LINKING FRAMEWORK FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT

• US 20090112939A1
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Published: 04/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Sharma, Pritam K., Ge, David W., Hutchison, Robert T., Roth, Michael T., Zizys, Giedrius, Sanghvi, Ashvinkumar J., Onalan, Bahadir Baris
• Granted Patent: US 8,190,562 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/273 Asynchronous replication or reconciliation

Abstract

A data synchronization task is received at a console, wherein the data synchronization task is associated with information technology management. A configuration document is configured using the data synchronization task, wherein the configuration document defines data synchronization through declarations. A linking framework is configured based on the configuration document. Data is synchronized from a first and second source to a target as defined by the configuration document.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a data synchronization task at a console, wherein the data synchronization task is associated with information technology management;

configuring a configuration document using the data synchronization task, wherein the configuration document defines data synchronization through declarations;

configuring a linking framework based on the configuration document; and

synchronizing data from a first and second source to a target as defined by the configuration document.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein configuring the configuration document includes inserting a reference to code in a code library to implement the declarations.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein synchronizing the data includes importing data from the first source in response to a first trigger and importing data from the second source in response to a second trigger.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the data is imported when correct credentials for importing the data are presented to the first and second source.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the data from the first source is cached until the data from the second source is available before synchronizing the data to the target.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein synchronizing the data includes:

transforming the data from a first schema associated with the first source to a target schema associated with the target; and

transforming the data from a second schema associated with the second source to the target schema.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein synchronizing the data includes joining data from the first source with data from the second source.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein synchronizing the data includes:

attempting to resolve a conflict between data from the first source and data from the second source; and

stopping the synchronization and storing the data from the first and second sources when the conflict is irresolvable.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein synchronizing the data includes importing data from the first and second sources using batching and exporting the data to the target using batching, wherein the batching resumes from a place of interruption when the batching is interrupted during the importing/exporting of the data.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein synchronizing the data includes synchronizing only data changes between data at the first source and the target using watermarking.

11. A method for data synchronization between a first source, a second source and a target, comprising:

retrieving data from the first source by a first import connector using batching in response to a first trigger being tripped, wherein the first import connector has credentials to retrieve the data;

placing the data from the first source in a staging database;

retrieving data from the second source by a second import connector using batching in response to a second trigger being tripped, wherein the second import connector has credentials to retrieve the data;

placing the data from the second source in the staging database;

retrieving the data from the first and second sources from the staging database by an export connector;

processing the data by the export connector; and

storing the processed data at the target by the export connector, wherein the export connector stores the data at the target using batching.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein processing the data includes:

transforming the data from a first schema associated with the first source to a target schema associated with the target;

transforming the data from a second schema associated with the second source to the target schema;

joining data from the first source with data from the second source; and

performing conflict resolution between data from the first source and data from the second source when a conflict is detected between the data.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

configuring a configuration document associated with the data synchronization in response to user input, wherein the configuration document defines the data synchronization through declarations.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein retrieving data from the first source includes:

putting one or more inbound workflow messages into a message queue in response to the first trigger being tripped;

popping an inbound workflow message of the one or more inbound workflow messages from the message queue by a first inbound workflow;

retrieving a batch of the data from the first source as defined by a configuration document associated with the inbound workflow message by the first inbound workflow; and

putting the inbound workflow message back into the message queue when data remains to be retrieved from the first source by the first inbound workflow.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

popping an inbound workflow message of the one or more inbound workflow messages from the message queue by a second inbound workflow; and

retrieving a batch of the data from the first source as defined by the configuration document associated with the inbound workflow message by the second inbound workflow, wherein the first and second inbound workflows work in parallel.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein processing the data by the export connector includes:

popping an outbound workflow message from a message queue;

retrieving a batch of the data from the staging database as defined by a configuration document associated with the outbound workflow message;

processing the batch of the data by the export connector; and

putting the outbound workflow message back into the message queue when data remains to be processed.

17. A system, comprising:

a plurality of source stores;

a target store; and

a linking framework to synchronize information technology management data from the plurality of source stores to the target store, wherein the linking framework is configured using a declarative configuration document, wherein the declarative configuration document defines synchronization processing including transformation, joining, and conflict resolution, to be performed on the technology management data.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising a console connected to the linking framework, wherein the console to enable a user to create a data synchronization task and to enable a user to modify the data synchronization task, the data synchronization task used to generate the declarative configuration document.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the linking framework includes:

an import connector to retrieve the technology management data from a first source store of the plurality of source stores when a trigger activity is detected by the linking framework, wherein the import connector throttles retrieving of the technology management data to minimize impact on the first source store; and

an export connector to perform the transformation, the joining, and the conflict resolution, and to send the processed technology management data to the target store, wherein the export connector throttles sending of the processed technology management data to the target store to minimize impact on the target store.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein the linking framework includes a staging database, the staging base to store:

technology management data from a first source store of the plurality of source stores when the first source store and a second source store are not available at the same time, wherein the synchronization processing begins after the technology management data has been retrieved from the first and second source stores;

technology management data from the first and second source stores when an irresolvable conflict exists between the technology management data, wherein the synchronization processing is stopped and the technology management data is stored for later debugging; and

processed technology management data to be sent to the target store using batching.