Architectures for netcentric computing systems

• US 7,467,198 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2005
• Issued: 12/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Ans (Accenture PLC), Accenture LLP (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Taylor, Stanton J., Auriemma, Ralph, Reiter, Scott R., Alairys, Tamara D., Goodman, Marina, Mesoy, Tor, Coleman, Lizbeth Johnson, Degiorgio, Christopher M., Bowen, Michael T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kang; Paul H
• Application Number:
  US11/238,895
• Publication Number:
  US 20060059253A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,174 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/229, 709/226, 714/1, 714/2
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

An execution architecture, a development architecture and an operations architecture for a netcentric computing system. The execution architecture contains common, run-time services required when an application executes in the netcentric computing system. The development architecture is the production environment for one or several systems development projects as well as for maintenance efforts. The purpose of the development environment is to support the tasks involved in the analysis, design, construction, and maintenance of business systems, as well as the associated management processes. It is important to note that the environment should adequately support all the development tasks, not just the code/compile/test/debug cycle. The operations architecture is a combination of tools and support services required to keep a production system up and running efficiently.

Claims

1. A method of developing a comprehensive framework for a netcentric computing system, comprising:

providing a plurality of technology component categories within an operations architecture, the technology component categories comprising a network/systems management category, a solution availability category, a service management category, a configuration management category, and a physical site management category, wherein each of the technology component categories comprises a plurality of components;

selecting components from each of the technology component categories for inclusion in the netcentric computing system, wherein each of the components provide unique functionality within the netcentric computing system;

standardizing communication and management of system events with an integration framework to link together the selected components, the integration framework comprising an applications program interface operable as a communication bridge between the selected components and an enterprise management component operable as a centralized user interface to view and manage the netcentric computing system;

monitoring, controlling, and reporting status information of the selected components included in the netcentric computing system with a monitoring component integrated with the enterprise management component, the status information comprising event, fault, and health information that is received from the selected components; and

operating an operations execution architecture as an infrastructure to provide run-time services for execution of the selected components within the netcentric computing system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising constructing and maintaining the selected components with an operations development architecture representing a separate product test environment that includes development versions of the selected components and provides a unified collection of technology services, tools, techniques and standards for the netcentric computing system.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising specifying, with an operations data architecture included in the operations architecture, based at least in part on the selected components, storage of operations data of the netcentric computing system, access to operations data of the netcentric computing system, location of operations data of the netcentric computing system, and distribution of operations data of the netcentric computing system.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein specifying storage of operations data of the netcentric computing system further comprises defining with the operations data architecture for at least some of the selected components interfaces to the operations data of the netcentric computing system based on sharing of operations data between the at least some of the selected components.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising selectively identifying within the operations architecture a plurality of managed domains comprising a facilities domain, a hardware domain, an operating system domain, a system software domain, a network domain, a database domain, a custom applications domain, and a packaged applications domain, as being associated with at least one of the technology component categories.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring, controlling, and reporting status information comprises surveying the status of system resources of the netcentric computing system with component monitors comprising a network device monitor, a database management monitor, an application and operating system monitor, an integration framework monitor, and a hardware monitor.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting components from each of the technology component categories comprises selecting a network management tool, a database management tool, an application management tool, a production scheduling tool, an output/print management tool, or a security management tool from the network/system management category for inclusion in the netcentric computing system.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein selecting components from each of the technology component categories comprises selecting a backup/storage/recovery component or a failover management component from the solution availability category for inclusion in the netcentric computing system.

9. The method of any of claims 7-8, wherein selecting components from each of the technology component categories comprises selecting a service desk component, a capacity planning component, a users administration component, or a service level management component from the service management category for inclusion in the netcentric computing system.

10. The method of any of claims 7-9, wherein selecting components from each of the technology component categories comprises selecting a software distribution/file transfer component, an asset management component, a change control component, a migration control component, or a systems configuration management component from the configuration management category for inclusion in the netcentric computing system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring and controlling comprises notifying that an event has occurred with a page message, an email message, or a console alert with the enterprise management component.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein reporting status information comprises communicating the events, faults and health information to the selected components.

13. A method of developing a comprehensive framework for a netcentric computing system, comprising:

specifying within a development architecture a development organization framework layer, a development process framework layer and a development tools layer for the netcentric computing system;

providing within the development organization framework layer a responsibilities list comprising a plurality of responsibilities for end products and for ongoing processes each comprising a role in a development team of the netcentric computing system;

organizing within the development organization framework layer a plurality of management teats and a plurality of system building teams, the management teams configured to support the system building teams, the system building teams charged with analysis, design and build of the comprehensive framework for the netcentric computing system;

developing within the development process framework layer a plurality of procedures and standards for each of the respective management teams and system building teams;

identifying within the development tools layer a plurality of tools that are associated with each of the respective management teams and system building teams; and

within an operations architecture selecting a plurality of components from each of a plurality of technology component categories in accordance with the development organization framework layer, the development process framework layer and the development tools layer, wherein the technology component categories comprise a network/systems management category, a solution availability category, a service management category, a configuration management category, and a physical site management category, and wherein each of the selected components provide specific, unique, functionality within the netcentric computing system.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein within an operations architecture selecting a plurality of components comprises selecting from the network/systems management category a database management component that includes at least one of performance monitoring services and backup preparation services, a production scheduling tool configured as an automated job scheduler to dynamically schedule and dispatch batch jobs to automate production workloads, an output management tool configured to schedule, submit, and track output jobs, and a security management tool configured to enforce security policies and standards defined for the netcentric computing system.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein within an operations architecture selecting a plurality of components comprises selecting from the service management category a service desk component configured to automate logging, tracking, and routing of incidents reported by users, the service desk component comprising a service desk database that includes the incidents in a predetermined structure of tables, incidents querying capability services configured to retrieve and report incidents via pre-defined query statements or ad-hoc query statements, and a service desk reporting service configured to run the pre-defined or the ad-hoc query statements against the service desk database.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein identifying within the development tools layer a plurality of tools that are associated with each of the respective management teams and system building teams further comprises identifying productivity tools configured to create documents, identifying collaboration tools configured to enable developers to communicate and share information, and identifying process integration tools configured to enable the correct sequencing of tasks.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein providing within the development organization framework layer a responsibilities list comprises developing responsibility, accountability and authority profiles for each of the provided responsibilities.

18. A method of developing a comprehensive framework for a netcentric computing system, comprising:

selecting components of the netcentric computing system from among a plurality of technology component categories included in an operations architecture, the technology component categories comprising a network/systems management category, a solution availability category, a service management category, a configuration management category, and a physical site management category, wherein each of the selected components provide specific, unique, functionality within the netcentric computing system;

linking communication and event management of the selected components with an integration framework included in the operations architecture, the integration framework comprising a centralized user interface configured to view and manage the selected components within the netcentric computing system;

specifying, with an operations data architecture included in the operations architecture, storage of operations data, access to operations data, location of operations data, and distribution of operations data based at least in part on the selected components;

operating an operations execution architecture as an infrastructure to provide run-time services for execution of the selected components, the operations execution architecture included in the operations architecture; and

constructing and maintaining the selected components with an operations development architecture configured to provide a unified collection of technology services, tools, techniques and standards, the operations development architecture included in the operations architecture.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein linking communication and event management of the selected components comprises designing interfaces, message formats, monitoring responsibilities and file logging formats to be used by all of the selected components.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein linking communication and event management of the selected components comprises operating a communication bridge between the selected components.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising specifying within a development architecture a development organization framework layer, a development process framework layer and a development tools layer for the netcentric computing system.