Interactive Configuration Guide Editor for Hybrid Software Deployment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Hybrid software deployment solutions, which combine on-premise and cloud-hosted deployments, require complex and resource-intensive integration and configuration processes, often involving multiple tools and lengthy documentation that is not machine-readable, making automation challenging.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of interactive configuration guides and automation content using a central metadata model that structures information with a semantic data model, enabling automation and simplifying consumption by generating standard documentation, manual task descriptions, and semi-automated content, while decoupling content exchange from execution in an automation runtime.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If hybrid deployment solutions are implemented, then deployment flexibility is improved, but integration and configuration complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the configuration process into distinct, manageable components including configuration models, landscape plans, workflow definitions, and task definitions. Each hybrid deployment scenario can be configured through separate, modular definition files that can be independently developed, validated, and executed, reducing the perceived complexity of overall integration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary configuration system that acts as a mediator between different deployment environments (on-premise and cloud-hosted). This configuration system provides standardized interfaces and automation capabilities that simplify the integration process, allowing hybrid deployments to be managed through a unified configuration approach rather than direct complex point-to-point integrations.
2Manufacturing precision
If manual configuration processes are used, then configuration accuracy is maintained, but time consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by requiring configuration models, landscape plans, workflows, and task definitions to be predefined and validated before execution. Configuration models are defined in advance with all necessary parameters, data sources, and target systems specified. This upfront preparation enables automated execution to proceed accurately without manual intervention during the actual configuration process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables self-service through automated configuration execution where the system automatically performs configuration tasks based on predefined models and plans. The configuration system autonomously interprets configuration definitions, validates parameters, executes tasks in the correct sequence, and handles error management without requiring manual step-by-step guidance, thereby maintaining accuracy while dramatically reducing time consumption.
3Productivity
If automation content is added to configuration guides, then productivity is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements universality by designing a configuration system that can handle multiple deployment types (on-premise, cloud-hosted, and hybrid) through a single unified framework. The configuration models, landscape plans, and workflow definitions are designed to be type-agnostic, allowing the same automation infrastructure to serve diverse deployment scenarios without requiring separate complex automation systems for each deployment type.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses copying by leveraging existing configuration models, landscape plans, and workflow templates that can be reused across different deployment scenarios. Once configuration definitions are created for a particular scenario, they can be copied and adapted for similar scenarios, reducing the need to create complex automation content from scratch and thereby improving productivity without proportionally increasing system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Implementations of the present disclosure include methods, systems, and computer-readable storage mediums for receiving the configuration model from a configuration definition repository, the configuration model providing one or more configuration definitions for configuring a software product within a landscape, receiving a landscape plan, the landscape plan defining one or more components of a landscape, on which the software product is to be configured, determining that at least one configuration task of a plurality of configuration tasks is to be executed automatically, the plurality of configuration tasks being included in a workflow that is provided based on the one or more configuration definitions, and the landscape plan, and, in response, automatically executing the at least one configuration task using at least a portion of the automation content.