SOFTWARE FACTORY SEMANTIC RECONCILIATION OF DATA MODELS FOR WORK PACKETS

• US 20100023921A1
• Filed: 07/23/2008
• Published: 01/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: CHAAR, JARIR K., HUCHEL, JOSEPH P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,418,126 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A method, system, and computer-readable medium is presented for maintaining and supporting a semantic reconciliation of canonical data model exchange formats in support of software factory workflow management, state determination governing model transformations, and tool enabled processes across software development roles and methodologies used by a software factory.

Claims

1. A computer-executed method of enabling software factory semantic reconciliation of data models of work packets, the computer-executable method comprising:

creating a semantic data model of a software factory by using a Semantic Model Transform Algorithm (SMTA), wherein the semantic data model uses a language specific to an industry, knowledge domain and business role and is in a format that is readily understood by a practitioner;

giving the SMTA access to a rules repository where the language specific to the industry, knowledge domain and business role is retrieved and used to report on a result in terminology familiar to a stakeholder;

presenting the semantic data model to the stakeholder, wherein the stakeholder is able to interact with the semantic data model in a manner that converts high-level instructions, which are understood and utilized by the stakeholder, into architecture, processes, and operational data that are consumable as semantically reconciled instructions by software factory teams; and

consuming the semantically reconciled instructions, possibly enumerated in a work packet, by the stakeholder and software factory teams from initiation through completion of a project.

2. 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 center and a job shop that receive and execute the work packets to create the deliverable software.

3. The computer-executed method of claim 2, wherein the assembly center and job shop further comprises:

a published set of services and a published set of requirements for the assembly center and job shop, wherein the published set of services and the published set of requirements for the assembly center 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 center 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 center and job shop.

4. The computer-executed method of claim 3, 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.

5. The computer-executed method of claim 4, wherein the assembly center and job shop includes software that automatically recognizes a project type for the project proposal, and wherein the assembly center and job shop assembles the work packets into the deliverable software in accordance with the project type that is recognized by the assembly center and job shop.

6. The computer-executed method of claim 5, wherein the assembly center 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.

7. 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 enable software factory semantic reconciliation of data models of work packets by performing the steps of;

creating a semantic data model of a software factory by using a Semantic Model Transform Algorithm (SMTA), wherein the semantic data model uses a language specific to an industry, knowledge domain and business role and is in a format that is readily understood by a practitioner;

giving the SMTA access to a rules repository where the language specific to the industry, knowledge domain and business role is retrieved and used to report on a result in terminology familiar to a stakeholder;

presenting the semantic data model to the stakeholder, wherein the stakeholder is able to interact with the semantic data model in a manner that converts high-level instructions, which are understood and utilized by the stakeholder, into architecture, processes, and operational data that are consumable as semantically reconciled instructions by software factory teams; and

consuming the semantically reconciled instructions, possibly enumerated in a work packet, by the stakeholder and software factory teams from initiation through completion of a project.

8. The system of claim 7, 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 center and a job shop that receive and execute the work packets to create the deliverable software.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the assembly center further comprises:

a published set of services and a published set of requirements for the assembly center and job shop, wherein the published set of services and the published set of requirements for the assembly center 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 center 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 center and job shop.

10. The system of claim 9, 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.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the assembly center and job shop includes software that automatically recognizes a project type for the project proposal, and wherein the assembly center and job shop assembles the work packets into the deliverable software in accordance with the project type that is recognized by the assembly center and job shop.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the assembly center 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.

13. A tangible computer-readable storage medium encoded with a computer program, the computer program comprising computer executable instructions configured for enabling software factory semantic reconciliation of data models of work packets by performing the steps of:

creating a semantic data model of a software factory by using a Semantic Model Transform Algorithm (SMTA), wherein the semantic data model uses a language specific to an industry, knowledge domain and business role and is in a format that is readily understood by a practitioner;

giving the SMTA access to a rules repository where the language specific to the industry, knowledge domain and business role is retrieved and used to report on a result in terminology familiar to a stakeholder;

presenting the semantic data model to the stakeholder, wherein the stakeholder is able to interact with the semantic data model in a manner that converts high-level instructions, which are understood and utilized by the stakeholder, into architecture, processes, and operational data that are consumable as semantically reconciled instructions by software factory teams; and

consuming the semantically reconciled instructions, possibly enumerated in a work packet, by the stakeholder and software factory teams from initiation through completion of a project.

14. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, 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 center and a job shop that receive and execute the work packets to create the deliverable software.

15. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the assembly center further comprises:

a published set of services and a published set of requirements for the assembly center and job shop, wherein the published set of services and the published set of requirements for the assembly center 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 center 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 center and job shop.

16. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, 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.

17. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the assembly center and job shop includes software that automatically recognizes a project type for the project proposal, and wherein the assembly center and job shop assembles the work packets into the deliverable software in accordance with the project type that is recognized by the assembly center and job shop.

18. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the assembly center 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.

19. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, 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.

20. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the computer executable instructions are capable of being provided by a service provider to a customer on an on-demand basis.