Patent ID: 8239498

Claim:
A method of evaluating a proposed change to a configuration of information technology resources in an enterprise, the method comprising: obtaining information about the proposed change, wherein the proposed change can be a past configuration, a current configuration, or a new configuration; searching, through the use of a processing device, for historical data about the information technology resources in the enterprise pertaining to at least one past configuration of the information technology resources in the enterprise, wherein the at least one past configuration is related to the proposed change, and wherein the historical data comprises patterns that correlate to configuration changes that were a success or a failure; searching, through the use of the processing device, for current data about the information technology resources in the enterprise pertaining to at least one current configuration of the information technology resources in the enterprise, wherein the at least one current configuration is related to the proposed change, and wherein the current data comprises configuration changes that are currently working; searching, through the use of the processing device, for pending data about the information technology resources in the enterprise pertaining to at least one pending configuration of the information technology resources in the enterprise, wherein the at least one pending configuration is related to the proposed change; and wherein the pending data comprises configuration changes that are pending implementation; identifying, through the use of the processing device, a date on which the proposed change may be implemented; accessing, through the use of the processing device, change calendar data pertaining to sensitivity dates for implementing configuration changes, wherein the sensitivity dates indicate dates on which implementing configuration changes may decrease or increase a successful implementation of the configuration changes; evaluating, through the use of the processing device, a likelihood of success of the proposed change using a neural network for analyzing the information about the proposed change, the historical data, the current data, the pending data, the date on which the proposed change may be implemented, and the change calendar data, wherein the neural network detects recognizable patterns in the likelihood of success of the proposed change; and producing, through the use of the processing device, an indication of risk associated with the proposed change to the configuration of the information technology resources in the enterprise based on the likelihood of success.