Work item tracking system for projects

• US 8,126,760 B2
• Filed: 03/25/2005
• Issued: 02/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kelly, Kevin C., Guckenheimer, Sam
• Primary Examiner(s): Jasmin, Lynda
• Assistant Examiner(s): Singh, Gurkanwaljit
• Application Number:
  US11/089,613
• Publication Number:
  US 20060218028A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,531 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7, 705/8, 705/9, 705/10, 705/7.11
• US Class Current: 705/7.27
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations

Abstract

A work item tracking system that provides for processing of more than one type of work item. Work item types may be defined using a data structure. Fields and characteristics of the work item are defined within the work item type definition. Programs within the work item tracking system may use this information to create, modify and otherwise process work items of a single type or to form links between work items of different types.

Claims

1. A method of operating a computer system comprising at least a processor and memory to process work items, the computer system having computer storage media in the memory with computer data storage locations associated therewith, the method comprising:

providing a set of work item characteristics for the work items processed by the processor, the set of work item characteristics comprises state characteristics;

with the at least one processor, creating in the memory a definition of a first type of work item, the definition of the first type of work item comprising;

a first at least one element configured to define a first subset of the work item characteristics, the first at least one element comprising first state information, the first state information comprising;

a first plurality of values of a state characteristic of work items of the first type; and

first transition rules for state transitions between states of a lifecycle of a work item of the first type indicated by the first plurality of values of the first type of work item, the first transition rules for state transitions comprising;

a first state transition rule identifying at least one condition under which a state of the work item of the first type is allowed to change to another state, and

a second state transition rule identifying at least one source that is allowed to change the state of the work item of the first type to the another state;

creating in the computer storage media a first data structure representing a first work item of the first type from the created definition of the first type of work item, wherein the first data structure representing the first work item comprises information on at least one state of the first work item;

with the at least one processor, creating in the memory a definition of a second type of work item that is different from the definition of the first type of work item, the definition of the second type of work item comprising;

a second at least one element configured to define a second subset of the work item characteristics, the second at least one element comprising second state information, the second state information comprising;

a second plurality of values of a state characteristic of work items of the second type; and

second transition rules for state transitions between states of a lifecycle of a work item of the second type indicated by the second plurality of values of the second type of work item, the second transition rules for state transitions comprising;

a third state transition rule identifying at least one condition under which a state of the work item of the second type is allowed to change to another state, and

a fourth state transition rule identifying at least one source that is allowed to change the state of the work item of the second type to the another state; and

creating in the computer storage media a second data structure representing a second work item of the second type from the created definition of the second type of work item;

tracking the first work item of the first type and the second work item of the second type in a project, where the project comprises a plurality of operations; and

processing by the processor, in one operation of the plurality of operations, the first work item and the second work item, wherein the processing of the first work item and the second work item in one operation comprises linking the first work item to the second work item, wherein;

when the first work item of the first type represents a requirement and the second work item of the second type represents at least one test, the processing of the first work item and the second work item in one operation comprises generating a report indicating the at least one test to be performed to test performance of software in response to the requirement.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the set of work item characteristics comprises a set of fields that may be included in a work item;

creating the definition of a first type of work item comprises;

creating a first subset of fields in the set of work item characteristics; and

defining state and state transition workflow data associated with the first work item as first work item states; and

creating the definition of a second type of work item comprises;

creating a second subset of fields in the set of work item characteristics; and

defining state and state transition workflow data associated with the second work item as second work item states.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein creating the definition of a first type of work item comprises specifying format information for an input/output operation associated with at least one field in the first subset of fields, and wherein creating the definition of a second type of work item comprises specifying format information for an input/output operation associated with at least one field in the second subset of fields.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein creating in the computer storage media a first data structure comprises creating a data structure with computer data storage locations associated with fields in the definition of the first type of work item, and wherein creating in the computer storage media a second data structure comprises creating a data structure with computer data storage locations associated with fields in the definition of the second type of work item.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the definition of a first type of work item comprises defining a first set of work item states from the plurality of values of the state characteristic of work items of the first type and creating the definition of a second type of work item comprises defining a second set of work item states from the plurality of values of the state characteristic of work items of the second type.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

creating a first data structure in the computer storage media comprises storing in a computer data storage location a value indicative of one of the first plurality of states; and

creating a second data structure in the computer storage media comprises storing in a computer data storage location a value indicative of one of the second plurality of states.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first type of work item is related to observing a product for debugging a bug in software of the project and the second type of work item is related to testing the software.

8. The method of claim 1,

a) wherein creating the definition of a first type of work item comprises storing a representation of the definition of the first type of work item in a second computer storage media;

(b) wherein creating the definition of a second type of work item comprises storing a representation of the definition of the second type of work item in the second computer storage media;

and

(c) the method further comprises;

i) reading at least a portion of the representation of the definition of a type of work item from the second computer storage media;

ii) computing a value based in part on the portion of the representation; and

iii) writing the computed value to the data structure in the computer storage media.

9. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions that when executed by a processor perform steps comprising:

receiving first user input defining, in accordance with a previously defined XML schema comprising a plurality of elements for creating work item type definitions, a first work item type comprised of a first set of work item characteristics and creating a first work item type definition based on the received first user input;

receiving second user input defining, in accordance with the XML schema, a second work item type comprised of a second set of work item characteristics, the second set being at least partially different from the first set and creating a second work item type definition based on the received second user input;

creating work items of the first type in response to user input, the work items of the first type being created in accordance with the first work item type definition;

creating work items of the second type in response to user input, the work items of the second type being created in accordance with the second work item type definition;

tracking the work items of the first work item type and the work items of the second work item type in a project, where the project comprises a plurality of operations; and

processing by the processor, in one operation of the plurality of operations, the work items of the first work item type and the work items of the second work item type, wherein the processing of the work items of the first work item type and the work items of the second work item type in one operation comprises generating an output that comprises data from the first work item type and the second work item type, wherein;

when a first work item from the work items of the first work item type is generated for a first user and a second work item from the work items of the second work item type is generated for the first user, the processing of the work items of the first work item type and the work items of the second work item type in one operation comprises generating a report indicating the first work item and the second work item are generated for the same user, and

defining the first work item type in accordance with the XML schema comprises;

defining the first set of the work item characteristics; and

providing first state information related to transition rules for state transitions of the first type of work item, wherein the first state information tracks a progress of transition of the first type of work item through the state transitions of the first type of work item; and

wherein defining the second work item type in accordance with the XML schema comprises;

defining the second set of the work item characteristics; and

providing second state information related to transition rules for state transitions of the second type of work item, wherein the second state information tracks a progress of transition of the second type of work item through the state transitions of the second type of work item.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the computer executable instructions when executed by the processor further perform steps comprising:

associating a first set of work item data with a first set of fields comprising the first set of work item characteristics; and

associating a second set of work item data with a second set of fields comprising the second set of work item characteristics.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein the processing, in one operation, comprises automatically changing work item data in the first set of work item data in response to a change in the second set of work item data.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the processing, in one operation, comprises reporting the output to a user in response to receiving user data.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the processing, in one operation, comprises linking at least one work item of the first work item type to at least one work item of the second work item type.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the processing, in one operation, comprises linking a work item to a work item data file associated with the work item.

15. A computer-readable storage medium for use in connection with a system for processing work items by a processor, the computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon:

a data structure representing a definition of work items of a type in accordance with a previously defined XML schema, wherein a work item of the type created using the definition is capable of being processed by the processor of the system for processing work items to take one a state of a set of states, the work item being capable of being displayed for a user on a human perceptible medium, the data structure comprising;

(a) a first data region containing data representing a definition of a field of a plurality of fields in the work item to contain data related to at least one characteristic of the work item;

(b) a second data region containing data defining information related to a plurality states of the work items of the type and transition rules for state transitions between states of the plurality of states, wherein the plurality of states define a workflow associated with the type, and each states of the plurality of states represents a point in a lifecycle of the work items of the type;

(c) a third data region containing information related to properties for displaying the work item on the human perceptible medium, wherein the information related to properties for displaying the work item comprises a description of a visual representation of the work item on the human perceptible medium;

at least one work item of the type created based on the definition of work items of the type, wherein the at least one work item of the type and at least one work item of another type are tracked in a project that comprises a plurality of operations; and

an output of processing, in one operation of the plurality of operations the at least one work item of the type and the at least one work item of another type, wherein the output comprises data from the at least one work item of the type and the at least one work item of another type, wherein;

when the at least one work item of the type represents a task related to software and the at least one work item of another type represents a task of testing the software, the processing in one operation of the at least one work item of the type and the at least one work item of another type comprises changing a state of the at least one work item of another type in response to a change of a state of the at least one work item of the type indicating that the software is prepared for testing; and

computer executable instructions that, when executed, implement a tool for processing work items by accessing the data structure.

16. The data structure of claim 15, further comprising:

a data region containing data defining information related to state transition rules for transitions between the plurality of states of the work item.

17. The data structure of claim 15, wherein the at least one characteristic of the work item comprises an affiliation with a group of work items, at least one work item in the group being of a different work item type.

18. The data structure of claim 15, wherein the at least one characteristic of the work item comprises a link to at least one work item of a different work item type.