System and method for managing a chaotic event

• US 7,630,948 B2
• Filed: 09/07/2006
• Issued: 12/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hennessy, Richard A., Kraemer, James R., Friedlander, Robert R., Khan, Anwer Mujahid
• Primary Examiner(s): Vincent; David R
• Assistant Examiner(s): OLUDE AFOLABI, OLATOYOSI
• Application Number:
  US11/516,954
• Publication Number:
  US 20090265206A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,188 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 706/47
• 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, apparatus, and computer usable program code for managing a chaotic event. A management location is determined for managing a chaotic event in response to receiving an indication of the chaotic event. Resources necessary for managing the chaotic event are identified. The availability of the necessary resources is determined to form available resources. The available resources are optimized based on requirements and constraints to form optimized resources. The availability and cost of the optimized resources are verified. The chaotic event is managed from the management location using the optimized resources.

Claims

1. A method for managing a chaotic event,

the method comprising:

responsive to receiving an indication of the chaotic event, determining a management location that has an active data communication for managing the chaotic event;

wherein the chaotic event is an event that causes an interruption in routines normally performed by people in everyday activities because of damage inflicted to individuals and infrastructure;

predicting a timing and severity of the chaotic event based on a stored set of catastrophe models;

wherein the catastrophe models define the parameters of the particular chaotic event;

identifying resources necessary for managing the chaotic event based on the predicted timing and severity of the chaotic event;

collecting and organizing data by a data organization system through a semantic search over a plurality of networks to determine availability of a number of necessary resources to form available resources;

performing a number of optimization routines that are stored in a memory to calculate an ad hoc optimal solution from the available resources based on requirements and constraints to form optimized resources, wherein the ad hoc optimal solution maximizes an objective function;

verifying the availability of the optimized resources; and

managing the chaotic event from the management location using the optimized resources.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identifying, determining, optimizing, and verifying steps are performed recursively to continuously adapt the available resources based on conditions of the chaotic event.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising performing the identifying resources step based on requirements and constraints for services, a potential skill pool, and enabling resources.

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

detecting the chaotic event including timing and severity of the chaotic event.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein the detecting step further comprises:

crawling communications networks by performing a semantic search to determine the chaotic event has occurred.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein the detecting step is performed on information from sensors, commercial services, and manual input.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 2, transferring control to another management location based on the conditions.

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

receiving user input for managing the chaotic event; and

communicating instructions for managing the chaotic event.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identifying step is based on a database specifying the necessary skills and the necessary resources for a type of the chaotic event.

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

determining routes for the necessary resources to determine the available resources.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identifying resources step further comprises:

crawling a network to find the available resources.

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

responsive to determining the available resources are unavailable, reoptimizing the available resources.

13. A data processing system comprising:

a bus system;

a communications system connected to the bus system;

a memory connected to the bus system, wherein the memory includes a set of instructions; and

a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to determine a management location that has an active data communication for managing a chaotic event in response to receiving an indication of the chaotic event, predict a timing and severity of the chaotic event based on a stored set of catastrophe models, identify resources necessary for managing the chaotic event to indicate necessary resources based on the predicted timing and severity of the chaotic event, collect and organize data by a data organization system through a semantic search over a plurality of networks to determine availability of a number of necessary resources to form available resources, perform a number of optimization routines to calculate an ad hoc optimal solution from the available resources based on requirements and constraints to form optimized resources, wherein the ad hoc optimal solution maximizes an objective function, verify the availability of the optimized resources, and manage the chaotic event from the management location using the available resources.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the data processing system is operably connected to a network and wherein a secondary data processing system may be activated to execute the set of instructions in a different management location for transferring control of chaotic event management.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the set of instructions detect the chaotic event, wherein the data processing system is operably connected to a plurality of databases for accessing information required to manage the chaotic event.

16. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium including computer usable program code for managing a chaotic event, the computer program product comprising:

computer usable program code, responsive to receiving an indication of the chaotic event, for determining a management location that has an active data communication for managing the chaotic event;

computer usable program code for predicting a timing and severity of the chaotic event based on a stored set of catastrophe models;

computer usable program code for identifying necessary resources for managing the chaotic event based on the predicted timing and severity of the chaotic event;

computer usable program code for collecting and organizing data by a data organization system through a semantic search over a plurality of networks to determine the availability of a number of necessary resources to form available resources;

computer usable program code for performing a number of optimization routines to calculate an ad hoc optimal solution from the available resources based on requirements and constraints to form optimized resources, wherein the ad hoc optimal solution maximizes an objective function;

computer usable program code for verifying the availability of the optimized resources; and

computer usable program code for managing the chaotic event from the management location using the optimized resources.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising:

computer usable program code for detecting the chaotic event including timing and severity of the chaotic event; and

computer usable program code for communicating instructions for managing the chaotic event.

18. A chaotic event management system comprising:

a processor for processing an operating system and a chaotic event management application;

a computer readable storage medium operably connected to the processor for storing the operating system and information from the chaotic event management application wherein the operating system and the chaotic event management application may be loaded into a main memory for execution by the processor wherein the chaotic event management application further comprises;

a user interface for interacting with at least one user for managing the chaotic event;

an event detection module for detecting the chaotic event;

a management location module for selecting a management location that has an active data communication for managing the chaotic event;

a timing and severity prediction module for predicting a timing and severity of the chaotic event based on a stored set of catastrophe models;

an events requirements module for identifying necessary resources for managing the chaotic event based on the predicted timing and severity of the chaotic event;

a data organization module for collecting and organizing data through a semantic search over a plurality of networks to determine availability of a number of necessary resources to form available resources;

an optimization module for performing a number of stored optimization routines to calculate an ad hoc optimal solution from the available resources based on requirements and constraints to form optimized resources, wherein the ad hoc optimal solution maximizes an objective function;

an availability verification module for verifying the availability of the optimized resources to form available optimized resources;

an event management module for managing the chaotic event from the management location using the available optimized resources; and

a plurality of databases operably connected to the processor by a network for accessing and storing information for the chaotic event management application.