System and method for visually rendering resource policy usage information

• US 7,512,966 B2
• Filed: 10/14/2004
• Issued: 03/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Schaubach, Christopher Johan, Lyons, Theodore Patrick Jr., Zhang, Hong S., Searcey, Carrie Weaver
• Primary Examiner(s): Zand; Kambiz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran; Tongoc
• Application Number:
  US10/965,658
• Publication Number:
  US 20060085836A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,629 Days
• Field of Search: 726/1, 718/100, 718/102, 718/104, 709/223, 709/226
• US Class Current: 726/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

A system and method for visually rendering resource policy usage information are provided. The system and method make use of policy performance data and relative weighting values of policies to generate, for each system resource, a graphical representation of the system resource with regard to the affect of policies on their behavior within the IT infrastructure. The resulting visual depiction of the IT infrastructure provides a visual representation that quickly communicates to the user which resources have the most/least policies guiding their behavior and the frequency of evaluation of these policies. For example, a large graphical element with a negative color may alert the user that the system resource is heavily affected by policies but that the policies are not being evaluated frequently enough.

Claims

1. A method, in a data processing system, for visually rendering a representation of a system resource, comprising:

collecting performance data for one or more policies associated with resources, wherein the performance data is collected from a performance data storage device associated with a policy evaluation engine, wherein the performance data includes one or more of a number of times each of the one or more policies was evaluated for the system resource, timestamp information regarding when each of the one or more policies was evaluated, a number of times each of the one or more policies was evaluated positively, a number of times each of the one or more policies was evaluated negatively, and a number of times each of the one or more policies was evaluated for each decision point of the system resource;

collecting weighting value information for the each of the one or more policies;

identifying a next resource for generation of a graphical element, wherein the graphical element is one of a geometric shape, a bar in a bar-chart, a line in a line-graph, a portion of a pie-chart, and an element in a block diagram;

determining a size characteristic of the graphical element representing the system resource based on one or more relative weighting values corresponding to one or more policies associated with the system resource;

determining an emphasis characteristic of the graphical element based on performance data corresponding to the one or more policies associated with the system resource; and

generating a visual representation of the system resource using the graphical element having the size characteristic and the emphasis characteristic, wherein the emphasis characteristic is at least one of a color of the graphical element and a visual effect to be applied to the graphical element.

2. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer recordable-type medium storing computer readable program code for visually rendering a representation of a system resource, the computer program product comprising;

instructions for collecting performance data for one or more policies associated with resources, wherein the performance data is collected from a performance data storage device associated with a policy evaluation engine, wherein the performance data includes one or more of a number of times each of the one or more policies was evaluated for the system resource, timestamp information regarding when each of the one or more policies was evaluated, a number of times each of the one or more policies was evaluated positively, a number of times each of the one or more policies was evaluated negatively, and a number of times each of the one or more policies was evaluated for each decision point of the system resource;

instruction for collecting weighting value information for the each of the one or more policies;

instructions for identifying a next resource for generation of a graphical element, wherein the graphical element is one of a geometric shape, a bar in a bar-chart, a line in a line-graph, a portion of a pie-chart, and an element in a block diagram;

instructions for determining a size characteristic of a graphical element representing the system resource based on one or more relative weighting values corresponding to one or more policies associated with the system resource;

instructions for determining an emphasis characteristic of the graphical element based on performance data corresponding to the one or more policies associated with the system resource; and

instructions for generating a visual representation of the system resource using the graphical element having the size characteristic and the emphasis characteristic, wherein the emphasis characteristic is at least one of a color of the graphical element and a visual effect to be applied to the graphical element.

3. A system for visually rendering a representation of a system resource, comprising:

means for collecting performance data for one or more policies associated with resources, wherein the performance data is collected from a performance data storage device associated with a policy evaluation engine, wherein the performance data includes one or more of a number of times each of the one or more policies was evaluated for the system resource, timestamp information regarding when each of the one or more policies was evaluated, a number of times each of the one or more policies was evaluated positively, a number of times each of the one or more policies was evaluated negatively, and a number of times each of the one or more policies was evaluated for each decision point of the system resource;

means for collecting weighting value information for the each of the one or more policies;

means for identifying a next resource for generation of a graphical element, wherein the graphical element is one of a geometric shape, a bar in a bar-chart, a line in a line-graph, a portion of a pie-chart, and an element in a block diagram;

means for determining a size characteristic of a graphical element representing the system resource based on one or more relative weighting values corresponding to one or more policies associated with the system resource;

means for determining an emphasis characteristic of the graphical element based on performance data corresponding to the one or more policies associated with the system resource; and

means for generating a visual representation of the system resource using the graphical element having the size characteristic and the emphasis characteristic, wherein the emphasis characteristic is at least one of a color of the graphical element and a visual effect to be applied to the graphical element.