Work packet enabled active project schedule maintenance

• US 8,452,629 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2008
• Issued: 05/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chaar, Jarir K., Huchel, Joseph P., Jobson, Thomas A. Jr., Oppenheim, Daniel V., Ratakonda, Krishna C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dunham, Jason
• Assistant Examiner(s): MISIASZEK, AMBER ALTSCHUL
• Application Number:
  US12/173,175
• Publication Number:
  US 20100017252A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,778 Days
• Field of Search: 705 711- 742
• US Class Current: 705/7.12
• 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 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, wherein each work packet constitutes a contractual agreement that governs a relationship among a design center, a software factory governance board, a software factory operations unit, and an assembly line in the software factory, wherein the design center breaks a software project into major functional areas, wherein the software factory governance board determines whether or not to allow the software factory to accept the software project, wherein the software factory operations unit dispatches the software project to the assembly line, wherein the assembly line receives and executes work packets that are specified by the design center to create a customized deliverable unit of software, and wherein the work packet comprises a header, wherein the header comprises a unique identification number, a description of the work packet, a type description of the work packet, and an identifier of a parent object from which the work packet has inheritance, and wherein the work packet includes governance procedures, standards, reused assets, work packet instructions, an integration strategy, schedules, exit criteria and artifact checklist templates for Input/Output routines, wherein the exit criteria is a checklist for returning the work packet and the customized deliverable unit of software to the 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.

2. The system 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 system 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. A tangible non-transitory computer program product having a computer readable medium with a computer program embodied thereon, the computer program comprising computer executable instructions to:

launch 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;

append 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, wherein each work packet constitutes a contractual agreement that governs a relationship among a design center, a software factory governance board, a software factory operations unit, and an assembly line in the software factory, wherein the design center breaks a software project into major functional areas, wherein the software factory governance board determines whether or not to allow the software factory to accept the software project, wherein the software factory operations unit dispatches the software project to the assembly line, wherein the assembly line receives and executes work

packets that are specified by the design center to create a customized deliverable unit of software, wherein the work packet further comprises a header, wherein the header comprises a unique identification number, a description of the Work packet, a type description of the work packet, and an identifier of a parent object from which the work packet has inheritance, and wherein tile work packet includes governance procedures, standards, reused assets, work packet instructions, integration strategy, schedules, exit criteria and artifact checklist templates for Input/Output routines, wherein the exit criteria is a checklist for returning the work packet and the customized deliverable unit of software to the software factory, and wherein the status block defines an execution status of the work packet;

initiate execution of said at least one project;

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

transmit 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.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, 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.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, wherein the status is an executing status, wherein the executing status indicates that the work packet is in the process of being executed.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, 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.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, wherein the computer executable instructions are capable of being provided by a service provider to a customer on an on-demand basis.