Generating customized documentation for a software product

• US 8,307,341 B2
• Filed: 04/25/2007
• Issued: 11/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Eykholt, Daniel C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Khatri, Anil
• Application Number:
  US11/740,011
• Publication Number:
  US 20080271012A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,022 Days
• Field of Search: 717120-124, 717174-175, 707/695
• US Class Current: 717/123
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/73 Program documentation

Abstract

A system and method for creating customized documentation is disclosed. The method comprises storing one or more documents such that each of the one or more documents corresponds to one of a plurality of versions of a software product. The version of the software product which is installed in an installation environment is detected. The configuration of the installation environment is also detected. At least one document from the one or more documents that corresponds to the version of the software product installed in the installation environment is selected. A subset of the selected document that includes the version of the software product installed in the installation environment and the configuration of the installation environment is then determined. A customized document is composed, based on one or more subsets of the selected document.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising a computer useable storage medium having a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

detect which one of a plurality of versions of a software product is installed in an installation environment;

detect a configuration of the installation environment;

select a document from one or more documents that corresponds to the version of the software product installed in the installation environment;

determine a subset of the selected document that includes the version of the software product installed in the installation environment and the configuration of the installation environment;

compose a customized document based on the subset of the selected document, wherein the customized document is composed in response to a report by a customer of an issue with the software product;

identify a potential deficiency in the customized document if the issue reported by the customer is not addressed by the customized document;

identify a corresponding deficiency in the subset of the selected document from which the customized document was composed;

revise the selected document to address the issue with the software product; and

save the configuration and automatically update the customized document based on the saved configuration.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the one or more documents include support documentation on the software product.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the configuration is detected automatically by a discovery application.

4. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the configuration is detected automatically by receiving a selection from a user through one or more selection menus.

5. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the configuration of the installation environment includes an operating system associated with the installation environment.

6. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the configuration of the installation environment includes a listing of one or more hardware devices associated with the installation environment.

7. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the configuration includes a listing of one or more applications associated within the installation environment.

8. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the one or more documents are stored in a version control system.

9. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein a determination is made that there is a deficiency in the customized document by monitoring a counter, the counter increased for each subsequent report of the same issue.

10. A method comprising:

detecting which one of a plurality of versions of a software product is installed in an installation environment;

detecting a configuration of the installation environment;

selecting a document from one or more documents that corresponds to the version of the software product installed in the installation environment;

determining a subset of the selected document that includes the version of the software product installed in the installation environment and the configuration of the installation environment;

composing a customized document based on the subset of the selected document wherein the customized document is composed in response to a report by a customer of an issue with the software product;

identifying a potential deficiency in the customized document if the issue reported by the customer is not addressed by the customized document;

identifying a corresponding deficiency in the subset of the selected document from which the customized document was composed;

revising the selected document to address the issue with the software product; and

saving the configuration and automatically updating the customized document based on the saved configuration.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the one or more documents include support documentation on the software product.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein detecting the configuration is performed automatically by a discovery application.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein detecting the configuration is performed by receiving a selection from a user through one or more selection menus.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the configuration of the installation environment includes an operating system associated with the installation environment.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the configuration of the installation environment includes a listing of one or more hardware devices associated with the installation environment.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein the configuration includes a listing of one or more applications associated within the installation environment.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein the one or more documents are stored in a version control system.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein a determination is made that there is a deficiency in the customized document by monitoring a counter, the counter having been increased for each subsequent report of the same issue.

19. A system comprising:

a document repository configured to store a plurality of documents, each document corresponding to one of a plurality of versions of a software product;

a discovery application configured to detect which one of the plurality of versions of the software product is installed in an installation environment and a configuration of the installation environment;

a document selection module configured to select a document from the one or more documents that corresponds to the version of the software product installed in the installation environment and further selecting one or more subsets of the selected document that corresponds to the configuration of the installation environment;

a document generation module configured to compose a customized document based on the one or more subsets of the selected document, wherein the customized document is composed in response to a report by a customer of an issue with the software product;

a customer support module configured to identify a potential deficiency in the selected document if the issue reported by the customer is not addressed by the customized document and to further revise the selected document to address the issue with the software product; and

wherein the configuration is saved and the customized document is automatically updated based on the saved configuration.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the document selection module comprises a database engine.

21. The system of claim 19 wherein the plurality of documents include support documentation for the software product.

22. The system of claim 19 wherein the configuration of the installation environment includes an operating system associated with the installation environment.

23. The system of claim 19 wherein the configuration of the installation environment includes a listing of one or more hardware devices associated with the installation environment.

24. The system of claim 19 wherein the configuration includes a listing of one or more applications associated within the installation environment.

25. The system of claim 19 wherein the one or more documents are stored in a version control system.

26. The system of claim 19 wherein the customer support module further is configured to increment a counter with each subsequent report of the same issue and a determination is made that there is a deficiency in the customized document if the counter reaches a predetermined limit.