Patent Document ID: 8019640
Application ID: 12131611
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method in a data processing system for assessing self-managing capabilities of an automated computing system, the method comprising: presenting, by the data processing system, automated computing education material to a customer that educates the customer on how the self-managing capabilities of the automated computing system are assessed by the data processing system; presenting, by the data processing system, an assessment survey including a plurality of assessment survey questions for each of a plurality of automation computing assessment categories to the customer about a current level of the self-managing capabilities of the automated computing system of the customer, the plurality of automation computing assessment categories in the assessment survey include a problem management category for identifying, isolating, and resolving issues that negatively impact Information Technology services, an availability management category for ensuring availability of Information Technology services, a security management category for securing business resources and data against unauthorized intrusion, a solution deployment category for identifying, planning, testing, distributing, installing, and validating deployment of Information Technology solutions, a user administration category for managing a life cycle of a user's access to available resources, and a performance and capacity management category for managing and monitoring system performance; receiving, by the data processing system, answers to the plurality of assessment survey questions for each of the plurality of automation computing assessment categories from the customer about the current level of the self-managing capabilities of the automated computing system of the customer to form received assessment survey answers; assigning, by the data processing system, a computer automation rank according to an automation computing evaluation scale that includes a plurality of predetermined levels of automation computing capabilities used to measure on-demand readiness of automated computing systems to each automation computing assessment category in the plurality of automation computing assessment categories based on the received assessment survey answers about the current level of the self-managing capabilities of the automated computing system of the customer to form an assigned rank for each automation computing assessment category, the plurality of predetermined levels of automation computing capabilities include a basic maturity level that indicates the customer uses manual analysis and problem solving, a managed maturity level that indicates the customer uses centralized tools and performs manual actions, a predictive maturity level that indicates the customer monitors, correlates data, and recommends action, an adaptive maturity level that indicates the customer uses a system that monitors, correlates data, and takes action, and an autonomic maturity level that indicates dynamic business policy based management; providing, by the data processing system, data for achieving a target level of the self-managing capabilities of the automated computing system to the customer based on the assigned rank for each automation computing assessment category in the plurality of automation computing assessment categories in order for the customer to become more self-managing automation computing capable, wherein providing the data for achieving the target level of the self-managing capabilities of the automated computing system includes determining operational efficiency savings for achieving the target level of the self-managing capabilities of the automated computing system relative to the automation computing capabilities of the customer; receiving, by the data processing system, changes to the received assessment survey answers about the current level of the self-managing capabilities of the automated computing system of the customer to form changed assessment survey answers for determining how the changes to the received assessment survey answers affect the current level of the self-managing capabilities of the automated computing system of the customer; and determining, by the data processing system, a change in the computer automation rank for each automation computing assessment category in the plurality of automation computing assessment categories based on the changed assessment survey answers.