WORK PACKET ENABLED ACTIVE PROJECT SCHEDULE MAINTENANCE

• US 20100017252A1
• Filed: 07/15/2008
• Published: 01/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Oppenheim, Daniel V., Chaar, Jarir K., Huchel, Joseph P., Jobson, Thomas A. JR., Ratakonda, Krishina C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,452,629 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/70 Software maintenance or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

A method, system, and computer-readable medium for maintaining a project schedule of projects being executed within a software factory are presented. A project management tool receives alerts from the software factory as completion statuses, of software packets being used within the software factory, change. These alerts enable a consolidated and coordinated updating of the project schedule.

Claims

1. A computer-executed method of maintaining a project schedule within at least one software factory in a global delivery network, the computer-executed method comprising:

launching a project management tool, wherein the project management tool comprises an end-to-end project plan for at least one project, and wherein said at least one project creates at least one software product using said at least one software factory in a global delivery network;

appending a status block to a work packet that is utilized when executing said at least one project within said at least one software factory, wherein the work packet is a self-contained work unit that is assembled within said at least one software factory, and wherein the status block defines an execution status of the work packet;

initiating execution of said at least one project;

automatically triggering an alert from said at least one software factory whenever the status of the work packet changes; and

transmitting the alert to the project management tool to update a project schedule for said at least one project, wherein the completion status of the end-to-end project plan reflects a status of a project schedule for a project described by the end-to-end project plan.

2. The computer-executed method of claim 1, wherein the status is a wait status, wherein the wait status indicates that the work packet is waiting for a prerequisite event to occur before executing the work packet.

3. The computer-executed method of claim 1, wherein the status is an executing status, wherein the executing status indicates that the work packet is in the process of being executed.

4. The computer-executed method of claim 1, wherein resources and work packets in progress are reallocated and load balanced, such that an overall end-to-end project plan of the global delivery network are complied with.

5. The computer-executed method of claim 1, wherein the status is a completion status, wherein the completion status indicates that the work packet has been completely created and executed.

6. The computer-executed method of claim 1, wherein the detection of a change in metrics is due to a variation identified against known benchmarks, by means of standard statistical process control techniques and through statistical comparison with historical patterns of work packet execution in the past.

7. The computer-executed method of claim 1, wherein operations within said at least one software factory comprise:

collecting a plurality of software artifacts that have been archived during an assembly of previous work packets;

collecting a plurality of metrics that have been utilized during the assembly of previous work packets;

defining a template for a new work packet, wherein the template for the new work packet is created by a packet definition process that defines attributes that are needed in the new work packet;

under a control of the packet definition process, selecting requisite software artifacts from the plurality of software artifacts;

under the control of the packet definition process, selecting requisite metrics from the plurality of metrics; and

sending the template, requisite software artifacts and requisite metrics to a packet assembly process, wherein the packet assembly process assembles, under the control of the template and the requisite metrics, the requisite software artifacts to create the new work packet.

8. The computer-executed method of claim 1, wherein said at least one software factory further comprises:

a software factory governance section that evaluates the project proposal for acceptance by said at least one software factory;

a design center composed of a requirements analysis team and an architecture team, wherein the design center sections the project proposal into major functional areas that are to be handled by the requirements analysis team and the architecture team, and wherein the design center creates the work packets; and

an assembly line job shop that receives and executes the work packets to create the deliverable software.

9. The computer-executed method of claim 8, wherein the assembly line job shop further comprises:

a published set of services and a published set of requirements for the assembly line job shop, wherein the published set of services and the published set of requirements for the assembly line job shop are published to the design center, and wherein the published set of services describes what assembly services for assembling work packets are offered by the assembly line job shop, and wherein the published set of requirements describes what execution environment must be used by work packets that are provided by the design center for assembly in the assembly line job shop.

10. The computer-executed method of claim 9, wherein the work packets include governance procedures, standards, reused assets, work packet instructions, integration strategy, schedules, exit criteria and artifact checklist templates for Input/Output routines.

11. The computer-executed method of claim 8, wherein the assembly line job shop includes software that automatically recognizes a project type for the project proposal, and wherein the assembly line job shop assembles the work packets into the deliverable software in accordance with the project type that is recognized by the assembly line job shop.

12. The computer-executed method of claim 8, wherein the assembly line job shop conducts an integration test, a system test, a system integration test and a performance test of the deliverable software, wherein the integration test tests the deliverable software for compatibility with the client'"'"'s system, the system test checks the client'"'"'s system to ensure that the client'"'"'s system is operating properly, the system integration test tests for bugs that may arise when the deliverable software is integrated into the client'"'"'s system, and the performance test tests the deliverable software for defects as it is executing in the client'"'"'s system.

13. A system comprising:

a processor;

a data bus coupled to the processor;

a memory coupled to the data bus; and

a computer-usable medium embodying computer program code, the computer program code comprising instructions executable by the processor and configured for maintaining a project schedule within at least one software factory by performing the steps of;

launching a project management tool, wherein the project management tool comprises an end-to-end project plan for at least one project, and wherein said at least one project creates at least one software product using said at least one software factory in a global delivery network;

appending a status block to a work packet that is utilized when executing said at least one project within said at least one software factory, wherein the work packet is a self-contained work unit that is assembled within said at least one software factory, and wherein the status block defines an execution status of the work packet;

initiating execution of said at least one project;

automatically triggering an alert from said at least one software factory whenever the execution status of the work packet changes; and

transmitting the alert to the project management tool to update a project schedule for the project, wherein the completion status of the end-to-end project plan reflects a status of a project schedule for a project described by the end-to-end project plan.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the status is a wait status, wherein the wait status indicates that the work packet is waiting for a prerequisite event to occur before executing the work packet.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the status is an executing status, wherein the executing status indicates that the work packet is in the process of being executed.

16. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with a computer program, the computer program comprising computer executable instructions configured for:

launching a project management tool, wherein the project management tool comprises an end-to-end project plan for at least one project, wherein said at least one project creates at least one software product using at least one software factory in a global delivery network;

appending a status block to a work packet that is utilized when executing the project within said at least one software factory, wherein the work packet is a self-contained work unit that is assembled within said at least one software factory, and wherein the status block defines an execution status of the work packet;

initiating execution of said at least one project;

automatically triggering an alert from the software factory whenever the execution status of the work packet changes; and

transmitting the alert to the project management tool to update a project schedule for the project, wherein the completion status of the end-to-end project plan reflects a status of a project schedule for a project described by the end-to-end project plan.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the status is a wait status, wherein the wait status indicates that the work packet is waiting for a prerequisite event to occur before executing the work packet.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the status is an executing status, wherein the executing status indicates that the work packet is in the process of being executed.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the computer-readable storage medium is a component of a remote server, and wherein the computer executable instructions are deployable to a supervisory computer from the remote server.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the computer executable instructions are capable of being provided by a service provider to a customer on an on-demand basis.