Leveraging multilevel hierarchical associations to find cross-boundary issues

• US 8,001,100 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2008
• Issued: 08/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kumar, Darbha V., Chilukuri, Sampath K., Mishra, Sharad, Kumar, Garadi Shashidhar Hemanth, Mundergi, Sanjay, Stoor, Benjamin J., Thiramdas, Anil Kumar, Johnson, Sandra K., Ward, David, Mitchell, Joan L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham; Hung Q
• Application Number:
  US12/173,668
• Publication Number:
  US 20100017365A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,127 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/705
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation

Abstract

A mechanism for locating information about a target entity in disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories. Upon occurrence of an event associated with a target entity comprising an information technology solution, disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories are searched for metadata about the target entity. A determination is made from the metadata about the target entity whether the repositories comprise entities related to the target entity. If so, links in the metadata are used to search the repositories to locate the related entities. Upon locating a resolution to the event in the repositories, a link to the resolution is stored in the metadata. The repositories are also searched to determine owners of the target entity and related entities, and these owners are then notified of the event and the resolution to the event.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for locating information about a target entity in disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories, the computer mplemented method comprising:

responsive to an occurrence of problem with an information technology solution associated with a target entity, searching the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories for metadata about the target entity;

identifying, using a computer system, from the metadata about the target entity a plurality of related entities that are related to the target entity and a set of repositories in the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories comprising metadata about the plurality of related entities, wherein the plurality of related entities and the target entity are components comprising the information technology solution;

using links in the metadata about the target entity to search the set of repositories to locate the plurality of related entities;

searching the metadata about the target entity and the metadata about the plurality of related entities for a resolution to the problem with the information technology solution;

responsive to locating the resolution to the problem in the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories, storing a link to the resolution in the metadata about the target entity;

searching the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories for owners of at least one of the target entity and the plurality of related entities;

notifying the owners of at least one of the target entity and the plurality of related entities about the problem and the resolution to the problem; and

storing the link to the resolution to the problem in the metadata about the plurality of related entities.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting search results from the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories; and

displaying the search results to the user.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to determining from the metadata about the target entity that the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories do not comprise entities related to the target entity, creating an entry in the metadata about the target entity for the problem.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 3, further comprising:

responsive to determining a resolution to the problem, populating the entry with the resolution to the problem.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories include machine reported product data and electronic service agents.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein notifying the owners of the problem and the resolution to the problem comprises providing an automatic update of the problem in an owner environment.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 6, wherein the owners subscribe to the automatic updates via a service-level agreement.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

searching the metadata about the target entity in the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories to locate process information about the information technology solution; and

responsive to determining from the metadata about the target entity that the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories comprise the process information about the information technology solution, generating a report comprising the process information.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the process information is a solution process information and the report is a first report and further comprising:

responsive to determining from the metadata about the target entity that the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories do not comprise the solution process information about the information technology solution, requesting new process information about the information technology solution and inserting the new process information into the metadata about the target entity;

searching the metadata about the plurality of related entities which comprise the information technology solution for related process information about the information technology solution; and

generating a second report comprising the related process information and the new process information about the information technology solution.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

using the second report to identify the resolution to the problem with the information technology solution.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the process information includes development and testing data of the target entity.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the target entity and the plurality of related entities are components deployed in a disparate multilevel hierarchical infrastructure, wherein the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories comprise information about each of the components deployed in the disparate multilevel hierarchical infrastructure, and wherein identifying from the metadata about the target entity the plurality of related entities that are related to the target entity and the set of repositories in the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories comprising metadata about the plurality of related entities comprises:

identifying, from the metadata about the target entity, a name, a description, and a type of the target entity; and

searching the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories for entities in the disparate multilevel hierarchical infrastructure that match at least one of the name, the description, and the type of the target entity to identify the plurality of related entities.

13. A data processing system for locating information about a target entity in disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories, the data processing system comprising:

a bus;

a storage device connected to the bus, wherein the storage device contains computer usable code;

at least one managed device connected to the bus;

a communications unit connected to the bus; and

a processing unit connected to the bus, wherein the processing unit executes the computer usable code to search, in response to an occurrence of problem with an information technology solution associated with a target entity, the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories for metadata about the target entity;

identify from the metadata about the target entity a plurality of related entities that are related to the target entity and a set of repositories in the a set of repositories in the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories comprising metadata about the plurality of related entities, wherein the plurality of related entities and the target entity are components comprising the information technology solution and wherein the target entity and the plurality of related entities are components deployed in a disparate multilevel hierarchical infrastructure, wherein the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories comprise information about each of the components deployed in the disparate multilevel hierarchical infrastructure;

use links in the metadata about the target entity to search the set of repositories to locate the plurality of related entities;

search the metadata about the target entity and the metadata about the plurality of related entities for a resolution to the problem with the information technology solution;

store, in response to locating the resolution to the problem in the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories, a link to the resolution in the metadata about the target entity;

search the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories for owners of at least one of the target entity and the plurality of related entities in the disparate multilevel hierarchical infrastructure;

notify the owners of at least one of the target entity and the plurality of related entities about the problem and the resolution to the problem; and

store the link to the resolution to the problem in the metadata about the plurality of related entities.

14. A computer program product for locating information about a target entity in disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage device having computer usable program code tangibly embodied thereon, the computer usable program code comprising;

computer usable program code for searching, in response to an occurrence of a problem with an information technology solution associated with a target entity, the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories for metadata about the target entity;

computer usable program code for identifying from the metadata about the target entity a plurality of related entities that are related to the target entity and a set of repositories in the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories comprising metadata about the plurality of related entities, wherein the plurality of related entities and the target entity are components comprising the information technology solution, wherein the target entity and the plurality of related entities are components deployed in a disparate multilevel hierarchical infrastructure, wherein the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories comprise information about each of the components deployed in the disparate multilevel hierarchical infrastructure, and wherein the computer usable program code for identifying comprises;

computer usable program code for identifying, from the metadata about the target entity, a name, a description, and a type of the target entity; and

computer usable program code for searching the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories for entities in the disparate multilevel hierarchical infrastructure that match at least one of the name, the description, and the type of the target entity to identify the plurality of related entities;

computer usable program code for using links in the metadata about the target entity to search the set of repositories to locate the plurality of related entities;

computer usable program code for searching the metadata about the target entity and the metadata about the plurality of related entities for a resolution to the problem with the information technology solution, wherein the computer usable program code for searching the metadata about the target entity and the metadata about the plurality of related entities for the resolution to the problem comprises;

computer usable program code for searching the metadata about the target entity to locate solution process information about the information technology solution;

computer usable program code for generating, in response to determining from the metadata about the target entity that the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories comprises the solution process information about the information technology solution, a first report comprising the process information;

computer usable program code for requesting, in response to determining from the metadata about the target entity that the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories do not comprise the solution process information about the information technology solution, new process information about the information technology solution and computer usable program code for inserting the new process information into the metadata about the target entity;

computer usable program code for searching the metadata about the plurality of related entities which comprise the information technology solution for related process information about the information technology solution;

computer usable program code for generating a second report comprising the related process information and the new process information about the information technology solution; and

computer usable program code for using one of the first report and the second report to identify the resolution to the problem with the information technology solution;

computer usable program code for storing, in response to identifying the resolution to the problem in the multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories, a link to the resolution in the metadata about the target entity;

computer usable program code for searching the disparate multilevel hierarchical knowledge repositories for owners of at least one of the target entity and the plurality of related entities;

computer usable program code for notifying the owners of at least one of the target entity and the plurality of related entities about the problem and the resolution to the problem; and

computer usable program code for storing the link to the resolution to the problem in the metadata about the plurality of related entities.