Data analytics to determine software maintenance advisory using input data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11249743-B2
Application number	US-201916685386-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 15, 2019
Priority date	Nov 15, 2019
Publication date	Feb 15, 2022
Grant date	Feb 15, 2022

Abstract

Advising on computer software upgrade decisions for enterprise software by analyzing respective vendor information correlated to influences from user data including periodically checking for vendor software updates for selected software programs. A plurality of factors are assessed for software update risks, and the factors include dimensions of importance of each of the factors. Opinion and comments from users on public websites are collected regarding the software and the software updates. Each of the dimensions for each of one or more factors for a selected software program are weighted. The weighting is based on an importance for each of the dimensions for a respective user. A risk score is calculated based on the assessed software update risk for each dimension which includes the weighting of each of the dimensions, and a notification is sent to a user recommending the software upgrade or not based on the risk score.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for advising on computer software upgrade decisions for enterprise software by analyzing respective vendor information and correlating to user data, comprising:
periodically checking, using a control system having a computer, for a vendor software update for a selected software program by respective one or more users, using a communications network;
assessing a software update risk for the vendor software update, based on a plurality of factors, the factors being issues regarding solutions to fix software updates, the factors including dimensions for each of the factors, a dimension being an aspect of a factor having an importance for a user for each of the dimensions, wherein one importance includes the user having a latest software, the importance being generated based on the importance of the factors and the dimension for the user;
gathering, using natural language processing, user data as opinion and comments from users on public websites, the gathering of the user data including an opinion and a comment from one or more surveys, and the user data being related to the selected software program and the vendor software update;
generating a user data score from the gathered user data;
weighting each of the dimensions for each of one or more factors for the selected software program, the weighting being based on an importance for each of the dimensions for a respective user, and the user data score;
calculating a risk score based on the assessed software update risk for each dimension and the weighting of each of the dimensions which includes the user data score; and
sending a notification to a user recommending the vendor software update or not based on the risk score.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the factors include a software version's end of life and an end of support dates.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating a risk management model based on the assessed software update risks including the weighting of each of the dimensions and the risk score; and
sending the notification to the user recommending the vendor software update or not recommending the vendor software update based on the risk management model including the risk score.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
re-weighting the dimensions based on the user data score, after a first weighting for each of the dimensions for each of one or more factors for the selected software program, wherein the first weighting is based on the importance for each of the dimensions for a respective user; and
sending a notification to a user recommending the vendor software update or not recommending the vendor software update based on the risk management model after the re-weighting.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gathered user data as opinion and comments from one or more surveys is used in the generation of the user data score in addition to the user data form the users on the public websites.

6. A system for advising on computer software upgrade decisions for enterprise software by analyzing respective vendor information and correlating to user data, which comprises:
a computer system comprising: a computer processor, a computer-readable storage medium, and program instructions stored on the computer-readable storage medium being executable by the processor, to cause the computer system to:
periodically check, using a control system having a computer, for a vendor software update for selected software program by respective one or more users, using a communications network;
assess a software update risk for the vendor software update, based on a plurality of factors, the factors being issues regarding solutions to fix software updates, the factors including dimensions for each of the factors, a dimension being an aspect of a factor having an importance for a user for each of the dimensions, wherein one importance includes the user having a latest software, the importance being generated based on the importance of the factors and the dimension for the user;
gather, using natural language processing, user data as opinion and comments from users on public websites, the gathering of the user data including an opinion and a comment from one or more surveys, and the user data being related to the selected software program and the vendor software update;
generate a user data score from the gathered user data;
weight each of the dimensions for each of one or more factors for the selected software program, the weighting being based on an importance for each of the dimensions for a respective user, and the user data score;
calculate a risk score based on the assessed software update risk for each dimension and the weighting of each of the dimensions which includes the user data score; and
send a notification to a user recommending the vendor software update or not based on the risk score.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the factors include a software version's end of life and an end of support dates.

8. The system of claim 6 , further comprising:
generating a risk management model based on the assessed software update risks including the weighting of each of the dimensions and the risk score; and
sending the notification to the user recommending the vendor software update or not recommending the vendor software update based on the risk management model including the risk score.

9. The system of claim 6 , further comprising:
re-weighting the dimensions based on the user data score, after a first weighting for each of the dimensions for each of one or more factors for the selected software program, wherein the first weighting is based on the importance for each of the dimensions for a respective user; and
sending a notification to a user recommending the vendor software update or not recommending the vendor software update based on the risk management model after the re-weighting.

10. The system of claim 6 , wherein the gathered user data as opinion and comments from one or more surveys is used in the generation of the user data score in addition to the user data form the users on the public websites.

11. A computer program product for advising on computer software upgrade decisions for enterprise software by analyzing respective vendor information and correlating to user data, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, wherein the computer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se, the program instructions executable by a computer to cause the computer to perform a method, comprising:
periodically checking, using a control system having a computer, for a vendor software update for selected software programs by respective one or more users, using a communications network;
assessing a software update risk for the vendor software update, based on a plurality of factors, the factors being issues regarding solutions to fix software updates, the factors including dimensions for each of the factors, a dimension being an aspect of a factor having an importance for a user for each of the dimensions, wherein one importance includes the user having a latest software, the importance being generated based on the importance of the factors and the dimension for the user;
gathering, using natural language processing, user data as opinion and comments from users on public websites, the gathering of the user data including an opinion and a comment from one or more surveys, and the user data being related to the selected software program and the vendor software update;
generating a user data score from the gathered user data;
weighting each of the dimensions for each of one or more

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Cannon Gray
• Stelmar Netto Marco Aurelio
• Thajudeen Ashraf Ali
• Baughman Aaron K

Classifications

• G06N3/09

  Supervised learning · CPC title

• G06N3/0499

  Feedforward networks · CPC title

• G06N3/04

  Architecture, e.g. interconnection topology · CPC title

• G06F8/65 Primary

  Updates (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title

• G06F16/9536 Primary

  Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering · CPC title