document and a most recent version of the requirement for the viewing stakeholder.

Claims

1. A requirements planning management method comprising:

identifying each approving stakeholder for a version of a requirement in a requirements plan;

creating traceability links between each approving stakeholder and the version of the requirement; and

,

notifying each approving stakeholder having a traceability link to the version of the requirement whenever a new version of the requirement is proposed by a stakeholder.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

merging multiple versions of the requirement into a single document;

displaying the single document to a viewing stakeholder; and

,

marking up the single document to reflect differences between the single document and a most recent version of the requirement for the viewing stakeholder.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

applying a plurality of annotations to the requirement;

displaying the annotations in the single document in association with corresponding sections of the requirement; and

,

highlighting selected ones of the annotations that have been either added, removed, or changed since a most recent viewing of the requirement by the viewing stakeholder.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

applying an annotation to the version of the requirement;

associating the annotation with a range of versions of the requirement; and

,

filtering a display of the annotation in association with the displaying of the single document according to the range of versions of the requirement.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying a question type annotation to the version of the requirement;

identifying a stakeholder responsible for creating the version of the requirement; and

,

notifying the identified stakeholder of the question to solicit a comment type annotation by the identified stakeholder as a response to the question type annotation.

6. A requirements planning data processing system comprising:

a requirements planning system configured to maintain traceability links between a version of a requirement in a requirement plan and different stakeholders approving of the version of the requirement; and

,

an annotation manager coupled to an annotation data store, the annotation manager comprising program code enabled to accept an annotation description for a version of a requirement and to store in association with the annotation description a scope for the annotation in respect to different versions of the requirement.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the annotation description is one of a comment, objection and question.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the scope for the annotation comprises a version start and a version end.

9. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium embodying computer usable program code for requirements planning management, the computer program product comprising:

computer usable program code for identifying each approving stakeholder for a version of a requirement in a requirements plan;

computer usable program code for creating traceability links between each approving stakeholder and the version of the requirement; and

,

computer usable program code for notifying each approving stakeholder having a traceability link to the version of the requirement whenever a new version of the requirement is proposed by a stakeholder.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising:

computer usable program code for merging multiple versions of the requirement into a single document;

computer usable program code for displaying the single document to a viewing stakeholder; and

,

computer usable program code for marking up the single document to reflect differences between the single document and a most recent version of the requirement for the viewing stakeholder.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising:

computer usable program code for applying a plurality of annotations to the requirement;

computer usable program code for displaying the annotations in the single document in association with corresponding sections of the requirement; and

,

computer usable program code for highlighting selected ones of the annotations that have been either added, removed, or changed since a most recent viewing of the requirement by the viewing stakeholder.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising:

computer usable program code for applying an annotation to the version of the requirement;

computer usable program code for associating the annotation with a range of versions of the requirement; and

,

computer usable program code for filtering a display of the annotation in association with the displaying of the single document according to the range of versions of the requirement.

13. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising:

computer usable program code for applying a question type annotation to the version of the requirement;

computer usable program code for identifying a stakeholder responsible for creating the version of the requirement; and

,

computer usable program code for notifying the identified stakeholder of the question to solicit a comment type annotation by the identified stakeholder as a response to the question type annotation.