Work packet forecasting in a software factory

• US 8,566,777 B2
• Filed: 04/13/2007
• Issued: 10/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• 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): MITCHELL, JASON D
• Application Number:
  US11/735,086
• Publication Number:
  US 20080256529A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,384 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/101
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A method, system, and computer-readable medium for predicatively selecting which work packets will be needed by a software factory to create a deliverable custom software are presented. In a preferred embodiment, the computer-implemented method includes: presenting an initial checklist that consists of a series of question groups; receiving answers to the initial checklist; in response to determining that received answers to the initial checklist indicate that a new series of questions is required to predict which work packets will be needed to create the deliverable custom software, dynamically generating a new checklist; evaluating leading indicators for the received answers; based on relevancy of answers and the leading indicators, eliminating irrelevant questions from the new checklist; and based on answers to remaining relevant questions, determining if a particular work packet will be needed to create the deliverable custom software in the software factory.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for predicatively selecting which of a plurality of work packets will be needed by a software factory to create a deliverable software, the computer-implemented method comprising:

presenting an initial checklist that consists of a series of question groups, wherein each question group is categorized according to a particular type of deliverable software;

receiving answers to the series of question groups of the initial checklist;

in response to determining that received answers to the initial checklist indicates that a new series of questions is required to predict which of the plurality of work packets will be needed to create the deliverable software, dynamically generating a new checklist, wherein the new checklist is dynamically created using one or more stored questions that are tagged and associated with a particular set of answers to the initial checklist;

evaluating one or more leading indicators for the received answers, wherein the one or more leading indicators include one or more descriptors of a final version of the deliverable software that will be generated by the software factory, a client'"'"'s name, and an enterprise description for a client;

evaluating, in real time, each of the received answers to determine relevancy of the received answers to the deliverable software;

in response to the evaluating the relevancy of the received answers and evaluating the one or more leading indicators, filtering, from the new checklist, a number of irrelevant questions, wherein the number of irrelevant questions are not asked in future checklists for the deliverable software having a similar context as the new checklist; and

determining whether a particular work packet will be needed to create the deliverable software in the software factory based on one or more answers to one or more relevant questions of the new checklist.

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

a software factory governance section that evaluates a 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 one or major functional areas that are to be handled by the requirements analysis team and the architecture team, and wherein the design center creates the plurality of work packets; and

an assembly line that receives and executes the plurality of 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, wherein the published set of services describes which assembly services for assembling work packets are offered by the assembly line, and wherein the published set of requirements describes which execution environment must be used by work packets 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 plurality of 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 system of the client, 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 during execution on 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 configured for predicatively selecting which work packets will be needed by a software factory to create a deliverable software that when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

present an initial checklist that consists of a series of question groups, wherein each questions group is categorized according to a particular type of deliverable software;

receive answers to the series of question groups of the initial checklist;

in response to determining that received answers to the initial checklist indicate that a new series of questions is required to predict which of the plurality of work packets will be needed to create the deliverable software, dynamically generate a new checklist, wherein the new checklist is dynamically created using one or more stored questions that are tagged and associated with a particular set of answers to the initial checklist;

evaluate one or more leading indicators for the received answers, wherein the one or more leading indicators include one or more descriptors of a final version of the deliverable software that will be generated by the software factory, a client'"'"'s name, and an enterprise description for a client;

evaluate, in real time, each of the received answers to determine relevancy of the received answers to the deliverable software;

in response to evaluating the relevancy of the received answers and evaluating the one or more leading indicators, filter, from the new checklist, a number of irrelevant questions, wherein the number of irrelevant questions are not asked in future checklists for the deliverable software having a similar context as the new checklist; and

determine whether a particular work packet will be needed to create the deliverable software in the software factory based on one or more answers to one or more relevant questions of the new checklist.

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 a 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 one or more major functional areas that are to be handled by the requirements analysis team and the architecture team, and wherein the design center creates the plurality of work packets; and

an assembly line that receives and executes the plurality of 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 a system of a customer; and

an architectural team, wherein the architectural team models the project proposal in accordance with one or more customer constraints, and wherein the architectural team bundles the one or more 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 system of the client, 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 during execution on the client'"'"'s system.

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

presenting an initial checklist that consists of a series of question groups, wherein each question group is categorized according to a particular type of deliverable software;

receiving answers to the series of question groups of the initial checklist;

in response to determining that received answers to the initial checklist indicates that a new series of questions is required to predict which of the plurality of work packets will be needed to create the deliverable software, dynamically generating a new checklist, wherein the new checklist is dynamically created using one or more stored questions that are tagged and associated with a particular set of answers to the initial checklist;

evaluating one or more leading indicators for the received answers, wherein the one or more leading indicators include one or more descriptors of a final version of the deliverable software that will be generated by the software factory, a client'"'"'s name, and an enterprise description for a client;

evaluating, in real time, each of the received answers to determine relevancy of the received answers to the deliverable software;

in response to the evaluating the relevancy of the received answers and evaluating the one or more leading indicators, filtering, from the new checklist, a number of irrelevant questions, wherein the number of irrelevant questions are not asked in future checklists for the deliverable software having a similar context as the new checklist; and

determining whether a particular work packet will be needed to create the deliverable software in the software factory based on one or more answers to one or more relevant questions of the new checklist.

14. The 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 one or more major functional areas that are to be handled by the requirements analysis team and the architecture team, and wherein the design center creates the plurality of work packets; and

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

15. The 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 a system of a customer; and

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

16. The 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 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 plurality of work packets into the deliverable software in accordance with the project type that is recognized by the assembly line.

18. The 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 system of the client, 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 during execution on the client'"'"'s system.

19. The storage device of claim 13, wherein the storage device 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 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.