US 10,885,087 B2Granted

Cognitive automation tool

AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation

InventorsLuan Rodrigues De Oliveira, Gerhardt J. Scriven, Fabiana Carvalho Landgraf

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Abstract

A requirements-traceability system extracts and classifies project requirements stored in a set of source documents. If a source document is unstructured, such as a natural-language word-processing file, the system uses a self-learning or cognitive natural-language tool to inferentially infer requirements in that document. Each requirement may be composed of more detailed sub-requirements in parent-child relationships. Requirements are reclassified into a standardized classification scheme and stored in a standardized hierarchical data structure in which each level corresponds to a requirement's relative degree of granularity. The tree is updated whenever requirements are revised, allowing users and downstream applications to bidirectionally trace each requirement's ancestors and descendants and to review and audit revision histories of the project's entire requirements hierarchy.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A requirements-management system comprising:

a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and a computer-readable hardware storage device coupled to the processor, the storage device containing program code configured to be run by the processor via the memory to implement a method for a requirements-management system with a holistic traceability tree, the method comprising:
the system receiving a set of trace documents that each contains information describing and classifying at least one requirement of a planned project, and that each uses a distinct classification scheme to classify requirements;
the system extracting, from each received document of the set of trace documents, a set of requirements, a classification of each extracted requirement that conforms to a classification scheme used by the received document, and a list of parent-child relationships between pairs of the extracted requirements;
the system reclassifying all classified requirements extracted from the set of trace documents into a standardized reclassification scheme, where the standardized reclassification scheme organizes requirements as a function of the requirements' relative degrees of granularity;
the system organizing the reclassified requirements into a generalized hierarchy as a function of each requirement's standardized reclassification,
where each class of the standardized reclassification scheme determines a level of the generalized hierarchy into which requirements are located,
where nodes of the hierarchy are organized into a predetermined number of levels,
where a first path, of the generalized hierarchy, that extends from a root node of the generalized hierarchy down to a first leaf node of the generalized hierarchy represents a requirement definition that contains neither a hanger requirement nor an orphan requirement if the first path contains exactly one node at each level of the predetermined number of levels,
where a second path, from the root node down to a second leaf node of the generalized hierarchy, represents a requirement definition in which the second leaf node represents a hanger requirement if the second leaf node is not located at a lowest level of the predetermined number of levels, and
where a third path of the generalized hierarchy represents a requirement definition in which a highest-level node of the third path represents an orphan requirement if the highest-level node is not the root node;
and
the system translating the generalized hierarchy into a traceability tree data structure,
where the traceability tree is configured to facilitate integration of the traceability tree into a downstream component of a project-management application, and
where the traceability tree is configured to allow a lineage of a requirement to be bidirectionally traced between a root node of the traceability tree and a leaf node of the traceability tree.

11 more elements

A method comprising:

receiving, using a requirements-management system, a set of trace documents that each contains information describing and classifying at least one requirement of a planned project, and that each uses a distinct classification scheme to classify requirements;
extracting, using the system, from each received document of the set of trace documents, a set of requirements, a classification of each extracted requirement that conforms to a classification scheme used by the received document, and a list of parent-child relationships between pairs of the extracted requirements;
reclassifying, using the system, all classified requirements extracted from the set of trace documents into a standardized reclassification scheme, where the standardized reclassification scheme organizes requirements as a function of the requirements' relative degrees of granularity;
organizing, using the system, the reclassified requirements into a generalized hierarchy as a function of each requirement's standardized reclassification,
where each class of the standardized reclassification scheme determines a level of the generalized hierarchy into which requirements are located,
where nodes of the hierarchy are organized into a predetermined number of levels,
where a first path, of the generalized hierarchy, that extends from a root node of the generalized hierarchy down to a first leaf node of the generalized hierarchy represents a requirement definition that contains neither a hanger requirement nor an orphan requirement if the first path contains exactly one node at each level of the predetermined number of levels,
where a second path, from the root node down to a second leaf node of the generalized hierarchy, represents a requirement definition in which the second leaf node represents a hanger requirement if the second leaf node is not located at a lowest level of the predetermined number of levels, and
where a third path of the generalized hierarchy represents a requirement definition in which a highest-level node of the third path represents an orphan requirement if the highest-level node is not the root node;
and
translating, using the system, the generalized hierarchy into a traceability tree data structure,
where the traceability tree is configured to facilitate integration of the traceability tree into a downstream component of a project-management application, and
where the traceability tree is configured to allow a lineage of a requirement to be bidirectionally traced between a root node of the traceability tree and a leaf node of the traceability tree.

10 more elements

A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable hardware storage device having a computer-readable program code stored therein, the program code configured to be executed by a requirements-management system comprising a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and a computer-readable hardware storage device coupled to the processor, the storage device containing program code configured to be run by the processor via the memory to implement a method for a requirements-management system with a holistic traceability tree, the method comprising:
the system receiving a set of trace documents that each contains information describing and classifying at least one requirement of a planned project, and that each uses a distinct classification scheme to classify requirements;
the system extracting, from each received document of the set of trace documents, a set of requirements, a classification of each extracted requirement that conforms to a classification scheme used by the received document, and a list of parent-child relationships between pairs of the extracted requirements;
the system reclassifying all classified requirements extracted from the set of trace documents into a standardized reclassification scheme, where the standardized reclassification scheme organizes requirements as a function of the requirements' relative degrees of granularity;
the system organizing the reclassified requirements into a generalized hierarchy as a function of each requirement's standardized reclassification,
where each class of the standardized reclassification scheme determines a level of the generalized hierarchy into which requirements are located,
where nodes of the hierarchy are organized into a predetermined number of levels,
where a first path, of the generalized hierarchy, that extends from a root node of the generalized hierarchy down to a first leaf node of the generalized hierarchy represents a requirement definition that contains neither a hanger requirement nor an orphan requirement if the first path contains exactly one node at each level of the predetermined number of levels,
where a second path, from the root node down to a second leaf node of the generalized hierarchy, represents a requirement definition in which the second leaf node represents a hanger requirement if the second leaf node is not located at a lowest level of the predetermined number of levels, and
where a third path of the generalized hierarchy represents a requirement definition in which a highest-level node of the third path represents an orphan requirement if the highest-level node is not the root node;
and
the system translating the generalized hierarchy into a traceability tree data structure,
where the traceability tree is configured to facilitate integration of the traceability tree into a downstream component of a project-management application, and
where the traceability tree is configured to allow a lineage of a requirement to be bidirectionally traced between a root node of the traceability tree and a leaf node of the traceability tree.

11 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.