OPEN MARKETPLACE FOR DISTRIBUTED SERVICE ARBITRAGE WITH INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT

• US 20100023918A1
• Filed: 07/22/2008
• Published: 01/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: RATAKONDA, KRISHNA C., CHAAR, JARIR K., HUCHEL, JOSEPH P., CHEE, YI-MIN, JOBSON, THOMAS A. JR., OPPENHEIM, DANIEL V., BERNARDINI, FAUSTO
• Granted Patent: US 8,140,367 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/101
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

A method, system, and computer-readable medium that support an open marketplace for distributed service arbitrage with an integrated risk management is presented. Orders for work packets, which are processed within a software factory, are allowed to be bid upon only by software factories that have been previously ranked by a centralized marketplace portal, thus ensuring that only qualified software factories are allowed to service such orders.

Claims

1. A computer-executed method of performing service arbitrage with an integrated risk management process, the computer-executed method comprising:

receiving a service order to assemble a work packet, wherein the work packet is a self-contained software work unit that is assembled within a software factory;

rating multiple software factory components in a marketplace according to a requirement of the work packet that has been set by a buyer, wherein the multiple software factory components include design centers, assembly lines and job shops;

storing ratings of capabilities of the multiple software factory components within a central marketplace portal, wherein the central marketplace portal is managed by a marketplace enabler that coordinates needs of the buyer with capabilities of the multiple software factory components;

limiting access to bid on the service order to software factory components that meet scoring requirements set by the buyer;

matching, by the marketplace enabler using the centralized marketplace portal, a most suitable software factory component with the requirement of the work packet that has been set by the buyer; and

assigning the service order to assemble the work packet to the most suitable software factory component, wherein a risk management of the work packet is managed by the central marketplace portal and the marketplace enabler.

2. The computer-executed method of claim 1, wherein operations within the software factory further comprise:

collecting a plurality of software artifacts that have been archived during an assembly of previous work packets;

collecting a plurality of metrics that have been utilized during the assembly of previous work packets;

defining a template for a new work packet, wherein the template for the new work packet is created by a packet definition process that defines attributes that are needed in the new work packet;

under a control of the packet definition process, selecting requisite software artifacts from the plurality of software artifacts;

under the control of the packet definition process, selecting requisite metrics from the plurality of metrics; and

sending the template, requisite software artifacts and requisite metrics to a packet assembly process, wherein the packet assembly process assembles, under the control of the template and the requisite metrics, the requisite software artifacts to create the new work packet.

3. The computer-executed method of claim 2, wherein the work packets, the metrics and the software artifacts are stored in a data repository as templates for later reuse at an appropriate stage of execution of the service order.

4. The computer-executed method of claim 1, wherein the software factory further comprises:

a software factory governance section that evaluates a project proposal for acceptance by the software factory; and

an assembly line and job shop that receive and execute the work packets to create the deliverable software.

5. The computer-executed method of claim 4, wherein the assembly line and job shop further comprise:

a published set of services and a published set of requirements for the assembly line and job shop, wherein the published set of services and the published set of requirements for the assembly line and job shop are published to the design center, and wherein the published set of services describes what assembly services for assembling work packets are offered by the assembly line and job shop, and wherein the published set of requirements describes what execution environment must be used by work packets that are provided by the design center for assembly in the assembly line and job shop.

6. The computer-executed method of claim 5, wherein the work packets include governance procedures, standards, reused assets, work packet instructions, integration strategy, schedules, exit criteria and artifact checklist templates for Input/Output routines.

7. The computer-executed method of claim 6, wherein the assembly line and job shop includes software that automatically recognizes a project type for the project proposal, and wherein the assembly line and job shop assembles the work packets into the deliverable software in accordance with the project type that is recognized by the assembly line and job shop.

8. The computer-executed method of claim 7, wherein the assembly line and job shop conduct an integration test, a system test, a system integration test and a performance test of the deliverable software, wherein the integration test tests the deliverable software for compatibility with the client'"'"'s system, the system test checks the client'"'"'s system to ensure that the client'"'"'s system is operating properly, the system integration test tests for bugs that may arise when the deliverable software is integrated into the client'"'"'s system, and the performance test tests the deliverable software for defects as it is executing in the client'"'"'s system.

9. A system comprising:

a processor;

a data bus coupled to the processor;

a memory coupled to the data bus; and

a tangible computer-usable medium on which is stored computer program code, the computer program code comprising instructions executable by the processor and configured to perform service arbitrage with an integrated risk management process by performing the steps of;

receiving a service order to assemble a work packet, wherein the work packet is a self-contained software work unit that is assembled within a software factory;

rating multiple software factory components in a marketplace according to a requirement of the work packet that has been set by a buyer, wherein the multiple software factory components include design centers, assembly lines and job shops;

storing ratings of capabilities of the multiple software factory components within a central marketplace portal, wherein the central marketplace portal is managed by a marketplace enabler that coordinates needs of the buyer with capabilities of the multiple software factory components;

limiting access to bid on the service order to software factory components that meet scoring requirements set by the buyer;

matching, by the marketplace enabler using the centralized marketplace portal, a most suitable software factory component with the requirement of the work packet that has been set by the buyer; and

assigning the service order to assemble the work packet to the most suitable software factory component, wherein a risk management of the work packet is managed by the central marketplace portal and the marketplace enabler.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein operations within the software factory further comprise:

collecting a plurality of software artifacts that have been archived during an assembly of previous work packets;

collecting a plurality of metrics that have been utilized during the assembly of previous work packets;

defining a template for a new work packet, wherein the template for the new work packet is created by a packet definition process that defines attributes that are needed in the new work packet;

under a control of the packet definition process, selecting requisite software artifacts from the plurality of software artifacts;

under the control of the packet definition process, selecting requisite metrics from the plurality of metrics; and

sending the template, requisite software artifacts and requisite metrics to a packet assembly process, wherein the packet assembly process assembles, under the control of the template and the requisite metrics, the requisite software artifacts to create the new work packet.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the work packets, the metrics and the software artifacts are stored in a data repository as templates for later reuse at an appropriate stage of execution of the service order.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the software factory further comprises:

a software factory governance section that evaluates a project proposal for acceptance by the software factory; and

an assembly line and job shop that receive and execute the work packets to create the deliverable software.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the assembly line and job shop further comprise:

a published set of services and a published set of requirements for the assembly line and job shop, wherein the published set of services and the published set of requirements for the assembly line and job shop are published to the design center, and wherein the published set of services describes what assembly services for assembling work packets are offered by the assembly line and job shop, and wherein the published set of requirements describes what execution environment must be used by work packets that are provided by the design center for assembly in the assembly line and job shop.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the work packets include governance procedures, standards, reused assets, work packet instructions, integration strategy, schedules, exit criteria and artifact checklist templates for Input/Output routines.

15. A tangible computer-readable storage medium encoded with a computer program, the computer program comprising computer executable instructions configured for performing service arbitrage with an integrated risk management process by performing the steps of:

receiving a service order to assemble a work packet, wherein the work packet is a self-contained software work unit that is assembled within a software factory;

rating multiple software factory components in a marketplace according to a requirement of the work packet that has been set by a buyer, wherein the multiple software factory components include design centers, assembly lines and job shops;

storing ratings of capabilities of the multiple software factory components within a central marketplace portal, wherein the central marketplace portal is managed by a marketplace enabler that coordinates needs of the buyer with capabilities of the multiple software factory components;

limiting access to bid on the service order to software factory components that meet scoring requirements set by the buyer;

matching, by the marketplace enabler using the centralized marketplace portal, a most suitable software factory component with the requirement of the work packet that has been set by the buyer; and

assigning the service order to assemble the work packet to the most suitable software factory component, wherein a risk management of the work packet is managed by the central marketplace portal and the marketplace enabler.

16. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein operations within the software factory further comprise:

collecting a plurality of software artifacts that have been archived during an assembly of previous work packets;

collecting a plurality of metrics that have been utilized during the assembly of previous work packets;

defining a template for a new work packet, wherein the template for the new work packet is created by a packet definition process that defines attributes that are needed in the new work packet;

under a control of the packet definition process, selecting requisite software artifacts from the plurality of software artifacts;

under the control of the packet definition process, selecting requisite metrics from the plurality of metrics; and

sending the template, requisite software artifacts and requisite metrics to a packet assembly process, wherein the packet assembly process assembles, under the control of the template and the requisite metrics, the requisite software artifacts to create the new work packet.

17. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the work packets, the metrics and the software artifacts are stored in a data repository as templates for later reuse at an appropriate stage of execution of the service order.

18. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the software factory further comprises:

a software factory governance section that evaluates a project proposal for acceptance by the software factory; and

an assembly line and job shop that receive and execute the work packets to create the deliverable software.

19. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the assembly line and job shop further comprise:

a published set of services and a published set of requirements for the assembly line and job shop, wherein the published set of services and the published set of requirements for the assembly line and job shop are published to the design center, and wherein the published set of services describes what assembly services for assembling work packets are offered by the assembly line and job shop, and wherein the published set of requirements describes what execution environment must be used by work packets that are provided by the design center for assembly in the assembly line and job shop.

20. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the work packets include governance procedures, standards, reused assets, work packet instructions, integration strategy, schedules, exit criteria and artifact checklist templates for Input/Output routines.

21. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the assembly line and job shop include software that automatically recognizes a project type for the project proposal, and wherein the assembly line and job shop assemble the work packets into the deliverable software in accordance with the project type that is recognized by the assembly line and job shop.

22. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the tangible computer-readable storage medium is a component of a remote server, and wherein the computer executable instructions are deployable to a supervisory computer from the remote server.

23. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the computer executable instructions are capable of being provided by a service provider to a customer on an on-demand basis.