Dynamic generation of processes in computing environments

• US 8,763,006 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2007
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bobak, Mythili K., Bostjancic, David V., McConnell, Tim A., Swanson, Michael D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Al Kawsar, Abdullah
• Assistant Examiner(s): KUMABE, BLAKE K
• Application Number:
  US11/965,894
• Publication Number:
  US 20090172670A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,370 Days
• Field of Search: 718/106, 705/7.26
• US Class Current: 718/106
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/30 Creation or generation of source code
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Workflows to be used in managing a computing environment are dynamically and programmatically created and/or activities are invoked, based on the current state of the environment. In creating a workflow, activities are conditionally included in the workflow based on the state of the environment. Different types of workflows may be created.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining that a workflow is to be created for an Information Technology (IT) environment, the IT environment including resources to be used to execute a business application, the business application defined based on a customer'"'"'s specification to achieve an overall business requirement of the customer'"'"'s business and having a quantitative business goal defined by the customer, the business application having an overall state produced based on state across a plurality of resources to be used to execute the business application, wherein a state of a resource includes at least one of available, degraded and unavailable defined based on a customer'"'"'s own sensitivity to what can be tolerated for correct execution of the business application to meet the customer'"'"'s defined quantitative business goal; and

programmatically creating, by a processor, based on a current state of the IT environment, the workflow, the programmatically creating comprising;

checking whether an operation is to be included in the workflow, the checking comprising determining whether the operation will have a desired effect on one or more resources to be used to execute the business application in order to meet the quantitative business goal of the business application;

based on the checking determining the operation is to be included in the workflow, determining whether the operation is to be conditionally executed;

based on determining the operation is to be conditionally executed, adding a conditional activity to the workflow to test one or more trigger conditions associated with the operation to determine based on current runtime conditions of the IT environment and one or more runtime properties of one or more resources of the business application whether the operation is to be executed;

dynamically creating an external monitor based on configuration information related to one or more resource relationships of the business application, the external monitor to be used in determining whether a particular conditional activity of the workflow is to be performed; and

based on the checking determining that the operation will have the desired effect on the one or more resources to meet the quantitative business goal of the business application, including the operation in the workflow.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the workflow comprises one of a preparatory workflow, a recovery workflow, an undo workflow and a delta workflow.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the programmatically creating is further based on observed historical information of the IT environment.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the quantitative business goal comprises one of a performance goal and an availability goal.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the workflow is created as a transaction.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the workflow is other than an undo workflow, and wherein the method further comprises programmatically creating an undo workflow to correspond to the workflow.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the operation is to be conditionally executed, and further comprising:

conditionally executing the operation of the workflow based on the conditional activity; and

monitoring completion status of the executed operation.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the operation includes a programmatic operation or an operation to be performed manually.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining an indication of an amount of time used to perform the operation.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the programmatically creating comprises:

based on the checking determining the operation is to be included in the workflow, adding an activity to the workflow to capture a start of an execution time for the operation; and

inserting into the workflow an activity to return the execution time of the operation, the returned execution time to be used in one or more management aspects of the customer'"'"'s business application.

11. A computer system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor in communications with the memory, wherein the computer system is configured to perform a method, said method comprising;

determining that a workflow is to be created for an Information Technology (IT) environment, the IT environment including resources to be used to execute a business application, the business application defined based on a customer'"'"'s specification to achieve an overall business requirement of the customer'"'"'s business and having a quantitative business goal defined by the customer, the business application having an overall state produced based on state across a plurality of resources to be used to execute the business application, wherein a state of a resource includes at least one of available, degraded and unavailable defined based on a customer'"'"'s own sensitivity to what can be tolerated for correct execution of the business application to meet the customer'"'"'s defined quantitative business goal; and

programmatically creating, by a processor, based on a current state of the IT environment, the workflow, the programmatically creating comprising;

checking whether an operation is to be included in the workflow, the checking comprising determining whether the operation will have a desired effect on one or more resources to be used to execute the business application in order to meet the quantitative business goal of the business application;

based on the checking determining the operation is to be included in the workflow, determining whether the operation is to be conditionally executed;

based on determining the operation is to be conditionally executed, adding a conditional activity to the workflow to test one or more trigger conditions associated with the operation to determine based on current runtime conditions of the IT environment and one or more runtime properties of one or more resources of the business application whether the operation is to be executed;

dynamically creating an external monitor based on configuration information related to one or more resource relationships of the business application, the external monitor to be used in determining whether a particular conditional activity of the workflow is to be performed; and

based on the checking determining indicating that the operation will have the desired effect on the one or more resources to meet the quantitative business goal of the business application, including the operation in the workflow.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the programmatically creating is further based on observed historical information of the IT environment.

13. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the workflow is created as a transaction.

14. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the operation is to be conditionally executed, and wherein the method further comprises:

conditionally executing the operation of the workflow based on the conditional activity; and

monitoring completion status of the executed operation.

15. A computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium readable by a processor and storing instructions for execution by the processor for performing a method comprising;

determining that a workflow is to be created for an Information Technology (IT) environment, the IT environment including resources to be used to execute a business application, the business application defined based on a customer'"'"'s specification to achieve an overall business requirement of the customer'"'"'s business and having a quantitative business goal defined by the customer, the business application having an overall state produced based on state across a plurality of resources to be used to execute the business application, wherein a state of a resource includes at least one of available, degraded and unavailable defined based on a customer'"'"'s own sensitivity to what can be tolerated for correct execution of the business application to meet the customer'"'"'s defined quantitative business goal; and

programmatically creating, by a processor, based on a current state of the IT environment, the workflow, the programmatically creating comprising;

checking whether an operation is to be included in the workflow, the checking comprising determining whether the operation will have a desired effect on one or more resources to be used to execute the business application in order to meet the quantitative business goal of the business application;

based on the checking determining the operation is to be included in the workflow, determining, whether the operation is to be conditionally executed;

based on determining the operation is to be conditionally executed, adding a conditional activity to the workflow to test one or more trigger conditions associated with the operation to determine based on current runtime conditions of the IT environment and one or more runtime properties of one or more resources of the business application whether the operation is to be executed;

dynamically creating an external monitor based on configuration information related to one or more resource relationships of the business application, the external monitor to be used in determining whether a particular conditional activity of the workflow is to be performed; and

based on the checking determining that the operation will have the desired effect on the one or more resources to meet the quantitative business goal of the business application, including the operation in the workflow.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the programmatically creating is further based on observed historical information of the IT environment.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the quantitative business goal comprises one of a performance goal and an availability goal.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the workflow is other than an undo workflow, and wherein the method further comprises programmatically creating an undo workflow to correspond to the workflow.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the operation is to he conditionally executed, and wherein the method further comprises:

conditionally executing the operation of the workflow based on the conditional activity; and

monitoring completion status of the executed operation.