Managing information technology (IT) infrastructure of an enterprise using a centralized logistics and management (CLAM) tool

• US 8,285,578 B2
• Filed: 01/21/2004
• Issued: 10/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Sheppard, Robert F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Boyce, Andre
• Application Number:
  US10/763,072
• Publication Number:
  US 20050159969A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,184 Days
• Field of Search: 705/9, 705/7.13
• US Class Current: 705/7.13
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/105 Human resources

Abstract

In one embodiment, a process for managing information technology (IT) infrastructure of an enterprise includes: (1) capturing and storing IT infrastructure information regarding the IT infrastructure of the enterprise; (2) defining a plurality of roles within the enterprise, each role specifying a particular job function within the enterprise; (3) associating items of IT infrastructure with roles within the enterprise such that each role is associated with one or more predetermined items of IT infrastructure; (4) assigning roles to one or more employees of the enterprise such that each of the one or more employees is associated with one or more roles and is assigned the one or more predetermined items of IT infrastructure associated with each of these one or more roles; (5) automatically modeling a change in the IT infrastructure for one or more impacted employees; and (6) automatically initiating deployment of one or more IT infrastructure assets for the one or more impacted employees by organizing delivery of the one or more IT infrastructure assets to the one or more impacted employees to implement the change modeled.

Claims

1. A server system configured to manage information technology (IT) infrastructure of an enterprise, the server system comprising:

at least one electronic computing device configured to execute a centralized logistics and management (CLAM) tool operable to;

in a capture phase;

capture and store IT infrastructure information regarding the IT infrastructure of the enterprise;

define a plurality of roles within the enterprise, each role specifying a particular job function within the enterprise;

assign first items of IT infrastructure to a first role within the enterprise and assign second items of IT infrastructure to a second role within the enterprise, wherein the second items include one or more items of IT infrastructure not included in the first items; and

assign the first role to first employees of the enterprise, which assigns the first items of IT infrastructure to the first employees of the enterprise, and assign the second role to second employees of the enterprise, which assigns the second items of IT infrastructure to the second employees of the enterprise, wherein the second employees include one or more employees of the enterprise not included in the first employees;

in a modeling phase;

model the acceptability of topology considerations of the enterprise in a first proposed environment of each of the first employees assigned the first role, the first proposed environment including the first items of IT infrastructure assigned to the first role; and

model the acceptability of topology considerations of the enterprise in a second proposed environment of each of the second employees assigned the second role, the second proposed environment including the second items of IT infrastructure assigned to the second role; and

in a deployment phase, automatically initiate deployment of the modeled change in the first items of IT infrastructure assigned to the first employees of the enterprise, which includes organizing delivery of the modeled change in the first items of IT infrastructure to implement the modeled change in the first items of IT infrastructure, and automatically initiate deployment of the modeled change in the second items of IT infrastructure assigned to the second employees of the enterprise, which includes organizing delivery of the modeled change in the second items of IT infrastructure to implement the modeled change in the second items of IT infrastructure,

wherein the capture, modeling, and deployment phases are included in a process comprising;

receiving a change request;

creating an incident for the change request;

determining whether to approve the change request and if the change request is approved applying one or more business rules to the change request and initiating deployment of IT infrastructure assets for fulfilling the change request; and

performing one or more follow-up procedures for determining whether the IT infrastructure assets for fulfilling the change request were properly deployed and, if the IT infrastructure assets were not properly deployed, creating a new incident for resolving problems associated with the deployment of the IT infrastructure assets.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the IT infrastructure of the enterprise comprises one or more computer-related facilities, services, and installations used for operations of the enterprise, comprising one or more of:

computer hardware; and

computer software.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the capture phase comprises an existing IT assets area for capturing an existing view of IT infrastructure assets of the enterprise, the existing IT assets area comprising one or more of:

asset profiles for IT infrastructure assets of the enterprise;

employee profiles for employees of the enterprise;

location profiles for locations associated with the enterprise; and

division profiles for divisions of the enterprise.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the CLAM tool is further operable to, if a role assigned to a particular employee is changed to a different role, change the items of IT infrastructure associated with the particular employee to reflect the different role.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein for a particular employee who is assigned one or more roles, the CLAM tool is further operable to assign one or more additional items of IT infrastructure to the particular employee such that the particular employee receives the one or more additional items of IT infrastructure.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the CLAM tool is further operable to model a change in the IT infrastructure and automatically initiate deployment of the change in the IT infrastructure, wherein the change in the IT infrastructure comprises a technology refresh for one of:

a particular employee of the enterprise;

a particular group of employees of the enterprise;

all employees of a division of the enterprise; and

all employees of the enterprise.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the CLAM tool is further operable to model a change in the IT infrastructure and automatically initiate deployment of the change in the IT infrastructure, wherein the change in the IT infrastructure comprises a technology refresh for one or more of:

a particular workspace of the enterprise;

a work area comprising a plurality of workspaces;

a building of the enterprise; and

all sites associated of the enterprise.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the CLAM tool is further operable to model a change in the IT infrastructure and automatically initiate deployment of the change in the IT infrastructure, wherein the change in the IT infrastructure comprises moving one or more employees between:

particular workspaces of the enterprise;

work areas of the enterprise, each work area comprising a plurality of workspaces;

or

buildings of the enterprise.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling phase comprises modeling a change to the IT infrastructure of the enterprise according to one or more of:

network topology considerations; and

one or more business rules associated with the enterprise.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the process is for approving, managing, designing, and deploying change requests for changes in the IT infrastructure and for collaborating and validating progress of change requests, wherein:

the change request comprises one or more of a request for a change in the IT infrastructure or a request to resolve a problem associated with the IT infrastructure; and

the incident enables the change request to be tracked and monitored.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the process further comprises a scheduling procedure for scheduling deployment of the IT infrastructure assets for fulfilling the change request, the scheduling procedure comprising creating one or more milestones for delivery of the IT infrastructure assets for fulfilling the change request.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the CLAM tool is further operable to if a particular milestone is not met, notify one or more appropriate individuals that the particular milestone was not met.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising a database operable to store the IT infrastructure information regarding the IT infrastructure of the enterprise.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the CLAM tool is further operable to, in a modeling phase:

model the acceptability of validation considerations of the enterprise in the first proposed environment of each of the first employees assigned the first role; and

model the acceptability of validation considerations of the enterprise in the second proposed environment of each of the second employees assigned the second role.

15. A server system configured to manage information technology (IT) infrastructure of an enterprise, the server system comprising:

at least one electronic computing device configured to execute a centralized logistics and management (CLAM) tool operable to;

in a capture phase;

capture and store IT infrastructure information regarding the IT infrastructure of the enterprise;

define a plurality of roles within the enterprise, each role specifying a particular job function within the enterprise;

assign first items of IT infrastructure to a first role within the enterprise and assign second items of IT infrastructure to a second role within the enterprise, wherein the second items include one or more items of IT infrastructure not included in the first items; and

assign the first role to first employees of the enterprise, which assigns the first items of IT infrastructure to the first employees of the enterprise, and assign the second role to second employees of the enterprise, which assigns the second items of IT infrastructure to the second employees of the enterprise, wherein the second employees include one or more employees of the enterprise not included in the first employees;

in a modeling phase;

model the acceptability of a first proposed environment of each of the first employees assigned the first role, the first proposed environment including the first items of IT infrastructure assigned to the first role; and

model the acceptability of a second proposed environment of each of the second employees assigned the second role, the second proposed environment including the second items of IT infrastructure assigned to the second role; and

in a deployment phase, automatically initiate deployment of the modeled change in the first items of IT infrastructure assigned to the first employees of the enterprise, which includes organizing delivery of the modeled change in the first items of IT infrastructure to implement the modeled change in the first items of IT infrastructure, and automatically initiate deployment of the modeled change in the second items of IT infrastructure assigned to the second employees of the enterprise, which includes organizing delivery of the modeled change in the second items of IT infrastructure to implement the modeled change in the second items of IT infrastructure, wherein the deployment phase comprises user acceptance testing to determine whether one or more deployed changes in the IT infrastructure of the enterprise was correct for a particular employee to whom the one or more deployed changes were deployed.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions for controlling a server computer system to perform a method for managing information technology (IT) infrastructure of an enterprise, comprising:

capturing and storing IT infrastructure information regarding the IT infrastructure of the enterprise;

defining a plurality of roles within the enterprise, each role specifying a particular job function within the enterprise;

assigning first items of IT infrastructure to a first role within the enterprise and assigning second items of IT infrastructure to a second role within the enterprise, wherein the second items include one or more items of IT infrastructure not included in the first items;

assigning the first role to first employees of the enterprise, which assigns the first items of IT infrastructure to the first employees of the enterprise, and assigning the second role to second employees of the enterprise, which assigns the second items of IT infrastructure to the second employees of the enterprise, wherein the second employees include one or more employees of the enterprise not included in the first employees;

modeling the acceptability of topology considerations of the enterprise in a first proposed environment of each of the first employees assigned the first role, the first proposed environment including the first items of IT infrastructure assigned to the first role;

modeling the acceptability of topology considerations of the enterprise in a second proposed environment of each of the second employees assigned the second role, the second proposed environment including the second items of IT infrastructure assigned to the second role;

automatically initiating deployment of the modeled change in the first items of IT infrastructure assigned to the first employees of the enterprise, comprising;

organizing delivery of the modeled change in the first items of IT infrastructure to implement the modeled change in the first items of IT infrastructure;

automatically initiating deployment of the modeled change in the second items of IT infrastructure assigned to the second employees of the enterprise, comprising;

organizing delivery of the modeled change in the second items of IT infrastructure to implement the modeled change in the second items of IT infrastructure;

receiving a change request;

creating an incident for the change request;

determining whether to approve the change request and if the change request is approved applying one or more business rules to the change request and initiating deployment of IT infrastructure assets for fulfilling the change request; and

performing one or more follow-up procedures for determining whether the IT infrastructure assets for fulfilling the change request were properly deployed and, if the IT infrastructure assets were not properly deployed, creating a new incident for resolving problems associated with the deployment of the IT infrastructure assets.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the IT infrastructure of the enterprise comprises one or more computer-related facilities, services, and installations used for operations of the enterprise, comprising one or more of:

computer hardware; and

computer software.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, comprising capturing in an existing IT assets area an existing view of IT infrastructure assets of the enterprise, the existing IT assets area comprising one or more of:

asset profiles for IT infrastructure assets of the enterprise;

employee profiles for employees of the enterprise;

location profiles for locations associated with the enterprise; and

division profiles for divisions of the enterprise.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, further comprising, if a role assigned to a particular employee is changed to a different role, changing the items of IT infrastructure associated with the particular employee to reflect the different role.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, further comprising, for a particular employee who is assigned one or more roles, assigning one or more additional items of IT infrastructure to the particular employee such that the particular employee receives the one or more additional items of IT infrastructure.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, comprising modeling a change in the IT infrastructure and automatically initiating deployment of the change in the IT infrastructure, wherein the change in the IT infrastructure comprises a technology refresh for one of:

a particular employee of the enterprise;

a particular group of employees of the enterprise;

all employees of a division of the enterprise; and

all employees of the enterprise.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, comprising modeling a change in the IT infrastructure and automatically initiating deployment of the change in the IT infrastructure, wherein the change in the IT infrastructure comprises a technology refresh for one or more of:

a particular workspace of the enterprise;

a work area comprising a plurality of workspaces;

a building of the enterprise; and

all sites associated of the enterprise.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, comprising modeling a change in the IT infrastructure and automatically initiating deployment of the change in the IT infrastructure, wherein the change in the IT infrastructure comprises moving one or more employees between:

particular workspaces of the enterprise;

work areas of the enterprise, each work area comprising a plurality of workspaces;

or

buildings of the enterprise.

24. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, comprising modeling a change to the IT infrastructure of the enterprise according to one or more of:

network topology considerations; and

one or more business rules associated with the enterprise.

25. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, further comprising conducting user acceptance testing to determine whether one or more deployed changes in the IT infrastructure of the enterprise was successful and, if the changes were not successful, initiating a process to correct problems.

26. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein:

receiving a change request comprises receiving one or more of a request for a change in the IT infrastructure or a request to resolve a problem associated with the IT infrastructure; and

creating an incident for the change request comprises enabling the change request to be tracked and monitored.

27. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, further comprising:

scheduling deployment of the IT infrastructure assets for fulfilling the change request, and

creating one or more milestones for delivery of the IT infrastructure assets for fulfilling the change request.

28. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 27, further comprising if a particular milestone is not met, notifying one or more appropriate individuals that the particular milestone was not met.

29. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, comprising:

modeling the acceptability of validation considerations of the enterprise in the first proposed environment of each of the first employees assigned the first role; and

modeling the acceptability of validation considerations of the enterprise in the second proposed environment of each of the second employees assigned the second role.