WO2012126089A1

WO2012126089A1 - System and method for information technology asset migration and lifecycle management

Info

Publication number: WO2012126089A1
Application number: PCT/CA2012/000241
Authority: WO
Inventors: Thomas Alexander TOPITSCH
Original assignee: Futurestate It Incorporated
Priority date: 2011-03-18
Filing date: 2012-03-19
Publication date: 2012-09-27

Abstract

The present invention is a cloud-based system and method for information technology (IT) asset migration and lifecycle management. The present invention may be a computer-implemented method comprising: creating an inventory of information technology assets; analyzing the information technology assets; building one or more stacks of information technology assets and identifying dependencies between the information technology assets; and calculating a time value and a cost for migrating the one or more information technology assets with dependencies to the future information technology platform. A fix to an information technology asset to be migrated to the future state information technology platform may be identified and applied in preparation Tor migration to the future state information technology platform. One or more information technology assets may be selected for migration to a future state information technology platform based on the calculated time value and cost, and based on a predetermined risk profile for migration.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ASSET

MIGRATION AND LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates to a cloud-based system and method for information technology (IT) asset migration and lifecycle management.

BACKGROUND

Companies today, more than ever, face a daunting challenge: keeping IT environments current. The pace of change in IT is increasing exponentially as new technology upgrades and advances are made and more options become available in the marketplace. Companies large and small struggle to keep pace, manage disparate devices and keep platform and software versions from proliferating. The demand for financial and human resources to keep up with this change can be staggering - not to mention the time and risk involved in upgrading and migrating technology environments.

Hundreds of millions of desktop/laptop computers from enterprise and midsize companies will migrate to a new operating system in the next several years. These same companies are also looking at migrating their corporate servers to updated server platforms, their data to updated data architectures and databases, and their web applications to updated web platforms and browsers.

Should these companies not move to update their various IT platforms, these companies risk: (a) paying for very expensive custom support of retired platforms; (b) inability to upgrade hardware; (c) inability to upgrade software; (d) security exposure; and (e) operational failure and productivity loss. However, in order to migrate, companies must first determine if, and how, their applications and data will work on the new platform.

Prior to the development of cloud computing, there were only two approaches to this challenge: (1) completely manual via professional services; or (2) software assisted with internal staff or professional services. With a manual approach, using internal staff or subcontracting to external service providers, migration would generally cost on average thousands of dollars per application to manually test and migrate - to the latest OS for example. From a time perspective, it would take twice as long as a software assisted approach and present a high risk of human error. However, even software tools for migration address only a subset of the issues companies may face when migrating applications and data to the latest platforms. Therefore, it may still cost an average of a few thousand dollars per application to facilitate migration, and an extended time may be required to deploy.

What is needed is an improved system and method for IT asset migration and lifecycle management that overcomes some of the drawbacks and limitations of the prior art.

SUMMARY

Thus, in one aspect, there is provided a computer-implemented method for information technology asset migration and lifecycle management, comprising; creating an inventory of information technology assets; analyzing the information technology assets; building one or more slacks of information technology assets and identifying dependencies between the information technology assets; and calculating a time value and a cost for migrating information technology assets with the identified dependencies to a future state information technology platform.

In an embodiment, the method further comprises: comparing versions of the information technology assets in the information technology asset inventory list against an up-to- date reference database of information technology assets and corresponding latest version information to determine which information technology assets are out-of-date; and maintaining this out-of-dale information in the information technology asset inventory list.

In another embodiment, the method further comprises uploading a copy of all information technology assets to an accessible database.

In another embodiment, the method further comprises testing an information technology asset against a future state information technology platform.

In another embodiment, the method further comprises: in dependence upon the testing, identifying a fix to an information technology asset to be migrated to a future state information technology platform; and if available, applying an automatic fix to the information technology asset in preparation for migration to the future state information technology platform. In another embodiment, the method further comprises selecting one or more information technology assets for migration to a future state information technology platform based on the calculated time value and cost, and based on a predetermined risk profile for migration.

In another embodiment, the method further comprises displaying one or more of the inventory of information technology assets, dependencies between one or more information technology assets, information lechnology asset currency information, and the calculated time value and cost for migrating one or more information technology assets to a future platform.

In another embodiment, the method further comprises executing the computer- implemented method on a cloud-based computing platform.

In another aspect, there is provided a computer-implemented system for information technology asset migration and lifecycle management, comprising: an inventory management module for creating an inventory of information technology assets; an information technology asset analysis module for analyzing the information technology asseis; a mapping module for building one or more stacks of information technology assets and identifying dependencies between the information technology assets; and a budget module for calculating a time value and a cost for migrating the one or more information technology assets with the identified dependencies to a future state information technology platform.

In an embodiment, the system further comprises a triage module for comparing versions of the information technology assets in the information technology asset inventory list against an up-to-date reference database of information technology assets and corresponding latest version information to determine which information technology assets are out-of-date, and maintaining this oul-of-date information in the information technology asset inventory list.

In another embodiment, the system further comprises a transport module for uploading a copy of all information technology assets to an accessible database.

In another embodiment, the system further comprises a test module for testing an information technology asset against a future state information technology platform. In another embodiment, the system further comprises a fix module, the fix module adapted to: identify a fix to an information technology asset to be migrated to a future state information technology platform in dependence upon the testing; and apply, if available, an automatic fix to the information technology asset in preparation for migration to the future state information technology platform.

In another embodiment, the system further comprises a selection module for selecting one or more information technology assets for migration to a future platform based on the calculated time value and cost, and based on a predetermined risk profile for migration.

In another embodiment, the system further comprises a display for displaying one or more of the inventory of information technology assets, dependencies between one or more information technology assets, information technology asset currency information, and the calculated lime value and cost for migrating one or more stacks of information technology assets to a future state information technology platform. in another embodiment, the system is embodied within a cloud-based computing platform.

In another aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable media storing computer code that when loaded onto a computing device or computing platform adapts the device or platform to execute a method for information technology migration and lifecycle management, the computer readable media comprising: code for creating an inventory of information technology assets; code for analyzing the information technology assets; code for building one or more stacks of information technology assets and identifying dependencies between the information technology assets; and code for calculating a time value and a cost for migrating the one or more information technology assets with the identified dependencies to a future state information technology platform.

In an embodiment, the computer readable media further comprises; code for comparing versions of the information technology assets in the information technology asset inventory list against an up-to-date reference database of information technology assets and corresponding latest version information to determine which information technology assets are out-of-date; and code for maintaining this out-of-date information in the information technology asset inventory list.

In an embodiment, the computer readable media further comprises code for uploading a copy of all information technology assets to an accessible database.

In another embodiment, the computer readable media further comprises code for testing an information technology asset against a future information technology platform.

In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be better understood and objects of the invention will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein.

FlG. 1 illustrates a representation of an application portfolio management system and method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a potential module of the IT asset migration and lifecycle management system of the present invention operable to migrate and sustain applications, convert data files, and discover and test web applications, respectively.

FIG. 3 illustrates the schematic representation of an IT asset migration and lifecycle management system and method of the present invenlion together with components or modules associated with various stages of the lifecycle;

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic block diagram representation of the main stages of planning, migrating and sustaining applications in the IT asset migration and lifecycle management of the present invention; FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic block diagram representation of an architecture for the IT asset migration and lifecycle management system and method of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic block diagram representation of an Internet cloud-based operating environment for the IT asset migration and lifecycle management system and method of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic screen capture of an example dashboard display output from the IT asset migration and lifecycle management system and method of the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example screen showing applications to be migrated in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9 illustrates a schematic screen capture of an example groups display output from the IT asset migration and lifecycle management system and method of the present invention;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a rationalize application of the present invention being a rationalize application portfolio operable to identify multiple application versions and applications types;

FIG. 11 illustrates example rationalize applications of the present invention generated based on age and support status,

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a vendor support analysis feature of the present invention operable to determine applications that are supported on Windows 7 "as is" or via an upgrade;

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of an application upgrade monitoring of the present invention operable to achieve ongoing monitoring and management of application currency to keep applications uptodate and supported.

In the drawings, embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example. It is to be expressly understood that the description and drawings are only for the purpose of illustration and as an aid to understanding, and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

There is disclosed a cloud-based system and method for information technology (IT) asset migration and lifecycle management. In an embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises: creating an inventory of information technology assets; analyzing the information technology assets; building one or more stacks of Information technology assets and identifying dependencies between the information technology assets; and calculating a time value and a cost for migrating the one or more information lechnology assets with dependencies to the future information technology platform. In dependence upon testing against a future state information technology platform, the method identifies a fix to an information technology asset to be migrated to the future state information technology platform; and if available, applies an automatic fix to the information technology asset in preparation for migration to the future state information technology platform. One or more information technology assets may be selected for migration to a future state information technology platform based on the calculated time value and cost, and based on a predetermined risk profile for migration.

To address some of the drawbacks and limitations of prior art approaches, the inventors have created an automated cloud-based system and method for IT asset migration and lifecycle management. The system may be a software as a service system. More generally, the present system and method enables companies to plan, migrate and sustain their IT environment over a period of years over one or more lifecycles of an IT asset, such as applications, data, operating systems, web browsing platforms, etc., and then to repeat the cycle for the next generation(s) of the IT asset.

In an embodiment, the present cloud-based system and method for IT asset migration is available through an on-demand internet portal, and can provide testing, budgeting and fixing of an IT asset's compatibility with an intended future platform. As will be explained in more detail below, moving application and data compatibility testing to the cloud eliminates the need for companies to dedicate staff and time to conduct manual or software-based testing, and can accelerate migration timelines by up to 5 times, while dramatically reducing costs by up to 90%. Furthermore, there is no ramp up time required for migration, as application files can be simply uploaded on-demand, for testing when needed.

In another embodiment, the present system and method provides an IT management dashboard to monitor application and data portfolio currency progress. The ability to track IT currency is critical not only for application developers and QA teams to plan and execute migrations, but also for application owners and IT executives to develop and manage their migration business case and ensure fulfillment of compliance obligations.

In another embodiment, the system and method provides an IT asset currency management platform to maintain a customer's migration history and application inventory. As new upgrades and patches are released, all applications can be quickly tested to detect any compatibility issues. Given that popular operating systems may provide several critical/important patches per month as well as annual service pack releases (e.g. Microsoft OS updates and service pack releases), ongoing compatibility management is a critical requirement for conducting business.

Heretofore, solutions for addressing corporate migration challenges have been limited. As discussed above, manual solutions for testing application and data currency and compatibility typically may involve a number of internal application owners/users and/or a team of third party/outsourced resources. Applications are tested manually and iteratively to discover not only if the application works, but what is wrong and how to fix il for migration. This approach is time consuming, costly and runs a high risk of human error.

Software assisted solutions may provide some tools for application migration and testing. While software reduces testing costs and risk of error by automating the testing process, it also requires costly infrastructure, training and expensive maintenance and support. Additionally, these software products focus solely on application or data compatibility rather than providing ongoing currency management capabilities across the spectrum of migration challenges experienced by companies today.

To address some of the drawbacks and limitations of the prior art approaches, the inventors have developed an automated cloud-based solution for IT asset migration and lifecycle management. The inventors are unaware of any previous approach in which such an automated system and method has been provided on a cloud-based platform. Certain service providers may invite small and mid-sized business to upload application files to have them analyzed for compatibility, but these services still require significant manual effort by analysts working behind the scenes to complete the compatibility analysis and provide a report. This is essentially analogous to a professional services team using software as a tool to deliver their services, and therefore is not easily scalable. As well, such services generally cannot test against a company's specific OS configuration and image, and tend to have a single point focus rather than addressing a company's broader and ongoing IT asset migration and lifecycle management requirements.

In contrast, the present cloud-based IT asset migration and lifecyde management system and method provides an on-demand, self-service solution that addresses a company's broader and ongoing IT asset currency needs.

In various embodiments, the present cloud-based system and method provides a solution for companies to execute, track and manage their IT asset migration with a dashboard for IT asset migration management 120 (as shown in FIG. 7), an integrated view of application and data asset migration, plug-ins to automate application and data testing and transformation, asset inventory management for business as usual compatibility testing and migration, and additional tools for emerging migration challenges such as moves to new platforms, cross-OS/device compatibility, or technology displacement. The solution not only supports the developers and QA team responsible for executing a migration, but also the application owners and IT executives responsible for the strategy, business case and compliance requirements for ongoing IT asset currency management. The present system and method will now be described in more detail with reference to the figures.

FIG- 1 illustrates a schematic representation of an IT asset migration and lifecycle management system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated, the present system and method may provide an automated cloud-based IT asset management platform to ensure IT assets are current compatible and compliant. The system and method may also provide inventory management, planning, budgeting and migration tools that enable companies to bring their applications and data from their current state to a future state. FIG. 1 shows examples of three possible modules of an embodiment of the present invention 16 including the following: Current Module 10 - The current module may reference information related to the current state of an application, such as the application version, the age of the application and/or the platform certification of the application. The current module may further reference information related to the future state of an application including available new releases of the application, an upgrade patent, and any platform certification. Application migration activities may necessitate an application to function on a new targel platform. The present invention is operable lo assist applications in their most current state (meaning the enterprise is running the vendor^'s latest version of the software) to be migrated to a new platform without challenge or intervention. The currency engine of the present invention is operable to notify a user of details regarding the version of the application that they are running, for example, such as the age of the version of the application, whether the application will run on the targeted platform as is, whether there is a newer version of the software application available that will run on the targeted platform, upgrade path information for upgrading from the current version to a newer version of an application, any version certified to run on the targeted platform, and/or whether support is available and how long support may be available on the current version. The user may utilize this information to obtain an instant view regarding the applications that can be migrated without further intervention or analysis.

Compatible Module 12 - The compatible module may reference information relating to specific aspects of migration, such as any OS Update (i.e., Windows 7, Server 2008, IE 8/9, service packs, upgrades, etc.), Virtualtzation (i.e., App-V, XenApp, etc.), and IT Migration (i.e., data center consolidation, M&A integration, etc ). Any applications that cannot work on the targeted platform as is, or require a vendor upgrade to work, may be analyzed with the compatibility engine of the present invention.

Compliant Module 14 - The compliant module may reference information relating to support (i.e., a tracking of support status, setting alerts for expiration, etc.), or risk (i.e., such as a determination of overall portfolio age, currency risk, compliancy with SLAs, etc.). Once a user has migrated one or more applications to the new target platform compliancy options may be set on each application in the present invention. Such options may notify the user If an application triggers an alert. For example, the user may set rule that a notification will be sent if any of the critical applications are identified as being more than two versions out of date. As another example, the user may set a rule that a notification will be sent if there is less than 180 days left of support on the application. A user may have flexibility as to the rules that may be set including any time limits incorporated in such rules, or a user may be provided with a list of rules that he or she may choose from. The rules may further be set so that notifications of corporate governance, audit compliance, or other policies or standards to be met are provided to the user to increase compliance rates with such policies or standards.

The modules may be operable in a cloud environment 18.

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative module that may be provided within the IT asset migration and lifecycle management system and method of the present invention. This module may be used to migrate and sustain applications or undertake other activities.

AppRx, an application migration module 20, enables midsize and enterprise customers to substantially accelerate their application migration projects (e.g. Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, App-V and XenApp) while lowering their costs and risks. AppRx also provides centralized and streamlined application currency management for ongoing business as usual (BAU) changes to the IT environment such as service packs, security updates and software upgrades. The key features of the AppRx module are as follows: ● Test and remediate: Upload application for testing and transformation.

● Customized testing: Upload custom desktop image or server stack to test application compatibility and interoperability.

● Monitor progress. Track migration lifecycle via dashboard.

● Inventory and manage: Upload and store applications to test at the click of a button for upcoming BAU upgrades, patches and OS releases.

This module, and others, may be present within the IT asset migration and lifecycle management system and method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates the schematic representation of an IT asset migration and lifecycle management system and method of the present invention together with modules or steps associated with various stages of the lifecycle. FIG. 3 represents a new combination of stages of an IT asset lifecycle for significantly reducing migration costs in comparison to prior approaches, and is schematically represented as a lifecycle wheel.

As shown in FIG. 3, the present invention incorporate a cloud-based IT currency management system 36 generally having modules operable to perform an inventory, triage, map dependencies, perform tests, budget, fix applications, update applications, and tracking for applications. These modules may have functionalities that are utilized to support main modules for sustaining, planning and migrating of applications. The sustaining module may include a reporting engine 30 that is utilized to provide a progress dashboard, risk analysis, an alerts system, an automated analysis for ongoing change events, service packs, etc. The planning module may include an automated planning engine 32 operable to support rapid upload protocol, upgrade options database maintained via an automated web crawler, and dependency analysis and mapping calculations and algorithms, etc. The migrate module may incorporate an automated compatibility testing engine 34 be operable to launch with a third party plug-in, develop compatibility testing for software thin application not included with plug-in, develop own compatibility engine for all platforms, etc.

As shown in FIG. 4, the present invention may incorporate various functionalities into each of the planning, migrating and sustaining modules. The planning module 40 may be generally operable to perform activities relating to planning for application migration. For example, the planning module may perform an inventory in a single repository for all applications. The planning module may further undertake triage whereby a patent is indentified for the retirement, replacement, upgrade and migration or virtuali2ation for applications. The planning module may further undertake mapping whereby dependencies may be understood and the Impact of these changed, and map usage may be critically reviewed within an organization. The planning module may further be operable to asses a rollout schedule for application migration and may create a migration roadmap.

The migration module 42 may be generally operable to perform tasks relating to the migration of applications. For example, the migration module may perform one or more tests to determine the compatibility of applications targeted for migration, and to create a report based upon this determination indicating a level of compatibility for each application. The migration module may further undertake budgeting to determine a migration timeline and costs related thereto. The migration module may also undertake fixes, such as automatic fixes of application wherever possible. Automatic fixes may be turned-off or not allowed in some embodiments of the present invention. Following any fix applied to an application, the migration module may perform a further retest in order to re-upload or retest MSIs that are fixed manually. The sustain module 44 may be generally operable to sustain migrated applications. For example, the sustain module may update application migration status. The sustain module may further track a migration budget against the actual migration costs. The sustain module may also manage application portfolio currency reporting for any application owners, or members of an organization for whom the migration is being performed.

One possible architecture of the present invention is shown in FIG. 5. The present invention may incorporate an internet gateway 50, whereby one or more users 52a, 52b, 52c, 52d, access the present invention. The present invention may further incorporate a web server 54 that may be connected via a firewall 56 to a public subnet 58. The public subnet may further be connected to the NAT 60 which is connected to a private subnet 62. The private subnet may further have connections to an AppRx server 64, a log server 66, a management server 68, an elastic storage means 70, and an elastic compute means 72. The present invention may further incorporate a virtual private gateway 74 that is connected to a FulureStatelT headquarters 78 via a VPN 76,

As shown in FIG, 6, an embodiment of the present invention may be a method that includes the following steps: a triage user or server requests discovery of an application 80. A discover saga stage 82 involves the steps of the request parses resources 84, waiting for all resource results and logging the progress 86, merging results from all resources according to trust level 88, and publishing discovered results 90. Output form the discovery saga stage may be transferred to a discovery status 92, which further communicates to an operator who may observe and control the process 94 and may provide input to discovery saga. An operator may provide management 100 which may be linked to resources 98 that may be transferred to the discovery saga.

The operator may also manage so as to provide resource or parser definitions 102 to a resource service stage 108. A link may further exist between the request parsing resources stage 84 and the resources service stage 108. The resource service stage may further undertake the steps of looking up parsers configured for an instance 110, obtaining and caching resources 112, invoking suitable parsers 114, and merging discovered data from all parsers for a given resource 116. The last step may further provide discovered data 96 to the merges results stage 88 of the discover saga. Remote resources 104, such as cloud-based resources, may be transferred as cached resources 106, and such cached resources may be provided to the obtains and caches stage 112 and the invokes suitable parsers stage 114 of the resource service stago 108.

In this manner the method of the present invention may be performed through the cooperation of a discover saga stage and a resource service stage, with inputs and assistance from other resources, operators and requests.

A first stage of the present invention may be a creation of an inventory. The system and method starts with an accurate inventory of all of the applications. Too many IT departments in companies do not have an up to date list of all of the applications that they support or are installed. This list may include common desktop applications that are installed company wide, targeted applications installed for certain groups, and customized in-house applications developed for specific business requirements. Thus, an application inventory management tool is used to keep track of all supported applications and any changes made to the applications over time.

Thus, in an embodiment of the present system and method, a cloud-based IT inventory management module may be configured as a multi-tenant, secure inventory of applications under management by a company, or its contractors. In this regard, a significant advantage of a cloud-based platform is the ability to upload this information from various different locations, without the need to install yet another application locally to keep track of all applications.

The architecture of the AppRX solution may emphasize data isolation. The architecture may be a true multi-tenant architecture operable to allow customers to use software as a service offering while still providing data confidentiality. The multi-tenancy may be achieved through database isolation, storage isolation and compute instance isolation. When computation of data is requested, an isolated instance may be provided within the private subnet of the solution, Data may be transferred to and from the instances using a secure connection and GUID may be used to identify the data which prevents linking to work being computed to the customer. When the computation is completed the resulting data may be securely store and the instance may be terminated.

Data stored within an AppRx solution may only be identified using GUIDs. This may include stored data, data in transit and data logs. The mapping between customer information and GUID may be safely located within the present invention. The result may be further securing of the solution. Thus, in the event of a data breach, hackers would solely have access to data identified by GUID and would not be able to map actual customers.

Activilies occurring within the AppRX solution may be protected by one or more security groups. An example of a webpage showing groups 122 is shown in FIG- 9. Security groups may be protected by sets of rules that specify which ingress (i.e., incoming) network traffic should be delivered to the instance. Security groups may provide protection similar to that of a firewall to running applications. Furthermore, each security group may incorporate a configured firewall operable to restrict access. For example, Windows applications may use the built-in firewall, whereas Linux applications may use netfilter and IPtables. A skilled reader will recognize that other firewall configurations may be incorporated in the present invention.

A firewall may have a default setting whereby a deny-all mode is set and all inbound traffic is automatically denied. The ports required to allow proper operation of the AppRX solution may be the only open ports.

The network architecture utilized by the AppRx solution may further utilize a public/private subnet with a NAT to further secure the data. The private subnet may not be reachable from the public domain. A routing table with source and destination checks may facilitate and permit communication between the public and the private subnet.

The present invention may provide a variety of reports, webpages or other output to a user.

For example, as shown in FIG. 8, the present invention may generate a webpage 124 that shows applications that may be migrated, such as may be provided to a user.

As shown in FIG. 10, a rationalize application of the present invention being a rationalize application portfolio operable to identify multiple application versions and applications types provides an overview of a network infrastructure of one embodiment of the present invention, may provide application rationalizations in various formats. For example, such as an application rationalization by category 126a, or an application rationalization by version 126b. As another example, as shown in FIG. 11, the present invention may generate rationalize applications, such as based on age and support status 128a, 128b.

As yet another example, as shown in FIG. 12, the present invention may generate a vendor support analysis of features of the present invention showing determines relating to applications, such as applications that are supported on Windows 7 "as is" or via an upgrade 130a, 130b;

As still another example, as shown in FIG. 13, the present invention may generate an application upgrade monitoring report showing ongoing monitoring and management of application currency, such as to keep applications uptodate and supported 132a, 132b, 132c.

In order to create and maintain the application inventory list, the IT inventory management module may include one or more tools that may automate certain processes. For example, there may be a tool for adding an analytics layer to the inventory process that is operable to analyze the computer code (e.g. detecting when a custom application includes certain legacy components or open source components), and another tool for assigning labels to the code or components of the computer code.

Preferably, the IT inventory management module is configured to maintain full information about an application in the application inventory list. For example, information on custom modifications, configurations, data stored to the application etc. should be uploaded, as well as a copy of the application itself. Therefore, a general description of the application only will not suffice.

In an embodiment, the present system and method may utilize a customized transport module to upload application information and a copy of the application itself into the cloud and the inventory management module. Normally, information is upload to the web on a file by file basis, but application files can be quite large, and uploading a whole application may be very resource intensive. Therefore, efforts can be made to avoid duplication of uploaded information. For example, instead of uploading an entire application for each version, only portions of an application are uploaded for storage as necessary. Because the applications are broken up into smaller components, the inventory management module may be configured to detect duplication in uploaded data, in the event of duplication, the inventory management tool can be configured to "de-duplicate", similar to data storage techniques to minimize or eliminate duplication. This de-dupltcation process may enable savings of 25% or more in terms of upload bandwidth and time.

In an embodiment of the present invention, such as that shown in FIG. 3, once a comprehensive application inventory has been created using the IT inventory management module, a second stage of the lifecycle is to analyze the application data. A "triage step", that may be a currency analysis, may be applied using an application triage or analysis module. This application analysis module or triage module may be configured to compare the application inventory list against an up-to-date reference of application currency information for the applications in the inventory. For example, this up-to-date reference may specify what is the most current version Y of an application presently available, or that a previous version X will be supported only until a certain date, or that version Y is a backwards compatible version of X, or which of the versions of the application have already expired, and as of what date, etc. This application currency information or data set can then be compared to the various applications uploaded to determine the currency of the application inventory.

The workflow of the present invention may be that shown in FIG. 6, and may include the following steps:

1. A user may upload an application or application detail to the users inventory in a cloud based portal.

2. The inventory agent may reference this application against the database, if up to date currency information is available for this application then the agent may retrieve and populate the inventory with the corresponding data.

3. If the database does not have any reference to this application or the database does have a reference to this application but the data is more than a set amount of time old, for example, such as 2 weeks old, a data-mining request may be started. The data-mining request may queue up a crawler that will search the Internet for relevant information on the requested application.

4. Once the information is gathered a cleaning process may strip out non- relevant data and prepare for scoring.

5. Depending on the source of the data collected and the completeness a score may be assigned to each string of data collected.

6. IT the score of all the data collected is over the threshold required to determine that the data collected is accurate, the data may then entered into the database.

7. The inventory agent may then take the newly entered data and populate it Into the inventory.

8. if the score of the data collected does not meet the required threshold, a support ticket may be opened with an analyst to determine whether the data collect is full and accurate, or is not full and accurate. Depending on the outcome of this, the analyst may deem the data accurate and "teach" the engine to accept data of the same type, or a similar type, as accurate. Such teaching may cause the engine to make a more intelligent decision the next time the engine comes upon a situation similar.

Thus, when an application is uploaded to the cloud-based platform, the present system and method is configured to determine automatically whether the applications are current, and if not how many versions behind are each of the applications. Organizations understand that the more current the applications, the easier to migrate. If the applications are up-to-date or within one or two versions back, the present system and method may calculate and report that a migration would be less expensive to handle.

In an embodiment, the application currency information or data set can be constantly updated by automated searches on the Internet. As an illustrative example, an automated search engine may be used that crawls the Internet to find this information. The main challenge is that none of this Information is stored in a consistent way. So, the search engine may deal with this by scanning websites as follows: (1) start at the company (vendor) website, then (2) forum, then (3) blogs, and then takes this information to perform a predictive analysis try to determine the best answer. Accuracy using this method is presently around 75%, but is improving. If currency information is not available, then it may be necessary to contact the application vendors directly to update this information.

As shown in FIG. 3, another stage in the present invention is building stacks and mapping dependencies using a dependency mapping module. As an illustrative example, a stack called "accounting" may be created, and applications belonging to this stack can be identified. These stacks are also sometimes referred to as a desk profile. A company can then determine what stacks of applications they have based on user groups, and develop a profile of what applications are used by which user groups and how. Once applications are organized and placed into stacks, a dependency mapping module may be initiated.

The dependency mapping module looks at each of the applications, looks at all of the information from the inventory, and identifies dependencies or connections between one application and another automatically. As an example, the dependency mapping module can determine which application is dependent on which other application(s), and more specifically, with which version of other applications. Thus helps to avoid a domino effect that often occurs, where the failure to update one application can result in failures to one or more other applications. To the inventors' knowledge, this dependency mapping is not done by any other system. The dependency mapping module may be configured to operate not only in a desktop environment where all applications reside on one system, but also in a server environment, where applications may have dependencies on multiple other applications located on multiple servers. Therefore, across a particular stack, the functionality may be provisioned by multiple servers, and there may be interoperation between specific servers required for specific processes. The dependency mapping module is able to track these inter-dependencies on an inter- server basis and intra-server basis.

Still referring to FIG. 3. and with reference to FIGS. 4 - 6 as applicable, another stage is an application platform testing to determine how an application may perform on a future platform. At this stage, one or more proprietary or third party application testing components or tools may be plugged in.

For example, a testing module can be plugged in to test applications against WINDOWS platforms and against Citrix visualization. Other proprietary and third party application testing components may also be used.

As an illustrative example, a plug-in called AppDNA may be used to test an accounting application stack to move the stack to another platform. This normally happens on an iterative basis - i.e. the iterative process of trying different things to determine how to update to a new operating system, in part because testing normally is not conducted with access to the components listed above. If a solution is available to generate a fix dynamically, the accounting application stack may be compiled to achieve the necessary update. The more fixes that are available, the more automated this process may be. Smaller fixes will work better through this mechanism, and regular updates will keep the collection of fixes current.

Still referring to FIG. 3, another stage of the lifecycle wheel of the present invention is budgeting. A budgeting module may be configured to calculate and assign time value and dollars for updating and migrating each one of the applications, and determine if they are within the risk tolerance acceptable to a company. Thus, if a company's budget is low and risk tolerance is high, an application currency of N-2 (i.e. two revisions behind) may be acceptable to a company. On the other hand, if a company's budget is high and risk tolerance is low, an application currency of N-2 may be too lagging and may not be acceptable. The budgeting module miay thus assign time value and dollars to all applications and stacks that need to be upgraded, and may assist an organization in budgeting and prioritizing which applications and stacks to upgrade first.

In an embodiment, the budgeting module may assign time value and dollars partially based on historical information. Thus, the budgeting module may populate some data based on what is known from the past. If the data is not available, then the budgeting module can run a test to estimate what it would take to get from a current state to a future state.

In an embodiment, the budgeting module may analyze the dependency mapping to determine how best to proceed with a migration. For example, if multiple application stacks are dependent upon first upgrading another application, that application may be prioritized for upgrade and migration so that it does not hold up the migration of other applications and stacks. As well, the budgeting module may determine potential savings, if work done for migrating one application stack overlaps with another application stack.

Advantageously, a cloud-based platform provides an opportunity to analyze and collect budgetary data to get approximate information based on pricing established by other companies for similar situations. Thus, the budgeting module may also utilize a matching algorithm to find budget data based on similar circumstances for upgrade. This may provide more realistic budgeting numbers. Also, this may provide access to richer, more granular budgeting information that may point to making different upgrade choices - such as replacing something entirely rather than upgrading.

Still referring to FIG. 3, another stage of the present invention is to obtain a fix automatically. Depending on the automatic fixes available, this may occur only part of the time, or most of the time. If an automated fix is available, and a file has been updated with the fix, the fix module may be configured to test the fixed application on the future platform, before storing the fixed application in the application inventory for use in the upgrade and migration. If an automated fix is not available, then some manual work may be required to prepare an application for an update, but the process provides a company with much better information on what work is required in order to execute a migration, and significant time and effort may be saved for those applications that do have automated fixes.

Still referring to FIG. 3, in a preferred embodiment, all of he above information is collected and displayed on dashboards that may be viewed, for example, by a company's executive. These executive dashboards may provide a summary of the company's application stacks, and how far behind the company is for the application stacks. In an embodiment, a color code may be used depending on how out of date certain applications are, with certain colors identifying the most critical applications to update. The executive dashboard may also provide information on the budget estimate on a stack basis, and may provide further drill down information to specific applications in the stack. This analysis may be provided in real time, or substantially real time, with data collected from all of the previously described modules. In an embodiment, a selection module may select and recommend an application stack for an upgrade based on the analysis. As the executive dashboard provides mainly a reporting function, different forms of reports may be made available instead, depending on the consumer of the report.

In an embodiment, these dashboards may be used to keep track of a company's entire application inventory, and identify the potential advantages and cost savings of keeping up-to-date with application currency. The dashboard can also show trends, and provide decision support for prioritizing which applications or stacks to work on first, or which option to select for upgrading or updating an application or stack.

As noted previously, the lifecycle may be schematically represented as a wheel, because the application lifecycle will repeat again, whether for a particular application or stack, or for an OS, or for a database, or lor some other aspect of the IT assets of a company. As new applications are installed, the now applications are then added to the application inventory, and the updates available for those new applications need to be tracked and updated, and so on. Thus, once one project is finished, another project may be selected based on priority and a company may go through the lifecycle wheel again. Thus, the lifecycle wheel can assist a company with making the best use of their finite time and resources.

The overall reduction of cost flows from the fact that the present system and method provides tools that enable a company to plan their migrations in an intelligent, efficient and more realistic way to maintain their IT currency.

The present system and method may be practiced on virtually any manner of computer device including a desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet computer or wireless handheld. The present system and method may also be implemented as a computer- readable/useable medium that includes computer program code to enable one or more computer devices to implement each of the various process steps in a method in accordance with the present invention. It is understood that the terms computer- readable medium or computer useable medium comprises one or more of any type of physical embodiment of the program code. In particular, the computer-readable/useable medium can comprise program code embodied on one or more portable storage articles of manufacture {e.g. an optical disc, a magnetic disk, a tape, etc.), on one or more data storage portioned of a computing device, such as memory associated with a computer and/or a storage system.

Thus, in an aspect, there is provided a computer-implemented method for information technology asset migration and lifecycle management, comprising; creating an inventory of information technology assets; analyzing the information technology assets; building one or more stacks of information technology assets and identifying dependencies between the information technology assets; and calculating a time value and a cost for migrating information technology assets with the identified dependencies to a future state information technology platform.

It should be understood that further enhancements to the disclosed system, method and computer program are envisioned, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the following specific enhancements are envisioned.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A computer-implemenled method for information technology asset migration and lifecycle management, comprising: creating an inventory of information technology assets; analyzing the information technology assets; building one or more stacks of information technology assets and identifying dependencies between the information technology assets; and calculating a time value and a cost for migrating information technology assets with the identified dependencies to a future state information technology platform.

2. The method of claim 1 , furlher comprising; comparing versions of the information technology assets in the information technology asset inventory list against an up-to-date reference database of information technology assets and corresponding latest version information to determine which information technology assets are out-of-date; and maintaining this out-of-date information in the information technology asset inventory list.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising uploading a copy of all information technology assets to an accessible database.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising testing an information technology asset against a future state information technology platform.

' 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: in dependence upon the testing, identifying a fix to an information technology asset to be migrated to a future state information technology platform; and if available, applying an automatic fix to the information technology asset in preparation for migration to the future state information technology platform.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises selecting one or more information technology assets for migration to a future state information technology platform based on the calculated time value and cost, and based on a predetermined risk profile for migration.

7. The method of any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising displaying one or more of the inventory of information technology assets, dependencies between one or more information technology assets, information technology asset currency information, and the calculated time value and cost for migrating one or more information technology assets to a future platform.

8. The method of any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising executing the computer-implemented method on a cloud-based computing platform.

9. A computer-implemented system for information technology asset migration and lifecycle management, comprising: an inventory management module for creating an inventory of information technology assets; an information technology asset analysis module for analyzing the information technology assets; a mapping module for building one or more stacks of information technology assets and identifying dependencies between the information technology assets; and a budget module for calculating a time value and a cost for migrating the one or more information technology assets with the identified dependencies to a future state information technology platform.

10. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a triage module for comparing versions of the information technology assets in the information technology asset inventory list against an up-to-date reference database of information technology assets and corresponding latest version information to determine which information technology assets are out-of-date, and maintaining this out-of-date information in the information technology asset inventory list.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising a transport module for uploading a copy of all information technology assets to an accessible database.

12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a test module for testing an information technology asset against a future state information technology platform.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a fix module, the fix module adapted to: identify a fix to an information technology asset to be migrated to a future state information technology platform in dependence upon the testing,; and apply, if available, an automatic fix to the information technology asset in preparation for migration to the future state information technology platform.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising a selection module for selecting one or more information technology assets for migration to a future platform based on the calculated time value and cost, and based on a predetermined risk profile for migration.

15. The system of any one of claims 8 to 14, further comprising a display for displaying one or more of the inventory of information technology assets, dependencies between one or more information technology assets, information technology asset currency information, and the calculated time value and cost for migrating one or more stacks of information technology assets to a future state information technology platform.

16. The system of any one of claims 8 to 15, wherein the system is embodied within a cloud-based computing platform.

17. A non-transitory computer readable media storing computer code that when loaded onto a computing device or computing platform adapts the device or platform to execute a method for information technology migration and lifecycle management, the computer readable media comprising: code for creating an inventory of information technology assets; code for analyzing the information technology assets; code for building one or more stacks of information technology assets and identifying dependencies between the information technology assets; and code for calculating a time value and a cost for migrating the one or more information technology assets with the identified dependencies to a future state information technology platform.

18. The computer readable media of claim 17, further comprising: code for comparing versions of the information technology assets in the information technology asset inventory list against an up-to-date reference database of information technology assets and corresponding latest version information to determine which information technology assets are out-of-date; and code for maintaining this out-of-date information in the information technology asset inventory list.

19. The computer readable media of claim 18, further comprising code for uploading a copy of all information technology assets to an accessible database.

20. The computer readable media of claim 19, further comprising code for testing an information technology asset against a future information technology platform.