Patent ID: 7895592

Claim:
A method for assessing an impact of a portion of code on an application, the application having a plurality of associated data structures, the portion of code having associated metadata that includes information associated with the portion of code, the portion of code being arranged to be incorporated into the application, the method comprising: obtaining the metadata that includes the information associated with the portion of code; comparing the metadata with the plurality of associated data structures, wherein comparing the metadata with the plurality of associated data structures includes determining whether a first data structure of the plurality of associated data structures is identified in the metadata; creating a first list when the first data structure is identified in the metadata, the first list being arranged to identify at least the first data structure as being arranged to be substantially directly affected by the portion of code; determining whether a second data structure of the plurality of associated data structures is identified in the metadata, wherein the second data structure has a dependency on the first data structure, and the first list does not identify the second data structure; without installing the portion of code, calculating an estimated amount of downtime for installing the portion of code on the application, wherein the calculating an estimated amount of downtime includes utilizing at least the first list to determine the estimated amount of downtime; creating a second list when the second data structure is determined to have a dependency on the first data structure, the second list being arranged to identify at least the second data structure as being arranged to be substantially indirectly affected by the portion of code; determining when a third data structure of the plurality of data structures is arranged to be overwritten by the portion of code, the third data structure being a customized data structure associated with the application, wherein determining when the third data structure is arranged to be overwritten by the portion of code includes comparing the first list and the second list with the third data structure; and flagging the third data structure as being arranged to be overwritten by the portion of code when it is determined that the third data structure is arranged to be overwritten by the portion of code.