TECHNIQUES FOR SHARING RESOURCES ACROSS MULTIPLE INDEPENDENT PROJECT LIFECYCLES

• US 20080300945A1
• Filed: 05/31/2007
• Published: 12/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Lowry, Lee Edward, Simpson, Michel Shane, Street, William, Scheuber-Heinz, Volker Gunnar
• Application Number:
  US11/756,112
• Publication Number:
  US 20080300945A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment

Abstract

Techniques for sharing resources across multiple independent projects are provided. Resources, which are associated with a first project and which are managed within first stages of a first project lifecycle, are selectively shared and managed within second stages of a second project lifecycle, which is associated with a second project. The first and second project lifecycles are separately and independently managed from one another.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

selectively sharing first resources associated with one or more first stages of a first project with one or more second stages of a second project, wherein the first stages are associated with a first project lifecycle of the first project and the second stages are associated with a second project lifecycle of the second project and each of the projects are managed independent of one another;

managing the sharing of the first resources via interdependencies defined for tying some aspects of the first project lifecycle with other aspects of the second project lifecycle; and

enforcing policy to drive the management of the interdependencies.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, establishing a meta project schema that defines the interdependencies and the policy, wherein the meta project schema logically represents an integrated project lifecycle for both the first project and the second project.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein selectively sharing further includes sharing the first resources in a common stage, which is included in the first stages and the second stages.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein selectively sharing further includes sharing the first resources from within a particular first stage of the first stages with a particular second stage of the second stages, and wherein the particular first stage is different from the particular second stage.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein managing further includes acquiring the interdependencies from a user that defines them via an interface.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising, notifying a first service associated with the first project lifecycle when a particular one of the shared first resources is being transitioned to a different first stage in violation of the policy to override independent management of the first project being performed by the first service.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising, notifying a second service associated with the second project lifecycle when a particular one of the shared first resources is transitioned to a different first stage for subsequent action by the second service in order to ensure the particular shared first resource is available and transitioned when applicable to a different second stage within the second project lifecycle.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving a dependency definition for a first resource associated with a first stage of a first project lifecycle as it relates to a second stage of a second project lifecycle, wherein the first project lifecycle is for a first project that is independently managed from that of a second project, which is associated with the second project lifecycle;

acquiring policy to enforce the dependency definition for purposes of sharing the first resource in the first stage of the first project lifecycle within the second stage of the second project lifecycle; and

dynamically managing the transitioning and sharing of the first resource between the first project lifecycle and the second project lifecycle in response to the policy enforcement.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising, recognizing the first stage as a common stage with the second stage, wherein the common stage is included and at a same level within the first project lifecycle as it is in the second project lifecycle.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising, recognizing the first stage and second stage as being at different lifecycle stages within the first project lifecycle and the second project lifecycle.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising, overriding independent management associated with the shared first resource within the first project lifecycle or the second project lifecycle in response to detected transitions of the first resource within the first project lifecycle or the second project lifecycle.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving further includes receiving the dependency definition via interactions with a user.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving further includes acquiring the dependency definition from a schema representing an integrated project that ties both the first project and the second project together.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising, acquiring the schema from a repository in response to an identity of the first project.

15. A system, comprising:

a first project lifecycle management service implemented in a machine-accessible and readable medium and to process on a machine;

a second project lifecycle management service implemented in a machine-accessible and readable medium and to process on a machine; and

a third project lifecycle management service implemented in a machine-accessible and readable medium and to process on a machine, wherein the first project lifecycle management service is to manage a first project lifecycle of first resources associated with a first project, and the second project lifecycle management service is to independently manage a second project lifecycle of second resources associated with a second project of the second project lifecycle, selective ones of the first resources and the second resources between the first and second project lifecycles.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first project lifecycle is defined by first stages and the second project lifecycle is defined by second stages and wherein the sharing of the selective first and second resources occurs within a common stage to both the first stages and the second stages.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the first project lifecycle is defined by first stages and the second project lifecycle is defined by second stages and wherein the sharing of the selective first and second resources occurs within a different stage in the first stages from that of the second stages.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the third project lifecycle management service is to dynamically override management of the selective first and second resources within the first or second project lifecycles via communication with the first or second project lifecycle management services in response to policy.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the third project lifecycle management service is to monitor transitions of the selective first and second resources occurring within the first and second project lifecycles.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the third project lifecycle management service is to interact with the second project lifecycle management service to drive a transition of a shared resource within the second project lifecycle when the third project lifecycle management service detects the shared resource has transitioned within the first project lifecycle management service.

21. A system, comprising:

a meta schema definition for an integrated project, wherein the meta schema definition is implemented in a machine-accessible and readable medium and is accessible to one or more machines; and

an integrated project lifecycle management service implemented in a machine-accessible and readable medium and to process on the one or more machines, wherein the integrated project lifecycle management service uses the meta schema definition to acquire dependencies between two independent projects and their lifecycles for purposes of managing the sharing of resources between the two independent projects during the course of their lifecycles.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the meta schema definition also includes one or more policies that provide instructions and processing direction to the integrated project lifecycle management service.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the integrated project lifecycle management service is to monitor or interact with two independent project lifecycle management services, each independent project lifecycle management service responsible for managing one of the two independent projects and its lifecycle.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein at least a portion of a particular dependency identifies one or more first stages associated with a first of the two independent projects for which the resources are to be shared along with one or more second stages associated with a second of the two independent projects.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the dependencies are user-defined.