Integrated system and method for the management of a complete end-to-end software delivery process
View Patent ↗A software delivery process including sub-processes of configuration management and version control, change and problem management, building, packaging, and distribution and installation. The process is implemented by an integrated management system that includes a configuration management sub-system, a change and problem management sub-system, a building sub-system, a packaging sub-system, a distribution sub-system, and a tracking sub-system. The subsystems are integrated in order to manage the software along its whole life cycle, from development to installation in production. The tracking sub-system captures and integrates information about the status of the delivery from the other sub-systems along all steps of the process.
1. An integrated data processing system for managing a process of delivery of software products to target software product execution units in a network environment, comprising:
a central repository for storing software components of at least one software product;
a first sub-system for identifying within the central repository software components of a software product to be delivered;
a second sub-system for creating at least one software product package from the identified software components identified by the first sub-system;
a third sub-system for distributing the at least one software product package created by the second sub-system to the target software product execution units;
a fourth sub-system for performing a building process of software code components among the identified software components of the software product to be delivered, the fourth sub-system storing a result of the building process in the central repository;
a fifth sub-system for managing a process of applying changes to the at least one software product distributed by the third sub-system; and
a sixth sub-system for recording information provided by at least one of the first through fifth sub-systems of the integrated data processing system during delivery of the software product.
2. A method of developing and installing a software product on a plurality of target computers, the method comprising:
storing a plurality of components in a central repository;
using at least some of the plurality of stored components to build the software product;
storing the built software product in the central repository;
creating an installable software package that includes at least some of the plurality of components and the built software product;
storing the installable software package in a second repository;
distributing the installable software package to at least some of the plurality of target computers; and
installing the distributed installable software package on the at least some of the plurality of target computers.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the software product comprises a newly developed software product.
4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the software product comprises a new release and/or a new version of an already released software product.
5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising recording information regarding the software product in a tracking sub-system.
6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the built software product comprises execution code that is generated from a source code component stored in the central repository.
7. The method of claim 2 , further comprising providing a configuration management subsystem that controls and manages different versions of the software components stored in the central repository.