System and Method for Managing the Configuration of Resources in an Enterprise

• US 20070100892A1
• Filed: 10/28/2005
• Published: 05/03/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Inventors: Waldron, William, Kephart, Aaron, Kirkland, Wallace, Howard-Knight, Philip, Deambrosi, Atilio, Kilpatrick, Brian, Maloney, Robert, Gatrell, Carol, Ritchie, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,782,201 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

System and method for managing the configuration of resources in an enterprise. Embodiments of the present invention gather, store, and maintain institutional knowledge of configurations of IT resources of an enterprise. A configuration database serves as a temporal record of the configurations of the resources. The configuration database can reflect a dimensional model of the enterprise configuration where various configuration items are linked together. A configuration change can be analyzed and approved, and then reflected in a change to a configuration item (CI) which imposes an appropriate change to other configuration items based on upstream, downstream, peer relationships and/or views. A system according to an embodiment of the invention can also include a change database, an inventory database, a problem database, and/or a service level management subsystem to ensure changes to an enterprise'"'"'s configuration are consistent with service level agreements and/or operating level agreements.

Claims

1. A method of managing a configuration of resources in an enterprise, the method comprising:

defining configuration changes based at least in part on previously stored data contained in a configuration database, wherein the configuration database further comprises a plurality of configuration items describing the configuration of the resources in the enterprise;

releasing a configuration change from among the configuration changes subject to an analysis of an impact of the configuration change and to an approval from within the enterprise; and

registering the configuration change in the configuration database so that the plurality of configuration items in the configuration database maintains currency and can be used to define future configuration changes.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the configuration change is defined by reference to a specified configuration item (CI), and wherein the method further comprises validating the specified CI with respect to a link to at least one of an upstream CI, a downstream CI, a peer CI and a view.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein at least one CI is selected from a group consisting of a midrange computer CI, a midrange partition CI, a mainframe computer CI, a logical partition (LPAR) CI, a software CI, a software component CI, and combinations of the foregoing.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein at least one CI is selected from a group consisting of a service CI, a delivery channel CI, an application CI, a sub-system CI, a hardware CI, a physical location CI, and combinations of the foregoing.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising accessing an inventory database to obtain information about assets related to the configuration change.

6. The method of claim 2 further comprising accessing an inventory database to obtain information about assets related to the configuration change.

7. The method of claim 3 further comprising accessing an inventory database to obtain information about assets related to the configuration change.

8. The method of claim 4 further comprising accessing an inventory database to obtain information about assets related to the configuration change.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the registering of the configuration change further comprises updating the configuration database based on the contents of a change database, wherein the change database maintains of record of configuration changes.

10. The method of claim 2 wherein the registering of the configuration change further comprises updating the configuration database based on the contents of a change database, wherein the change database maintains of record of configuration changes.

11. The method of claim 5 wherein the registering of the configuration change further comprises updating the configuration database based on the contents of a change database, wherein the change database maintains of record of configuration changes.

12. A computer program product for managing a configuration of resources in an enterprise, the computer program product comprising a medium including computer program code, the computer program code further comprising:

instructions for defining configuration changes based at least in part on previously stored data contained in a configuration database, wherein the configuration database further comprises a plurality of configuration items describing the configuration of the resources in the enterprise;

instructions for receiving an analysis of an impact of a configuration change and to an approval from within the enterprise for the configuration change; and

instructions for registering the configuration change in the configuration database so that the plurality of configuration items in the configuration database maintains currency and can be used to define future configuration changes.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the configuration change is defined by reference to a specified configuration item (CI), and wherein the method further comprises validating the specified CI with respect to a link to at least one of an upstream CI, a downstream CI, a peer CI, and a view.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein at least one CI is selected from a group consisting of a midrange computer CI, a midrange partition CI, a mainframe computer CI, a logical partition (LPAR) CI, a software CI, a software component CI, and combinations of the foregoing.

15. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein at least one CI is selected from a group consisting of a service CI, a delivery channel CI, an application CI, a sub-system CI, a hardware CI, a physical location CI, and combinations of the foregoing.

16. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the computer program code further comprises instructions for accessing an inventory database to obtain information about assets related to the configuration change.

17. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the computer program code further comprises instructions for accessing an inventory database to obtain information about assets related to the configuration change.

18. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein the computer program code further comprises instructions for accessing an inventory database to obtain information about assets related to the configuration change.

19. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the computer program code further comprises instructions for accessing an inventory database to obtain information about assets related to the configuration change.

20. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the computer program code further comprises instructions for updating the configuration database based on the contents of a change database, wherein the change database maintains of record of configuration changes.

21. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the computer program code further comprises instructions for updating the configuration database based on the contents of a change database, wherein the change database maintains of record of configuration changes.

22. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein the computer program code further comprises instructions for updating the configuration database based on the contents of a change database, wherein the change database maintains of record of configuration changes.

23. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the computer program code further comprises instructions for updating the configuration database based on the contents of a change database, wherein the change database maintains of record of configuration changes.

24. Apparatus for managing the configuration of resources in an enterprise, the apparatus comprising:

means for defining configuration changes based at least in part on previously stored data contained in a configuration database, wherein the configuration database further comprises a plurality of configuration items describing the configuration of the resources in the enterprise;

means for receiving an analysis of an impact of a configuration change and to an approval from within the enterprise for the configuration change; and

means for registering the configuration change in the configuration database so that the plurality of configuration items in the configuration database maintains currency and can be used to define future configuration changes.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 further comprising means for accessing an inventory database to obtain information about assets related to the configuration change.

26. The apparatus of claim 24 further comprising means for updating the configuration database based on the contents of a change database, wherein the change database maintains of record of configuration changes.

27. The apparatus of claim 25 further comprising means for updating the configuration database based on the contents of a change database, wherein the change database maintains of record of configuration changes.

28. A system for managing the configuration or resources in an enterprise, the system comprising:

a configuration database further comprising a plurality of configuration items forming a dimensional model of the configuration of resources in the enterprise; and

a change database operably connected to the configuration database, the change database to maintain records of configuration changes in support of the updating of the configuration database.

29. The system of claim 28 further comprising an inventory database operatively connected to the configuration database to provide updates to the configuration database to maintain currency based on inventory records.

30. The system of claim 28 further comprising at least one of a problem database and an exception processing database to track problems with configuration changes for analysis and management.

31. The system of claim 29 further comprising at least one of an exception processing database and a problem database to track problems with configuration changes for analysis and management.

32. The system of claim 28 further comprising a service level management system to ensure change to the configuration database are consistent with at least one of service level agreements and operating level agreements.

33. The system of claim 29 further comprising a service level management subsystem to ensure changes to the configuration database are consistent with at least one of service level agreements and operating level agreements.

34. The system of claim 30 further comprising a service level management system to ensure change to the configuration database are consistent with at least one of service level agreements and operating level agreements.

35. A computer readable storage medium encoded with a data structure representing a dimensional model of an enterprise configuration, the dimensional model further comprising:

a plurality of configuration items arranged in an array;

wherein at least some of the plurality of configuration items are linked together through at least one of an upstream relationship, a downstream relationship, a peer relationship, and a view so that a configuration change related to a configuration item (CI) imposes an appropriate change to other configuration items based on the relationships within the array.

36. The computer readable storage medium of claim 35 wherein the dimensional model is a multi-dimensional stack model.

37. The computer readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein the array is a grid defined by service and supporting service views.

38. The computer readable storage medium of claim 35 wherein the CI is selected from a group consisting of a midrange computer CI, a midrange partition CI, a mainframe computer CI, a logical partition (LPAR) CI, a software CI, a software component CI, and combinations of the foregoing.

39. The computer readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein the CI is selected from a group consisting of a midrange computer CI, a midrange partition CI, a mainframe computer CI, a logical partition (LPAR) CI, a software CI, a software component CI, and combinations of the foregoing.

40. The computer readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein the CI is selected from a group consisting of a service CI, a delivery channel CI, an application CI, a sub-system CI, a hardware CI, a physical location CI, and combinations of the foregoing.

41. The computer readable storage medium of claim 37 wherein the CI is selected from a group consisting of a service CI, a delivery channel CI, an application CI, a sub-system CI, a hardware CI, a physical location CI, and combinations of the foregoing.