Auditing tool for a legacy software modernization system

• US 8,150,896 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2007
• Issued: 04/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NTT DATA Canada, Inc. (NTT DATA Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: MAKE Technologies, Inc. (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Cotichini, Christian, White, Michael E. F., Green, David John
• Primary Examiner(s): Trujillo, James
• Assistant Examiner(s): Spieler, William
• Application Number:
  US11/963,683
• Publication Number:
  US 20090164492A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,565 Days
• Field of Search: 707/810, 707/687
• US Class Current: 707/810
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/214 Database migration support

Abstract

A database modernization auditing system and method is disclosed. One embodiment comprises a method for loading a legacy data object, transforming the legacy data object into a modern data object according to a rule set, wherein transforming the legacy data object into the modern data object further includes abstracting at least a portion of the legacy data object into semantic information and transforming the semantic information into the modern data object, and generating an audit log entry corresponding to an error that occurs while transforming the semantic information into the modern data object, wherein the audit log entry contains a unique identifier that relates the audit log entry with the legacy data object.

Claims

1. A database modernization auditing method executed on a computing device, comprising:

loading a source data object from a source data file;

transforming the source data object into a target data object according to a rule set, wherein transforming the source data object into the target data object further includes parsing at least a portion of the source data object into semantic information, transforming the semantic information into the target data object, and logging one or more violations in an audit trail, the audit trail configured to log a set of distinct audit units created during a data modernization run, the rule set including at least one of a record-level transformation rule, a field level rule, a source expression, and a caster;

identifying one or more instances of a first type of violation that occurs while parsing at least a portion of the source data object to the semantic information;

reporting to the audit trail one or more first audit log entries in response to the one or more instances of the first type of violation that occurs while parsing at least a portion of the source data object to the semantic information, wherein the violations of the first type are logged in a distinct audit unit of the set, which contains a unique identifier that is used to identify the source data object related to the distinct audit unit;

identifying one or more instances of a second type of violation that occurs while transforming the semantic information into the target data object, the second type of violation different than the first type of violation;

reporting to the audit trail one or more second audit log entries in response to the one or more instances of the second type of violation that occurs while transforming the semantic information into the target data object, wherein the violations of the second type are logged in the distinct audit unit containing the unique identifier that is used to identify the source data object related to the distinct audit unit; and

displaying audit statistics pertaining to a specific transformation data run compiled from occurrences of the first audit log entries and the second audit log entries reported to the audit trail, the rule set further including more than one of a record-level transformation rule, a field level rule, a source expression, and a caster, the method further comprising generating an audit log entry corresponding to a plurality of violations including one or more of the first type of violation and the type of second violation, wherein an audit log including the audit log entries can be viewed at a level of each rule in the rule set.

2. The database modernization auditing method of claim 1, wherein the source data object is one of a field, a data record, an arbitrarily defined set of data records, or an entire database.

3. The database modernization auditing method of claim 1, further comprising changing rules in the rule set based upon one of the first audit log entries and the second audit log entries.

4. The database modernization auditing method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of detecting a dynamic change in a source program that contained the source data object and detecting an error introduced by a change in the rule set.

5. The database modernization auditing method of claim 1, further comprising using an audit tool to view or adjust components of the database modernization auditing method.

6. A computer-readable storage device comprising computer-executable instructions for auditing a database modernization, the instructions being executable by a computing device of a modernization system to:

load a source data object from a source data file;

transform the source data object into a target data object according to a rule set, wherein to transform the source data object into the target data object further includes instructions to parse at least a portion of the source data object into semantic information, instructions to transform the semantic information into the target data object, and instructions to log violations in an audit trail, the audit trail configured to log a set of distinct audit units created during a data modernization run;

identify one or more instances of a first type of violation in parsing at least a portion of the source data object to the semantic information;

report to the audit trail one or more first audit log entries in response to the one or more instances of the first type of violation in parsing at least a portion of the source data object to the semantic information, wherein the violations of the first type are logged in a distinct audit unit of the set, which contains a unique identifier that is used to identify the source data object related to the distinct audit unit;

identify one or more instances of a second type of violation in transforming the semantic information into the target data object, the second type of violation different than the first type of violation;

report to the audit trail one or more second audit log entries in response to the one or more instances of the second type of violation in transforming the semantic information into the target data object, the violations of the second type are is logged in the distinct audit unit containing the unique identifier that is used to identify the source data object related to the distinct audit unit;

identify one or more instances of a third type of violation in response to a foreign key violation, wherein a dangling foreign key is generated which associates the target data object with a data element that does not exist in the source data file, the third type of violation different from each of the first type of violation and the second type of violation;

report to the audit trail one or more third audit log entries in response to the one or more instances of the third type of violation, wherein the violations of the third type are logged in the distinct audit unit containing the unique identifier that is used to identify the source data object related to the distinct audit unit; and

displaying audit statistics pertaining to a specific transformation data run compiled from occurrences of the first audit log entries, the second audit log entries, and the third audit log entries reported to the audit trail.

7. The computer-readable storage device of claim 6, wherein the source data object is one of a field, a data record, an arbitrarily defined set of data records, or an entire database.

8. The computer-readable storage device of claim 6, wherein the rule set includes at least one of a record-level transformation rule, a field level rule, a source expression, and a caster.

9. The computer-readable storage device of claim 6, further comprising instructions for changing rules in the rule set based upon one of the first audit log entries and the second audit log entries.

10. The computer-readable storage device of claim 9, further comprising instructions to provide an audit tool to view or adjust components of the rule set.

11. The computer-readable storage device of claim 6, further comprising instructions for at least one of detecting a dynamic change in a source program that contained the source data object and detecting an error introduced by a change in the rule set.

12. A database modernization auditing system, comprising a computing device configured to execute a conversion engine having a graphical user interface, the conversion engine including:

a loader to provide a source data object from a source data file;

a transformer coupled with the loader, the transformer configured to,

receive the source data object from the loader and transform the source data object into a data object according to a rule set,

parse at least a portion of the source data object into semantic information and transform the semantic information into the target data object,

log violations in an audit trail, the audit trail configured to log a set of distinct audit units created during a data modernization run, wherein the transformer, to log the violations, is further configured to;

identify one or more instances of a first type of violation in parsing at least a portion of the source data object to the semantic information,

report to the audit trail one or more first audit log entries in response to the one or more instances of the first type of violation in parsing at least a portion of the source data object to the semantic information, wherein the violations of the first type are logged in a distinct audit unit of the set, which contains a unique identifier that is used to identify the source data object related to the distinct audit unit,

identify one or more instances of a second type of violation in transforming the semantic information into the target data object, the second type of violation different than the first type of violation,

report to the audit trail one or more second audit log entries in response to the one or more instances of the second type of violation in transforming the semantic information into the target data object, wherein the violations of the second type are logged in the distinct audit unit containing the unique identifier that is used to identify the source data object related to the distinct audit unit,

identify one or more instances of a third type of violation in response to a foreign key violation, wherein a dangling foreign key is generated which associates the target data object with a data element that does not exist in the source data file, the third type of violation different from each of the first type of violation and the second type of violation,

report to the audit trail one or more third audit log entries in response to the one or more instances of the third type of violation, wherein the third type of violation is logged in the distinct audit unit containing the unique identifier that is used to identify the source data object related to the distinct audit unit, and

compile data for occurrences of each of the first type of violation, the second type of violation, and the third type of violation reported to the audit trail in order to display audit statistics, the audit statistics comprising one or more of key index performance, loader efficiency, log messages, and referential integrity results.

13. The database modernization auditing system of claim 12, wherein the source data object is one of a field, a data record, an arbitrarily defined set of data records, or an entire database.

14. The database modernization auditing system of claim 12, wherein the rule set includes at least one of a record-level transformation rule, a field level rule, a source expression, and a caster.

15. The database modernization auditing system of claim 12, further comprising means for changing rules in the rule set based upon one of the first audit log entries, the second audit log entries, and the third audit log entries.

16. The database modernization auditing system of claim 12, further comprising at least one of means for detecting a dynamic change in a source program that contained the source data object and means for detecting an error introduced by a change in the rule set.

17. The database modernization auditing system of claim 12, further comprising an audit tool to view or adjust components of the database modernization auditing system.