Software factory health monitoring

• US 8,327,318 B2
• Filed: 04/13/2007
• Issued: 12/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chaar, Jarir K., Finlayson, Ronald D., Jobson, Thomas A. Jr., Mitsumori, Naomi M., Reddington, Francis X.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kang, Insun
• Application Number:
  US11/735,099
• Publication Number:
  US 20080255696A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,062 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A method, system, and computer-readable medium for maintaining a health of a software factory that creates custom software in a standardized manner is presented. In a preferred embodiment, the method includes the steps of: defining work packets to perform sub-functions of a custom software; tracking a transmission of the work packets to an assembly line in a software factory; monitoring any retrieval of software artifacts that are used to create the work packets; monitoring any on-going changes of work activities that are contained in the work packets; determining if execution of the work packets conforms to governance guidelines for the software factory; monitoring the software factory to ensure that the work packets comply with an architecture of the software factory; tracking quality metrics for an execution of the work packets in an assembly line in the software factory; and transmitting all tracked and monitored information described above to a dashboard.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for maintaining a health of a software factory that creates software in a standardized manner, the computer-implemented method comprising:

defining work packets to perform sub-functions of a software, wherein a work packet is a pre-stored, reusable, self-contained, discrete unit of software code;

tracking a transmission of the work packets to an assembly line in a software factory;

monitoring any retrieval of software artifacts that are used to create the work packets;

monitoring any on-going changes of work activities that are contained in the work packets;

determining if execution of the work packets conforms to governance guidelines for the software factory;

monitoring the software factory to ensure that the work packets comply with an architecture of the software factory;

tracking quality metrics for an execution of the work packets in an assembly line in the software factory; and

transmitting all tracked and monitored information described above to a dashboard in a monitoring display to depict a real-time health condition of the software factory.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the software factory comprises:

a software factory governance section that evaluates the project proposal for acceptance by the software factory;

a design center composed of a requirements analysis team and an architecture team, wherein the design center sections the project proposal into major functional areas that are to be handled by the requirements analysis team and the architecture team, and wherein the design center creates the work packets; and

an assembly line that receives and executes the work packets to create the deliverable software.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the assembly line further comprises:

a published set of services and a published set of requirements for the assembly line, wherein the published set of services and the published set of requirements for the assembly line are published to the design center, and wherein the published set of services describes what assembly services for assembling work packets are offered by the assembly line, and wherein the published set of requirements describes what execution environment must be used by work packets that are provided by the design center for assembly in the assembly line.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the work packets include governance procedures, standards, reused assets, work packet instructions, integration strategy, schedules, exit criteria and artifact checklist templates for Input/Output routines.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the assembly line includes software that automatically recognizes a project type for the project proposal, and wherein the assembly line assembles the work packets into the deliverable software in accordance with the project type that is recognized by the assembly line.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the assembly line conducts an integration test, a system test, a system integration test and a performance test of the deliverable software, wherein the integration test tests the deliverable software for compatibility with a client'"'"'s system, the system test checks the client'"'"'s system to ensure that the client'"'"'s system is operating properly, the system integration test tests for bugs that may arise when the deliverable software is integrated into the client'"'"'s system, and the performance test tests the deliverable software for defects as it is executing in the client'"'"'s system.

7. A system comprising:

a processor;

a data bus coupled to the processor;

a memory coupled to the data bus; and

a computer-usable medium embodying computer program code, the computer program code comprising instructions executable by the processor and configured for maintaining a health of a software factory that creates software in a standardized manner by performing the steps of;

defining work packets to perform sub-functions of a software, wherein a work packet is a pre-stored, reusable, self-contained, discrete unit of software code;

tracking a transmission of the work packets to an assembly line in a software factory;

monitoring any retrieval of software artifacts that are used to create the work packets;

monitoring any on-going changes of work activities that are contained in the work packets;

determining if execution of the work packets conforms to governance guidelines for the software factory;

monitoring the software factory to ensure that the work packets comply with an architecture of the software factory;

tracking quality metrics for an execution of the work packets in an assembly line in the software factory; and

transmitting all tracked and monitored information described above to a dashboard in a monitoring display to depict a real-time health condition of the software factory.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the instructions further comprise executable instructions for supporting the software factory that comprises:

a software factory governance section that evaluates the project proposal for acceptance by the software factory;

a design center composed of a requirements analysis team and an architecture team, wherein the design center sections the project proposal into major functional areas that are to be handled by the requirements analysis team and the architecture team, and wherein the design center creates the work packets; and

an assembly line that receives and executes the work packets to create the deliverable software.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the design center further comprises:

a requirements analysis team, wherein the requirements analysis team is responsible for determining system requirements for executing the deliverable software on the customer'"'"'s system; and

an architectural team, wherein the architectural team models the project proposal in accordance with customer constraints, and wherein the architectural team bundles the customer constraints together with the work packets for execution in the assembly line.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the work packets include governance procedures, standards, reused assets, work packet instructions, integration strategy, schedules, exit criteria and artifact checklist templates for Input/Output routines.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the assembly line includes software that automatically recognizes a project type for the project proposal, and wherein the assembly line assembles the work packets into the deliverable software in accordance with the project type that is recognized by the assembly line.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the assembly line conducts an integration test, a system test, a system integration test and a performance test of the deliverable software, wherein the integration test tests the deliverable software for compatibility with a client'"'"'s system, the system test checks the client'"'"'s system to ensure that the client'"'"'s system is operating properly, the system integration test tests for bugs that may arise when the deliverable software is integrated into the client'"'"'s system, and the performance test tests the deliverable software for defects as it is executing in the client'"'"'s system.

13. A computer storage device encoded with a computer program, the computer program comprising computer executable instructions configured for:

defining work packets to perform sub-functions of a software, wherein a work packet is a pre-stored, reusable, self-contained, discrete unit of software code;

tracking a transmission of the work packets to an assembly line in a software factory;

monitoring any retrieval of software artifacts that are used to create the work packets;

monitoring any on-going changes of work activities that are contained in the work packets;

determining if execution of the work packets conforms to governance guidelines for the software factory;

monitoring the software factory to ensure that the work packets comply with an architecture of the software factory;

tracking quality metrics for an execution of the work packets in an assembly line in the software factory; and

transmitting all tracked and monitored information described above to a dashboard in a monitoring display to depict a real-time health condition of the software factory.

14. The computer storage device of claim 13, wherein the computer executable instructions further comprise executable instructions for supporting the software factory that comprises:

a software factory governance section that evaluates the project proposal for acceptance by the software factory;

a design center composed of a requirements analysis team and an architecture team, wherein the design center sections the project proposal into major functional areas that are to be handled by the requirements analysis team and the architecture team, and wherein the design center creates the work packets; and

an assembly line that receives and executes the work packets to create the deliverable software.

15. The computer storage device of claim 14, wherein the design center further comprises:

a requirements analysis team, wherein the requirements analysis team is responsible for determining system requirements for executing the deliverable software on the customer'"'"'s system; and

an architectural team, wherein the architectural team models the project proposal in accordance with customer constraints, and wherein the architectural team bundles the customer constraints together with the work packets for execution in the assembly line.

16. The computer storage device of claim 15, wherein the work packets include governance procedures, standards, reused assets, work packet instructions, integration strategy, schedules, exit criteria and artifact checklist templates for Input/Output routines.

17. The computer storage device of claim 14, wherein the assembly line includes software that automatically recognizes a project type for the project proposal, and wherein the assembly line assembles the work packets into the deliverable software in accordance with the project type that is recognized by the assembly line.

18. The computer storage device of claim 14, wherein the assembly line conducts an integration test, a system test, a system integration test and a performance test of the deliverable software, wherein the integration test tests the deliverable software for compatibility with a client'"'"'s system, the system test checks the client'"'"'s system to ensure that the client'"'"'s system is operating properly, the system integration test tests for bugs that may arise when the deliverable software is integrated into the client'"'"'s system, and the performance test tests the deliverable software for defects as it is executing in the client'"'"'s system.

19. The computer storage device of claim 13, wherein the computer-usable medium is a component of a remote server, and wherein the computer executable instructions are deployable to a supervisory computer from the remote server.

20. The computer storage device of claim 13, wherein the computer executable instructions are capable of being provided by a service provider to a customer on an on-demand basis.