DYNAMIC COMMUNITY GENERATOR

• US 20100281512A1
• Filed: 07/24/2009
• Published: 11/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Inventors: Andersen, David M., Richards, Phillip L., Higgins, Christopher P., Renfro, Chadwick R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,316,453 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/604 Tools and structures for managing or administering access control systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems, methods, and computer program products configured to determine communities within an organization dynamically based on the distribution of entitlements within the organization.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a memory device having stored therein information regarding a plurality of entitlement-eligible entities and information regarding one or more entitlements currently associated with each entitlement-eligible entity; and

a processing device communicatively coupled to the memory device, wherein the processing device is configured to determine different communities of entitlement-eligible entities based on a review of the one or more entitlements currently associated with each entitlement-eligible entity.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing device is configured to determine a community of entitlement-eligible entities based on a review of the one or more entitlements that each entitlement-eligible entity has in common with other of the plurality of entitlement-eligible entities.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein, for each combination of two entitlement-eligible entities within the plurality of entitlement-eligible entities, the processing device is configured to compute a correlation number representing how well the entitlements associated with one of the two entitlement-eligible entities correlate with the entitlements associated with the other of the two entitlement-eligible entities, and wherein the processing device determines a community of entitlement-eligible entities based on the correlation number.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the processing device is configured to compute the correlation number as a function of a number of entitlements that the two entitlement-eligible entities have in common and a number of entitlements that the two entitlement-eligible entities do not have in common.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the processing device is configured to compute the correlation number by multiplying the number of entitlements that the two entitlement-eligible entities have in common by two and then subtracting therefrom the number of entitlements that the two entitlement-eligible entities do not have in common.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the processing device generates a correlation matrix showing entitlement correlations for each combination of a plurality of entitlement-eligible entities, and wherein the processing device uses the correlation matrix to generate a plurality of different communities of entitlement-eligible entities.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the processing device is configured to generate a community of entitlement-eligible entities by selecting an entitlement-eligible entity and selecting all entitlement-eligible entities in the selected entitlement-eligible entity'"'"'s row in the correlation matrix that have a correlation above a defined correlation threshold.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing device is configured to periodically re-determine different communities of entitlement-eligible entities based on a review of the one or more entitlements currently associated with each entitlement-eligible entity at the time of the periodic redetermination.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing device is configured to select a community of entitlement-eligible entities from the plurality of different communities determined by the processing device, and wherein the processing device is further configured to determine, based on a review of the one or more entitlements currently associated with each entitlement-eligible entity within the selected community, one or more taboo entitlements whose number in the community is below a taboo entitlement threshold or one or more normal entitlements whose number in the community is above a normal entitlement threshold.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing device is configured to select a community of entitlement-eligible entities from the plurality of different communities determined by the processing device, wherein the processing device is configured to calculate likelihood ratios for each of the one or more entitlements currently associated with the entitlement-eligible entities within the selected community, and wherein the processing device is further configured to determine, based on the likelihood ratios, one or more taboo entitlements whose likelihood ratio is below a taboo entitlement threshold or one or more normal entitlements whose likelihood ratio is above a normal entitlement threshold.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processing device is configured to mark a taboo entitlement for a higher priority of review relative to other entitlements not determined to be taboo entitlements.

12. A system comprising:

a memory comprising information stored therein about the distribution of entitlements to a plurality of entities within an organization; and

a processor configured to use the information stored in the memory to identify a portion of the plurality of entities based on the distribution of entitlements within the organization, wherein the processor is configured to store information in the memory identifying the portion of the plurality of entities as a community.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the memory comprises information about a pseudo-entity having a combination of entitlements associated therewith, and wherein the processor is configured to identify the portion of the plurality of entities based on a review of the one or more entitlements that each entity of the plurality of entities has in common with the pseudo-entity.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the combination of entitlements associated with the pseudo-entity is based on user input comprising user-selected entitlements.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein, for each combination of an entity of the plurality of entities and the pseudo-entity, the processor is configured to compute a correlation number representing how well the entitlements associated the entity of the plurality of entities correlate with the combination of entitlements associated with the pseudo-entity, and wherein the processor identifies the portion of the plurality of entities based on the correlation number.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the information stored in the memory about the distribution of entitlements to the plurality of entities within an organization is updated in real time or near-real time.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to determine, for each entitlement in the community, an indicator of the amount or likelihood of each entitlement in the community based on a review of the one or more entitlements currently associated with each entity within the community, and wherein the processor is configured to determine one or more taboo entitlements whose indicator is below a taboo entitlement threshold or one or more normal entitlements whose indicator is above a normal entitlement threshold.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor is configured to mark a taboo entitlement for a higher priority of review relative to other entitlements not determined to be taboo entitlements.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the memory comprises information about the entity type for each of the plurality of entities, and wherein the processor is configured to identify rare entity types in the community.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor is configured to mark a rare entity type for a higher priority of review relative to other entities not determined to be rare in the community.

21. The system of claim 12, wherein the memory comprises information about the entity type for each of the plurality of entities, wherein the processor is configured to determine, for each entity type represented in the community, an indicator of the amount or likelihood of each entity type in the community based on a review of the one or more entity types currently represented within the community, and wherein the processor is configured to determine one or more taboo entity types based on whether each entity type'"'"'s indicator is below a taboo entity type threshold.

22. A method for managing the distribution of entitlements within an organization, said method comprising:

providing information regarding a plurality of members in the organization and the entitlements that are currently associated with each member;

using a processor to group members from the plurality of members into one or more communities based a review of the one or more entitlements currently associated with each member; and

storing in a memory the one or more communities and information about which of the plurality of members are in each of the one or more communities.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein using the processor to group members from the plurality of members into one or more communities comprises:

computing, using the processor, a correlation number representing how well the entitlements associated with one member correlates with the entitlements associated with another member; and

determining, using the processor, a community based at least partially on the correlation number.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the processor is configured to compute the correlation number as a function of a number of entitlements that the two members have in common and a number of entitlements that the two members do not have in common.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

creating a pseudo-member having a combination of entitlements associated therewith; and

grouping, using the processor, a portion of the plurality of members into a community based on a review of the one or more entitlements that each member of the plurality of members has in common with the pseudo-member.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

using user input to select the combination of entitlements associated with the pseudo-member.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein, for each combination of a member of the plurality of members and the pseudo-member, the processor is configured to compute a correlation number representing how well the entitlements associated the member of the plurality of members correlate with the combination of entitlements associated with the pseudo-member, and wherein the method further comprises:

grouping a portion of the plurality of members into a community based on a the correlation number.

28. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

providing information about the member type for each of the plurality of members;

determining an indicator of an amount or likelihood of each member type in a community based on a review of the one or more member types currently represented within the community;

determining one or more taboo member types based on whether each member type'"'"'s indicator is below a taboo member type threshold; and

marking a member in the community that is associated with the one or more taboo member types.

29. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

selecting a community from the one or more communities;

analyzing the entitlements that are currently associated with the members of the selected community to determine, for each entitlement in the selected community, the number of members in the selected community that are currently associated with each entitlement;

determining whether the number of members in the selected community that are currently associated with each entitlement is below a certain threshold;

identifying the members in the selected community associated with entitlements below the threshold; and

determining whether the identified members should be associated with the entitlements below the threshold.

30. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

selecting a community from the one or more communities;

analyzing the entitlements that are currently associated with the members of the selected community to determine, for each entitlement in the selected community, the number of members in the selected community that are currently associated with each entitlement;

determining whether the number of members in the selected community that are currently associated with each entitlement is above a certain threshold;

identifying the members in the selected community not associated with entitlements above the threshold; and

determining whether the identified members should be associated with the entitlements above the threshold.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

automatically distributing entitlements in the community that are above the threshold to the members in the selected community that are not associated with the entitlements above the threshold.