Model driven software

• US 8,209,660 B2
• Filed: 11/12/2009
• Issued: 06/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ramco Systems Limited
• Original Assignee: Ramco Systems Limited
• Inventors: Sundararajan, Partasarathy, Jayaraman, Shyamala, Sathiavageeswaran, Suresh, Rajaraman, Madusudanan, Ramaswamy, Srinivasan, Meenakshisundaram, Krishnamoorthy, Devalla, Raghuram, Gopalsamy, Kannappan
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen, Li
• Assistant Examiner(s): Coyer, Ryan
• Application Number:
  US12/616,835
• Publication Number:
  US 20100058287A1
• Time in Patent Office: 957 Days
• Field of Search: 717/105
• US Class Current: 717/105
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management

Abstract

A system and method for model driven software is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method of handling changes to a software system in a business environment includes capturing customer requirements of the software system in a schema, modeling business-software architecture of the software system in a first level of the schema, modeling design architecture of the software system in a second level of the schema, defining events that connect the first level and second level of the schema, defining links that represent interactions between the user interfaces, defining integration services for each of the events, mapping each element in the first level to a corresponding one of elements in the second level using the events, links and integration services, creating a knowledge repository with a traversable user interface representing the mappings, identifying changes to the software system, and analyzing impact of the changes using the knowledge repository.

Claims

1. A method of handling changes to a software system in a business environment comprising:

capturing customer requirements of the software system in a schema;

modeling business-software architecture of the software system in a first level of the schema as business functions, business activities, forms, actions, and business rules, wherein each of the business functions comprises functions performed in a business process of the software system, wherein each of the business activities comprises activities performed in each of the business functions, wherein each of the forms comprises semantics to capture and retrieve information for each of the business activities, wherein each of the actions comprises tasks performed in each of the forms, and wherein each of the business rules comprises rules that govern each of the actions;

modeling design architecture of the software system in a second level of the schema as components, system entry points, user interfaces, services, and methods, wherein each of the components corresponds to each of the business functions of the business process, wherein each of the system entry points corresponds to visual-interface elements of each of the business activities, wherein each of the user interfaces with visual-interface elements corresponds to each of the forms, wherein each of the services corresponds to each of the actions performed in each of the user interfaces, and wherein each of the methods corresponds to each of the business rules that are invoked in handling each of the services;

defining events that connect the first level and second level of the schema, wherein events comprise entry events and exit events, and wherein each of the entry events is a stimulus that triggers a business function, a business activity, or a form and each of the exit events is a response from the respective business function, business activity, or form to the stimulus;

defining links that represent interactions between the user interfaces, wherein each of the links comprises cross connections between the visual-interface elements in the user interfaces and the events associated with at least one of the business functions, business activities, and forms;

defining integration services for each of the events, wherein integration services define cross connections for data updates between the events associated with at least one of the business functions, business activities, and forms in the first level and services and methods in the second level;

mapping each of the business functions, business activities, forms, actions, and business rules in the first level to a corresponding one of the components, system entry points, user interfaces, services, and methods in the second level using the events, links, and integration services;

creating a knowledge repository with a traversable user interface representing the mappings between the first level and the second level of the schema;

identifying changes to the software system in the business environment, wherein the changes are associated with at least one of the business functions, business activities, forms, actions, and business rules; and

analyzing impact of the changes to the software system using the knowledge repository with the traversable user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the changes associated with at least one business function comprises:

identifying changes in business activities, forms, actions, and business rules associated with the at least one business function through mappings persisted in the knowledge repository;

identifying changes in components corresponding to the at least one business function and further identifying changes in system entry points, user interfaces, services, and methods associated with the changes in the components through mappings persisted in the knowledge repository; and

identifying changes in system entry points, user interfaces, services, and methods corresponding to the changes in the business activities, forms, actions, and business rules through mappings persisted in the knowledge repository.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the changes associated with at least one business activity comprises:

identifying changes in forms, actions, and business rules associated with the at least one business activity through mappings persisted in the knowledge repository;

identifying changes in system entry points corresponding to the at least one business activity and further identifying changes in user interfaces, services, and methods associated with the changes in the system entry points through mappings persisted in the knowledge repository; and

identifying changes in user interfaces, services, and methods corresponding to the changes in the forms, actions, and business rules through mappings persisted in the knowledge repository.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the changes associated with at least one form comprises:

identifying changes in actions and business rules associated with the at least one form through mappings persisted in the knowledge repository;

identifying changes in user interfaces corresponding to the at least one form and further identifying changes in links, services and methods associated with the changes in the user interfaces through mappings persisted in the knowledge repository; and

identifying changes in services, and methods corresponding to the changes in the actions and business rules through mappings persisted in the knowledge repository.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the changes associated with at least one action comprises:

identifying changes in business rules associated with the at least one action through mappings persisted in the knowledge repository;

identifying changes in services corresponding to the at least one action and further identifying changes in integration services and methods associated with the changes in the services through mappings persisted in the knowledge repository; and

identifying changes in methods corresponding to the changes in the business rules through mappings persisted in the knowledge repository.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the changes associated with at least one business rule comprises:

identifying changes in methods corresponding to the changes in business rules through mappings persisted in the knowledge repository; and

identifying changes in integration services associated with the changes in the methods.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the knowledge repository to examine proper technology mapping in response to the changes.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising changing the impacted items based on the changes identified.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

generating artifacts of one or more of the impacted items; and

associating the artifacts with the repository elements in a maintenance management system.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer requirements are captured through triggered events.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating data structure artifacts from the events and the components;

generating user-interface artifacts from the entry points and the user interfaces; and

generating application service artifacts from the services and the methods.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

defining a set of error conditions; and

generating application service artifacts from the error conditions.

13. A system comprising:

a processing unit;

a memory operatively coupled to the processing unit, wherein the memory comprises;

a software structure schema, wherein the software structure schema stores layers that define a software system in a business environment, wherein the software structure schema is configured to

store customer requirements of the software system;

model business-software architecture of the software system in a first level of the schema as business functions, business activities, forms, actions, and business rules, wherein each of the business functions comprises functions performed in a business process of the software system, wherein each of the business activities comprises activities performed in each of the business functions, wherein each of the forms comprises semantics to capture and retrieve information for each of the business activities, wherein each of the actions comprises tasks performed in each of the forms, and wherein each of the business rules comprises rules that govern each of the actions;

model design architecture of the software system in a second level of the schema as components, system entry points, user interfaces, services, and methods, wherein each of the components corresponds to each of the business functions of the business process, wherein each of the system entry points corresponds to visual-interface elements of each of the business activities, wherein each of the user interfaces with visual-interface elements corresponds to each of the forms, wherein each of the services corresponds to each of the actions performed in each of the user interfaces, and wherein each of the methods corresponds to each of the business rules that are invoked in handling each of the services;

define events that connect the first level and second level of the schema, wherein event comprises entry events and exit events, and wherein each of the entry events is a stimulus that triggers a business function, a business activity, or a form and each of the exit events is a response from the respective business function, business activity, or form to the stimulus;

define links that represent interactions between the user interfaces, wherein each of the links comprises cross connections between the visual-interface elements in the user interfaces and the events associated with at least one of the business functions, business activities, and forms;

define integration services for each of the events, wherein integration services define cross connections for data updates between the events associated with at least one of the business functions, business activities, and forms in the first level and services and methods in the second level; and

map each of the business functions, business activities, forms, actions, and business rules in the first level to a corresponding one of the components, system entry points, user interfaces, services, and methods in the second level using the events, links and integration services;

a knowledge repository to create and store a traversable user interface representing the mappings between the first level and the second level of the schema;

a change requests module to identify changes to the software system in the business environment, wherein the changes are associated with at least one of the business functions, business activities, forms, actions, and business rules; and

an impact analysis module to analyze impact of the changes to the software system using the knowledge repository with the traversable user interface.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the impact analysis module examines proper technology mapping in response to the changes using the knowledge repository.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the impact analysis module further changes the impacted items based on the changes identified.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the impact analysis module further generates artifacts of one or more of the impacted items, and associates the artifacts with the repository elements in a maintenance management system.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the customer requirements are captured through triggered events.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the software structure schema comprises data structure artifacts generated from the events and the components, user-interface artifacts generated from the entry points and the user interfaces, and application service artifacts generated from the services and the methods.

19. The system of claim 13, the impact analysis module defines a set of error conditions and generates application service artifacts from the error conditions.

20. An article comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions thereon which when executed by a computing platform result in execution of a method of handling changes to a software system in a business environment, comprising:

capturing customer requirements of the software system in a schema;

modeling business-software architecture of the software system in a first level of the schema as business functions, business activities, forms, actions, and business rules, wherein each of the business functions comprises functions performed in a business process of the software system, wherein each of the business activities comprises activities performed in each of the business functions, wherein each of the forms comprises semantics to capture and retrieve information for each of the business activities, wherein each of the actions comprises tasks performed in each of the forms, and wherein each of the business rules comprises rules that govern each of the actions;

modeling design architecture of the software system in a second level of the schema as components, system entry points, user interfaces, services, and methods, wherein each of the components corresponds to each of the business functions of the business process, wherein each of the system entry points corresponds to visual-interface elements of each of the business activities, wherein each of the user interfaces with visual-interface elements corresponds to each of the forms, wherein each of the services corresponds to each of the actions performed in each of the user interfaces, and wherein each of the methods correspond to each of the business rules that are invoked in handling each of the services;

defining events that connect the first level and second level of the schema, wherein events comprise entry events and exit events, and wherein each of the entry events is a stimulus that triggers a business function, a business activity, or a form and each of the exit events is a response from the respective business function, business activity, or form to the stimulus;

defining links that represent interactions between the user interfaces, wherein each of the links comprises cross connections between the visual-interface elements in the user interfaces and the events associated with at least one of the business functions, business activities, and forms;

defining integration services for each of the events, wherein integration services define cross connections for data updates between the events associated with at least one of the business functions, business activities, and forms in the first level and services and methods in the second level;

mapping each of the business functions, business activities, forms, actions, and business rules in the first level to a corresponding one of the components, system entry points, user interfaces, services, and methods in the second level using the events, links and integration services;

creating a knowledge repository with a traversable user interface representing the mappings between the first level and the second level of the schema;

identifying changes to the software system in the business environment, wherein the changes are associated with at least one of the business functions, business activities, forms, actions, and business rules; and

analyzing impact of the changes to the software system using the knowledge repository with the traversable user interface.