Software Development Observability for Cross-Tool Artifact Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing CI/CD tools generate a wealth of data artifacts that are not fully analyzed, due to varied data formats and transitory nature, hindering deep analysis across software development lifecycles.
Innovation Solution
A software development observability platform captures and formats CI/CD artifacts as timestamped event data, enabling analysis of temporal patterns and anomalies, with dashboards for user insights.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If CI/CD tools generate and store data artifacts in varied formats, then the quantity and diversity of development data increases, but the difficulty of analyzing these artifacts across different tools and time periods increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms CI/CD artifacts by changing their format parameter from varied tool-specific formats to a standardized event data format with consistent fields (event type, timestamp, duration, success/failure status). This parameter change enables uniform analysis across diverse data sources while preserving the quantitative richness of the original artifacts.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary component (the observability platform) that sits between the diverse CI/CD tools and the analysis processes. This intermediary standardizes and normalizes artifacts from different tools into a common event data format, enabling seamless analysis without requiring changes to the original tools or analysis methods.
2Productivity
If CI/CD artifacts are stored temporarily and not analyzed in depth, then storage costs and processing overhead are reduced, but valuable temporal patterns and development insights are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by capturing and standardizing CI/CD artifacts at the point of generation, converting them to timestamped event data immediately. This preliminary processing preserves temporal patterns and enables future analysis without requiring long-term storage of raw artifacts, as the essential information is extracted and standardized in real-time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts key information from CI/CD artifacts (event type, timestamp, duration, success/failure status) and separates it from the transient raw data. By taking out only the essential temporal and outcome information, the system preserves valuable patterns for analysis while avoiding the storage burden of complete artifact retention.
3Measurement precision
If deep analysis of CI/CD artifacts is performed across the software development lifecycle, then actionable insights and pattern recognition improve, but the complexity of data collection and processing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the complex task of CI/CD artifact analysis into standardized event types (build events, test events, deployment events, etc.). Each event type has a defined structure with specific fields, breaking down the complexity of analyzing diverse artifacts into manageable, uniform units that can be processed independently and aggregated for comprehensive insights.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are described for providing a software-based platform used to collect and analyze data artifacts generated during software development processes and to display results of the analyses as actionable information. The software development observability platform is a software-based agent (also referred to as an “artifact collector”) capable of capturing output from a wide variety of software development tools including compilers, test frameworks, code coverage and type checker tools, and the like. The artifact collector stores the data in an event data format and forwards the data to a data intake and query system or other destination for further analysis. In some examples, the software development observability platform further includes graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and other analysis tools that enable users to obtain insights into their software development processes.