Apparatus, system, and method for automatically discovering and grouping resources used by a business process
First Claim
1. An apparatus to automatically discover and group resources used by a business process, the apparatus comprising:
- a monitoring module configured to collect trace data representative of operations performed by software applications;
an analysis module configured to analyze the trace data to discover resources affiliated with a business process that includes at least one of the software applications, wherein the affiliation between the discovered resources and the business process is initially unknown, wherein the analysis module analyzes the trace data by applying at least two heuristic routines to the trace data, and wherein the at least two heuristic routines are selected from a group consisting of a first heuristic routine to identify resources used by child applications of the software components, a second heuristic routine to identify resources in the same directories as the discovered resources, a third heuristic routine to identify sub-directories or parent directories of a discovered resource associated with the software components, a fourth heuristic routine to determine if a discovered resource is associated with an installation package, a fifth heuristic routine to identify resources used in a time window associated with a start time for execution of a discovered resource, and a sixth heuristic routine to identify resources based on user-defined rules; and
a determination module configured to define a logical application comprising a set of resources facilitating implementation of the business process, the set of resources comprising the discovered resources;
wherein the monitoring, analysis, and determination modules each comprise at least one of logic hardware and executable code, the executable code being stored on one or more memory devices.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus, system, and method are provided for automatically discovering and grouping files and other resources used by a business process. The present invention includes a monitoring module that collects trace data representative of operational behavior of software applications. An analysis module analyzes the trace data to discover resources affiliated with the business process. A determination module defines a logical application corresponding to the business process and includes the resources discovered by the analysis module. The logical application is automatically defined such that business policies may be readily implemented on the logical application as a whole. Manual identification of resources for a business process is eliminated or substantially reduced.
70 Citations
44 Claims
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1. An apparatus to automatically discover and group resources used by a business process, the apparatus comprising:
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a monitoring module configured to collect trace data representative of operations performed by software applications; an analysis module configured to analyze the trace data to discover resources affiliated with a business process that includes at least one of the software applications, wherein the affiliation between the discovered resources and the business process is initially unknown, wherein the analysis module analyzes the trace data by applying at least two heuristic routines to the trace data, and wherein the at least two heuristic routines are selected from a group consisting of a first heuristic routine to identify resources used by child applications of the software components, a second heuristic routine to identify resources in the same directories as the discovered resources, a third heuristic routine to identify sub-directories or parent directories of a discovered resource associated with the software components, a fourth heuristic routine to determine if a discovered resource is associated with an installation package, a fifth heuristic routine to identify resources used in a time window associated with a start time for execution of a discovered resource, and a sixth heuristic routine to identify resources based on user-defined rules; and a determination module configured to define a logical application comprising a set of resources facilitating implementation of the business process, the set of resources comprising the discovered resources; wherein the monitoring, analysis, and determination modules each comprise at least one of logic hardware and executable code, the executable code being stored on one or more memory devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. An apparatus to automatically discover and group resources used by a business process, the apparatus comprising:
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an interface configured to receive an identifier for a business process, the identifier directly related to a resource that implements the business process; a monitoring module configured to collect trace data as the business process executes, the trace data relating to the resource; an analysis module configured to analyze the trace data to discover one or more resources affiliated with the identifier, wherein the affiliation between the one or more discovered resources and the identifier is initially unknown, wherein the analysis module analyzes the trace data by applying at least two heuristic routines to the trace data, and wherein the at least two heuristic routines are selected from a group consisting of a first heuristic routine to identify resources used by child applications of the software components, a second heuristic routine to identify resources in the same directories as the discovered resources, a third heuristic routine to identify sub-directories or parent directories of a discovered resource associated with the software components, a fourth heuristic routine to determine if a discovered resource is associated with an installation package, a fifth heuristic routine to identify resources used in a time window associated with a start time for execution of a discovered resource, and a sixth heuristic routine to identify resources based on user-defined rules; and a determination module configured to define a logical application comprising a set of resources facilitating implementation of the business process, the set of resources comprising the one or more discovered resources; wherein the interface, monitoring, analysis, and determination modules each comprise at least one of logic hardware and executable code, the executable code being stored on one or more memory devices. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A system to automatically discover and group resources used by a business process, comprising:
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an operating system configured to manage execution of processes; a process manager configured to provide information on running processes; an Input/Output (I/O) module configured to provide file activity information; a file system configured to manage files stored in storage and provide metadata about the files; a monitoring module configured to collect trace data during execution of at least one software application within the operating system, the monitoring module interacting with at least one of the process manager, the I/O module, and the file system to collect the trace data directly related to operation of the software application; and an analysis module configured to analyze the trace data to discover resources affiliated with a business process that includes the software application, the affiliation between the discovered resources and the business process being initially unknown, and to define a logical application comprising a set of resources facilitating implementation of the business process, the set of resources comprising the discovered resources, wherein the analysis module analyzes the trace data by applying at least two heuristic routines to the trace data, and wherein the at least two heuristic routines are selected from a group consisting of a first heuristic routine to identify resources used by child applications of the software components, a second heuristic routine to identify resources in the same directories as the discovered resources, a third heuristic routine to identify sub-directories or parent directories of a discovered resource associated with the software components, a fourth heuristic routine to determine if a discovered resource is associated with an installation package, a fifth heuristic routine to identify resources used in a time window associated with a start time for execution of a discovered resource, and a sixth heuristic routine to identify resources based on user-defined rules; wherein the monitoring and analysis modules each comprise at least one of logic hardware and executable code, the executable code being stored on one or more memory devices. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A system to automatically discover and group resources used by a business process, comprising:
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a plurality of inter-networked computer systems implementing a business process; a monitoring module on each computer system, the monitoring module configured to collect trace data representative of operations performed by the at least one software application; a storage module configured to collect trace data from the monitoring modules and store the collected trace data in a repository; an analysis module configured to analyze the collected trace data to discover resources affiliated with a business process that includes the software application and to define a logical application comprising a set of resources facilitating implementation of the business process, wherein the affiliation between the discovered resources and the business process is initially undetermined and the set of resources comprises the discovered resources, wherein the analysis module analyzes the collected trace data by applying at least two heuristic routines to the collected trace data, and wherein the at least two heuristic routines are selected from a group consisting of a first heuristic routine to identify resources used by child applications of the software components, a second heuristic routine to identify resources in the same directories as the discovered resources, a third heuristic routine to identify sub-directories or parent directories of a discovered resource associated with the software components, a fourth heuristic routine to determine if a discovered resource is associated with an installation package, a fifth heuristic routine to identify resources used in a time window associated with a start time for execution of a discovered resource, and a sixth heuristic routine to identify resources based on user-defined rules; and an interface in communication with the analysis module, the interface configured to interact with a user by way of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) and another software application by way of an Application Programming Interface (API). - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
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28. A computer readable medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform operations to automatically discover and group resources used by a business process, the operations comprising:
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the operation to collect trace data during execution of at least one software application, the trace data representative of operations performed by the at least one software application; the operation to analyze the trace data to discover resources affiliated with a business process that includes the software application, wherein the affiliation between the discovered resources and the business process is initially undetermined; and the operation to define a logical application comprising a set of resources facilitating implementation of the business process, the set of resources comprising the discovered resources; wherein the operation to analyze the trace data comprises applying at least two heuristic routines to the trace data, the at least two heuristic routines being selected from a group consisting of a first heuristic routine to identify resources used by child applications of the software application, a second heuristic routine to identify resources in the same directories as the discovered resources, a third heuristic routine to identify sub-directories or parent directories of a discovered resource associated with the software application, a fourth heuristic routine to determine if a discovered resource is associated with an installation package, a fifth heuristic routine to identify resources used in a time window associated with a start time for execution of a discovered resource, and a sixth heuristic routine to identify resources based on user-defined rules. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A computer readable medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform operations to automatically discover and group resources used by a business process, the operations comprising:
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an operation to receive an identifier for a business process, the identifier directly related to a resource that implements the business process; an operation to collect trace data relating to the resource and representative of operations performed by one or more software components implementing the business process; an operation to analyze the trace data to discover one or more resources affiliated with the identifier, wherein the affiliation between the one or more discovered resources and the identifier is initially unknown; and an operation to define a logical application comprising a set of resources facilitating implementation of the business process, the set of resources comprising the identifier and the one or more discovered resources; wherein the operation to analyze the trace data comprises applying at least two heuristic routines to the trace data, the at least two heuristic routines being selected from a group consisting of a first heuristic routine to identify resources used by child applications of the software components, a second heuristic routine to identify resources in the same directories as the discovered resources, a third heuristic routine to identify sub-directories or parent directories of a discovered resource associated with the software components, a fourth heuristic routine to determine if a discovered resource is associated with an installation package, a fifth heuristic routine to identify resources used in a time window associated with a start time for execution of a discovered resource, and a sixth heuristic routine to identify resources based on user-defined rules. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A computer implemented method to automatically discover and group resources used by a business process, the method comprising:
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receiving an identifier for a business process, the identifier directly related to a resource that implements the business process; collecting trace data relating to the resource and representative of operations performed by one or more software components implementing the business process; analyzing the trace data to discover one or more resources affiliated with the identifier, wherein the affiliation between the one or more discovered resources and the identifier is initially unknown, wherein analyzing the trace data comprises applying at least two heuristic routines to the trace data, and wherein the at least two heuristic routines are selected from a group consisting of a first heuristic routine to identify resources used by child applications of the software components, a second heuristic routine to identify resources in the same directories as the discovered resources, a third heuristic routine to identify sub-directories or parent directories of a discovered resource associated with the software components, a fourth heuristic routine to determine if a discovered resource is associated with an installation package, a fifth heuristic routine to identify resources used in a time window associated with a start time for execution of a discovered resource, and a sixth heuristic routine to identify resources based on user-defined rules; and defining a logical application comprising a set of resources facilitating implementation of the business process, the set of resources comprising the one or more discovered resources.
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44. A computer readable medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform operations to automatically discover and group resources used by a business process, the operations comprising:
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an operation to receive an identifier for a business process, the identifier directly related to a resource that implements the business process; an operation that implements a means for collecting trace data relating to the resource and representative of operations performed by one or more software components implementing the business process; an operation that implements a means for analyzing the trace data to discover one or more resources affiliated with the identifier, wherein the affiliation between the one or more discovered resources and the identifier is initially unknown; and an operation to define a logical application comprising a set of resources facilitating implementation of the business process, the set of resources comprising the one or more discovered resources; wherein the operation that implements a means for analyzing the trace data comprises applying at least two heuristic routines to the trace data, the at least two heuristic routines being selected from a group consisting of a first heuristic routine to identify resources used by child applications of the software components, a second heuristic routine to identify resources in the same directories as the discovered resources, a third heuristic routine to identify sub-directories or parent directories of a discovered resource associated with the software components, a fourth heuristic routine to determine if a discovered resource is associated with an installation package, a fifth heuristic routine to identify resources used in a time window associated with a start time for execution of a discovered resource, and a sixth heuristic routine to identify resources based on user-defined rules.
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Specification