Modeling and linking documents for packaged software application configuration

• US 8,589,877 B2
• Filed: 10/07/2009
• Issued: 11/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bhandar, Manisha D., Byrnes, Kathleen, Conrad, Dennis A., Desai, Maharshi H., Dhoolia, Pankaj, Goh, Sweefen, Goodwin, Richard T., Ivan, Anca A., Lee, Juhnyoung, Mani, Senthil Kk, Mazzoleni, Pietro, Mohan, Rakesh, Mukherjee, Debdoot, Rembert, Aubrey J., Rosinski, Thomas D., Sinha, Vibha S., Srivastava, Biplav
• Primary Examiner(s): Nam, Hyun
• Application Number:
  US12/575,163
• Publication Number:
  US 20110083120A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,504 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/121
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

One or more document templates defining deployment procedures associated with deploying a packaged software application are obtained. One or more objects are created representing the one or more document templates and one or more elements of the one or more documents, and one or more links between the one or more objects are created. The one or more links represent one or more relationships between the created one or more objects. The one or more objects and the one or more links may be stored and/or output in a selected format.

Claims

1. A method for creating and linking documents used for packaged software application configuration, comprising:

obtaining one or more document templates defining deployment procedures for deploying a packaged software application, the one or more document templates defining deployment procedures comprising specifications for service delivery mechanism comprising a plurality of sections including at least a requirements section;

extracting from the one or more document templates, one or more elements that correspond to one or more of the plurality of sections;

creating, using a processor, one or more objects representing the one or more document templates and said one or more elements of the one or more documents, wherein the plurality of sections are converted into said objects respectively;

creating one or more links between the one or more objects, the one or more links representing one or more relationships between the created one or more objects; and

storing the one or more objects and the one or more links.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more objects and the one or more links are a structured representation of the one or more document templates for machine consumption.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more elements of the one or more documents include one or more of table, form, free text or combinations thereof, in the one or more documents.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of document templates are obtained and the one or more links represent relationships between the plurality of document templates.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more document templates are analyzed using one or more of text mining or computational linguistics techniques, or combination thereof, to create the one or more objects and the links.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more objects are used for defining deployment method for a plurality of packaged software applications.

7. The method of claim 1, further including refining the one or more objects and one or more links based on user input.

8. The method of claim 1, further including rendering the one or more objects and one or more links into a selected output format.

9. A system for creating and linking work product models for packaged application practices, comprising:

a computer processor;

a model generator module operable to execute on the processor and obtain one or more document templates defining deployment procedures for deploying a packaged software application, the one or more document templates defining deployment procedures comprising specifications for service delivery mechanism comprising a plurality of sections including at least a requirements section, the model generator module further operable to extract from the one or more document templates, one or more elements that correspond to one or more of the plurality of sections, the model generator module further operable to create one or more objects representing the one or more document templates and said one or more elements of the one or more documents, wherein the plurality of sections are converted into said objects respectively, the module generator module further operable to create one or more links between the one or more objects, the one or more links representing one or more relationships between the created one or more objects; and

a storage device storing the one or more objects and the one or more links.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more objects and the one or more links are a structured representation of the one or more document templates for machine consumption.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more elements of the one or more documents include one or more of table, form, free text or combinations thereof, in the one or more documents.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein a plurality of document templates are obtained and the one or more links represent relationships between the plurality of document templates.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein one or more document templates are analyzed using one or more of text mining or computational linguistics techniques, or combination thereof, to create the one or more objects and the links.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more objects are used for defining deployment method for a plurality of packaged software applications.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the model generator module is further operable to refine the one or more objects and one or more links based on user input.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the model generator module is further operable to render the one or more objects and one or more links into a selected output format.

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform a method of creating and linking documents used for packaged software application configuration, comprising:

obtaining one or more document templates defining deployment procedures for deploying a packaged software application, the one or more document templates defining deployment procedures comprising specifications for service delivery mechanism comprising a plurality of sections including at least a requirements section;

extracting from the one or more document templates, one or more elements that correspond to one or more of the plurality of sections;

creating, using a processor, one or more objects representing the one or more document templates and said one or more elements of the one or more documents, wherein the plurality of sections are converted into said objects respectively;

creating one or more links between the one or more objects, the one or more links representing one or more relationships between the created one or more objects; and

storing the one or more objects and the one or more links.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the one or more elements of the one or more documents include one or more of table, form, free text or combinations thereof, in the one or more documents.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, further including refining the one or more objects and one or more links based on user input.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, further including rendering the one or more objects and one or more links into a selected output format.