Patent Publication Number: US-2005138014-A1

Title: System and method for visualization of mainframe change management metadata

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
      This application claims priority to and incorporates by reference the entirety of U.S. provisional application entitled “System and Method for Visualization of Metadata,” Ser. No. 60/487,061, filed Jul. 11, 2003. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD  
      The described systems and methods are generally related to information processing environments in which metadata is presented in a graphical format to a user. More specifically, the described systems and methods are related to graphically presenting metadata received from a one or more platform-specific applications.  
     BACKGROUND  
      Enterprises often employ large, complex, computing environments that include a number of enterprise components such as servers, routers, databases, repositories, mainframes, personal computers, business applications and enterprise management software, for example. Such enterprises may have a desire to enable access to data from one or more platform-specific applications on one or more platforms through a single interface.  
      One example of an area in which such a desire may arise is with regard to impact analysis applications, applications which evaluate what software modules will change if a proposed change is made to a particular software module. Certain prior art impact analysis tools, commonly referred to as change and configuration management (“CCM”) applications, are available to assist in analyzing dependencies of software modules. Two such example CCM applications are known as “AllFusion Endevor Change Manager” and “AllFusion Harvest Change Manager”, each of which is developed, manufactured and marketed by Computer Associates (“CA”), the assignee of the present application.  
      These and other prior art impact analysis tools are designed to provide software module dependency information for software modules supported by a specific platform, such as Windows, UNIX or a mainframe platform, for example. Consequently, an enterprise supporting multiple platforms is presently unable to automatically obtain a comprehensive or integrated analysis of software dependencies across platforms. Presently, such a cross-platform impact analysis entails obtaining a separate dependency analysis for each platform and combining the analyses using one or more other software tools, such as a spreadsheet, database and report generation applications. The difficulties in assessing and analyzing the impact of proposed software changes is further complicated by the distributed nature of web-based software applications.  
      Consequently, there is a need for methods and systems that address the shortcomings of prior art platform-specific applications and provide integrated graphical visualization of metadata received from on different platforms. A need exists for methods and systems to present data to users who may be unfamiliar with the user interface of a platform-specific application. More specifically, there is a need to enable visualization of cross-platform information in the form of bar graphs, pie charts and other reports, from both distributed and mainframe applications.  
     SUMMARY  
      The following presents a simplified summary of methods, apparatus, systems, and computer readable media associated with graphically presenting change and configuration management information in accordance with the present application. This summary is not an extensive overview and is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the methods, apparatus, systems, and/or media or to delineate the scope of the methods, apparatus, systems, and media. It conceptually identifies the methods, apparatus, systems, and media in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.  
      In accordance with one aspect of the present application, an example method is disclosed for providing metadata information for display in a graphical format. The method includes the step of receiving from a web browser a request for information relating to a platform-specific application. The method also includes transmitting to the platform-specific application, a request for metadata representing the requested information, and receiving metadata from the platform-specific application. The method further includes combining the metadata with viewing instructions for creating a graphical representation of the metadata, and transmitting the combined metadata and viewing instructions to the user for presentation  
      In accordance with a second aspect of the present application, an example system is disclosed for presenting metadata information in a graphical format. The system includes a web browser client and a graphical viewer in communication with the web browser client. The graphical viewer is operative to display metadata information based on received viewing instructions. The system also includes a platform-specific application operative to respond to a query with metadata information. The system further includes a server application in communication with the web browser client and the platform-specific application. The server application is operative to receive from the web browser a request for platform-specific metadata information. The server application queries the platform-specific application, receives metadata from the platform-specific application, combines the received metadata information with viewing instructions, and transmits the combined metadata and viewing instructions to the web browser for display. The web browser and graphical viewer cooperate to process the combined metadata and viewing instructions to present the metadata information in a graphical format.  
      In accordance with a third aspect of the present application, an example apparatus is disclosed for presenting metadata information in a graphical format. The apparatus includes a processor and a memory in communication with the processor. The memory stores a program to control the operation of the processor. The processor is operative with the program in the memory to receive from a web browser a request for information relating to a platform-specific application.  
      The processor is also operative with the program in the memory to transmit to the platform-specific application, a request for metadata representing the requested information, and receive metadata from the platform-specific application. The processor is further operative with the program in the memory to combine the metadata with viewing instructions for creating a graphical representation of the metadata, and transmit the combined metadata and viewing instructions to the user for presentation.  
      In accordance with a third aspect of the present application, an example computer-readable storage medium is disclosed. The medium is encoded with processing instructions for presenting metadata information in a graphical format.  
      Certain illustrative aspects of the methods, apparatus, systems and computer-readable media are described herein in connection with the following description and the annexed drawings. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the methods, apparatus, systems, and media may be employed and thus the examples are intended to include such aspects and equivalents. Other advantages and novel features may become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      For a more complete understanding of the present methods and systems, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numbers indicate like features and wherein:  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating an example enterprise information processing environment, in accordance with the systems and methods described in the present application;  
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating a more detailed view of certain components of the example enterprise information processing environment of  FIG. 1 ; and  
       FIG. 3  is an example methodology for presenting CCM information in an integrated display. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
      Example methods and systems are now described with reference to the drawings, where like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to facilitate thoroughly understanding the methods and systems. It may be evident, however, that the methods and systems can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to simplify the description.  
      The present application relates to and incorporates by reference the entirety of two U.S. provisional patent applications entitled “System and Method for Graphically Presenting Change and Configuration Management Information,” Ser. No. 60/487,060, and U.S. provisional patent application entitled “System and Method for Displaying Impact Analysis Data”, Ser. No. 60/487,063, each filed Jul. 11, 2003. The present application also relates to and incorporates by reference the entirety of two concurrently filed U.S. non-provisional patent applications entitled “System and Method for Graphically Presenting Change and Configuration Management Information” and “System and Method for Displaying Impact Analysis Data,” each incorporated by reference in its entirety.  
      Referring to  FIG. 1 , a schematic block diagram illustrates an example enterprise information processing environment  100 , and associated data flow within the example environment. The example enterprise environment  100  includes a client computer  110  that is in communication with a web server  150 . Among the data that may be communicated between computer  110  and web server  150 , computer  110  transmits to web server  150  a request for metadata to be graphically represented at computer  110 . In response, after obtaining the requested metadata and combining it with viewing instructions, as described in greater detail below, web server  150  transmits the requested metadata and appropriate viewing instructions back to computer  110 .  
      The web server  150  is also in communication with at least one platform-specific environment. Three such platform-specific environments are illustrated in the example enterprise  100 . In the illustrated example, web server  150  is in communication with mainframe environment  120 , UNIX environment  130  and Windows environment  140 . Of course, web server  150  may also be in communication with other platform-specific environments not illustrated in  FIG. 1 , such as Apple and Linux, for example. Upon receiving a user&#39;s request for metadata information from computer  110 , web server  150  transmits a platform-specific query to one or more of the environments  120 ,  130  and  140 , to obtain the requested metadata related to the user&#39;s query. Each platform  120 ,  130  and  140 , through a local application, responds to web server  150  by transmitting responsive metadata.  
      According to the example enterprise environment  100 , a user employs computer  110 , to request the metadata using a single query. The present methods and systems allow users to access data on distributed platforms without requiring knowledge of the specific user interface for the responding application. Although processing of the query is distributed among several components of the enterprise  100 , a display of metadata information is presented at a single point of control, namely computer  110 .  
      Referring now to  FIG. 2 , a schematic block diagram illustrates in more detail the example enterprise environment  100  illustrated in  FIG. 1 . Specifically, client computer  110  includes a web browser application  210  and a graphical viewer  212 . In the illustrated example embodiment, the graphical viewer  212  is an application that is embedded or integrated within the web browser  210 .  
      Web browser  210  of computer  110  communicates with server application  250  of web server  150 . Specifically, web browser  210  transmits a query for metadata and viewing instructions to web server  150 . The query is processed by server application  250  which provides an integrated, centralized point of control for platform-specific applications on mainframe  120  and distributed platforms  130  and  140 .  
      As shown, web browser  210  requests the metadata and viewing instructions from server application  250 , and server application  250  services the request, in part, by providing, for example, web pages, applications and applets, as well as metadata obtained from sources within the mainframe environment  120 , UNIX environment  130  or Windows environment  140 , such as, for example, mainframe application  222 , UNIX application  232  and Windows application  242 , respectively. The display instructions may include instructions to obtain additional information from the mainframe  120  or one of the distributed platforms  130  and  140 .  
      In one example embodiment, web browser  210  is a conventional web browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or Netscape 7.1, for example, that supports plug-ins or other integrated applications. The embedded graphical viewer  212  includes the ability to collect and combine data from several data sources, including relational databases, multi-dimensional data sources, or flat files, for example, and present the combined data in a single location. In one example embodiment, the graphical viewer  212  could be “Cleverpath Forest &amp; Trees” which is developed, manufactured and marketed by Computer Associates, the assignee of the present application. Cleverpath Forest &amp; Trees can be installed as a runtime application, which can run within a web browser, and may be used to provide visualization of CCM information.  
      In the example embodiment, the server application  250  is a thin-client web-based application that uses JSP and Java technologies on the web server to generate dynamic HTML web pages, such as AllFusion CM Enterprise Workbench, provided by Computer Associates, for example. A Forest &amp; Trees developer product may be used to develop the Forest &amp; Trees graphical view files that can display the integrated CCM information at computer  110  from both mainframe and distributed platforms. Such graphical view files may be integrated into JSP web pages that are stored in a related database (not shown) as part of the AllFusion CM Enterprise Workbench product. A copy of the Forest &amp; Trees runtime installation executable may be installed on the AllFusion CM Enterprise Workbench server and may be automatically downloaded and installed on the user&#39;s computer when the user loads a web page containing a Forest &amp; Trees graphical view file for the first time. Subsequently, the downloaded Forest &amp; Trees runtime application  212  is executed whenever the user loads a web page containing a link to a Forest &amp; Trees graphical view file.  
      Server application  250  processes the user query and provides a query to accessible platform-specific CCM applications  222 , such as CA&#39;s AllFusion Endevor CCM on mainframe  120 . The platform-specific CCM application  222  responds with a query result including impact analysis metadata relating to the software supported by the platform. The server application  250  may combine the received metadata with metadata obtained from other platform-specific CCM applications and provides the processed query result to client web browser  210  for presentation to the user. In one embodiment, the combined query results may be presented to the user via a web page that contains an Forest &amp; Trees graphical view file.  
      In order to access the CCM information from the AllFusion Endevor CM on Mainframe  120 , Java programs on the AllFusion CM Enterprise Workbench server  250  make a call to the Endevor API on the Mainframe  120  and download the resulting CCM information from AllFusion Endevor CM  222  on the mainframe to the workstation. The Forest &amp; Trees runtime application  212  in the web page on the user machine can then access the AllFusion Endevor CCM information on a workstation and display it graphically.  
      Access is similarly provided to the CCM information from the AllFusion Harvest CM on UNIX  230  and Windows  240 , the web browser  210  and/or the Forest &amp; Trees runtime application  212  in the web page on the user computer  110  can utilize server application  250 , to request metadata from the appropriate platform-specific appilcation, such as AllFusion CM Harvest  232  and/or AllFusion CM Harvest  242 . Respective databases may be maintained by CCM applications  232  and  242 .  
      Server application  250  returns the resulting information to the Forest &amp; Trees Runtime application  212  for presentation to the user. The combined information from the CCM products on Mainframe, Unix and Windows platforms can be integrated and presented to the user graphically in the form of bar graphs, pie charts and other reports  
       FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating an example method  300  for providing metadata information for display in a graphical format. At block  305 , a request for metadata relating to at least one platform-specific application is received from a web browser, such as browser  220 , for example, by a server application, such as server application  250 . A query to each relevant platform-specific application is transmitted at block  310 .  
      At block  315 , metadata from each of the relevant platform-specific applications is received by the server application, and the metadata results are combined with viewing instructions for creating a graphical representation of the results, as shown by block  320 . The server application transmits the combined metadata and viewing instructions back to the web browser for presentation. As described, the web browser may employ a graphical viewer to render the graphical representations of the metadata. Further, the graphical viewer could be a plug-in which is initially provided by the server application upon the first request for such graphically presented metadata.  
      What has been described above includes several examples. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the systems, apparatus, methods, and computer readable media associated with visualization of mainframe change management metadata. However, one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that further combinations and permutations are possible. Accordingly, this application is intended to embrace such alterations, modifications, and variations that fall within the scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, to the extent that the term “includes” is employed in the detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as that term is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim.