Issue and trigger rebalancing in a ranked issue tracking system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10282686-B2
Application number	US-201514700524-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 30, 2015
Priority date	Feb 13, 2015
Publication date	May 7, 2019
Grant date	May 7, 2019

Abstract

Described herein is a computer implemented method for maintaining a plurality of issues, each issue having an associated rank value, the rank values of the plurality of issues defining an order of the plurality of issues. The method comprises receiving a rank operation request to change the rank of a subject issue; determining relevant issues to the rank operation request; and attempting to acquire locks on each of the relevant issues. In response to successfully acquiring locks on each of the relevant issues a new rank value for the subject issue is calculated and saved.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method for performing an issue balancing process, the method comprising:
defining, by a distributed computer system comprising a plurality of processors, an issue ranking scheme which defines allowable rank values and a plurality of issue buckets;
maintaining a plurality of issues,
each issue having a rank value comprising a balancing component and a normal component which are read together as the rank value,
the balancing component identifying a current issue bucket of the plurality of issue buckets,
the rank value defining the order of the issue with respect to other issues;
receiving, by the distributed computer system, input data comprising metadata of an issue to be tracked from one of a plurality of user computers;
calculating a new rank value in a rank value space for the issue;
determining whether a length of the new rank value is greater than or equal to a rebalancing trigger length, wherein the length of a rank value is the number of characters of the rank value; and
in response to the length of the new rank value being greater than or equal to the rebalancing trigger length,
delaying for a balancing process commencement delay period, the balancing process commencement delay period being associated with the rebalancing trigger length;
following the delay, performing one or more balancing operations, each balancing operation being in respect of a given issue and comprising:
determining a certain rank value for the given issue, the certain rank value resulting in the given issue being moved from a current bucket to a new bucket and a new value for the normal component, without affecting the order of the given issue with respect to other issues associated with the plurality of issue buckets.

2. The computer implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein a plurality of different balancing process commencement delay periods are defined, and wherein each balancing process commencement delay period is associated with a different rebalancing trigger length.

3. The computer implemented method according to claim 2 , wherein a first rebalancing trigger length is a shorter rebalancing trigger length and a second rebalancing trigger is a longer rebalancing trigger length, and wherein a first balancing process commencement delay period associated with the first rebalancing trigger is longer than a second balancing process commencement delay associated with the second balancing trigger.

4. The computer implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the balancing process commencement delay period is defined to cause the issue balancing process to commence at a low activity time of the computer system.

5. The computer implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the balancing process commencement delay period is defined to activate if an attempt to re-rank an issue fails due to congestion and wherein rebalancing commence immediately thereafter and all user initiated rank operations are frozen for a time while resources are devoted to the rebalancing.

6. The computer implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the input data is a request to change an order of an issue.

7. The computer implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the input data is a request to create a new issue.

8. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing sequences of instructions which, when executed by a distributed computer system comprising a plurality of processors, cause the plurality of processors to perform a method for performing an issue balancing process, the method comprising:
defining, by a distributed computer system comprising a plurality of processors, an issue ranking scheme which defines allowable rank values and a plurality of issue buckets;
maintaining a plurality of issues,
each issue having a rank value comprising a balancing component and a normal component which are read together as the rank value,
the balancing component identifying a current issue bucket of the plurality of issue buckets,
the rank value defining the order of the issue with respect to other issues;
receiving input data from comprising metadata of an issue to be tracked from one of a plurality of user computers;
calculating a new rank value in a rank value space for the issue;
determining whether a length of the new rank value is greater than or equal to a rebalancing trigger length, wherein the length of a rank value is the number of characters of the rank value; and
in response to the length of the new rank value being greater than or equal to the rebalancing trigger length,
delaying for a balancing process commencement delay period, the balancing process commencement delay period being associated with the rebalancing trigger length;
following the delay, performing one or more balancing operations, each balancing operation being in respect of a given issue and comprising:
determining a certain rank value for the given issue, the certain rank value resulting in the given issue being moved from a current bucket to a new bucket and a new value for the normal component, without affecting the order of the given issue with respect to other issues associated with the plurality of issue buckets.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media according to claim 8 , wherein a plurality of different balancing process commencement delay periods are defined, and wherein each balancing process commencement delay period is associated with a different rebalancing trigger length.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media according to claim 9 , wherein a first rebalancing trigger length is a shorter rebalancing trigger length and a second rebalancing trigger is a longer rebalancing trigger length, and wherein a first balancing process commencement delay period associated with the first rebalancing trigger is longer than a second balancing process commencement delay associated with the second balancing trigger.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media according to claim 8 , wherein the balancing process commencement delay period is defined to cause the issue balancing process to commence at a low activity time of the computer system.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media according to claim 8 , wherein the balancing process commencement delay period is defined to activate if an attempt to re-rank an issue fails due to congestion and wherein rebalancing commence immediately thereafter and all user initiated rank operations are frozen for a time while resources are devoted to the rebalancing.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media according to claim 8 , wherein the input data is a request to change an order of an issue.

14. A distributed computer system that is programmed to perform an improved issue balancing process, the distributed computer system comprising:
a server computer comprising a plurality of processors programmed with issue rank management logic and storing an index;
a database coupled to the server computer;
wherein the issue rank management logic is programmed to perform: defining, by the server computer, an issue ranking scheme which defines allowable rank values and a plurality of issue buckets;
maintaining a plurality of issues,
each issue having a rank value comprising a balancing component and a normal component which are read together as the rank value,
the balancing component identifying a current issue bucket of the plurality of issue buckets,
the rank value defining the order of the issue with respect to other issues;
receiving input d

Assignees

• Atlassian Pty Ltd

Inventors

• Lassau Mark
• Quail Matt
• Petrov Nikolay
• Bosticky Ivo
• Elias Michael

Classifications

• G06Q10/06315

  Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis · CPC title

• G06Q10/06316 Primary

  Sequencing of tasks or work · CPC title

• G06Q10/063116 Primary

  Schedule adjustment for a person or group · CPC title