Managing Processes in a Repository

• US 20110231414A1
• Filed: 03/19/2010
• Published: 09/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Srivastava, Biplav, Goodwin, Richard Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 8,682,909 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/752
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/345 Summarisation for human users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/35 Clustering; Classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/46 Multiprogramming arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals

Abstract

A method of managing a plurality of processes in a repository of a computer system is disclosed. For example, the method includes forming a model associated with differences among the plurality of processes. The model associated with differences includes one or more features for expressing the differences. The method further includes forming a model of priority among the one or more features, and organizing the plurality of processes according to the model associated with differences and according to the model of priority. At least one of the one or more features is a semantic feature. One or more of the forming of the model associated with differences, the forming of the model of priority and the organizing of the plurality of processes are implemented on a processor device.

Claims

1. A method of managing a plurality of processes in a repository of a computer system, the method comprising:

forming a model associated with differences among the plurality of processes, the model associated with differences comprising one or more features for expressing the differences, wherein at least one of the one or more features is a semantic feature;

forming a model of priority among the one or more features; and

organizing the plurality of processes according to the model associated with differences and according to the model of priority;

wherein one or more of the forming of the model associated with differences, the forming of the model of priority, and the organizing of the plurality of processes are implemented on a processor device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the one or more features that is the semantic feature is at least one of a goal, a policy, a metric, a sub-process, and a semantic annotation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more features is a syntactic feature.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing the plurality of processes according to the model associated with the differences among the plurality of processes.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the analyzing of the plurality of processes according to the model associated with the differences among the plurality of processes comprises parsing the plurality of processes according to the one or more features.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the analyzing of the plurality of processes according to the model associated with the differences among the plurality of processes comprises calculating one or more distances measures associated with differences among the plurality of processes according to the one or more features.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more distance measures is calculated according to results from parsing the plurality of processes according to the one or more features.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the analyzing of the plurality of processes according to the model associated with the differences among the plurality of processes comprises determining information representing the aggregate of the plurality of processes.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the analyzing of the plurality of processes according to the model associated with the differences among the plurality of processes comprises determining one or more subsets of processes of the plurality of processes, wherein all processes within any one subset are similar to one another according to a measure of similarity.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing the plurality of processes according to the model of priority.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the model of priority comprises priorities for each of the one or more features, and wherein the analyzing of the plurality of processes according to the model of priority comprises analyzing the plurality of processes according to the priorities for each of the one or more features.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the organizing of the plurality of processes comprises arranging the plurality of processes according to at least one of:

(i) factors common among two or more processes of the plurality of processes;

(ii) one or more distance measures among the plurality of processes; and

(iii) novelty of one or more processes of the plurality of processes.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the organizing of the plurality of processes is according to results of the analyzing of the plurality of processes according to the model associated with the differences among the plurality of processes.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the organizing of the plurality of processes is according to results of the analyzing of the plurality of processes according to the model of priority.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming a summary of the plurality of processes according to the organization of the plurality of processes.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising storing the summary in a summary repository.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising analyzing the summary according to a query of a user.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the model associated with differences among the plurality of processes and the model of priority are formed according to information from a user associated with one or more queries from the user.

19. A system for managing a plurality of processes in a repository of a computer system, the system comprising:

a difference model forming module operative to form a model associated with differences among the plurality of processes, the model associated with differences comprising one or more features for expressing the differences, wherein at least one of the one or more features is a semantic feature;

a priority model forming module operative to form a model of priority among the one or more features; and

an organizing module operative to organize the plurality of processes according to the model associated with differences and according to the model of priority;

wherein one or more of the forming of the model associated with differences, the forming of the model of priority, and the organizing of the plurality of processes are implementable on a processor device.

20. The system of claim 19 further comprising:

a first analyzing module operative to analyze the plurality of processes according to the model associated with the differences among the plurality of processes; and

a second analyzing module operative to analyze the plurality of processes according to the model of priority.

21. The system of claim 19, further comprising a summary forming module operative to form a summary of the plurality of processes according to the organization of the plurality of processes.

22. The system of claim 20, further comprising a third analyzing module operative to analyze the summary according to a query of a user.

23. Apparatus for managing a plurality of processes in a repository of a computer system, the apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

form a model associated with differences among the plurality of processes, the model associated with differences comprising one or more features for expressing the differences, wherein at least one of the one or more features is a semantic feature;

form a model of priority among the one or more features; and

organize the plurality of processes according to the model associated with differences and according to the model of priority.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the processor coupled to the memory is further configured to:

analyze the plurality of processes according to the model associated with the differences among the plurality of processes; and

analyze the plurality of processes according to the model of priority.

25. An article of manufacture for managing a plurality of processes in a repository of a computer system, the article of manufacture comprising a computer readable storage medium tangibly embodying a computer readable program code which, when executed, causes a computer to:

form a model associated with differences among the plurality of processes, the model associated with differences comprising one or more features for expressing the differences, wherein at least one of the one or more features is a semantic feature;

form a model of priority among the one or more features; and

organize the plurality of processes according to the model associated with differences and according to the model of priority.