Customizable asset governance for a distributed reusable software library

• US 20100306730A9
• Filed: 05/17/2006
• Published: 12/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Akana, Inc. (Perforce Software Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: LogicLibrary, Inc. (Perforce Software Incorporated)
• Inventors: Carlson, Brent, Graser, Timothy
• Granted Patent: US 8,412,813 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/101
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse

Abstract

In general, techniques are described that facilitate the reuse of software assets within an enterprise. A software asset, as used herein, refers to a set of one or more related artifacts that have been created or harvested for the purpose of applying that asset repeatedly in subsequent development environments. A system, for example, is described that includes a repository to store artifacts, and an asset source to generate a software asset based on the artifacts. The system further includes an asset management system to receive the software asset from the asset source and store the software asset within an asset library. The system may further include a model having one or more elements, and an asset retrieval module to selectively retrieve a subset of the software assets from the asset library based on input from a user identifying one or more of the elements. The system may also include a subsystem that allows users to customize asset governance processes and tailor system behavior through an event-driven mechanism.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system comprising:

a set of repositories to store electronic artifacts, wherein at least one or more of the artifacts comprise software instructions;

a set of asset sources executing on one or more computers to monitor the repositories and to generate software assets in a normalized format upon detecting new or changed artifacts in the repositories, wherein each of the software assets represents a set of related artifacts in the repositories that is reusable in different software development environments; and

an asset management system executing on one or more computers to capture the software assets from the asset sources and to store the software assets in an asset library,

wherein the asset management system operates in accordance with a control process when the asset management system captures the software assets generated by the asset sources and stores the software assets; and

wherein the control process is customizable by an administrator of the asset management system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the asset management system comprises:

a library process control (LPC) document that defines the control process; and

a control unit that processes the LPC document and performs the control process based on the content of the LPC document.

3. The system of claim 2,

wherein the LPC documents comprises a set of preconditions and a set of actions, and

wherein the asset management system performs an action in the set of actions when all preconditions associated with the action in the set of preconditions are satisfied.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the control process evaluates the set of preconditions to determine whether all preconditions associated with the action are satisfied.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein a precondition in the set of preconditions comprises approval from a set of users defined in the LPC document.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the action refers to a listener definition, wherein the listener definition contains a reference to an implementation that encapsulates substantive behavior of the asset management system.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the implementation is external to the asset management system.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the LPC document conforms to the extensible markup language (XML).

9. The system of claim 2, further comprising a graphical interface by which the administrator edits the LPC document.

10. The system of claim 2, wherein the LPC document defines a default procedure and the asset management system executing operates in accordance with the default procedure.

11. The system of claim 2, wherein the LPC document defines the control process to a procedure for approval or rejection of the asset, and the asset management system executing operates in accordance with the procedure.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the procedure for approval or rejection of the asset comprises requesting approval of the artifact from a set of users defined in the LPD document, receiving replies form the set of users, and aborting the control process if any member of the set of users rejects the artifact.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the asset management system performs the control process in response to an event.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the event is a notification from the asset source that the asset source has generated a software asset.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the control process governs how the asset management system handles requests to retrieve a software asset from the asset library.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the normalized form of the software asset complies with a computer data description language.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the computer data description language comprises the extensible markup language (XML).

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the asset source comprises a writable interface for editing the software asset.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the asset management system comprises an asset capture module to update the software assets based on additional artifacts.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the asset capture module includes a user interface to receive the additional artifacts from a user.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the asset capture module includes a script to generate the additional artifacts.

22. The system of claim 19,

wherein an asset template defines a schema for the asset in accordance with a computer data description language;

and

wherein the asset capture module updates the software asset in accordance with the asset template.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the asset capture module identifies missing artifacts from the software asset based on the asset template.

24. The system of claim 1,

wherein the asset management system further comprises a rules engine to generate metadata that maps the software assets to elements of one or more models that provide formal representations of the artifacts;

and.

wherein the asset management system further comprises an asset retrieval module to selectively retrieve a software asset from the asset library based on the metadata.

25. The system of claim 24,

wherein the asset retrieval module receives user input from a user, wherein the input comprises one or more elements of the models;

and

wherein the asset retrieval module selectively retrieves a software asset from the asset library based on the user input and the models.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the models comprises at least one of a process model, a structural model, a resource model, and an implementation model.

27. The system of claim 1, wherein the artifacts comprise one of source code, binary code, a requirements specification, a design document, a model, a use case, and a collaboration diagram.

28. The system of claim 1,

wherein the set of asset sources comprise a multi-level hierarchy of asset sources executing on one or more computers to monitor the repositories and to generate software assets upon detecting a new or updated artifact,

wherein higher-level asset sources of the hierarchy receive software assets from lower-level asset sources of the hierarchy and combine the received software assets to form aggregate software assets,

wherein the asset management system receives the aggregate software assets from the hierarchy of asset sources and stores the aggregate software assets within the asset library, and

wherein the control process governs how the asset management system captures the aggregate software assets and stores the aggregate software assets.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the asset management system further comprises at least two asset capture tools communicatively coupled to different asset sources of different levels of the hierarchy.

30. A method comprising:

executing an asset source software module that monitors a repository and automatically generates an asset in a normalized format upon detecting a new or changed artifact in the repository, wherein the asset represents a set of related artifacts in the repository that are reusable in different software development environments, and wherein at one of the artifacts comprise executable software instructions that are reusable in different software development environments; and

executing an asset management system in accordance with a customizable control process to capture the software asset from the asset source and publish the asset to an asset library.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein executing an asset management system comprises:

processing a library process control (LPC) document specified by the administrator; and

performing the control process based on the content of the LPC document.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein performing the control process comprises:

evaluating whether a set of preconditions defined in the LPC document are satisfied; and

performing an action defined in the LPC document when all preconditions that are associated with the action in the set of preconditions are satisfied.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein evaluating a set of preconditions comprises evaluating whether a set of users has indicated approval.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein performing the action comprises:

accessing an implementation of the action specified by the LPC document;

transferring properties specified in the LPC document to the implementation; and

receiving a result from the implementation.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the implementation is located on a remote system.

36. The method of claim 31, wherein performing the control process comprises:

requesting approval of the artifact from a set of users;

receiving replies from the set of users; and

aborting the process if any member of the set of users rejects the artifact.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein requesting approval comprises sending an electronic message to the set of users.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein receiving replies comprises receiving an electronic message from the set of users.

39. The method of claim 31, wherein the LPC document conforms to the extensible markup language (XML).

40. The method of claim 30, wherein the normalized format of the software assets conforms to the extensible markup language (XML).

41. The method of claim 30, wherein the asset source generates the software assets in accordance with an asset template that defines a schema for the software assets.

42. The method of claim 30, wherein the asset source identifies additional artifacts required for the software assets and invokes an asset capture module in the asset management system to update the software assets to include the additional artifacts.

43. The method of claim 30,

wherein the software assets comprise metadata that maps the software assets to elements of one or more models that provide formal representations of the artifacts;

and

wherein the method further comprises;

receiving input from a user, wherein the input comprises one or more elements of the models; and

retrieving software assets from the asset library based on the elements of the model in the input and the metadata of the software assets.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein executing an asset management system comprises customizing the control process to govern how the asset management system retrieves the software assets from the asset library.

45. The method of claim 30, wherein the artifact comprises one of source code, binary code, a requirements specification, a design document, a model, a use case, and a collaboration diagram.

46. The method of claim 30,

wherein the set of asset sources comprise a multi-level hierarchy of asset sources executing on one or more computers to monitor the repositories and to generate software assets upon detecting a new or updated artifact,

wherein higher-level asset sources of the hierarchy receive software assets from lower-level asset sources of the hierarchy and combine the received software assets to form aggregate software assets,

wherein the asset management system receives the aggregate software assets from the hierarchy of asset sources and stores the aggregate software assets within the asset library, and

wherein performing the control process comprises governing how the asset management system captures the aggregate software assets and stores the aggregate software assets.

47. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause a processor to:

perform a control process that governs how an asset management system captures software assets from an asset source and publishes the software assets to an asset library,

wherein the process is customizable by an administrator,

wherein the asset source monitors a repository and automatically generates a software asset in a normalized format when the asset source detects a new or changed artifact in the repository,

wherein the software asset represents a set of related artifacts in the repository that are reusable in different software development environments,

wherein at least a portion of the artifacts comprise software instructions.