Patent ID: 8782201
Filing Date: 2014-07-15
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method of managing a configuration of resources in an enterprise, the method comprising: defining, through the use of a processor operatively coupled to a configuration database, a proposed configuration change for at least one information technology (IT) resource in a plurality of IT resources, wherein the configuration database stores historical, current, and scheduled future configurations of the plurality of IT resources defined in terms of configuration items for the plurality of IT resources, such that the historical, current, and future configurations of the plurality of IT resources can be accessed for any given point in time, wherein the configuration database further stores links between configuration items of the plurality of IT resources that are linked together through upstream, downstream, or peer relationships organized according to a dimensional model; wherein the proposed configuration change to the at least one IT resource is defined in terms of the configuration items for the at least one IT resource and comprises at least one proposed new, updated, or deleted configuration item for the at least one IT resource, and proposed links with configuration items for at least a second IT resources of the plurality of IT resources within the enterprise; determining, through the use of a processor, a likelihood of success of the proposed configuration change by performing an automatic risk analysis of the proposed configuration change, wherein the automatic risk analysis compares the configuration items of the proposed configuration change for the at least one IT resource with the success of the historical configurations for the plurality of IT resources that have similar configuration items, the success of the current configurations for the plurality of IT resources that have similar configuration items, and the scheduled future configurations for the plurality of IT resources that have similar configuration items; and further compares the proposed links of the at least one IT resource with the links to the configuration items of the current configurations and the scheduled future configurations of the plurality of IT resources; and wherein the likelihood of success of the proposed configuration change increases based on the collective success of the historical configurations that have similar configuration items and the current configurations that have similar configuration items, and as the number of scheduled future configurations that have similar configuration items increases; releasing, through the use of the processor, the proposed configuration change when the likelihood of success of the proposed configuration change meets a threshold value and submitting the proposed configuration change for further evaluation when the likelihood of success of the proposed configuration change does not meet the threshold value; and registering, through the use of the processor, the configuration items of the proposed configuration change in the configuration database when the proposed configuration change is released so that the configuration database maintains the current configurations of the plurality of IT resources, maintains the linked relationship of the configuration items, and can be used to determine the likelihood of success of future proposed configuration changes.