System and method for software integration and factory deployment

Abstract

A software management database contains data structures supporting computer software provisioning for a range of CTO/BTO variations, language variations, region variations, and operating system variations.

1 . A method for managing computer production in an enterprise, comprising:
 receiving a block of software offerings, each block being associated with at least one product series;   receiving a product series component structure defining parts for a respective product series;   adding parts required for a product series to the block associated with the series, parts being assigned to each software class and related software specification pair in a block based on the part or parts required for the pair to thereby define a design structure;   storing the data structure on a tangible computer readable medium; and   establishing a software bill of materials (BOM) on the computer readable medium based on the design structure using at least one of: a template and/or a snapshot; and   accessing the computer readable medium to provide software on a computer.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 defining software offerings, a software offering including at least one software class and at least one associated software specification;   associating at least one software offering with at least one product series in a plurality of series to establish a configuration, configurations cumulatively defining a configuration range that contains product offerings of the enterprise for all regions in which the enterprise does business; and   grouping classes into blocks, a block being associated with at least one product series.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , comprising defining which classes are dependent on each other. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , comprising defining which blocks are base blocks. 
     
     
         5 - 8 . (canceled) 
     
     
         9 . A software management database on a computer readable medium, the database containing:
 data structures supporting computer software provisioning for a range of CTO/BTO variations, language variations, region variations, and operating system variations.   
     
     
         10 . The database of  claim 9 , comprising:
 bill of materials (BUM) entities, each BOM entity containing information related to parent BOMs and child BOMs, if any, each BOM entity also including at least one engineering part ID, at least one software release ID, at least one major version ID, at least one group ID, at least one component ID, at least one planning parts ID, and at least one software series ID; and   at least one plan parts entity including launch dates for software base releases, import dates for software bases indicating when the bases were imported into computers, identifications for software bases.   
     
     
         11 . The database of  claim 10 , comprising at least one components entity including launch dates for software base releases, import dates for software bases, identifications for software bases. 
     
     
         12 . The database of  claim 11 , comprising at least one software release entity containing a base ID, a name, a file path, a launch date. 
     
     
         13 . The database of  claim 12 , comprising at least one software release status entity including data representing status and name of a software release. 
     
     
         14 . The database of  claim 13 , comprising at least one group entity containing data representing a name and launch of a type. 
     
     
         15 . The database of  claim 14 , comprising at least one series entity containing a software series ID, base ID, name, an indication of being active, a launch date, an import date. 
     
     
         16 . The database of  claim 15 , comprising at least one engineering parts entity containing an engineering part ID, a base ID, a type ID, a name, a launch date, and indication of dependent parts. 
     
     
         17 . The database of  claim 16 , comprising at least one engineering parts major revision entity containing information related to default use. 
     
     
         18 . The database of  claim 17 , comprising at least one engineering part software release entity containing information on a related engineering part entity, a related engineering parts major revision entity, a related language code entity. 
     
     
         19 . The database of  claim 18 , comprising at least one language entity containing information related to a language name and a language code. 
     
     
         20 . A computer-implemented system for creating bills of materials (BOMs), comprising logic executable by a computer and stored on a computer readable medium, the logic:
 facilitating creation of BOMs using templates and/or snapshots.   
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 20 , wherein BOMs are automatically generated based on part attributes and groups of parts, major versions, and releases. 
     
     
         22 . The system of claim, wherein the logic automatically checks BOMs to reduce errors. 
     
     
         23 . A computer system executing logic stored on a computer readable medium, the computer system:
 entering, into a first database, first software data, the first software data including operating systems and configure to order/build to order (CTO/BTO) options;   transferring at least some of the first software data in the first database to a comprehensive global database; and   automatically adding to a bill of materials (BOM) through the comprehensive global database second software data, the second software data including one or more of operating system updates, device drivers, utilities.   
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein software along with metadata that describes the software is checked into the comprehensive global database by users. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 24 , wherein the BOM for a specific series/language/region is frozen/locked and the process to create factory deliverables including software image, software modules, and data) is then begun. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 25 , wherein factory deliverables derived from the comprehensive global database are tested and validated to meet quality standards, the factory deliverables, and metadata that describes them, then being delivered to a factory to be used in mass production. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein the comprehensive global database supports software variations in CTO/BTO, language, region, and OS, the comprehensive global database facilitating the creation of CTO systems, based on individual customer orders, in a mass production process with every piece of software preinstalled and ready to use. 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the comprehensive global database facilitates automatically mapping hardware components to software releases. 
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the comprehensive global database facilitates specifying language and geographic region for each software release at the time of software check-in, with a correct release being assigned to each BOM automatically. 
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the comprehensive global database facilitates creation of BOMs using templates and snapshots for efficiency, the BOMs being automatically generated based on part attributes, groups of parts, major versions, and releases. 
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the comprehensive global database facilitates automatic checking of BOMs to reduce errors. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the comprehensive global database facilitates use of a list of software releases directly instead of microcode, with microcode bit mappings being constrained to each recovery media set that is defined.