Patent ID: 7735077

Claim:
A method for propagating changes to a portal application between a source environment and a destination environment, the method comprising: providing a first version of a portal application, stored in a source environment at a first computer including a computer readable storage medium and processor operating thereon, wherein the first version of the portal application has a first inventory services layer associated therewith which abstracts data access to the first version of the portal application, and wherein the source environment includes a plurality of different portal applications; providing a second version of the portal application, stored in a destination environment at a second computer including a computer readable storage medium and processor operating thereon, wherein the second version of the portal application has a second inventory services layer associated therewith which abstracts data access to the second version of the portal application; providing a propagation tool operable to propagate selectively the plurality of portal applications and changes to each of the plurality of portal applications from the source environment to the destination environment using inventory services consumers (ISCs); generating a first inventory of data items by the propagation tool, including accessing the first inventory services layer using a first ISC in the propagation tool, and associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to the first version of the portal application residing in the source environment on the first computer; generating a second inventory of data items by the propagation tool, including accessing the second inventory services layer using a second ISC in the propagation tool, and associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to the second version of the portal application residing in the destination environment on the second computer; comparing, by an inventory difference engine, corresponding unique identifiers from the first inventory and the second inventory to determine differences between the inventories, wherein each difference indicates a change made to the first version of the portal application which can be propagated to the second version of the portal application; displaying, in a change election user interface, a list of the differences; receiving a selection of a subset of the differences between the inventories as a set of changes to be made to the second version of the portal application; and upon receiving a propagation request, reading the set of changes, and updating, using a third ISC in the propagation tool and the second inventory services layer, the second version of the portal application by the propagation tool according to the set of changes.