Event management method and system

• US 8,230,445 B2
• Filed: 07/06/2006
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hope, Clifford C., Massey, Christopher C., Turner, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Todd, Gregory
• Application Number:
  US11/481,570
• Publication Number:
  US 20070067773A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,210 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/206, 709/207, 709/219, 709/231, 709/202, 709/217, 719/318, 718/100, 705/28
• US Class Current: 719/318
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail

Abstract

Method and system in an event management system is disclosed. The method includes the step of creating an agent on a server in an event management system for monitoring an event. The event is present when a data achieving a predefined status defined by a business rule. The event management system includes a data source for generating the notification. The method further includes the steps of running the agent according to a schedule; generating the notification upon occurring of the event.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

creating an agent on a computer server in an event management system to detect an occurrence of an event and notify the occurrence of the event, the agent being software executable, the event occurring when data achieves a predefined status defined by a business rule, the event management system including a data source;

creating an escalation agent on the computer server, the escalation agent being software executable;

running the agent according to a schedule;

generating a notification upon occurrence of the event as detected by the agent;

responsive to occurrence of the event, launching the escalation agent by the agent responsive to the detection of the event by the agent, wherein the agent launches the escalation agent, and wherein the launching of the escalation agent results in a separate agent process that runs according to its own pre-defined schedule;

passing event data associated with the event from the agent to the escalation agent after the escalation agent has been launched by the agent;

passing control from the agent to the escalation agent upon passing of the event data to the escalation agent;

terminating execution of the agent after control has been passed by the agent to the escalation agent;

generating an escalation message by the escalation agent if the escalation agent determines that the event previously detected by the agent still exists after a period of time subsequent to control being passed from the agent to the escalation agent; and

terminating execution of the escalation agent if the event previously detected by the agent does not still exist after the period of time subsequent to control being passed from the agent to the escalation agent.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing values from the notification in an event data store;

comparing values from a second notification to the stored values from the notification, and

suppressing the second notification when there is a predetermined element match.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

storing event data from a plurality of events in an event store;

analyzing the stored event data, and

determining one or more trends.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating the business rule that is used by the agent to detect an occurrence of a subsequent event based on the occurrence of the event.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

changing the schedule of the agent based upon the occurrence of the event by suspending the agent for a period of time.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

inserting a dynamic addressee placeholder into the notification;

retrieving a second data from the data source;

determining a dynamic addressee based on the second data;

inserting an address of the determined dynamic addressee into the dynamic addressee placeholder; and

transmitting the notification to the addressee.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

filtering a plurality of events resulting in a significant event; and

deciding an action for the significant event.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the significant event is filtered through an event absorption layer and decided in an event processing and filtering layer.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

customizing a delivery address and an appropriate format of the notification by the recipient.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the notification is a message.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the notification is an electronic mail.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the notification further comprises a text message.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the notification further comprises support data.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data source is external.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data source is a relational database.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data is extracted according to a data mapping.

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein the notification is sent to another business intelligence system to run another application.

18. A computer-readable storage device encoding a computer program for causing a computer to:

create an agent to detect an occurrence of an event and notify the occurrence of the event, the agent being software executable, the event occurring when data achieves a predefined status defined by a business rule, the event management system including a data source;

create an escalation agent, the escalation agent being software executable;

run the agent according to a schedule;

generate a notification upon occurrence of the event as detected by the agent;

responsive to occurrence of the event, launch the escalation agent by the agent responsive to the detection of the event by the agent, wherein the agent launches the escalation agent, and wherein the launching of the escalation agent results in a separate agent process that runs according to its own pre-defined schedule;

pass event data associated with the event from the agent to the escalation agent after the escalation agent has been launched by the agent;

pass control from the agent to the escalation agent upon passing of the event data to the escalation agent;

terminate execution of the agent after control has been passed by the agent to the escalation agent;

generate an escalation message by the escalation agent if the escalation agent determines that the event previously detected by the agent still exists after a period of time subsequent to control being passed to the escalation agent; and

terminate execution of the escalation agent if the event previously detected by the agent does not still exist after the period of time subsequent to control being passed from the agent to the escalation agent.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the computer program further causes the computer to:

change the schedule of the agent based upon the occurrence of the event by suspending the agent for a period of time.