System and process for management of changes and modifications in a process

• US 6,964,044 B1
• Filed: 10/06/2000
• Issued: 11/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Genworth Holdings, Inc. (Genworth Financial Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Genworth Financial Incorporated
• Inventors: Harrington, Robert, Bergh, Sandra, Hudson, Charles A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dam, Tuan
• Assistant Examiner(s): KENDALL, CHUCK O
• Application Number:
  US09/680,332
• Time in Patent Office: 1,859 Days
• Field of Search: 717168-178, 707203-232, 709/221
• US Class Current: 717/177
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3604 Software analysis for verifying properties of programs byte-code verification G06F9/44589
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44536 Selecting among different versions

Abstract

A system and process for managing the migrating enhancements into a production software system is described. Enhancements are first migrated to a model system. After any issues are identified and addressed, the enhancements are migrated to the production software system. An electronic change management process is provided for assisting a developer in providing information about an enhancement to a change manager. An assurance tool of migration strategies is provided for tracking changes and avoiding conflicts between the enhancement and the model and production software systems. Information gathered in the change management may be used for providing an objective evaluation of developers of enhancements.

Claims

1. A process for managing a migration of one or more enhancements of a production software system, where the production software system comprises a plurality of program modules, the process comprising the steps of:

receiving at least one enhancement from the developer, wherein the at least one enhancement is an enhancement to software code;

receiving approval of the quality of the at least one enhancement from a quality assurance module;

analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the model software system;

migrating the at least one enhancement to the model software system, where the model software system comprises an equivalent of the production software system;

analyzing the migration of the at least one enhancement to the model software system;

analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the production software system;

migrating the at least one enhancement to the production software system; and

notifying at least one entity of the migration of the at least one enhancement to the production software system.

2. The process according to claim 1, wherein the enhancement is one of a new program module or a modified program module.

3. The process according to claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the model software system further comprises reviewing a request for service record associated with the at least one enhancement.

4. The process according to claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the model software system further comprises determining a schedule for running the at least one enhancement after it is migrated into the model software system.

5. The process according to claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the model software system further comprises reviewing instructions for migrating the at least one enhancement into the model software system.

6. The process according to claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the model software system further comprises determining at least on distribution location for the at least one enhancement for migration.

7. The process according to claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the production software system further comprises reviewing a request for services record associated with the at least one enhancement.

8. The process according to claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the production software system further comprises determining a schedule for running the at least one enhancement after it is migrated into the production software system.

9. The process according to claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the production software system further comprises reviewing instructions for migrating the at least one enhancement into the production software system.

10. The process according to claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the production software system further comprises determining a distribution of the at least one enhancement for migration.

11. The process according to claim 1, wherein the at least one entity comprises one of:

a) the quality assurance module;

b) the developer; and

c) an end user of the production software system.

12. The process according to claim 1, further comprising the step of resolving conflicts between the at least one enhancement and the model software system.

13. The process according to claim 1, further comprising the step of resolving conflicts between the at least one enhancement and the production software system.

14. The process according to claim 1, further comprising the step of preparing the at least one enhancement for migration to the model software system based on the analysis of the at least one enhancement for conformity with the model software system.

15. The process according to claim 1, further comprising the step of preparing the at least one enhancement for migration to the production software system based on the analysis of the at least one enhancement for conformity with the production software system.

16. A system for managing a migration of one or more enhancements of a production software system, where the production software system comprises a plurality of program modules, the system comprising:

a receiver module for;

a) receiving at least one enhancement from the developer, wherein the at least one enhancement is an enhancement to software code; and

b) receiving approval of the quality of the at least one enhancement from a quality assurance module;

a processor module for;

a) analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the model software system;

b) analyzing the migration of the at least one enhancement to the model software system; and

c) analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the production software system; and

a transmitting module for;

a) migrating the at least one enhancement to the model software system, where the model software system comprises an equivalent of the production software system;

b) notifying at least one entity of the migration of the at least one enhancement to the production software system; and

c) migrating the at least one enhancement to the production software system.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the enhancement is one of a new program module or a modified program module.

18. The system according to claim 16, wherein analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the model software system further comprises reviewing a request for service record associated with the at least one enhancement.

19. The system according to claim 16, wherein analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the model software system further comprises determining a schedule for running the at least one enhancement after it is migrated into the model software system.

20. The system according to claim 16, wherein analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the model software system further comprises reviewing instructions for migrating the at least one enhancement into the model software system.

21. The system according to claim 16, wherein analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the model software system further comprises determining at least on distribution location for the at least one enhancement for migration.

22. The system according to claim 16, wherein analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the production software system further comprises reviewing a request for services record associated with the at least one enhancement.

23. The system according to claim 16, wherein analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the production software system further comprises determining a schedule for running migrating the at least one enhancement after it is migrated into the production software system.

24. The system according to claim 16, wherein analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the production software system further comprises reviewing instructions for migrating the at least one enhancement into the production software system.

25. The system according to claim 16, wherein analyzing the at least one enhancement to ensure conformity with the production software system further comprises determining a distribution of the at least one enhancement for migration.

26. The system according to claim 16, wherein the at least one entity comprises one of:

a) the quality assurance module;

b) the developer; and

c) an end user of the production software system.

27. The system according to claim 16, wherein the processor module resolves conflicts between the at least one enhancement and the model software system.

28. The system according to claim 16, wherein the processor module resolves conflicts between the at least one enhancement and the production software system.

29. The system according to claim 16, wherein the processor module prepares the at least one enhancement for migration to the model software system based on the analysis of the at least one enhancement for conformity with the model software system.

30. The system according to claim 16, wherein the processor module prepares the at least one enhancement for migration to the production software system based on the analysis of the at least one enhancement for conformity with the production software system.