Software release workflow management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9916133-B2
Application number	US-201313828842-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2013
Priority date	Mar 14, 2013
Publication date	Mar 13, 2018
Grant date	Mar 13, 2018

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for managing a release of a software product includes obtaining a request for the release, the request including workflow action parameter data to define a release pipeline involving a plurality of software engineering systems configured to process data indicative of the software product, and executing, with a processor, a workflow to implement the release pipeline in accordance with the workflow action parameter data. Executing the workflow includes sending a series of instructions to the plurality of software engineering systems. A successive instruction in the series of instructions is sent based on whether a gating rule for the release is met.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for managing a release of a software product, the method comprising:
obtaining a request for the release, the request comprising workflow action parameter data to define a release pipeline involving a plurality of software engineering systems, each software engineering system being configured to provide a respective software release service that processes data indicative of the software product; and
executing, with one or more processors, a workflow to implement the release pipeline in accordance with the workflow action parameter data;
wherein executing the workflow comprises:
providing release management services in a parallel processing arrangement via a scalable plurality of instances of an orchestrator implemented in a cloud-based framework; and
wherein providing the release management services comprises sending, by one or more of the instances of the orchestrator, a series of instructions to the plurality of software engineering systems, each instruction directing a respective one of the plurality of software engineering systems to implement the respective software release service; and
wherein a successive instruction in the series of instructions is sent based on whether a gating rule for the release is met.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising accessing a configuration file that comprises data indicative of the gating rule.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the gating rule specifies a quality assurance rule for entering or exiting a step in the workflow.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein executing the workflow comprises resuming the workflow if the gating rule is no longer applicable.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein executing the workflow comprises accessing a policy schema to determine the gating rule and to configure an instruction in the series of instructions.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the gating rule specifies a user role to approve implementation of a successive instruction in the series of instructions.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein executing the workflow comprises:
determining whether a workflow incident occurs due to failure to meet the gating rule;
sending an alert to a user authorized via a policy schema to respond to the workflow incident; and
resuming the workflow based on a response to the alert from the user.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein executing the workflow comprises recording, in a data store, data indicative of an action implemented during the workflow and a user who approved the action, the user being assigned to a user role having a permission via a policy schema to approve the action.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein:
executing the workflow comprises monitoring a system health parameter of a computer;
sending an alert to a user authorized via a policy schema to respond if the system health parameter does not meet a threshold; and
resuming the workflow based on a response to the alert from the user.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the workflow action parameter data specifies a metric to be displayed via a dashboard during execution of the workflow.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising validating a state of a production environment before releasing a build of the software product to the production environment based on a validation criterion specified in a policy schema.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , wherein the validation criterion relates to a dependency of the software product, and wherein validating the state of the production environment comprises:
determining a state of the dependency; and
validating the state of the dependency before implementing the release.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , further comprising scheduling an event for the release with a constraint based on the state of the dependency.

14. A system for managing a release of a software product, the system comprising:
a front end server to receive a request for the release, the request comprising workflow action parameter data to define a release pipeline involving a plurality of software engineering systems, each software engineering system being configured to provide a respective software release service that processes data indicative of the software product;
a scalable plurality of workflow engines in a cloud-based framework to provide release management services in a parallel processing arrangement, each workflow engine being configured to manage communications with the plurality of software engineering systems and to process the workflow action parameter data to provide a workflow to implement the release pipeline in accordance with the workflow action parameter data, and further configured to execute the workflow such that the communications comprise a series of instructions sent to the plurality of software engineering systems; and
a policy engine configured to direct a respective workflow engine of the scalable plurality of workflow engines to send a successive instruction in the series of instructions based on whether a gating rule of a policy schema for the software product is met.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the policy engine is configured to determine whether a workflow incident occurs due to failure to meet the gating rule, send an alert to a user authorized via the policy schema to respond to the workflow incident, and resume the workflow based on a response to the alert from the user.

16. The system of claim 14 , further comprising a data store in communication with each workflow engine and in which data indicative of an action implemented during the workflow is stored and a user who approved the action, the user being assigned to a user role having a permission to approve the action.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the policy engine is configured to monitor a system health parameter of the workflow engine to send an alert to a user authorized via the policy specification to respond if the system health parameter does not meet a threshold, and to resume the workflow based on a response to the alert from the user.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein:
the front end server is configured to generate a dashboard to display data regarding implementation of the workflow; and
the workflow action parameter data specifies a metric to be displayed via the dashboard.

19. The system of claim 14 , wherein the policy engine is configured to validate a state of a production environment before releasing a build of the software product to the production environment based on a validation criterion specified in the policy schema.

20. A computer program product for implementing a method of managing a release of a software product, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing system, cause the computing system to perform the method, the method comprising:
receiving a request for the release, the request comprising workflow action parameter data to define a release pipeline involving a plurality of software engineering systems, each software engineering system being configured to provide a respective software release service that processes data indicative of the software product;
executing a workflow

Assignees

• Microsoft Corp
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Jubran Marwan E
• Gershaft Aleksandr
• Libenson Maksim

Classifications

• G06F8/00 Primary

  Arrangements for software engineering (testing or debugging G06F11/36; administrative, planning or organisation aspects of software project management G06Q10/06) · CPC title

• G06F8/77

  Software metrics · CPC title

• G06F8/71 Primary

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