International Business Machines Corporation

Cognos, Inc.

Glen Michael Seeds

Henk Cazemier

Charles Mike Potter

David B Cushing

David C Cummings

Charles Michael Potter

Techniques for constructing query operations associated with a report specification are described. The query operations may include a mixture of multidimensional operations and relational operations. The application of the query operations are sequenced with the computing device to reduce or eliminate certain complexities and ambiguities during generation of reports, thereby providing an improved experience for user. For example, any multidimensional rollup operation may be applied to the multidimensional representation of the data within a first timeframe and that any aggregation operation and second level filtering are applied within a second timeframe subsequent to the first timeframe. A report may be output based on a resultant data set produced by application of the query operation in accordance with the sequencing.

Sequenced query processing in data processing system

A member unique name (MUN) system and MUN translation system and method are provided. The MUN system comprises a dimension reference for defining the context in which the remaining portions of the MUN exist and a canonical business key for uniquely identifying a member across different dimensional data sources within a business enterprise. The MUN translation system comprises a translation selection module for selecting a MUN transformation and a collection of MUN transformations for transforming a MUN of a first data source into a MUN of the second data source.

System and method of member unique names

A system and method of producing a business report from data contained in a computer based business intelligence system, is provided. The method includes defining one or more macro functions, and producing a report layout containing one or more macrotized database language expressions. The macrotized database language expression having at least one of the macro functions. The method includes produce one or more valid database language expressions for a database query by modifying the one or more macrotized database language expressions in dependence upon the return value of the at least one of the macro functions, and applying the one or more valid database language expressions to one or more database to produce the business report.

Database report generation

A system for providing feedback associated with the planning of a query is provided. The system comprises a query planning mechanism capable of determining transformations required for the execution of the query, and a monitoring mechanism for monitoring and extracting feedback information from the planning mechanism, the feedback information including an indication of the transformations.

Quality of service feedback for technology-neutral data reporting

The invention comprises a method and system for reducing the apparent complexity faced by a user when confronted by this modeling environment. It provides for a metadata model that represents one or more data sources, the metadata model comprising a query layer combining the functions of a data access layer and a business layer. The query layer includes query subjects that describe how to retrieve data from the data sources, and the query subjects contain query items. The query layer also allows the use of data access language statements which permit the use of more complex computed query subjects and query items.

Metadata modelling for reporting

A member unique name (MUN) structure and MUN translation system and method are provided. The MUN structure comprises a canonical business key for uniquely identifying a member across different dimensional data sources within a business enterprise and at least one of a dimension reference for defining the context in which the remaining portions of the MUN exist or a data source identifier (DSI) for uniquely identifying a member within a dimensional data source that implements its own unique member identifiers. The MUN translation system comprises a translation selection module for selecting a MUN transformation and a collection of MUN transformations for transforming a MUN structure of a first data source into a MUN structure of the second data source. The collection of MUN transformations comprises at least one of a different source technology OLAP to OLAP transformation for transforming a third OLAP MUN to a fourth OLAP MUN or a Dimensionally Modelled Relational (DMR) to OLAP transformation for transforming a DMR MUN to an OLAP MUN. The third OLAP MUN and fourth OLAP MUN are of different source technologies. The method comprises the steps of selecting a MUN transformation and transforming a MUN of a first data source into a MUN of the second data source. The step of transforming comprises at least one of the steps of transforming a first OLAP MUN to a second OLAP MUN, the first OLAP MUN and second OLAP MUN are of different source technologies or transforming a DMR MUN to an OLAP MUN.

The present invention discloses a method for using a relational database management system to support on-line analytical processing (OLAP) systems by providing a security access mechanism. The method of restricting access to data contained in a business intelligence system, comprises the steps of defining one or more security roles, associating the security roles with business intelligence data, selecting one or more security roles from the one or more security roles, combining the one or more security filters with a data access language statement, and interpreting the data access statement.

Method for providing security mechanisms for data warehousing and analysis

In cases where two or more database tables can be joined by more than one relationship or criterion on the row values of selected columns, to produce what is effectively a wider table, there may result an ambiguity of which join should be used. The invention provides a means of join disambiguation that is rule-driven. The user is relieved of understanding the details of how the disambiguation is being done. The system described in this invention makes the choice of which join to use based on clear transformation rules which relate to folders of the tables and their relationships.

Method and system for database join disambiguation

The invention provides for a method for producing reports for business intelligence that adapt automatically to a context, defined by a locale variable. A parameter map is defined, based on locale key and field names, and a report layout is produced that contains one or more macrotized database language expressions that include partial expressions built using the parameter map. Later, once a user selects a locale, the partial expression resulting from a lookup in the parameter map using the locale is used to modify one or more macrotized database language expressions. Finally, the resulting valid database language expressions are applied to the database to produce a report.

A request dispatching system is provided for dispatching requests to a system having a predetermined number of server instances. Each request has its service type. The request dispatching system uses one queue for each service type, and reserves for each queue a minimum number of server instances. In one embodiment, idle server instances may be configured on demand to serve requests of a different type.

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Ottawa, Canada

Glen Michael Seeds