FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENT RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See Section 10 and Rule 13)
Title of invention:
A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRACKING CONCURRENT RELEASES IN SOFTWARE LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT PROCESS
Applicant:
Tata Consultancy Services Limited A company Incorporated in-India under The Companies Act. 1956
Having address:
Nirmal Building, 9th Floor.
Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021,
Maharashtra, India
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention generally relates to the field of software release management life cycle. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method for tracking the concurrent releases in release management process of software development project management.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Project management is a collective field of planning, organizing, securing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals. A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end. It is usually time-constrained and often constrained by funding or deliverables. The project management is intended to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value. While implementing the project management system to achieve said goals and objectives, a release management process is crucial in managing a release of a resulting product of the project. For example, in a software project management process, the release management process is adapted to manage and track plurality of releases for a desired software product.
In software release management process, the management and tracking of releases is generally implemented by a release manager. The release manager generally includes a facilitator, a Gatekeeper, an Architect, a Server application support engineer and a Coordinator. The Facilitator acts as a connection unit between varying business units to enable smooth and timely delivery of software products or updates. The Gatekeeper is responsible for implementation of production systems or applications. The Architect is involved to identify. create and/or implement processes or products to efficiently manage the release of software code. The Server application support engineer has the tasks of troubleshooting problems related to applications. Finally, the Coordinator is utilized to coordinate disparate source trees, projects, teams and components.
A Release Management team serves as a gate-keeper in the release manager to the campus production environment. The Release Management team is responsible for ensuring successful application releases (i.e., introduction of hardware and software changes into the operating environment) and quality testing with minimum disruption to the operating environment i.e. Quality Assurance (QA). The goal of a change and release management process is to ensure all

changes are deployed successfully into the final software product ready for release in a least disruptive manner. A change and release management process includes determining a readiness of each release based on release criteria, including, for example, the quality of the release. release package and production environment readiness, training and support plans, rollout and backout plans, testing, and risk, management plans. After planning and configuring a change. the change and release management process may include a change review to ensure that the release was successful.
In a development environment, it is well settled that many a times a, due to business needs or to time constraint, a planned release for a product may be issued earlier or delayed as an actual release. It is critical to capture all the real time details of such actual releases throughout the life cycle of a project and the release management process is desired to provide a periodic report while tracking of issuance of each such actual release associated with the product.
For large number of release, it is difficult to monitor the status of planned release details and actual release details for the same request received from the project development team to QA team for release of the software project being completed. This problem of managing large number of releases become even more severe when number of requests for releases occurs concurrently.
Hitherto, various tools that are available mainly provide information about various planned releases by means of different metrics and dashboards. However, it is difficult lo retrieve various data on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis related to the planned and actual release details using such metrics and dashboards. This may in turn affect the tracking and smoothening of the entire delivery process. For tracking of planned release and actual release for the same software product, a manual effort is required to consolidate and/or collate the data for reporting the status of planned and actual releases on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, Similarly, for multiple release requests occurring concurrently, the QA team members have to manually collate data for the planned and actual release details and then track the status of each release.
Therefore, it is very difficult to collate the data obtained from the conventional toots for each team separately and generate a report for specific time duration manually as this may result in adequate loss of time, money and resources.

Therefore, in view of the above, there is a long-felt need in the art for a centralized tool thai enables capturing, tracking and generating a real-time report illustrating the status of planned and actual release details for different software products.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
The principal object of the present invention is to enable a system and method for capturing planned and actual details associated with plurality of concurrent releases in Software release management (SLM) process.
Yet another object of the present invention is to enable a system and method for comparison of planned release details to that of actual release details for at least one received request for release of at least one software product to record a variance in the planned and actual release status of the request.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method that generates a real-time report enabling tracking of release variance information for request received based on the recorded variance in the planned and actual release details.
Still another object of the present invention is to enable a system and method that displays the tracked release variance information by means of a Graphical User Interface (GUI') module in order to track the status of the received request.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Before the present methods, systems, and hardware enablement are described, it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the particular systems, and methodologies described, as there can be multiple possible embodiments of the present invention which are not expressly illustrated in the present disclosure. It is also to be understood thai the terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing the particular versions or embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.
In one aspect, the present invention enables a system and method for real-time tracking of planned and actual releases in release management process of the software development life

cycle. The system of the present invention comprises a centrally deployed tracker module that tracks plurality of concurrent releases. The centrally deployed tracker module comprises a release plan module that captures the real-time details of planned and actual releases for various software products being tested in the QA phase of the software project management process.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the deployed tracker module further comprises a mapping module that compares the captured planned and actual release details in order to record a variance in the planned and actual releases.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the system further comprises a report generation module that reduces manual effort in consolidating the release level data to all stake holders by generating the report on daily or weekly or monthly basis,
In still another aspect of the present invention, all the details of the releases and the report generated are displayed using graphical user interface (GUI), through which user can interact with the system.
Thus, the system and method of the present invention is not only limited to tracking the status of planned releases, but also enables real-time status reporting of each of the planned releases and the actual releases.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DKAWINGS
The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of embodiments, is better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings example constructions of the invention; however, the invention is not limited to the specific methods and architecture disclosed in the drawings:
Figure 1 is a system block diagram (100) illustrating various system elements enabling realtime tracking of planned and actual releases according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
Figure 2 is a block diagram (200) illustrating various components of the communication architecture according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

Figure 3 is a block diagram (300) illustrating user case diagram of a centrally deployed tracker module enabling tracking of the number of planned and actual releases according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
Figure 4 is a system diagram (400) illustrating a three-tier architecture implementing the tracking of number of planned and actual releases according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
Figure 5 are flow diagrams (500) illustrating various steps implemented for real-time tracking of planned and actual releases according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION:
The description has been presented with reference to various embodiments of the invention. Persons skilled in the art and technology to which this invention pertains will appreciate thai alterations and changes in the described method and system of operation can be practiced without meaningfully departing from the principle spirit and scope of this invention.
Referring to figure 1 is release tracking system diagram (100) illustrating various system elements collectively arranged for real-time tracking of planned and actual releases according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
As illustrated in figure 1, the system (100) comprises a centrally deployed tracker module (102) electronically coupled with a release management database (112). The centrally deployed tracker module (102) interacts with the user system (110).
In an exemplary embodiment, the centrally deployed tracker module (102) is adapted to perform the tasks of tracking the entire release management process of the software development projects. In an exemplary embodiment, the centrally deployed tracker module (102) is capable of receiving planned and actual release request from the user (110). As shown. the user (110) from the software development team is connected with the centrally deployed tracker module (102) who may issue said request for planned and actual release in the release management database (112).
In an exemplary embodiment, the centrally deployed tracker module (102) comprises a graphical user interface module (104) for accepting the user (I 10) request and displaying the

information with respect to the request of details. Further, the centrally deployed tracker module (102) comprises a release plan module (106) for retrieving the planned and actual release details from the release management database (112) for the request received from the user (110). In an exemplary embodiment, the details retrieved by the release plan module (106) includes information such as start date, completion dale, effort estimate required, velocity. defects, defect suites etc, time taken to complete the task, complexity in doing the task rated as high, low and medium and various other parameters related to planning of the project to be implemented.
The centrally deployed tracker module (102) further comprises a mapping module (107) for analyzing and comparing the details of planned and actual retrieved by the release plan module (106). The mapping module (107) maps the planned and actual details to record a variance in the planned and actual release for the requests received. Accordingly a release variance information about the request received is obtained, wherein said release variance information includes from a group consisting of defect details, test-case details, delay-time, planned time, release-time and combinations thereof. The centrally deployed tracker module (102) further comprises a report generation module (108) coupled to said mapping module (107) that generates a real-time report based on the result of analysis and the obtained release variance information. The generated report includes information depicting the status of planned and actual releases that is displayed via said GUI module (104) which is connected to the release-plan module (106).
Figure 2 illustrates a block diagram (200) displaying various components of a component architecture according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
As illustrated in figure 2, the communication architecture comprises components including a web server (201) and database server (202). As shown, multiple users (203), (204). (205) from the different software development teams can interact with the web server (201). As illustrated in figure 2, the web server (201), the database server (202) and the users (203). (204), (205) communicate electronically for enablement of tracking the details of planned and actual releases. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, such communication exists between these components over a local-area network (LAN).

In an exemplary embodiment, as illustrated in figure 2, at least one of the said multiple users opens a web browser installed on the said web server (201) for accessing the centrally-deployed tracker application. Initially, the said user has to authenticate before logged in to the centrally deployed tracker application. Depending on the role of each user, the privileges for accessing are assigned. For example, in an exemplary embodiment, if the user has a role of admin, then he/she is assigned the privileges to read, write and modify the content accessed through the application. On the contrary, if the user has a role of non-admin user, then he/she may be assigned limited privileges.
Referring to figure 1, as the centrally deployed tracker module (102) receives request for capturing details of the planned and actual release; the centrally deployed tracker module (102) initiates a tracking mechanism for said release request. Figure 3 illustrates a use case diagram depicting the tracking of the variance information in the planned and actual release for the request received in accordance to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
As illustrated in figure 3, a use case diagram (300) for a centrally deployed tracker module (302) incorporates a system that performs various functionalities like receiving request to capture the details of planned and actual releases, mapping the details of planned and actual releases for each release request and generating a report based on the result of the mapping (306) to track the status of planned and actual releases for each concurrent release requests.
In an exemplary embodiment, a user or a QA manager access the request received in the centrally deployed tracker module (302) after successfully authenticated. In an exemplary embodiment, the user (312) initiates a request to capture the details of releases (304) from release management database (310). The centrally deployed tracker module (302) retrieves the details of actual and planned releases for the request received in the centrally deployed tracker module. The centrally deployed tracker module then compares the planned and actual release details for the release requested. The centrally deployed tracker module further enables generation of real-time report based on mapping (306) to track the status of the planned and actual releases (308).
In an exemplary embodiment, the system (100) illustrated in figure 1 implements three-tier architecture for the tracking of number of unplanned releases in software quality-assurance phase of the software development process. Figure 4 illustrates the three-tier architecture

diagram (400) displaying the three major layers implementing the tracking of planned and actual releases in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
As illustrated in figure 4, the three-tier architecture (400) includes a Graphical User Interface (GUI) layer (404), a Business Logic layer (406) and a Data Access Layer or DAL. In an exemplary embodiment, a User (402) initiates request to the Graphical User Interface (GUI) layer (404) for capturing the details of the said planned and actual releases. The GUI layer (404) acts as an interface for users (402) from the different software development (earns in order to access the status details at each phase of the software development process. In an exemplary embodiment, the said Business Logic Layer (406) implements plurality of business rules and procedures for enabling the tracking of variance in details of planned and actual releases. For example, the Business Logic layer (402) implements rules and procedures that enable tracking the status of planned and actual release request, generation of a real-time status report for the said request related to planned and actual releases. The GUI layer (404) is enabled to read or write data through Business Logic Layer (406).
In an exemplary embodiment, the Data Access Layer or DAL (408) performs the tasks of all data related operations and is electronically coupled to a Release Management Database (410) storing data related to all planned and actual releases. The GUI Layer (404) is not configured to directly access Release Management Database (410) or DAL (408) and therefore it read/write data through the Business logic layer (406). Business logic layer (406) implements all the business rules of the application and read/write data through DAL (408) as it is not adapted to access directly the Release Management Database (410).
Referring to figure 5, a flow diagram (500) illustrating various steps implemented for real-time tracking and mapping of planned and actual releases details according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
As illustrated in figure 5, at step (502), a request for tracking release of a product from user is received at a centrally deployed tracker module.
At step (504), capture of planned and actual release details for the received request from a release management database takes place.

At step (506), comparison of said captured planned and actual release details is implemented to retrieve release variance information.
At step (508), generation of real-time report based on the retrieved release variance information is done in order to track the status of release for the received request.
BEST ENABLED MODE:
In an exemplary embodiment, consider an Information Technology (IT) organization catering software products to small and medium business (SMB) customers spread across of various domains involving separate set of stakeholders. Due to involvement of multiple stakeholders and customers of different domains or market segments, there is a constant push to add and enhance features to the existing software product from such customers and stakeholders. This may lead to multiple releases for the different products with many of them being unplanned to accommodate the request for new customers. Further due to various constraints and requirements from the customers, project development team members and the stakeholders. these releases may be delayed or release earlier than the planned details. Therefore, the software products being tentatively planned may be actually released at different time period as that of actual planned schedule.
The increasing number of releases made it very tough to track the planned and actual release details very minutely. Therefore, in accordance with this exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a software quality-assurance (SQA) team of the IT organization implements a centrally deployed tracker module to facilitate centralized command over the planned and actual releases. In this exemplary embodiment, a control over the centrally deployed tracker module enables the several teams along with relevant SMB stakeholders associated with particular release of a software solution to track the status of planned and actual release of the said software solution through the centrally deployed tracker module.
For example, if a request is received in the centrally deployed tracker module for tracking the status of release associated with software product for a particular SMB organization, (he release plan module then retrieves the planned details for the said particular release along with the actual release details for the particular details that may be varied with respect to the planned details for the software product to be delivered to the said SMB. This variance

information is then tracked by a mapping module of the tracker module. Further, a report generation module in the centrally deployed tracker module then generates a real-time report depicting the status of variance in details of the actual release to that of the planned release for the request received in the centrally deployed tracker module. The generated report then can be displayed (o the software project teams and the SMB stakeholders in order to monitor the status of planned and actual release details.
The methodology and techniques described with respect to the exemplary embodiments can be performed using a machine or other computing device within which a set of instructions, when executed, may cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed above. The machine may comprise a server computer, a client user computer, a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while a single machine is illustrated, the term "machine" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.
The machine may include a processor (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU, or both), a memory which communicate with each other via a bus. The memory stores the instructions when executed, may cause the processor of the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed above.
The illustrations of arrangements described herein are intended to provide a general understanding of the structure of various embodiments, and they are not intended to serve as a complete description of all the elements and features of apparatus and systems that might make use of the structures described herein. Many other arrangements will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. Other arrangements may be utilized and derived there from, such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Figures are also merely representational and may not be drawn to scale. Certain proportions thereof may be exaggerated, while others may be minimized. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION
The present invention enables facilitation of a single centralized tool in the form of a deployed tracker module for tracking status of multiple concurrent requests for planned and actual releases.
The present invention enables to consolidate the data related to the planned and actual releases for concurrent requests in the centrally deployed tracker module,
The present invention enables real-time generation of tracking reports for facilitating monitoring the status of planned release details through the centrally deployed tracker module.

Claims:
1. A system (100) for tracking a plurality of concurrent release requests of a software product during a software lifecycle management (SLM) process, the SLM process characterized with a centrally deployed tracker module (102). the system comprising: the centrally deployed tracker module (102) configured to track at least one release request from said plurality of concurrent release requests and comprise of: a) a release plan module (106) adapted to capture a planned release and an actual
release details stored in a release management database (112) for said request; b) a mapping module (107) adapted to compare said captured planned and actual release details to record a variance in the planned and actual release status of the request; and c) a report generation module (108) adapted to real-time generate a report enabling tracking of a release variance information of the request based on the recorded variance in the planned and actual release details.
2. The system of claim 1. wherein the deployed tracker module (102) further comprises of a graphical user interface module (104) to display said real-time release variance information report depicting the release status information for the received request.
3. The system of claim 1. wherein said release management database (112) is configured to store detail information about the planned and actual releases for the said plurality of concurrent release requests.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein said detail information includes from a group consisting of start-date, end-date, effort estimate, velocity data, burn-down defects, completion data, complexity data and combinations thereof.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein said release variance information includes from a group consisting of defect details, test-case details, delay-time, planned time, release-time and combinations thereof.

6. A method for tracking a plurality of concurrent release requests received to quality-assurance team as a part of software lifecycle management (SLM) process, the SLM process characterized with a centrally deployed tracker module configured to track at least one release request from said plurality of concurrent release requests, the method comprising processor implemented steps of:
a) capturing (504) planned release and an actual release details stored in a release management database for said request;
b) comparing (506) said captured planned and actual release details to record a variance in the planned and actual release status of the request; and
c) generating (508) a real-time report enabling tracking of release variance information of the request based on the recorded variance in the planned and actual release details.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the deployed tracker module further comprises of a graphical user interface module to display said real-time release variance information report depicting the release status information for the received request.
8. The method of claim 6, wherein said release management database is configured to store detail information about the planned and actual releases for the said plurality of concurrent release requests.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the said detail information includes from a group comprising of start-date, end-date, effort estimate, velocity, burn-down, completion. complexity and combinations thereof.
10. The method of claim 6, wherein said release variance information includes from a group consisting of defect details, test-case details, delay-time, planned time, release-time and combinations thereof.