Centralized Meta-Model Store for Team Software Collaboration
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Solution Overview
Problem
In team-based software development environments, valuable development data and artifacts generated during the compilation and development processes are often lost or not easily shareable among team members, leading to dispersed and inaccessible information.
Innovation Solution
A centralized database or information store is used to store real-time, active meta-model information, including system-generated and user-generated artifacts, allowing team members to access and share relevant information about the current state and evolution of the software application, with notification services updating displays in real-time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If compilation and development processes are performed on individual local computers, then each team member can work independently with full local control, but the generated artifacts and development data are lost or not easily shareable among team members
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the previously distributed local development environments into a unified cloud-based collaborative development environment. Multiple team members share a common virtual machine instance and centralized information store, combining their individual workspaces into a single collaborative space where artifacts and development data are automatically shared and accessible to all participants.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a virtual machine instance as an intermediary layer between team members and the centralized information store. This virtual machine acts as a mediator that receives compilation and development processes from multiple users, manages the generation of artifacts, and automatically stores them in the centralized information store, enabling seamless sharing without direct peer-to-peer connections.
2Productivity
If team members access development artifacts from local computers, then data security and local processing are maintained, but collaboration efficiency and real-time information sharing are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal centralized information store that serves multiple functions simultaneously: it stores compilation artifacts, development data, models, diagrams, and work items; it provides real-time access to all team members; and it enables automatic sharing without manual intervention. This single system replaces multiple separate local storage solutions and manual sharing processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary action by automatically storing artifacts and development data in the centralized information store as they are generated during compilation and development processes, rather than requiring manual transfer or sharing actions later. The system proactively captures and makes available all development artifacts in real-time, eliminating delays in information sharing.
3Loss of information
If compilation processes are performed locally without centralized storage, then processing speed and local resource utilization are optimized, but information accessibility and team-wide data availability are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where the centralized information store continuously provides information about available artifacts and development data to team members' local development environments. The system monitors what information is available centrally and automatically makes it accessible to users who need it, creating a feedback loop that ensures information flows from the centralized store to individual users as needed.
Data Source
AI summary
Various technologies and techniques are disclosed that provide and interact with a collaborative development information store in a team software development environment. A submission service updates an active meta-model of an application in a central information store that is used by multiple users. A notification service operating in a particular software development environment receives notice that changes have been made to the active meta-model. Information received from the notification service is then used to update a display in the particular software development environment. On the database server, a reception service is provided that receives active meta-model information of the application being developed by the multiple users as the information changes. A storage service is provided to store the received active meta-model information in a specific relational database structure that is operable to allow artifacts to be added without alteration to the specific relational database structure.