Patent Document ID: 8548964
Application ID: 11864605
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. In an information management system, a method of providing efficient information management by delegation of information classification, the method comprising: performing information management to identify services for objects in a computer system, by an information management server, wherein performing information management includes: discovering, by the information management server, a plurality of objects in the computer system, wherein discovery of the plurality of objects is performed by the information management server using one or more first adapters, and wherein discovery of the plurality of objects includes one or more of identifying objects in the computer system, discovering information about objects in the computer system, or collecting information about objects in the computer system; receiving, by the information management server, configuration information that includes classification logic and rules; delegating, by the information management server, a secondary object classification process to one or more external computing resources, wherein delegation of the secondary object classification process includes dividing classification tasks among the one or more external computing resources so as to achieve a relative reduction in the amount of processing resources required by the information management server, and wherein delegation of the secondary object classification process includes sending, by the information management server, the classification logic and rules, and an associated second adapter, to the external computing resource, the second adapter being operable to translate the classification logic and rules from a first format to a second format that is different from the first format, the first format being compatible with the information management server and the second format being compatible with one of the external computing resources; performing, by the information management server, an initial classification of the plurality of objects so as to generate initial classification information concerning the plurality of objects, and assigning, by the information management system, one or more categories to each of the plurality of objects that have been classified; determining, by the information management server, services for each of the plurality of objects individually based on the assigned one or more categories of each object; requesting, by the information management server, that the one or more external computing resources perform a secondary classification of the initially classified plurality of objects in the computer system, wherein the secondary classification is based on the classification logic and rules provided to the external computing resource by the information management server; monitoring the external computing resource to ensure that classification is being performed; receiving, by the information management server, secondary classification information from the external computing resource, the secondary classification information including high level data and being in a translated form compatible with the information management server, and identifying one or more of the plurality of objects and one or more categories assigned to the objects individually, wherein one of the categories is mapped to a service level objective by the information management server, and wherein when an object is associated with a plurality of lifecycle stages, mapping different categories to different respective lifecycle stages; aggregating, by the information management system, the secondary classification information received from the one or more external computing resources with the initial classification information generated by the information management server; continuously looping through the discovered plurality of objects until each of the discovered objects has been classified and mapped to a service level objective; and utilizing, by the information management server, the aggregated information to drive treatment of one or more of the plurality of objects, wherein the treatment includes providing services to the objects that are determined by the one or more categories assigned to the objects, wherein one of the services is associated with the service level objective.