System and method for automating customer-validated statement of work for a data storage environment

• US 8,290,808 B2
• Filed: 03/07/2008
• Issued: 10/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Messore, Peter, Brower, Robert Keith Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jarrett, Scott L
• Assistant Examiner(s): WALKER III, GEORGE H
• Application Number:
  US12/044,261
• Publication Number:
  US 20090012828A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,684 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7.26
• US Class Current: 705/7.27
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment

Abstract

Computer systems and methods are disclosed for improving professional services delivery, such as services in a data management environment. In certain examples, computer systems comprise portals for transmitting and receiving information from parties involved in the performance and receipt of professional services. For instance, a first portal can receive data (e.g., from sales personnel) descriptive of a customer'"'"'s product environment. A manager module populates a record with the data, and a second portal provides the customer with access to the record for review, correction and/or validation prior to the generation of a Statement of Work or other like project description. The second portal can also request additional information from the customer regarding the product environment. The manager module compares the data received through the first portal with the customer-entered information to identify and/or address discrepancies between the sets of data and customize the generation of the Statement of Work.

Claims

1. A computer system for providing customer-validated Statement of Work workflow automation for data storage environments, the computer system comprising:

one or more memory devices;

a plurality of records stored on the memory devices and corresponding to a plurality of data storage system environments of a plurality of customers;

one or more processors;

a first portal module executing on the one or more processors configured to receive first data indicative of a storage architecture of a first data storage system of the plurality of data storage system environments comprising at least first storage configuration information input by a service provider about the first data storage system and recommendations by the service provider for modifying the first data storage system, the first data storage system corresponding to a customer of the plurality of customers and providing one or more of backup, replication and archiving of the customer'"'"'s data, the first data indicative of a customer storage media type preference and an amount of available storage components;

a manager module executing on the one or more processors in communication with the first portal module to receive the first data, the manager module being configured to populate a first record of the plurality of records with the first data;

a second portal module executing on the one or more processors, in communication with the manager module, and configured to transmit the first record for review by the customer, the second portal module being further configured to receive input of second storage configuration information from a customer about the first data system, expectations from the customer about the modifications to the first data storage system, and validation input from the customer regarding the data storage system environment;

the manager module is further configured to;

automatically compare the first configuration information about the first data system input by the first service provider with the second storage configuration information input by the customer,

automatically compare the recommendations input by the service provider with the expectations input by the customer,

automatically alert a services manager with any discrepancies associated with the comparing of the first storage configuration information with the second storage configuration information and any discrepancies associated with the comparing of the recommendations with the expectations, wherein automatically alerting for discrepancies comprises;

alerting when daemons are running on a data storage server,

alerting when separate communication links do not exist for disk storage and tape storage, and

alerting when a disk array has not been assigned;

after a service manager or professional services personnel resolve the discrepancies, the manager module further configured to generate, based at least on the first data from the first record and the validation input, a customer-validated proposed project Statement of Work to be performed with respect to the project related to the first data storage system;

after the customer has accepted the proposed project Statement of Work, a third portal module configured to receive completion data regarding completion of the services performed with respect to the first data storage system; and

a searchable repository comprising project history data corresponding to a history of the project'"'"'s lifecycle configured to be used to assist professional services or customer support organizations to better manage relevant details associated with each deployment'"'"'s successes or issues, wherein at least some of the project history data corresponding to one or more of the first data, the validation input, and the completion data.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the second portal module is further configured to receive second data from the customer pertaining to the first data storage system.

3. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the manager module is further configured to compare the first data received by the first portal module and the second data received by the second portal module, the manager module being further configured to transmit an alert identifying discrepancies between the first data and the second data.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first and second portal modules comprises a web-based interface.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the first, second and third portal modules operate on a single server.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the manager module is further configured to identify one or more aspects of the first data storage system needing additional description from the customer.