Method to automatically map business function level policies to IT management policies

1. A computer-implemented method for retaining data in a storage layer according to a high-level policy comprising:

describing the high-level policy as a table on a regulation layer, the table including a high-level object and attributes of the high-level object, the attributes including a retention time indicating how long the high-level object needs to be retained and a start event from which the retention time is measured;

performing a first data mapping of the high-level object in the regulation layer to a data type in a business model layer, said first data mapping performed by

substituting the high-level objects in the table in the regulation layer with corresponding data types in the business model layer, wherein for each high-level object defining a row of the table, the high-level object is mapped to one or more data types in a set of {B1, . . . , Bn} on the business model layer wherein attributes of the high-level object row in the table are replaced with attributes of each data type of the set {B1, . . . , Bn} on the business model layer, wherein:

one-to-one mapping substitution indicates one high-level object having exactly one corresponding data type {Bi} in the business model layer,

one-to-several mapping substitution indicates one high-level object having several corresponding data types {B1, . . . , Bn} in the business model layer,

one-to-subtype mapping substitution indicates one high-level object corresponds to a subtype {Si} of a data type {Bi} in the business model layer, and

one-to-union of several subtypes mapping substitution indicates that the high-level object corresponds to a union of several subtypes {S1, . . . , Sn} of the set {B1, . . . , Bn} in the business model layer; and

mapping the start event in the regulation layer to a start-event-action in the business model layer by substituting the corresponding start-event-action in the business model layer for the start event in the regulation layer, the start-event-action being one of: an action, a set of several actions, subsets of actions, or a pair of a precondition of the start event and a postcondition of the start event in the business model layer;

performing a second data mapping of the data type of the business model layer to a data item in the storage layer, said second data mapping performed by:

mapping the start-event-action in the business model layer to actual executable steps in the storage layer when the start-event-action is one of the action, the set of several actions or the subsets of actions;

transforming, when the start event is mapped to the pair of a precondition of the start event and a postcondition of the start event in the business model layer, the pair of a precondition of the start event and a postcondition of the start event in the business model layer to a similar pair of a precondition of the start event and a postcondition of the start event in the storage layer;

deriving a low-level policy from the high-level policy by substituting the high-level object with the data item and substituting the start event with the actual executable steps or the similar pair of a precondition of the start event and a postcondition of the start event; and

retaining the data item in the storage level in accordance with the start event,

wherein a processor coupled to a memory device perform: the describing, the mapping the high-level objects, the mapping the start event, the mapping the one corresponding data type, the mapping the action, the transforming, and the deriving.

2. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

transforming the high-level policy to a similar or related high-level policy before starting to map the high-level policy to the business model layer.

3. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , the attributes further including one or more of a number of places where the data is retained, a type of places indicating a specific characteristics of the places, and accessibility indicating whether the corresponding place is easy to access or not.

4. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , the table further including retention requirements for metadata including indices and relations between data types.

5. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein one or more of the data types in the set {B1, . . . , Bn} comprises:

a set of multiple conditioned retention attribute sets comprising at least a condition (f,c) characterizing the subtype S within B, wherein c denotes a constraint and f denotes a Boolean value stating whether the constraint is formal.

6. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein mapping the start event in the regulation layer to a start-event-action in the business model layer further comprises:

mapping the start event from the regulation layer to a set of action types of {act1, . . . , actn} in the business model layer.

7. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , further comprising performing a syntax transformation of the table to data items in the storage layer using a compiler.

8. A computer-implemented system for retaining data in a storage layer according to a high-level policy comprising:

a processor;

a memory device coupled to the processor,

wherein the processor is further configured to perform:

describing the high-level policy as a table on a regulation layer, the table including a high-level object and attributes of the high-level object, the attributes including a retention time indicating how long the high-level object needs to be retained and a start event from which the retention time is measured;

performing a first data mapping of the high-level object in the regulation layer to a data type in a business model layer, said first data mapping performed by

substituting the high-level objects in the table in the regulation layer with corresponding data types in the business model layer, wherein for each high-level object defining a row of the table, the high-level object is mapped to one or more data types in a set of {B1, . . . , Bn} on the business model layer wherein attributes of the high-level object row in the table are replaced with attributes of each data type of the set {B1, . . . , Bn} on the business model layer, wherein:

one-to-one mapping substitution indicates one high-level object having exactly one corresponding data type {Bi} in the business model layer,

one-to-several mapping substitution indicates one high-level object having several corresponding data types {B1, . . . , Bn} in the business model layer,

one-to-subtype mapping substitution indicates one high-level object corresponds to a subtype {Si} of a data type {B1} in the business model layer, and

one-to-union of several subtypes mapping substitution indicates that the high-level object corresponds to a union of several subtypes {S1, . . . , Sn} of the set {B1, . . . , Bn} in the business model layer; and

mapping the start event in the regulation layer to a start-event-action in the business model layer by substituting the corresponding start-event-action in the business model layer for the start event in the regulation layer, the start-event-action being one of: an action, a set of several actions, subsets of actions, or a pair of a precondition of the start event and a postcondition of the start event in the business model layer;

performing a second data mapping of the data type of the business model layer to a data item in the storage layer, said second data mapping performed by:

mapping the start-event-action in the business model layer to actual executable steps in the storage layer when the start-event-action is one of the action, the set of several actions or the subsets of actions;

transforming, when the start event is mapped to the pair of a precondition of the start event and a postcondition of the start event in the business model layer, the pair of a precondition of the start event and a postcondition of the start event in the business model layer to a similar pair of a precondition of the start event and a postcondition of the start event in the storage layer;

deriving a low-level policy from the high-level policy by substituting the high-level object with the data item and substituting the start event with the actual executable steps or the similar pair of a precondition of the start event and a postcondition of the start event; and

retaining the data item in the storage level in accordance with the start event.

9. The computer-implemented method according to claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to transform the high-level policy to a similar or related high-level policy before starting to map the high-level policy to the business model layer.

10. The computer-implemented method according to claim 8 , the attributes further including one or more of a number of places where the data is retained, a type of places indicating a specific characteristics of the places, and accessibility indicating whether the corresponding place is easy to access or not.

11. A computer program product for retaining data in a storage layer according to a high-level policy, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions run by the processing circuit for performing a method, said method steps comprising:

describing the high-level policy as a table on a regulation layer, the table including a high-level object and attributes of the high-level object, the attributes including a retention time indicating how long the high-level object needs to be retained and a start event from which the retention time is measured;

performing a first data mapping of the high-level object in the regulation layer to a data type in a business model layer, said first data mapping performed by

substituting the high-level objects in the table in the regulation layer with corresponding data types in the business model layer, wherein for each high-level object defining a row of the table, the high-level object is mapped to one or more data types in a set of {B1, . . . , Bn} on the business model layer wherein attributes of the high-level object row in the table are replaced with attributes of each data type of the set {B1, . . . , Bn} on the business model layer, wherein:

one-to-one mapping substitution indicates one high-level object having exactly one corresponding data type {Bi} in the business model layer,

one-to-several mapping substitution indicates one high-level object having several corresponding data types {B1, . . . , Bn} in the business model layer,

one-to-subtype mapping substitution indicates one high-level object corresponds to a subtype {Si} of a data type {B1} in the business model layer, and

one-to-union of several subtypes mapping substitution indicates that the high-level object corresponds to a union of several subtypes {S1, . . . , Sn} of the set {B1, . . . , Bn} in the business model layer; and

mapping the start event in the regulation layer to a start-event-action in the business model layer by substituting the corresponding start-event-action in the business model layer for the start event in the regulation layer, the start-event-action being one of: an action, a set of several actions, subsets of actions, or a pair of a precondition of the start event and a postcondition of the start event in the business model layer;

performing a second data mapping of the data type of the business model layer to a data item in the storage layer, said second data mapping performed by:

mapping the start-event-action in the business model layer to actual executable steps in the storage layer when the start-event-action is one of the action, the set of several actions or the subsets of actions;

transforming, when the start event is mapped to the pair of a precondition of the start event and a postcondition of the start event in the business model layer, the pair of a precondition of the start event and a postcondition of the start event in the business model layer to a similar pair of a precondition of the start event and a postcondition of the start event in the storage layer;

deriving a low-level policy from the high-level policy by substituting the high-level object with the data item and substituting the start event with the actual executable steps or the similar pair of a precondition of the start event and a postcondition of the start event; and

retaining the data item in the storage level in accordance with the start event.

12. The computer program product according to claim 11 , wherein the method further comprises:

transforming the high-level policy to a similar or related high-level policy before starting to map the high-level policy to the business model layer.

13. The computer program product according to claim 11 , the attributes further including one or more of a number of places where the data is retained, a type of places indicating a specific characteristics of the places, and accessibility indicating whether the corresponding place is easy to access or not.

14. A computer-implemented method for transforming a low-level policy associated with IT an IT (Information Technology) layer to a high-level policy associated with a business model layer comprising:

identifying high-level objects in the regulation layer;

describing the high-level policy as a table on the regulation layer, the table including the high-level objects and attributes of the high-level objects, the attributes including retention times indicating how long the high-level objects need to be retained and start events from which the retention times are measured;

performing a first data mapping of the high-level objects in the regulation layer to data types in a business model layer, said first data mapping performed by

substituting the high-level objects in the table in the regulation layer with corresponding data types in the business model layer, wherein for each high-level object defining a row of the table, the high-level object is mapped to one or more data types in a set of {B1, . . . , Bn} on the business model layer wherein attributes of the high-level object row in the table are replaced with attributes of each data type of the set {B1, . . . , Bn} on the business model layer, wherein:

one-to-one mapping substitution indicates one high-level object having exactly one corresponding data type {Bi} in the business model layer,

one-to-several mapping substitution indicates one high-level object having several corresponding data types {B1, . . . , Bn} in the business model layer,

one-to-subtype mapping substitution indicates one high-level object corresponds to a subtype {Si} of a data type {Bi} in the business model layer, and

one-to-union of several subtypes mapping substitution indicates that the high-level object corresponds to a union of several subtypes {S1, . . . , Sn} of the set {B1, . . . , Bn} in the business model layer; and

mapping the start events in the regulation layer to start-event-actions in the business model layer by substituting the corresponding start-event-actions in the business model layer for the start events in the regulation layer, a start-event-action being one of: an action, a set of several actions, subsets of actions, or a pair of a precondition of the start events and a postcondition of the start events in the business model layer;

performing a second data mapping of the data types of the business model layer to data items in the storage layer, said second data mapping performed by:

mapping the start-event-actions in the business model layer to actual executable steps in the storage layer when the start-event-action is one of the action, the set of several actions or the subsets of actions;

transforming, when the start events are mapped to the pair of a precondition of the start events and a postcondition of the start events in the business model layer, the pair of a precondition of the start events and a postcondition of the start events in the business model layer to a similar pair of a precondition of the start events and a postcondition of the start events in the storage layer;

deriving a low-level policy from the high-level policy by substituting the high-level objects with the data items and substituting the start events with the actual executable steps or the similar pair of a precondition of the start events and a postcondition of the start events; and

retaining the data items in the storage level in accordance with the start events;

identifying low-level objects in the low-level policy, the low-level objects including: the data items, the actual executable steps, the similar pair of the precondition of the start events and the postcondition of the start events;

automatically discovering a data dependency between the low-level objects and the high-level objects;

mapping the low-level objects to related high-level objects based on the first data mapping and the second data mapping; and

mapping the low-level policy to another high-level policy by applying the discovered data dependency and substituting the low-level objects with the related high-level objects,

wherein a processor coupled to a memory device perform: the identifying the high-level objects, the describing the high-level policy, the performing the first data mapping, the mapping the start events, the performing the second data mapping, the retaining the data items, the identifying the low-level objects, the automatically discovering the data dependency, the mapping the low-level objects, and the mapping the low-level policy.

15. The computer-implemented method according to claim 14 , further comprising:

performing a syntax transformation between the high-level policy and the low-level policy.

16. A computer-implemented system for transforming a low-level policy associated with IT an IT (Information Technology) layer to a high-level policy associated with a business model layer comprising:

a processor;

a memory device coupled to the processor,

wherein the processor is further configured to perform:

identifying high-level objects in the regulation layer;

describing the high-level policy as a table on the regulation layer, the table including the high-level objects and attributes of the high-level objects, the attributes including retention times indicating how long the high-level objects need to be retained and start events from which the retention times are measured;

performing a first data mapping of the high-level objects in the regulation layer to data types in a business model layer, said first data mapping performed by

substituting the high-level objects in the table in the regulation layer with corresponding data types in the business model layer, wherein for each high-level object defining a row of the table, the high-level object is mapped to one or more data types in a set of {B1, . . . , Bn} on the business model layer wherein attributes of the high-level object row in the table are replaced with attributes of each data type of the set {B1, . . . , Bn} on the business model layer, wherein:

one-to-one mapping substitution indicates one high-level object having exactly one corresponding data type {Bi} in the business model layer,

one-to-several mapping substitution indicates one high-level object having several corresponding data types {B1, . . . , Bn} in the business model layer,

one-to-subtype mapping substitution indicates one high-level object corresponds to a subtype {Si} of a data type {Bi} in the business model layer, and

one-to-union of several subtypes mapping substitution indicates that the high-level object corresponds to a union of several subtypes {S1, . . . , Sn} of the set {B1, . . . , Bn} in the business model layer; and

mapping the start events in the regulation layer to start-event-actions in the business model layer by substituting the corresponding start-event-actions in the business model layer for the start events in the regulation layer, a start-event-action being one of: an action, a set of several actions, subsets of actions, or a pair of a precondition of the start events and a postcondition of the start events in the business model layer;

performing a second data mapping of the data types of the business model layer to data items in the storage layer, said second data mapping performed by:

mapping the start-event-actions in the business model layer to actual executable steps in the storage layer when the start-event-action is one of the action, the set of several actions or the subsets of actions;

transforming, when the start events are mapped to the pair of a precondition of the start events and a postcondition of the start events in the business model layer, the pair of a precondition of the start events and a postcondition of the start events in the business model layer to a similar pair of a precondition of the start events and a postcondition of the start events in the storage layer;

deriving a low-level policy from the high-level policy by substituting the high-level objects with the data items and substituting the start events with the actual executable steps or the similar pair of a precondition of the start events and a postcondition of the start events; and

retaining the data items in the storage level in accordance with the start events;

identifying low-level objects in the low-level policy, the low-level objects including: the data items, the actual executable steps, the similar pair of the precondition of the start events and the postcondition of the start events;

automatically discovering a data dependency between the low-level objects and the high-level objects;

mapping the low-level objects to related high-level objects based on the first data mapping and the second data mapping; and

mapping the low-level policy to another high-level policy by applying the discovered data dependency and substituting the low-level objects with the related high-level objects.

17. The computer-implemented system according to claim 16 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform a syntax transformation between the high-level policy and the low-level policy.

18. A computer program product for transforming a low-level policy associated with IT an IT (Information Technology) layer to a high-level policy associated with a business model layer, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions run by the processing circuit for performing a method, said method steps comprising:

identifying high-level objects in the regulation layer;

describing the high-level policy as a table on the regulation layer, the table including the high-level objects and attributes of the high-level objects, the attributes including retention times indicating how long the high-level objects need to be retained and start events from which the retention times are measured;

performing a first data mapping of the high-level objects in the regulation layer to data types in a business model layer, said first data mapping performed by

substituting the high-level objects in the table in the regulation layer with corresponding data types in the business model layer, wherein for each high-level object defining a row of the table, the high-level object is mapped to one or more data types in a set of {B1, . . . , Bn} on the business model layer wherein attributes of the high-level object row in the table are replaced with attributes of each data type of the set {B1, . . . , Bn} on the business model layer, wherein:

one-to-one mapping substitution indicates one high-level object having exactly one corresponding data type {Bi} in the business model layer,

one-to-several mapping substitution indicates one high-level object having several corresponding data types {B1, . . . , Bn} in the business model layer,

one-to-subtype mapping substitution indicates one high-level object corresponds to a subtype {Si} of a data type {Bi} in the business model layer, and

one-to-union of several subtypes mapping substitution indicates that the high-level object corresponds to a union of several subtypes {S1, . . . , Sn} of the set {B1, . . . , Bn} in the business model layer; and

mapping the start events in the regulation layer to start-event-actions in the business model layer by substituting the corresponding start-event-actions in the business model layer for the start events in the regulation layer, a start-event-action being one of: an action, a set of several actions, subsets of actions, or a pair of a precondition of the start events and a postcondition of the start events in the business model layer;

performing a second data mapping of the data types of the business model layer to data items in the storage layer, said second data mapping performed by:

mapping the start-event-actions in the business model layer to actual executable steps in the storage layer when the start-event-action is one of the action, the set of several actions or the subsets of actions;

transforming, when the start events are mapped to the pair of a precondition of the start events and a postcondition of the start events in the business model layer, the pair of a precondition of the start events and a postcondition of the start events in the business model layer to a similar pair of a precondition of the start events and a postcondition of the start events in the storage layer;

deriving a low-level policy from the high-level policy by substituting the high-level objects with the data items and substituting the start events with the actual executable steps or the similar pair of a precondition of the start events and a postcondition of the start events; and

retaining the data items in the storage level in accordance with the start events;

identifying low-level objects in the low-level policy, the low-level objects including: the data items, the actual executable steps, the similar pair of the precondition of the start events and the postcondition of the start events;

automatically discovering a data dependency between the low-level objects and the high-level objects;

mapping the low-level objects to related high-level objects based on the first data mapping and the second data mapping; and

mapping the low-level policy to another high-level policy by applying the discovered data dependency and substituting the low-level objects with the related high-level objects.

19. The computer program product according to claim 18 , wherein the method further comprises:

performing a syntax transformation between the high-level policy and the low-level policy.