WORK PLAN PRIORITIZATION FOR APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE USING POOLED RESOURCES IN A FACTORY

• US 20120054761A1
• Filed: 08/25/2010
• Published: 03/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: BAGHERI, SAEED, CHAAR, JARIR K., CHEE, YI-MIN, RATAKONDA, KRISHNA C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,549,527 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/46 Multiprogramming arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A computer implemented method, system and/or computer program product schedule execution of work requests through work plan prioritization. One or more work packets are mapped to and assigned to each work request from a group of work requests. A complexity level is derived for and assigned to each work packet, and priority levels of various work requests are determined for each entity from a group of entities. A global priority for the group of work requests is then determined. The global priority and the complexity levels combine to create a priority function, which is used to schedule execution of the work requests.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for scheduling execution of work requests through work plan prioritization, the computer implemented method comprising:

a processor mapping and assigning at least one work packet to each work request from a group of work requests;

the processor deriving and assigning a complexity level to each work packet from said at least one work packet, wherein the complexity level is derived from an initial estimate for a duration of time, a number of resources, and resource skill requirements required for completing each work packet from said at least one work packet;

the processor determining a priority level of each work request for each entity from a group of entities, wherein each priority level describes how urgent execution of a specific work request is to a particular entity from the group of entities;

the processor determining a global priority for the group of work requests, wherein the global priority provides a preliminary ranking for ordering execution of the group of work requests, and wherein the global priority is determined for said group of work requests by factoring in a resource availability for executing each work request, a cost of executing each work request, a financial profit derived by each entity from the group of entities from executing each work request, and the priority level of each work request for each entity from the group of entities;

the processor generating a priority function based on the global priority for the group of work requests and the complexity level assigned to each of the multiple work packets; and

the processor scheduling execution of the work requests based on the priority function.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the priority function is derived by minimizing y* in the formula

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the group of entities comprises a producer of a product, a distributor of the product, and a customer for the product.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 3, wherein the product is software application development and maintenance, wherein the producer is a software factory that utilizes pooled resources, and wherein the computer implemented method further comprises:

the processor prioritizing the software application development and maintenance in the software factory based on the priority function.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

the processor assigning entity priority ratings to the multiple entities, wherein the entity priority ratings describe relative preeminence rankings to each of the multiple entities.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 5, further comprising:

the processor further scheduling execution of the work requests based on the entity priority ratings.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 5, wherein the priority levels of each of the work requests are independent of the entity priority ratings.

8. A computer program product for scheduling execution of work requests through work plan prioritization, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage media;

first program instructions to map and assign at least one work packet to each work request from a group of work requests;

second program instructions to derive and assign a complexity level to each work packet from said at least one work packet, wherein the complexity level is derived from an initial estimate for a duration of time, a number of resources, and resource skill requirements required for completing each work packet from said at least one work packet;

third program instructions to determine a priority level of each work request for each entity from a group of entities, wherein each priority level describes how urgent execution of a specific work request is to a particular entity from the group of entities;

fourth program instructions to determine a global priority for the group of work requests, wherein the global priority provides a preliminary ranking for ordering execution of the group of work requests, and wherein the global priority is determined for said group of work requests by factoring in a resource availability for executing each work request, a cost of executing each work request, a financial profit derived by each entity from the group of entities from executing each work request, and the priority level of each work request for each entity from the group of entities;

fifth program instructions to generate a priority function based on the global priority for the group of work requests and the complexity level assigned to each of the multiple work packets; and

sixth program instructions to schedule execution of the work requests based on the priority function; and

wherein

the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the priority function is derived by minimizing y* in the formula

10. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the group of entities comprises a producer of a product, a distributor of the product, and a customer for the product.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the product is software application development and maintenance, wherein the producer is a software factory that utilizes pooled resources, and wherein the computer program product further comprises:

seventh program instructions to prioritize the software application development and maintenance in the software factory based on the priority function, and wherein the seventh program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising:

seventh program instructions to assign entity priority ratings to the multiple entities, wherein the entity priority ratings describe relative preeminence rankings to each of the group of entities, and wherein the seventh program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising:

eighth program instructions to further schedule execution of the work requests based on the entity priority ratings, wherein the eighth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the priority levels of each of the work requests are independent of the entity priority ratings.

15. A computer system comprising:

a central processing unit (CPU), a computer readable memory, and a computer readable storage media;

first program instructions to map and assign at least one work packet to each work request from a group of work requests;

second program instructions to derive and assign a complexity level to each work packet from said at least one work packet, wherein the complexity level is derived from an initial estimate for a duration of time, a number of resources, and resource skill requirements required for completing each work packet from said at least one work packet;

third program instructions to determine a priority level of each work request for each entity from a group of entities, wherein each priority level describes how urgent execution of a specific work request is to a particular entity from the group of entities;

fourth program instructions to determine a global priority for the group of work requests, wherein the global priority provides a preliminary ranking for ordering execution of the group of work requests, and wherein the global priority is determined for said group of work requests by factoring in a resource availability for executing each work request, a cost of executing each work request, a financial profit derived by each entity from the group of entities from executing each work request, and the priority level of each work request for each entity from the group of entities;

fifth program instructions to generate a priority function based on the global priority for the group of work requests and the complexity level assigned to each of the multiple work packets; and

sixth program instructions to schedule execution of the work requests based on the priority function; and

wherein

the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the priority function is derived by minimizing y* in the formula

17. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the group of entities comprises a producer of a product, a distributor of the product, and a customer for the product.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the product is software application development and maintenance, wherein the producer is a software factory that utilizes pooled resources, and wherein the computer system further comprises:

seventh program instructions to prioritize the software application development and maintenance in the software factory based on the priority function, and wherein the seventh program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory.

19. The computer system of claim 15, further comprising:

seventh program instructions to assign entity priority ratings to the multiple entities, wherein the entity priority ratings describe relative preeminence rankings to each of the group of entities, and wherein the seventh program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory.

20. The computer system of claim 19, further comprising:

eighth program instructions to further schedule execution of the work requests based on the entity priority ratings, wherein the eighth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory.