Schema-Aware Compare-Merge for Custom Business Solution Changes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Creating, customizing, and maintaining complex business solutions across multiple industries is difficult, expensive, and inefficient due to the manual assembly of building blocks, which leaves functionality gaps and requires significant integration effort, documentation, training, and testing.
Innovation Solution
A rule-based system utilizing a master copy of resources, which is fully documented and tested, generates customized solutions through declarative rules, reducing the need for manual customization and automating testing, documentation, and training by using a two-way schema-aware compare tool to identify and categorize changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If building blocks are assembled manually to create customized solutions, then solution customization is achieved, but development cost and manual effort increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates master copies of business objects that serve as templates. These master copies contain complete functionality and are fully tested. Customized solutions are generated by copying and selectively removing features from master copies rather than assembling from scratch, significantly reducing development effort and cost while maintaining full adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary actions by creating fully functional master copies that are completely tested and documented before customization is needed. All baseline functionality, testing, and documentation are completed in advance, so that subsequent customization only requires selective feature removal rather than building and testing from scratch.
2Adaptability or versatility
If building blocks are assembled manually to create customized solutions, then solution customization is achieved, but testing and documentation effort increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs all testing and documentation work in advance on master copies. Since master copies are fully tested and documented before customization, the customized solutions inherit this tested and documented status, eliminating the need to re-test and re-document after customization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent copies the tested and documented master copy structure to customized solutions. The inheritance relationship means that testing and documentation performed on master copies automatically apply to customized solutions, significantly reducing the time and effort required for these activities.
3Productivity
If a rule-based system with master copies is used, then development and testing effort is reduced, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple business object copies into a hierarchical structure centered around master copies. Instead of maintaining separate, independent copies for each customization, the system combines them into a unified hierarchy where master copies serve as the foundation, reducing overall system complexity while improving productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates master copies that serve multiple functions: they are the source for generating customized solutions, the reference for testing, the template for documentation, and the baseline for comparisons. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate systems for each purpose, simplifying the overall architecture while enhancing productivity.
4Manufacturing precision
If two-way schema-aware compare tool is used to identify changes, then customization accuracy is improved, but processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a two-way schema-aware compare tool as an intermediary between master copies and customized solutions. This tool automatically identifies and compares changes, providing precise customization tracking without requiring manual analysis. The tool handles the complexity of schema comparison internally while presenting simple, accurate results to users.
Data Source
AI summary
A 2-way and 3-way compare-merge tool that allows consultants and customers to reconcile the changes that they have made with a generated copy of the resources. Systems and methods that provide an effective, easy-to-use comparison tool includes: a schema-aware compare; sophisticated handling of collection properties, especially nested collections; effective matching algorithms to recognize that two items are the same business object in spite of outward differences; an ability to accept user hints and input and persist user decisions; a structured report that reflects the structure of the business object; color formatting, tagging, and filtering to find the important changes among the large volume of differences (among the thousands of changes per resource). Furthermore, adding a common ancestor as a third data point in the 3-way compare identifies the source of changes.