Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
  • G06Q10/10—Office automation; Time management
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F16/00—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
  • G06F16/20—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor of structured data, e.g. relational data
  • G06F16/21—Design, administration or maintenance of databases
  • G06F16/219—Managing data history or versioning

Definitions

• This invention relates to a project management system and an associated method. It is common to store objects relating to a project on a central database such that they can be accessed easily by members of staff working on the project.
• the objects may be project documentation or, in the case of a software project, the objects may be the individual source code files which make up the software.
• a project management system comprising a database for storing objects relating to a project together with data defining interdependencies of the objects; and a control system responsive to entities connected to it to provide access to selected objects stored on the database and to store on the database updated versions of selected objects received from the entities characterised in that the control system is adapted to produce copies of an object that has been accessed by a first entity and all objects that are interdependent on that object if that object or an object that is interdependent on that object is modified by a second entity between the object being accessed by the first entity and an updated version being received by the database.
• a project management method comprising storing, on a database, objects relating to a project together with data defining interdependencies of the objects; responding to entities connected to a control system to provide access to selected objects stored on the database and to store on the database updated versions of selected objects received from the entities characterised by producing copies of an object that has been accessed by a first entity and all objects that are interdependent on that object if that object or an object that is interdependent on that object is modified by a second entity between the object being accessed by the first entity and an updated version being received by the database.
• the invention provides a project management system and method which allow entities to access objects stored on a database and to store updated versions of the objects on the database and which provide notification of an activity on an object to all entities handling other objects dependent on that object.
• these entities will be workstations, users or services.
• the data defining interdependencies of the objects may be stored in a separate index or table. However, it is preferable for the data defining interdependencies of the objects to be stored with the objects themselves.
• the control system maintains a register linking the objects with the entities handling them such that it can determine which entities to notify in response to an activity on an object.
• control system can prevent access to certain objects and, it will typically prevent access to objects that have been accessed and for which updated versions have not yet been stored on the database.
• the control system will typically be an application server or other such framework.
• the entities are connected to the database via a network, for example a local area network, and in a preferred example, the network is the Internet.
• a network for example a local area network, and in a preferred example, the network is the Internet.
• the entities In the case where the entities are connected to the database via a network or the Internet, the entities typically communicate with the control system using browser software.
• This browser software may be configured to transfer several objects consecutively between the database and the entity and it will normally be configured to do this using an applet downloaded from the control system.
• objects are transferred using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) .
• FTP File Transfer Protocol
• HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol
• each object stored on the database will have a size attribute indicating its size in bytes, a date attribute indicating the date it was last modified and a time attribute indicating the time of day it was last modified.
• An object previously transferred from the database to the workstation will normally only be transferred back to the database if the size, date or time attributes of the object differ from those of a copy of the object stored in the database.
• the project management system may also prevent objects from being mislaid if the browser software is further configured, upon transfer of an object from the entity to the database, to extract from the object the data defining interdependencies of the objects and to display a message on the entity requesting missing objects if there are any.
• the browser software will be configured to do this via the applet downloaded from the control systems.
• the invention will typically be provided as a computer program comprising computer program code means adapted to perform all the steps of the second aspect of the invention when said program is run on a computer.
• a computer program product comprising program code means stored on a computer readable medium for performing a method according to the second aspect of the invention when said program product is run on the computer.
• Figure 1 shows the architecture of the proj ect management system
• Figure 2 shows an example of how an object may be stored on the database
• Figure 3 shows, by way of example, the hierarchy of objects stored on the database
• Figure 4 shows a register linking the objects stored on the database with the workstation that has downloaded them.
• Figure 1 shows an application server 1 to which is connected a database 2.
• a workstation 5 is connected to application server 1 via local area network (LAN) 10 which is also connected to the Internet 9 to which are connected two other workstations 3 and 4.
• LAN local area network
• Each workstation 3,4,5 executes browser software 6a, 7a, 8a.
• Browser software
• 6a, 7a, 8a establishes communication with application server 1 and downloads an applet 6b, 7b, 8b from the application server 1.
• the applet 6b, 7b, 8b configures the browser software 6a, 7a, 8a such that it can transfer several objects consecutively between the database 2 and the workstation 3,4,5. This is useful since by requesting access of an object from the database 2, all functionally related objects can be consecutively downloaded. It may be that not all of these functionally related objects require modification and so the applet 6b, 7b, 8b only uploads to the database 2 those objects which have been modified. The manner in which this is achieved will be described later.
• the objects may be stored on the database 2 in any of a variety of ways such as the method illustrated in Figure 2. This shows an object 20 stored on database 2.
• Object 20 represents a source code file and has a header 21a and a body 21b.
• the header 21a lists other objects which are to be included in the source code when it is compiled and it is these objects on which object 20 is dependent.
• application server 1 can generate a dependency matrix of objects and an example of this is shown in Figure 3.
• FIG. 2 Also shown in Figure 2 is a portion 22 of an object location table. This is used by the database 2 to locate object 20 and it also contains a size attribute 23a, a date attribute 23b and a time attribute 23c which indicate the size of the object in bytes and the date and time that it was last modified respectively.
• the portion 22 of the object location table also contains a field 23d,23e,23f holding the details of each user or service that has accessed object 20.
• FIG. 3 An example of a dependency matrix of objects representing source code files is shown in Figure 3.
• object A depends on objects B, C and F.
• Object B depends on objects D and E and object C depends on objects E and F.
• objects C and E are functionally related.
• workstation 3 requests access to object A from application server 1 using browser software 6a and applet 6b.
• Application server 1 retrieves object A from database 2, extracts the dependency data from within object A thereby determining that it depends on objects B to F and downloads object A to workstation 3.
• workstation 4 requests object D and workstation 5 requests access to object C and these are downloaded to the relevant workstations using a similar process .
• the applet software 8b determines that object E is functionally related to object C and hence, object E is also requested from application server 1 and downloaded to workstation 5.
• Application server 1 maintains a register linking each object with its location.
• the register for this example is shown in Figure 4 , in which it can be seen that the register indicates that object A is located at workstation 3, objects B and F are located on the database 2 (indicating that they have not been accessed) , objects C and E are located on workstation 5 and object D is located on workstation 4. It is important to realise that a copy of each object is retained on database 2 and a new version of each object is stored on database 2 when the objects are uploaded from the workstations 3,4,5 to database 2. A history of the object is thus maintained.
• workstation 3 Since workstation 3 downloaded object A prior to workstation 4 downloading object D and workstation 5 downloading objects C and E, workstation 3 will be notified that these objects C to E have been downloaded since application server 1 will determine that objects on which object A is dependent have been downloaded by other workstations. Application server 1 does this by sending a message to workstation 3 indicating that workstation 4 has downloaded object D and workstation 5 has downloaded objects C and E. If workstation 3 now downloads object F, the application server 1 will determine that object C depends on this and will send a message to workstation 5 indicating that object F has been downloaded by workstation 3. Similarly, if after object D has been modified it is uploaded via application server 1 to database 2, then application server 1 can determine, from the dependency- data that workstation 3 is accessing object A which depends on object D. A message indicating that object D has been modified will be sent to workstation 3.
• the user of workstation 3 is then presented with an option upon uploading object A to database 2. Either he can accept the modified version of object D or alternatively, a new copy of all the objects that are interdependent with object A can be created such that the unmodified version of object D is retained for future use by workstation 3 or other workstations. As such, two versions of objects A to F will exist, one in which object D has been modified and one in which it has not been modified.

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• 2002
  • 2002-04-26 GB GBGB0209648.5A patent/GB0209648D0/en not_active Ceased
  • 2002-12-20 US US10/323,942 patent/US20030204538A1/en not_active Abandoned
• 2003
  • 2003-04-17 CA CA2476285A patent/CA2476285C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-04-17 JP JP2004500222A patent/JP4578234B2/ja not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-04-17 AU AU2003229921A patent/AU2003229921B2/en not_active Expired
  • 2003-04-17 WO PCT/GB2003/001688 patent/WO2003091919A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 2003-04-17 CN CNA03805051XA patent/CN1639722A/zh active Pending
  • 2003-04-17 EP EP03722758A patent/EP1500014A1/en not_active Ceased

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