Systems, methods and computer program products for information management across disparate information systems

• US 9,898,537 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2014
• Issued: 02/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ip Ot Sub Ulc
• Original Assignee: Open Text Sa Ulc (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Leclerc, Daniel, Dubois, Maxime, Dowgailenko, Alex, Palmer, Jody Hupton, Lilko, Alexander, Molloy, Steve
• Primary Examiner(s): Waliullah, Mohammed
• Application Number:
  US14/527,237
• Publication Number:
  US 20150058314A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,210 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0815 providing single-sign-on or federations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]

Abstract

An information integration system may include a set of integration services embodied on one or more server machines in a computing environment. The set of integration services may include connectors communicatively connected to disparate information systems. The connectors are configured for integrating data utilizing a common model comprising a content management interoperability services data model, common property definitions, and a common security model particularly defined for use by the set of integration services. Responsive to a user query to search disparate information systems or a subset thereof, an application may communicate metadata of interest contained in the user query to a search engine which locates, via a unified index, requested data from the disparate information systems or a subset thereof. The search engine returns search results referencing the requested data to the application which interprets the search results and displays a visualization thereof on a client device.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

an application executing on a client device and having

a search function and

a filtering function

embodied on non-transitory computer memory,

the filtering function including filter widgets, each filter widget associated with a user experience user interface (UXUI) component configured to interface with a search application programming interface (API) of a search system embodied on at least one server machine,

the search system further comprising

a search engine and

a unified index built or being built in real-time by the search engine with data from a plurality of disparate information systems such that the plurality of disparate information systems are searchable via the unified index even before the unified index is completely built,

the search system communicatively connected to the plurality of disparate information systems via a set of integration services embodied on one or more server machines in a computing environment,

the application residing on an application tier,

the plurality of disparate information systems residing on a storage tier,

the set of integration services and the search system residing on an integration tier between the application tier and the storage tier,

the set of integration services having a set of connectors communicatively connected to the plurality of disparate information systems,

the set of connectors configured for integrating data stored in the plurality of disparate information systems utilizing a common model employed by the set of integration services such that the data is usable by the search engine for building or updating the unified index,

the common model comprising a content management interoperability services (CMIS) data model, common property definitions, and a common security model comprising a set of permissions particularly defined for use by the set of integration services embodied on the one or more server machines in the computing environment;

wherein, responsive to a user query to search the plurality of disparate information systems or a subset thereof, the search function of the application communicates metadata of interest contained in the user query to the search API;

wherein the search engine locates, via the metadata of interest and the unified index, requested data from the plurality of disparate information systems or a subset thereof;

wherein the search engine returns, via the search API, search results referencing the requested data to the application;

wherein the filtering function of the application interprets the search results; and

wherein the application displays a visualization of the search results on the client device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the visualization comprises a heat map divided into a plurality of sections, wherein each section of the plurality of sections represents an information system of the plurality of disparate information systems or a subset thereof indicated in the user query, wherein each section is further divided into a plurality of subsections in accordance with the metadata of interest, wherein size of a subsection reflects size of search results specific to the subsection and relative to other subsections in the visualization.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the application is further configured to provide a user of the client device with access to the plurality of disparate information systems via the heat map and through the set of integration services.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the filtering function of the application utilizes a tree map methodology to display the visualization of the search results where the plurality of disparate information systems and the metadata of interest are represented as nodes in a tree.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the application is further configured to provide a user of the client device with access to the plurality of disparate information systems via the nodes and through the set of integration services.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the application is further configured to provide a user of the client device with access to the plurality of disparate information systems via the visualization and through the set of integration services.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the UXUI component is further configured for visualizing data from the plurality of disparate information systems according to metadata indexed and stored in the unified index.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of integration services comprises a principal service configured for working with the search system in performing an inbound check, an authorization service configured for working with the search system in performing an outbound check, or a combination thereof.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the visualization comprises lifecycle information corresponding to the plurality of disparate information systems or a subset thereof indicated in the user query, the lifecycle information including at least one of:

the size of each of the disparate information systems, the age of each of the disparate information systems, the migration status of information within each of the disparate information systems, or whether information in each of the disparate information systems is classified or unclassified.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the visualization provides search results on classified and unclassified information across the plurality of disparate information systems.

11. A method for information management, comprising:

responsive to a user query to search a plurality of disparate information systems or a subset thereof, a search function of an application communicating metadata of interest contained in the user query to a search application programming interface (API) of a search system embodied on at least one server machine,

the application executing on a client device and having the search function and a filtering function embodied on non-transitory computer memory,

the filtering function including filter widgets,

each filter widget associated with a user experience user interface (UXUI) component configured to interface with the search API of the search system,

the search system further comprising a search engine and a unified index,

the search system communicatively connected to the plurality of disparate information systems via a set of integration services embodied on one or more server machines in a computing environment,

the application residing on an application tier,

the plurality of disparate information systems residing on a storage tier,

the set of integration services and the search system residing on an integration tier between the application tier and the storage tier,

the set of integration services having a set of connectors communicatively connected to the plurality of disparate information systems,

the set of connectors configured for integrating data stored in the plurality of disparate information systems utilizing a common model employed by the set of integration services,

the unified index built or being built in real-time by the search engine with data from the plurality of disparate information systems such that the plurality of disparate information systems are searchable via the unified index even before the unified index is completely built,

the common model comprising a content management interoperability services (CMIS) data model, common property definitions, and a common security model comprising a set of permissions particularly defined for use by the set of integration services embodied on the one or more server machines in the computing environment;

the search engine locating, via the metadata of interest and the unified index, requested data from the plurality of disparate information systems or a subset thereof;

the search engine returning, via the search API, search results referencing the requested data to the application;

the filtering function of the application interpreting the search results; and

the application displaying a visualization of the search results on the client device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the visualization comprises a heat map divided into a plurality of sections, wherein each section of the plurality of sections represents an information system of the plurality of disparate information systems or a subset thereof indicated in the user query, wherein each section is further divided into a plurality of subsections in accordance with the metadata of interest, wherein size of a subsection reflects size of search results specific to the subsection and relative to other subsections in the visualization.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

the application providing a user of the client device with access to the plurality of disparate information systems via the heat map and through the set of integration services.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the filtering function of the application utilizes a tree map methodology to display the visualization of the search results where the plurality of disparate information systems and the metadata of interest are represented as nodes in a tree.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

the application providing a user of the client device with access to the plurality of disparate information systems via the nodes and through the set of integration services.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

the application providing a user of the client device with access to the plurality of disparate information systems via the visualization and through the set of integration services.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the UXUI component is further configured for visualizing data from the plurality of disparate information systems according to metadata indexed and stored in the unified index.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the set of integration services comprises a principal service configured for working with the search system in performing an inbound check, an authorization service configured for working with the search system in performing an outbound check, or a combination thereof.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the visualization comprises a plurality of visualizations, wherein each visualization of the plurality of visualizations represents a manifestation of a particular combination of UXUI components corresponding to a particular set of filter widgets.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the visualization provides search results on classified and unclassified information across the plurality of disparate information systems.