Techniques Supporting Collaborative Product Development

Abstract

A plurality of artifacts, in a plurality of repositories, are maintained under revision control. A plurality of artifact tuples, in another repository, are maintained under revision control. At least one first artifact tuple comprise first information providing access to at least one of the artifacts. At least one second artifact tuple comprises second information providing access to at least one other artifact tuple. Each of the artifact tuples are associated with at least one of a plurality of product development processes. An apparatus comprises a plurality of repositories, each maintaining under revision control a plurality of artifacts and another repository that maintains under revision control a plurality of artifact tuples. A workflow process is adapted to allow users to associate each of the artifact tuples with at least one of a plurality of product development processes.

1 . A computer-implemented method supporting collaborative product development, comprising: 
 maintaining under revision control, in a plurality of repositories, a plurality of artifacts;    maintaining under revision control, in another repository, a plurality of artifact tuples, at least one first artifact tuple comprising first information providing access to at least one of the artifacts, and at least one second artifact tuple comprising second information providing access to at least one other artifact tuple; and    associating each of the artifact tuples with at least one of a plurality of product development processes.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a given one of the at least one first artifact tuples and a given one of the at least one second artifact tuples are the same artifact tuple.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one first artifact tuple and the at least one second artifact tuples are different artifact tuples.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first information provides access to at least one first artifact under revision control of a first repository and provides access to at least one second artifact under revision control of a second repository.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first information comprises access information to at least one specific revision of the at least one artifact.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second information comprises access information to at least one specific revision of the at least one other artifact tuple.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein maintaining under revision control a plurality of artifact tuples further comprises updating the first information in response to maintenance of a given one of the at least one artifacts.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein maintaining under revision control a plurality of artifacts comprises creating a new version of an artifact to create the given artifact, and maintaining a plurality of artifact tuples further comprises creating a new given artifact tuple having the updated first information, the updated first information providing access to the given artifact.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein maintaining under revision control a plurality of artifact tuples further comprises updating the second information in response to maintenance of a given one of the at least one other artifact tuples.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein maintaining under revision control a plurality of artifact tuples further comprises creating a new version of one of the at least one other artifact tuples to create the given other artifact tuple, and creating a new given artifact tuple having the updated second information, the updated second information providing access to the given other artifact tuple.  
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each given repository has revision control of artifacts in the given repository but does not have revision control of artifacts outside the given repository.  
   
   
       12 . An apparatus supporting collaborative product development, the apparatus comprising: 
 at least one memory; and    at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory, the at least one processor configured to perform the steps of:    maintaining under revision control, in a plurality of repositories, a plurality of artifacts;    maintaining under revision control, in another repository, a plurality of artifact tuples, at least one first artifact tuple comprising first information providing access to at least one of the artifacts, and at least one second artifact tuple comprising second information providing access to at least one other artifact tuple; and    associating each of the artifact tuples with at least one of a plurality of product development processes.    
   
   
       13 . A program storage device tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform operations supporting collaborative product development, the operations comprising: 
 maintaining under revision control, in a plurality of repositories, a plurality of artifacts;    maintaining under revision control, in another repository, a plurality of artifact tuples, at least one first artifact tuple comprising first information providing access to at least one of the artifacts, and at least one second artifact tuple comprising second information providing access to at least one other artifact tuple; and    associating each of the artifact tuples with at least one of a plurality of product development processes.    
   
   
       14 . An apparatus supporting collaborative product development, comprising: 
 a plurality of repositories, each repository maintaining under revision control a plurality of artifacts;    another repository, the other repository maintaining under revision control a plurality of artifact tuples, at least one first artifact tuple comprising first information providing access to at least one of the artifacts, and at least one second artifact tuple comprising second information providing access to at least one other artifact tuple; and    a workflow process adapted to allow users to associate each of the artifact tuples with at least one of a plurality of product development processes.    
   
   
       15 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein each repository comprises a component adapted to communicate with the other repository in response to maintenance of artifacts.  
   
   
       16 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the component is a first component, and wherein the other repository comprises a second component adapted to communicate with the first component, the second component adapted to provide access information associated with an artifact to the first component.  
   
   
       17 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the first component is further adapted to update the access information and communicate updated access information to the second component in response to maintenance of one of the artifacts, wherein the second component is adapted to use the updated access information to update the information providing access the one artifact.