Data governance: change management based on contextualized dependencies

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10762062-B2
Application number	US-201615089858-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 4, 2016
Priority date	Apr 4, 2016
Publication date	Sep 1, 2020
Grant date	Sep 1, 2020

Abstract

A method for change management includes providing a dependency graph as an instantiation of a linked resource model in which a plurality of resources are linked by at least one dependency. The resources include at least one source resource and at least one target resource, each of the at least one dependency specifying preconditions on at least one of the at least one source resources for the dependency to be activated and an impact on at least one of the at least one target resources when the dependency is activated. A change to one of the plurality of resources is propagated to at least one other of the plurality of resources in the graph and information based on the propagation is output.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for propagating a change in a dependency graph and outputting information based on the propagation, the method comprising:
providing a dependency graph as an instantiation of a linked resource model (lrm) in which a plurality of lrm:resources are linked by a plurality of lrm: dependencies, the lrm: resources including lrm:concrete resources, each of the lrm:concrete resources representing a physical object or a digital object, the lrm: resources including at least one source lrm: resource and at least one target lrm: resource, each of the lrm:dependencies specifying preconditions on at least one of the at least one source lrm: resource for the lrm:dependency to be activated and an impact on at least one of the at least one target lrm: resources when the lrm:dependency is activated, each of the lrm:dependencies being assigned to a defined class of lrm: dependencies, at least one of the lrm: dependencies being assigned to a class of lrm: dependencies selected from the group consisting of a lrm:conjunctive dependency class and a lrm:disjunctive dependency class, wherein the dependency graph is implemented as a Resource Description Framework (RDF) graph or a triple store,
wherein for a lrm:conjunctive dependency which is assigned to the lrm: conjunctive dependency class, if any of the source lrm:resources related to that lrm:dependency is changed then the lrm:dependency is activated, and wherein for a lrm:disjunctive dependency which is assigned to the lrm:disjunctive dependency class, the lrm:dependency is activated only if all source lrm:resources related to that lrm:dependency are changed,
wherein in the dependency graph, the lrm:resources and the lrm: dependencies are represented by nodes,
wherein the linked resource model permits a first of the lrm: dependencies to be linked to a second of the lrm:dependencies in the dependency graph, without an intervening lrm:resource node, by a dependency connector node that propagates change information; and
with a processor, propagating a change to one of the plurality of lrm:resources to at least one other of the plurality of lrm:resources in the graph, using the dependency connector to propagate change information from a first of the lrm:dependencies to a linked second of the lrm:dependencies in the dependency graph; and
outputting information based on the propagation, the output information including a request to modify at least one external resource which is represented in the graph, the at least one external resource including a physical object or a digital object; and
implementing a change to the at least one of the external resources.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of lrm:resources includes lrm:abstract resources, each of the lrm:abstract resources representing an abstract part of an entity or a process.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the linked resource model permits the first of the lrm:dependencies to be of a different class of lrm:dependencies from the second of the lrm:dependencies.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein in the dependency graph, the nodes are linked by directed edges which indicate properties of relationships between linked nodes.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the propagating comprises applying at least one of a forward chaining mechanism and a backward chaining mechanism to propagate changes through the dependency graph.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the forward chaining mechanism comprises, for a source lrm:resource from the plurality of lrm:resources, and for at least one of the lrm:dependencies in the dependency graph which links the source lrm:resource to a target lrm:resource from the plurality of lrm:resources and for which an intention descriptor of the lrm:dependency is compatible with the preconditions for the lrm:dependency to be activated and is compatible with the impact on the target lrm:resource, propagating the change in the source lrm:resource to the target lrm:resource via the lrm:dependency.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising, for at least one iteration, repeating the forward chaining mechanism using a different lrm:resource from the plurality of lrm:resources as the source lrm:resource.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the forward chaining mechanism comprises:
checking that the source lrm:resource is not yet in a set of already considered source lrm:resources and if so, then adding the source lrm:resource to the set;
for each lrm:dependency that has a RDF triple in a triple store with a from property with respect to the source lrm:resource, and where the lrm:dependency is compatible with the intention, determining if the precondition and impact of the lrm:dependency satisfy the intention and if so, propagating the change in r to all target lrm:resources that are linked to the source lrm:resource by that lrm:dependency, according to the definition of the impact.

9. The method of claim 5 , wherein the backward chaining mechanism comprises, for a target lrm:resource from the plurality of lrm:resources for which a change is not detected, and for at least one of the lrm:dependencies in the dependency graph which links the target lrm:resource to a changed source lrm:resource from the plurality of lrm:resources and for which an intention descriptor of the lrm:dependency is compatible with a chaining intention to be activated and is compatible with an impact on the target lrm:resource, propagating the change in the source lrm:resource to the target lrm:resource via the lrm:dependency, according to the definition of the impact.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising repeating the backward chaining mechanism for another target lrm:resource from the plurality of lrm:resources.

11. The method of claim 5 , wherein the propagating comprises applying both of the forward chaining mechanism and the backward chaining mechanism.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the output information further comprises:
a modified dependency graph.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the lrm:dependencies specifies an intent which describes the usage of objects involved in the lrm:dependency.

14. A system for propagating a change in a dependency graph and outputting information based on the propagation, the system comprising:
memory which stores a dependency graph as an instantiation of a linked resource model (lrm) in which a plurality of lrm:resources are linked by at least one lrm:dependency, the dependency graph being implemented as a Resource Description Framework (RDF) graph or a triple store, the lrm:resources including lrm:concrete resources, each of the lrm:concrete resources representing a physical object or a digital object, the lrm:resources including at least one source lrm:resource and at least one target lrm:resource, each of the at least one lrm:dependency specifying preconditions on at least one of the at least one source lrm:resource for the lrm:dependency to be activated and an impact on at least one of the at least one target lrm:resources when the lrm:dependency is activated, each of the lrm:dependencies being assigned to a defined class of lrm:dependencies, at least one of the lrm:dependencies being assigned to a class of lrm:dependencies selected from the group consisting of an lrm:conjunctive dependency class and an lrm:disjunctive dependency class,
wherein for an lrm:conjunctive dependency assigned to the lrm:conjunctive dependency class, if any of the source lrm:resources related to that lrm:dependency is changed then the lrm:dependency is activated, and wherein for an lrm:disjunctive dependency assigned to the lrm:disjunctive dependency class, the lrm:dependency is activated

Assignees

• Xerox Corp

Inventors

• Lagos Nikolaos
• Vion-Dury Jean-Yves

Classifications

• G06F16/21 Primary

  Design, administration or maintenance of databases · CPC title

• H04L41/0266 Primary

  using meta-data, objects or commands for formatting management information, e.g. using eXtensible markup language [XML] · CPC title