Upgrade verification tool

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017192873-A1
Application number	US-201615167961-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 27, 2016
Priority date	Dec 31, 2015
Publication date	Jul 6, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

An example method facilitates verifying behaviors, functionality, and user interface display screens of a post-upgrade software system by comparing output thereof with a pre-upgrade software system. The example method includes accepting a first signal from a user input device to identify, at least in part, a first set of pre-upgrade output data items from the pre-upgrade software system; accepting a second signal from a user input device to identify, at least in part, a second set of corresponding post-upgrade output data items from the post-upgrade software system; and performing a consistency validation check between corresponding output data items in the first set and the second set. Accordingly, output data items in an upgraded system are readily validated against a pre-upgrade system. Plugins, as part of an upgrade verification tool, may implement specific tests. This enables enterprise software customers to automate their on-premise upgrade validation processes and to choose tests.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A method for verifying a post-upgrade software system with a pre-upgrade software system, the method comprising:
accepting a first signal from a user input device to identify, at least in part, a first set of pre-upgrade output data items from the pre-upgrade software system; accepting a second signal from a user input device to identify, at least in part, a second set of corresponding post-upgrade output data items from the post-upgrade software system; first gathering information characterizing the first set of pre-upgrade output data items from the pre-upgrade software system; second gathering information characterizing the second set of post-upgrade output data items from the post-upgrade software system, wherein the first and second gathering results in a set of gathered information, wherein the first and second gatherings are performed close in time to minimize variations resulting from changing underlying data; performing a consistency validation check between corresponding output data items in the first set and the second set, using the gathered information; and storing the results of at least a portion of the consistency validation check, yielding stored results in response thereto.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the pre-upgrade software system includes a pre-upgrade software application, and wherein the post-upgrade software system includes a post-upgrade software application, the pre-upgrade software application and the post-upgrade software application both running simultaneously during performing the consistency validation check.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the pre-upgrade software application and the post-upgrade software application include networked enterprise software applications, and wherein the networked enterprise software applications include Business Intelligence (BI) software applications, and wherein the first set of pre-upgrade output data items includes data objects of a first presentation catalog of the pre-upgrade software application, and wherein the second set of corresponding post-upgrade output data items includes data objects of a second presentation catalog of the post-upgrade software application.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein performing a consistency validation check further includes:
analyzing the pre-upgrade output data items to produce a first set of test results; analyzing the post-upgrade output data items to produce a second test result; and comparing the first set of test results and the second set of test results in accordance with a predetermined comparison test, yielding comparison results.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein analyzing the post-upgrade output data items includes analyzing the post-upgrade items with analyzing the pre-upgrade output data items, and wherein performing the consistency validation check includes: employing one or more plugins to a controller of an upgrade validation tool to implement one or more respective comparison tests to generate the comparison results.

6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the predetermined test includes a first test indicated via a control signal received from a user input device.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the first test includes a test of one or more user interface display screens and associated content used for the pre-upgrade software system, and one or more user interface display screens and associated content used for the post-upgrade software system.

8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the predetermined test further includes a comparison test indicated via the control signal, wherein the comparison test includes collecting information that indicates one or more differences between the first set of test results and the second set of test results.

9 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the control signal includes a signal generated from a command line entry, the command line entry indicating one or more tests to perform as part of the consistency validation check.

10 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the control signal includes information indicating one or more tests to perform using one or more plugins to a plugin controller.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein performing a consistency validation check further includes loading one or more test components, resulting in one or more loaded test components, wherein the one or more loaded test components include one or more software plugins, the one or more software plugins plugging into a controller of an upgrade verification tool.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein accepting the first signal further includes:
receiving, at the controller, information characterizing the first set of pre-upgrade output data items as maintained in a configuration file, and wherein accepting the second signal further includes: receiving, at the controller, information characterizing the second set of post-upgrade output data items as maintained in the configuration file.

13 . The method of claim 12 , further including:
receiving a third signal at the controller, the third signal representing a command to begin performing one or more consistency validation checks using on the pre-upgrade output data items and the post-upgrade output data items.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further including:
using the controller to accept a fourth signal from a user input device to allow a user to choose from one or more predetermined sets of tests.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more software plugins include a first plugin for:
generating a report score for a report; and using the score to perform the consistency validation check between corresponding output data items in the first and second sets.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more software plugins include a second plugin for:
generating a dashboard score for a dashboard visualization; and using the score to perform the consistency validation check between corresponding output data items in the first and second sets.

17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more software plugins include a third plugin for:
accepting a signal from a user input device to allow a user to define a threshold which is used to adjust the sensitivity of at least one parameter of the validation check.

18 . The method of claim 14 , further including:
accepting a prompted link definition; and using the prompted link to perform, at least in part, a validation check of a user interface dashboard.

19 . An apparatus for implementing a computer user interface for verifying a post-upgrade software system with a pre-upgrade software system, the apparatus comprising:
one or more digital processors; one or more tangible storage media including instructions executable by the one or more digital processors for: accepting a first signal from a user input device to identify, at least in part, a first set of pre-upgrade output data items from the pre-upgrade software system; accepting a second signal from a user input device to identify, at least in part, a second set of corresponding post-upgrade output data items from the post-upgrade software system; first gathering information characterizing the first set of pre-upgrade output data items from the pre-upgrade software system; second gathering information characterizing the second set of post-upgrade output data items from the post-upgrade software system, wherein the first and second gathering results in a set of gathered information, wherein the first and second gatherings are performed close in time to m

Assignees

• Oracle Int Corp

Inventors

• Ozdemir Ozer
• Ingec Tevfik Sinan
• Erdinc Tufan
• Roy Arnab
• Durran Mike

Classifications

• G06F8/71

  Version control (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57); Configuration management · CPC title

• G06F8/658 Primary

  Incremental updates; Differential updates · CPC title

• G06F8/65

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

• G06F11/3604 Primary

  Analysis of software for verifying properties of programs (testing of software G06F11/3668) · CPC title