Network service provisioning tool and method

• US 10,009,227 B2
• Filed: 02/16/2016
• Issued: 06/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Inventors: Akella, Seshu Kumar, Purushothaman, Sasidhar, Periyasamy, Muthusamy, Goruganti, Sridhar
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tuan S
• Application Number:
  US15/044,525
• Publication Number:
  US 20170237616A1
• Time in Patent Office: 861 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0823 characterised by the purposes of a change of settings, e.g. optimising configuration for enhancing reliability for optimising operational conditions of wireless networks H04W24/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0843 based on generic templates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0883 Semiautomatic configuration, e.g. proposals from system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5006 Creating or negotiating SLA contracts, guarantees or penalties
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5048 Automatic or semi-automatic definitions, e.g. definition templates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route

Abstract

A network service provisioning system may generate a data structure for configuring hardware and implementing an information system based on user responses to dynamically branching prompts. The provisioning system may generate an initial process map for the information system based on the user'"'"'s responses and a determined information processing task. As described further herein, the provisioning system may break the initial process map into one or more sub-processes and proceed to individually optimize the sub-processes utilizing parallel process on a plurality of worker nodes. The provisioning system may apply a master template based to the intermediate process map to generate one or more optimization recommendations for the intermediate process map. Once a final optimized process map is generated by the provisioning system, the provisioning system may provide the optimized process map to an automatic orchestrator system for configuring and implementing the information system represented by the optimized process map.

Claims

1. A network service provisioning system comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the network service provisioning system to;

generate a user interface comprising a plurality of dynamically branching user prompts, wherein the dynamically branching user prompts request information associated with operation and configuration of an information system;

determine an information processing task for the information system based on a plurality of responses to the plurality of dynamically branching user prompts;

generate an initial process map comprising a first plurality of entities and a first plurality of entity relationships based on the plurality of responses and the information processing task;

determine a plurality of sub-processes associated with the initial process map, wherein each sub-process of the plurality of sub-processes is associated with one or more entities of the first plurality of entities;

generate an intermediate process map comprising a second plurality of entities and a second plurality of entity relationships based on optimizing each sub-process of the plurality of sub-processes;

apply a master template to the intermediate process map to generate a set of optimization recommendations, wherein the master template incorporates constraints and standards associated with the information processing task and the plurality of responses;

generate an optimized process map comprising a third plurality of entities and a third plurality of entity relationships based on user input selecting one or more optimization recommendations from the set of optimization recommendations and the intermediate process map; and

provide the optimized process map to an automated orchestrator for implementation and configuration of the information system.

2. The network service provisioning system of claim 1, wherein the network service provisioning system further comprises an initial template database associating each of a plurality of information processing tasks with a respective initial template, and wherein generating the initial process map is based on a corresponding initial template associated with the determined information processing task.

3. The network service provisioning system of claim 1, wherein the network service provisioning system comprises at least one master node and at least one worker node, and wherein optimizing each sub-process of the plurality of sub-processes comprises:

distributing, by the master node, one or more sub-processes of the plurality of sub-processes to the at least one worker node; and

receiving, by the master node, an optimization result from the at least one worker node for the one or more sub-processes.

4. The network service provisioning system of claim 3, wherein the at least one worker node comprises a plurality of worker nodes, and wherein optimizing each sub-process of the plurality of sub-processes is performed using parallel processing on the plurality of worker nodes.

5. The network service provisioning system of claim 1, wherein optimizing each sub-process of the plurality of sub-processes comprises iteratively adjusting relationships between the one or more entities associated with a given sub-process until an optimum solution is discovered.

6. The network service provisioning system of claim 1, wherein optimizing each sub-process of the plurality of sub-processes comprises identifying redundancies in a given sub-process and removing the identified redundancies from the given sub-process.

7. The network service provisioning system of claim 1, wherein the master template is based on optimal configurations and recommendations generated during previous operation of the network service provisioning system.

8. The network service provisioning system of claim 1, wherein the constraints and standards incorporated in the master template are based on at least one of:

enterprise policies, product specifications, platform engineering standards, historical performance information, and process monitoring controls.

9. The network service provisioning system of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of entities comprises at least one hardware system.

10. The network service provisioning system of claim 1, wherein the dynamically branching user prompts comprise at least one of a technical questionnaire, a regulatory questionnaire, and a risk questionnaire.

11. A method for configuring an information system, the method comprising:

generating, by a provisioning server, a user interface comprising a plurality of dynamically branching user prompts, wherein the dynamically branching user prompts request information associated with operation and configuration of the information system;

determining, by the provisioning server, an information processing task for the information system based on a plurality of responses to the plurality of dynamically branching user prompts;

selecting, by the provisioning server, a first plurality of entities for use in the information system based on the plurality of responses and the information processing task;

generating, by the provisioning server, an initial process map comprising the first plurality of entities and a first plurality of entity relationships based on the plurality of responses and the information processing task;

determining, by the provisioning server, a plurality of sub-processes associated with the initial process map, wherein each sub-process of the plurality of sub-processes is associated with one or more entities of the first plurality of entities;

generating, by the provisioning server, an intermediate process map comprising a second plurality of entities and a second plurality of entity relationships based on optimizing each sub-process of the plurality of sub-processes;

applying, by the provisioning server, a master template to the intermediate process map to generate a set of optimization recommendations, wherein the master template incorporates constraints and standards associated with the information processing task and the plurality of responses;

receiving, by the provisioning server, user input selecting one or more recommendations of the set of optimization recommendations for implementation;

generating, by the provisioning server, an optimized process map comprising a third plurality of entities and a third plurality of entity relationships based on the selected one or more recommendations and the intermediate process map; and

providing, by the provisioning server, the optimized process map to an automated orchestrator for implementation and configuration of the information system.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the provisioning server comprises an initial template database associating each of a plurality of information processing tasks with a respective initial template, and wherein generating the initial process map is based on a corresponding initial template associated with the determined information processing task.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the provisioning server comprises at least one master node and at least one worker node, and wherein optimizing each sub-process of the plurality of sub-processes comprises:

distributing, by the master node, one or more sub-processes of the plurality of sub-processes to the at least one worker node; and

receiving, by the master node, an optimization result from the at least one worker node for the one or more sub-processes.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the master node comprises a first processor and a first memory,

the worker node comprises a second processor and a second memory, and

the master node and the worker node are each distinct hardware systems in communication via a network.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one worker node comprises a plurality of worker nodes, and wherein optimizing each sub-process of the plurality of sub-processes is performed using parallel processing on the plurality of worker nodes.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein optimizing each sub-process of the plurality of sub-processes comprises iteratively adjusting relationships between the one or more entities associated with a given sub-process until an optimum solution is discovered.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein optimizing each sub-process of the plurality of sub-processes comprises identifying redundancies in a given sub-process and removing the identified redundancies from the given sub-process.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause a provisioning system to:

generate a first user interface comprising a plurality of dynamically branching user prompts, wherein the dynamically branching user prompts request information associated with operation and configuration of an information system;

determine an information processing task for the information system based on a plurality of responses to the plurality of dynamically branching user prompts;

generate an initial process map comprising a first plurality of entities and a first plurality of entity relationships based on the plurality of responses and the information processing task;

determine a plurality of sub-processes associated with the initial process map, wherein each sub-process of the plurality of sub-processes is associated with one or more entities of the first plurality of entities;

generate an intermediate process map comprising a second plurality of entities and a second plurality of entity relationships based on optimizing each sub-process of the plurality of sub-processes, wherein optimizing each sub-process of the plurality of sub-processes comprises;

distributing, by the provisioning system, one or more sub-processes of the plurality of sub-processes to a plurality of worker nodes; and

receiving, by the provisioning system, an optimization result from the plurality of worker nodes for the one or more sub-processes;

apply a master template to the intermediate process map to generate a set of optimization recommendations, wherein the master template incorporates constraints and standards associated with the information processing task and the plurality of responses;

generate an optimized process map comprising a third plurality of entities and a third plurality of entity relationships based on user input selecting one or more optimization recommendations from the set of optimization recommendations and the intermediate process map; and

present the optimized process map via a second user interface.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the provisioning system comprises an initial template database associating each of a plurality of information processing tasks with a respective initial template, and wherein generating the initial process map is based on a corresponding initial template associated with the determined information processing task.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the master template is based on optimal configurations and recommendations generated during previous operation of the provisioning system.