External system integration into automated attribute discovery
View Patent ↗Methods and apparatus to transform attribute data about assets in a source system data model into attribute data about the same assets in a target system data model. The first step is to extract the necessary attribute data from attribute data collected about inventory assets of a business entity needed to populate the attributes in objects representing those inventory assets in a target system data model. Transformation rules are written which are designed to make all conversions necessary in semantics, units of measure, etc. to transform the source system attribute data into attribute data for the target system which has the proper data format. These transformation rules are executed on a computer on the extracted attribute data and the transformed attribute data is stored in an ER model. In the preferred embodiment, the transformation rules are object-oriented in that transformation rules for subtypes can be inherited from their parent types or classes. An export adapter which is capable of invoking the application programmatic interface of the target system CMDB is then used to export the transformed attribute data stored in the ER model to the target system CMDB.
1. A system for transforming attribute data in a first data model associated with a source system to a second data model associated with a target system, the system comprising:
a computing device that executes instructions stored in memory to:
extract attribute data from a source system, wherein a subset of the extracted attribute data is specific to an asset stored in the source system, wherein the asset is a class object with a unique set of attribute data,
store the extracted attribute data from the source system in a transactional store,
generate a report using the transactional store in order to assign the unique set of attribute data to represent the stored asset in the source system, and
identify that the asset stored in the source system is also stored in a target system when the unique set of attribute data is found in the target system;
a transformation engine for transforming the extracted attribute data from the source system having a first data format into a second data format associated with the attribute data at the target system, wherein the transformation from the first data format into the second data format between the source system and the target system is performed using corresponding transformation rules specific to the source system and the target system; and
export adaptors for exporting the transformed attribute data of the source system to the target system.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the transformation engine comprises a computer programmed to execute object-oriented transformation rules stored in a memory.
3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the computer is programmed to:
use common transformation rules common to transform the extracted attribute data in the first format from the source system into the second format of the target system, wherein the transformation rules includes rules that are common to all subtype classes of a parent class associated with the target system used to populate attributes of a parent class and each common attribute of each subtype class inherited from the parent class, and
use unique transformation rules to transform attribute data from the first format from the source system into attribute data having the second format of the target system, wherein the unique transformation rules are used to populate attributes of an object representing the subtype class, and repeating for each subtype class usage of the unique transformation rules to transform attribute data having the first format from the source system into attribute data having the second format of the target system, and wherein the unique transformation facilitates population of attribute data of the subtype class.
4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the memory:
stores transformation rules that are common to all subtype classes of a parent class in a parent object, and
stores all transformation rules that are unique to a class which is a subtype of the parent in an object designed to store transformation rules of the subtype class.
5. A system for transforming attribute data at a source system having a first data model to a second data model associated with a target system, the system comprising:
a first computer executing one or more query language reports to:
extract attribute data from a source system, wherein a subset of the extracted attribute data is specific to an asset stored in the source system, wherein the asset is a class object with a unique set of attribute data,
store the extracted attribute data from the source system in a transactional store,
generate a report using the transactional store in order to assign the unique set of attribute data to represent the found asset in the source system, and
identify that the asset stored in the source system is also stored in a target system when the unique set of attribute data found in the target system;
a second computer executing a transformation engine program to:
execute transformation rules for transforming the attribute data extracted by the first computer in a first format to a second format of a target system, wherein the transformation rules are specific to the first computer and the target system, and
store the transformed attribute data into an entity relationship (ER) model used for exporting to the target system; and
a third computer executing an export adapter program for exporting the transformed attribute data of the source system stored in the ER model to the target system.
6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the transformation rules are object-oriented transformation rules stored in an object-based data model in a memory.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the second computer uses transformation rules common to all subtype classes of a parent class in the target system data model to transform attribute data from the first format associated with the source system into attribute data having the second format of the target system so as to populate the attributes of a parent class object corresponding to the parent class and so as to populate each of the common attributes of a subtype object corresponding to each the subtype class, wherein the common attributes being inherited from the parent class, and wherein the second computer uses transformation rules that are unique to a subtype class of the parent class to transform attribute data from the first format from the source system into attribute data having the second format of the target system so as to populate attributes of an object representing the subtype class, and repeat for each subtype class the use of the transformation rules which are unique to the subtype class to transform attribute data in the first format from the source system into attribute data having the second format of the target system so as populate the unique attributes of the subtype class.
8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the memory includes:
transformation rules that are common to all subtype classes of a parent class in a parent object, and
transformation rules that are unique to a class that is a subtype of the parent in an object designed to store transformation rules of the subtype class.
9. A method for transforming attribute data at a source system having a first data model to a second data model associated with a target system, the method comprising:
extracting attribute data from a source system, wherein a subset of the extracted attribute data is specific to an asset stored in the source system, wherein the asset is a class object with a unique set of attribute data,
storing the extracted attribute data from the source system in a transactional store,
generating a report using the transactional store in order to assign the unique set of attribute data to represent the stored asset in the source system,
identifying that the asset stored in the source system is also stored in a target system when the unique set of attribute data is found in the target system;
transforming the extracted attribute data from the source system having a first data format into a second data format associated with the attribute data at the target system, wherein the transformation from the first data format into the second data format between the source system and the target system is performed using corresponding transformation rules specific to the source system and the target system; and
exporting the transformed attribute data of the source system to the target system.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the transforming of the attribute data comprises:
using transformation rules common to all subtype classes of a parent class in the target system data model to transform attribute data from the source system into attribute data in the data format of the target system so as to populate the attributes of a parent class object corresponding to the parent class and so as to populate each of the common attributes of a subtype object corresponding to each subtype class, wherein the common attributes are inherited from the parent class,
using transformation rules that are unique to a subtype class of the parent class to transform attribute data from the source system into attribute data in the data format of the target system so as to populate attributes of an object representing the subtype class, and
repeating for each subtype class the method of using transformation rules that are unique to the subtype class to transform attribute data from the source system into attribute data in the format of the target system so as populate the unique attributes of the subtype class.