Leveraging Multilevel Hierarchical Associations to Find Cross-Boundary Issues

• US 20100017365A1
• Filed: 07/15/2008
• Published: 01/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kumar, Darbha V., Chilukuri, Sampath K., Kumar, Garadi Shashidhar Hemanth, Thiramdas, Anil Kumar, Johnson, Sandra K., Ward, David, Mitchell, Joan L., Mishra, Sharad, Mundergi, Sanjay, Stoor, Benjamin J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,001,100 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: N/A
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation

Abstract

A mechanism for locating information about a target entity in disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories. Upon occurrence of an event associated with a target entity comprising an information technology solution, disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories are searched for metadata about the target entity. A determination is made from the metadata about the target entity whether the repositories comprise entities related to the target entity. If so, links in the metadata are used to search the repositories to locate the related entities. Upon locating a resolution to the event in the repositories, a link to the resolution is stored in the metadata. The repositories are also searched to determine owners of the target entity and related entities, and these owners are then notified of the event and the resolution to the event.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for locating information about a target entity in disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories, the computer implemented method comprising:

responsive to an occurrence of an event associated with a target entity comprising an information technology solution, searching the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories for metadata about the target entity;

determining from the metadata about the target entity that specific disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories comprise entities related to the target entity, wherein the related entities are components comprising the information technology solution;

using links in the metadata about the target entity to search the specific disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories to locate the related entities;

responsive to locating a resolution to the event in the multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories, storing a link to the resolution in the metadata about the target entity;

searching the multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories for owners of the target entity and the related entities; and

notifying the owners of the event and the resolution to the event.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the event comprises an issue or problem with the information technology solution.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

collecting search results from the specific disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories; and

displaying the search results to the user.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to determining from the metadata about the target entity that the disparate knowledge repositories do not comprise entities related to the target entity, creating an entry in the metadata about the target entity for the event.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 4, further comprising:

responsive to determining a resolution to the event, populating the entry with the resolution to the event.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories include machine reported product data and electronic service agents.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein notifying the owners of the event and the resolution to the event comprises providing an automatic update of the event in the owner environment.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 7, wherein the owner subscribes to the automatic updates via a service-level agreement.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

searching the metadata about the target entity in the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories to locate process information; and

responsive to determining from the metadata about the target entity that the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories comprise process information about the target entity, generating a report comprising the process information.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

responsive to determining from the metadata about the target entity that the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories do not comprise process information about the target entity, obtaining and inserting the process information into the metadata;

searching metadata about the related entities which comprise the target entity for process information about the related entities; and

generating a report comprising the process information about the target entity and the related entities.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 10, further comprising:

responsive to determining from the metadata about the target entity that the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories comprise process information for the target entity, generating a report comprising the process information.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

wherein the process information includes development and testing data of the target entity.

13. A data processing system for locating information about a target entity in disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories, the data processing system comprising:

a bus;

a storage device connected to the bus, wherein the storage device contains computer usable code;

at least one managed device connected to the bus;

a communications unit connected to the bus; and

a processing unit connected to the bus, wherein the processing unit executes the computer usable code to search, in response to an occurrence of an event associated with a target entity comprising an information technology solution, the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories for metadata about the target entity;

determine from the metadata about the target entity that specific disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories comprise entities related to the target entity, wherein the related entities are components comprising the information technology solution;

use links in the metadata about the target entity to search the specific disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories to locate the related entities;

store, in response to locating a resolution to the event in the multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories, a link to the resolution in the metadata about the target entity;

search the multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories for owners of the target entity and the related entities; and

notify the owners of the event and the resolution to the event.

14. A computer program product for locating information about a target entity in disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories, the computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer usable program code tangibly embodied thereon, the computer usable program code comprising;

computer usable program code for searching, in response to an occurrence of an event associated with a target entity comprising an information technology solution, the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories for metadata about the target entity;

computer usable program code for determining from the metadata about the target entity that specific disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories comprise entities related to the target entity, wherein the related entities are components comprising the information technology solution;

computer usable program code for using links in the metadata about the target entity to search the specific disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories to locate the related entities;

computer usable program code for storing, in response to locating a resolution to the event in the multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories, a link to the resolution in the metadata about the target entity

computer usable program code for searching the multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories for owners of the target entity and the related entities; and

computer usable program code for notifying the owners of the event and the resolution to the event.