Data processing: software development – installation – and managem – Software program development tool – Translation of code
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-03
2001-04-24
Lintz, Paul R. (Department: 2122)
Data processing: software development, installation, and managem
Software program development tool
Translation of code
C717S152000, C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06223343
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a computer system and method to track and control element changes throughout application development, and, more specifically, to a computer system and method to track and control element changes throughout application development by forming logical relationships between elements, and by forming work groups responsive to the logical relationships.
BACKGROUND ART
FIG. 1
is a basic block diagram of the overall system architecture in a standard computer system that requires coordination between updating of elements that may be changed by various components in the system. In
FIG. 1
, main frame
2
includes the overall programs and processes for implementing various programs, such as insurance premium programs, billing procedure programs, correspondence programs, address information programs, and the like. Main frame
2
is accessible via developer work station
4
for initiating changes to the main frame
2
programs stored therein.
Corporate workstation
6
utilizes some of the programs stored in main frame
2
for corporate purposes. Claim litigation office
7
accesses certain programs in main frame
2
via corporate workstation
6
. The litigation office
7
may access all programs or a subset of programs via corporate workstation, depending on the need of the individual in claim litigation office
7
. One or more insurance support centers (ISC)
8
receive information from, and transmit information to, main frame
2
for insurance requirements. For example, main frame
2
will transmit, on the instruction of a developer, recent program changes that affect the ISC
8
. On the other hand, ISC
8
may transmit premium or customer information to main frame
2
to update customer records, outstanding obligations or even process claims. ISC
8
may be used to coordinate among a plurality of regional offices as described below, that perform similar functions as ISC
8
. On the other hand, ISC
8
may be used to coordinate among the regional offices, and might not contain any substantive programs that relate to customer services.
Main frame
2
is also optionally connected directly to a regional office
12
for direct communications, in a similar manner as connected to ISC
8
. Main frame
2
is also optionally connected to a public network, such as a standard public switched telephone network (PSTN)
10
, for connection to regional office
14
and regional office
16
via ISC
8
. Regional office
12
may include one or more work stations which allocate work based on individual, geographic area, or other criteria.
Regional office
12
is optionally connected to, for example, agent office
18
where agents are able to directly utilize the regional office
12
computer system. Regional office
12
may also be optionally connected to claim office
20
for processing customer claims/issues. Further, claim office
20
may, in turn, be connected to a second tier claim office
22
to provide a mechanism for claim office
22
to access the regional office computer system
12
.
FIG. 2
is an illustration of the basic components of main frame
2
. In
FIG. 2
, main frame
2
includes three basic components: support platform
26
, production platform
28
, and developer platform
30
. Support platform
26
is used, for example, to load new programs, operating systems and the like, to evaluate its use for the entire computer system. Developer platform
30
includes development tools for creating and testing new development programs. Production platform
28
then distributes the developed and tested programs/elements for distribution to the necessary components of the system.
Developer platform
30
includes build issuance (BLDISS) component that receives element changes from a developer work station or host developer analyst. Build issuance
32
transmits the changes or modifications to post issuance (POSTISS) component
36
for distribution to down stream system components via corporate implementation system (CIS)
38
to the corporate system, generalized work station implementation system (GWIS)
40
to the developer work stations, and regional implementation system (RIS)
42
to the regional or ISC systems. Each of these components, as well as some additional components utilized in the prior art system, are described in detail below.
CMU: abbreviation for Change Management Utility. CMU is an interface to a vendor product called “PVCS” (Polytron Version Control System) that provides a method to manage changes to elements on the workstation.
BLDISS: abbreviation for Build Issuance. BLDISS is a dialog process used to enter the initial bookkeeping information for an element's issuance. It creates an Issuance Control Member (ICM) which stores information related to the issuance and implementation of an element. HP BLDISS performs BLDISS functions listed above for elements managed on an HP (Hewlett-Packard) system.
POSTISS: abbreviation for Post-Issuance. POSTISS is a system that collects and bundles elements for transmission to their production execution destination prior to their effective date.
RIS: abbreviation for Regional Implementation System. RIS is a dialog process which resides in the regional offices. Its primary functions include queuing transmitted elements to the appropriate staging libraries, verifying that elements are eligible for installation into production, and implementing those elements to the correct production libraries when requested. RIS requires manual intervention by an Issuance Technician to initiate any of its processes. A similar implementation system exists for HP to distribute and implement HP elements on the destined HP machines in the regional data centers.
CIS: abbreviation for Corporate Issuance System. CIS is an automated system for staging and implementing elements into the Corporate Data Center (CDC) production environment. A similar system exists for the HP Corporate Issuance System to distribute and implement HP elements on the destined HP machines in CDC.
GWIS: abbreviation for Generalized Workstation Implementation System. GWIS is a facility used to distribute and implement workstation elements. The vendor package AM:PM is used to communicate between the IBM host and IBM-attached workstations.
PRJINFO: a facility that allows customers to perform various change management functions on groups of elements within an Issuance Name. Among these functions are the ability to build and mark ready ICMs, cross-reference elements both in development and production (PRODXREF), move elements to the system testing environment (ANTSISS), sign-out elements to an issuance name, and associate elements to a user-id.
Cross-reference tools (CXREF): CXREF is a production element cross-reference utility on IBM. Production Cross Reference tools (PRODXREF) is the utility on HP which tracks both development and production cross-reference information.
Number Signout Facility (NUMBER): NUMBER is an IBM mainframe tool which allows application analysts and librarians to “sign out” element numbers needed for application development.
PI.P: abbreviation for Production Interface—Panvalet. PI.P is an interface to the production Panvalet libraries to retrieve, browse, or print element source.
PCF: abbreviation for Project Communication Facility. PCF allows Corporate analysts to access Implementation Memos (IM), Coordination Control Members (CCM), and Special Communications (SC) built in BLDISS and sent to any data center.
The following described one or more of the above components in greater detail. The major functions and their descriptions are listed below. Before a component can be implemented, it must be processed through the issuance flow.
BLDISS is an interactive facility used to initiate the issuance process. Information is entered by the issuing analyst and stored into an ICM and placed on an ICM PANVALET. The BLDISS facility is an application which contains four functions:
A. Build and edit allows the entering of information which is needed to initiate an issuance. It contains a build and edict mode and will allow for a WEEKLY (cuto
Hopwood Rene S.
Milus Stewart M.
Quarton John E.
Sipes Bradley S.
Wayne Thomas P.
Donner Irah H.
Hale and Dorr LLP
Khatri Anil
Lintz Paul R.
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.
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