Automatic Cognitive Adaptation of Development Assets According to Requirement Changes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017199810-A1
Application number	US-201614990363-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 7, 2016
Priority date	Jan 7, 2016
Publication date	Jul 13, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A cognitive engine is coupled to at least one requirements management tool and at least one quality management tool. The cognitive engine is configured to: transform the test cases and the initial software requirements into test case objects and requirement objects, respectively; link test case objects to corresponding requirements objects based on like attributes; provide a graphical representation showing test case objects linked to corresponding requirements objects; automatically update the graphical representation in response to updated software requirements or new software requirements; and automatically disseminate the graphical representation or the updated graphical representation if the test case effectiveness exceeds a predetermined confidence threshold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A tracking system for a software program development, the system comprising:
at least one requirements management tool configured to provide initial software requirements, updated software requirements or new software requirements; at least one quality management tool coupled to the at least one requirements management tool, the at least one quality management tool being configured to generate test cases corresponding to the initial software requirements, each test case configured to determine if the software program satisfies a corresponding software requirement; and a cognitive engine coupled to the at least one requirements management tool and the at least one quality management tool, the cognitive engine being configured to (1) transform the test cases and the initial software requirements into test case objects and requirement objects, respectively, (2) link the test case objects to the corresponding requirements objects based on like attributes, (3) provide a graphical representation showing the test case objects linked to the corresponding requirements objects, (4) automatically update the graphical representation in response to updated software requirements or new software requirements, and (5) automatically disseminate the graphical representation or the updated graphical representation if a test case effectiveness calculation exceeds a predetermined confidence threshold.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the cognitive engine further comprising:
a monitoring program configured to semantically analyze the updated software requirements or the new software requirements to identify requirement attribute changes; an iteration program configured to iterate the graphical representation or the updated graphical representation to determine which test cases are affected by the requirement attribute changes; and a graph updating program configured to update the graphical representation based on the requirement attribute changes.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the cognitive engine further includes a test case design program configured to transform the requirement attribute changes into human readable indicia corresponding to a suggested test case, the suggested test case being disseminated to the at least one quality management tool.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one requirements management tool or the at least one quality management tool include display devices configured to display the graphical representation or the updated graphical representation.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the graphical representation is displayed as a nodal plot having requirement nodes linked to corresponding test case nodes by linking arcs, each linking arc representing a test case object linked to a corresponding requirements objects based on like attributes.

6 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the cognitive engine is configured to perform a propagation analysis to determine if the updated graphical representation is in a stable state.

7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the propagation analysis is depicted by providing a nodal indicator that moves from node to node until the graphical representation settles into the stable state or remains in an unstable state.

8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the cognitive engine is configured to call a test case design program in the unstable state, the test case design program being configured to identify new requirement attributes or modified requirement attributes corresponding to the unstable state and transform said new requirement attributes or modified requirement attributes into human readable indicia corresponding to a new test case configured to remedy the unstable state.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the cognitive engine is configured to reside on a server platform, and wherein the at least one requirements management tool or the at least one quality management tool are configured to reside on client computing devices.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the server platform is coupled to the client devices via at least one network.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one network is selected from a group of networks including a LAN, WAN, a cloud computing arrangement, the Internet, an intranet, wireline networks, wireless networks, or fiber optic networks.

12 . A method of tracking requirements in a software development project, the method of comprising:
providing initial software requirements, updated software requirements or new software requirements via at least one requirements management tool; providing initial test cases corresponding to the initial software requirements via at least one quality management tool; transforming the test cases and the initial software requirements into test case objects and requirement objects, respectively; linking the test case objects to corresponding requirements objects based on like attributes; providing a graphical representation showing the test case objects linked to the corresponding requirements objects; automatically updating the graphical representation in response to the updated software requirements or the new software requirements, the updated graphical representation corresponding to at least one updated test case or at least one new test case; and automatically disseminating the graphical representation or the updated graphical representation if the at least one updated test case or the at least one new test case exceeds a predetermined confidence threshold.

13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
semantically analyzing the updated software requirements or the new software requirements to identify requirement attribute changes; iterating the graphical representation or the updated graphical representation to determine which test cases are affected by the requirement attribute changes; and updating the graphical representation based on the requirement attribute changes.

14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the updated software requirements or the new software requirements are transformed into updated requirement attributes and new requirement attributes, respectively, and wherein the updated requirement attributes and new requirement attributes are further transformed into human readable indicia corresponding to an updated test case or a new test case, the human readable indicia being disseminated to the at least one quality management tool.

15 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the at least one requirements management tool or the at least one quality management tool include display devices configured to display the graphical representation or the updated graphical representation.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the graphical representation is displayed as a nodal plot having requirement nodes linked to corresponding test case nodes by linking arcs, each linking arc representing at least one requirement attribute linked to at least one test case attribute.

17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising the step of performing a propagation analysis to determine if the updated graphical representation is in a stable state.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the propagation analysis is depicted by providing a nodal indication that moves from node to node until the graphical representation settles into a stable state or remains in an unstable state.

19 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising the step of designing a suggested test case in the unstable state, wherein the step of designing a suggested test case includ

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Hamilton Ii Rick A
• Kozloski James R
• Magro Agueda Martinez Hernandez
• Mosqueda Mejia Jose Roberto
• Nevarez Jorge Alonso Hernandez

Classifications

• G06F11/3684 Primary

  for test design, e.g. generating new test cases · CPC title

• G06F11/368

  for test version control, e.g. updating test cases to a new software version · CPC title

• G06F11/3672 Primary

  Test management · CPC title

• G06F8/34

  Graphical or visual programming · CPC title