METHOD AND APPARATUS TO DEFINE AND JUSTIFY POLICY REQUIREMENTS USING A LEGAL REFERENCE LIBRARY

• US 20100082676A1
• Filed: 09/30/2008
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: RAYNAUD-RICHARD, Pierre, PAKNAD, Deidre
• Granted Patent: US 8,204,869 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/782
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A computer-implemented system and method for defining and justifying policy requirements includes: a hierarchical regional mapping (HRM) module provides a common language and a hierarchical model for geography and for jurisdictions; a legal references library (LRL) module contains applicable legal references; a legal references policy mapping (LRPM) module maps legal references to policies; and a requirements cross-checking (RCC) module cross-checks information in the legal references policy mapping module.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system for defining and justifying policy requirements, comprising:

a hierarchical regional mapping (HRM) module that provides a common language and a hierarchical model for geography and for jurisdictions;

a legal references library (LRL) module that contains applicable legal references;

a legal references policy mapping (LRPM) module that maps legal references to policies; and

a requirements cross-checking (RCC) module that cross-checks information in the legal references policy mapping module.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the legal references policy mapping (LRPM) module provides for creating and maintaining a list of legal references that apply to a given policy.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the legal references policy mapping (LRPM) module provides for identifying which type of requirement for a given policy is influenced by a given legal references

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the legal references policy mapping (LRPM) module provides which of the legal references are to be controlling for a given policy.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the requirements cross-checking (RCC) module provides for creating and maintaining a model of the dependencies and compatibility between structured parameters used to describe each category of requirements.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the requirements cross-checking (RCC) module provides, within each category of requirements, consolidation of all controlling requirements and comparison of THEM to a policy requirement using an understanding of the relationships between parameters and options.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the requirements cross-checking (RCC) module provides, within each category of requirements, consolidation of the sum of all requirements to allow easy review and evaluation of the compromises that were made between the policy requirement and the sum of all requirements that were applicable.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the requirements cross-checking (RCC) module provides cross-checking of a geographic region and jurisdiction associated with a policy and its related legal references to detect inconsistency that would uncover human error.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the hierarchical regional mapping (HRM) module provides representation of the different jurisdictions and sub-jurisdictions that an organization operates in and representation of regulatory or governing bodies within the different jurisdictions.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the hierarchical regional mapping (HRM) module provides an explicit naming/referencing scheme in which nodes are specified by a hierarchical path.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the legal references library (LRL) module provides for each legal reference a geographic region or jurisdiction that the reference applies to as defined by one or more nodes within a hierarchy defined by the HRM module.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the legal references library (LRL) module provides for each reference a classification tag that reflects the source of a requirement and the domain of application of the requirements within the organization.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the domain of application includes one or more of the following:

preservation requirements, retention, data privacy or security designations.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the domain of application includes a level of risk associated with non-compliance.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein a requirements definition includes one or more of the following:

retention rules, disposal protocols, handling protocols, storage protocols, and transport protocols.

16. The system of claim 11 wherein the legal references library (LRL) module includes referral to related legal references.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein the legal references library (LRL) module is provided with full search capability.

18. A computer-implemented method for defining and justifying policy requirements, comprising the steps of:

mapping in a hierarchical regional mapping (HRM) module to provide a common language and a hierarchical model for geography and for jurisdictions;

providing legal references library (LRL) module that contains applicable legal references;

mapping legal references to policies in a legal references policy mapping (LRPM) module; and

cross-checking in a requirements cross-checking (RCC) module information in the legal references policy mapping module.