Data entry commentary and sheet reconstruction for multidimensional enterprise system

• US 10,387,428 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2015
• Issued: 08/20/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ballantine, Peter R., Conic, Sasa, Hodge, Johnathan
• Primary Examiner(s): Hu, Jensen
• Application Number:
  US14/985,932
• Publication Number:
  US 20160110425A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,328 Days
• Field of Search: 707796
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2264 Multidimensional index structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24573 using data annotations, e.g. user-defined metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes

Abstract

A computing device is described that includes a user interface to receive contribution data of an enterprise and to display a sheet of the contribution data, an annotation interface module to receive one or more annotations for objects of the contribution data, a planning application to retrieve a context definition defining a context in which each of the annotations was received, and an annotation table to store each of the annotations and the context definition corresponding to each of the annotations. The user interface may be configured to output the annotations. The computing device may improve the collaborative process of developing multidimensional data. Users of the computing device may quickly and easily share their thoughts, questions, and comments about the data through annotations. Recreating an annotated sheet may be done efficiently by storing relevant coordinates.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

retrieving, by one or more processors of a computing system, contribution data from an enterprise system, wherein the contribution data is arranged in N dimensions in a multidimensional database, and wherein N is greater than two;

retrieving, by the one or more processors, a first annotation for an object of the contribution data from the enterprise system, wherein the first annotation for the object was previously entered prior to retrieving the first annotation;

retrieving, by the one or more processors, a context definition defining a context in which the first annotation was previously entered prior to retrieving the first annotation, wherein the context corresponds to a particular cell of a sheet representative of the contribution data in the multidimensional database, the sheet comprising a two-dimensional cross-section of the multidimensional database characterized by full versions of two of the N dimensions and single values for each of the remaining N dimensions;

generating, by the one or more processors, a link to the context defined by the context definition and corresponding to the particular cell of the sheet representative of the contribution data in the multidimensional database;

outputting, by the one or more processors, the link in a graphical user interface; and

displaying the first annotation in the graphical user interface when the link is selected.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising outputting the sheet in accordance with the context definition when the link is selected.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the first annotation in an annotation table.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the object comprises a first object, wherein the context definition comprises a first context definition, wherein the context comprises a first context, wherein the particular cell comprises a first particular cell, wherein the link comprises a first link, wherein the sheet comprises a first sheet, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the one or more processors, an indication of a user selection to produce an annotation list for the multidimensional database;

retrieving, by the one or more processors, a second annotation for a second object of the contribution data from the enterprise system, wherein the second annotation was previously entered prior to retrieving the second annotation;

retrieve, by the one or more processors, a second context definition defining a second context in which the second annotation was previously entered prior to retrieving the second annotation, wherein the second context corresponds to a second particular cell of a second sheet representative of the contribution data in the multidimensional database, the second sheet comprising a second two-dimensional cross-section of the multidimensional database characterized by full versions of two of the N dimensions and single values for each of the remaining N dimensions;

generating, by the one or more processors, a second link to the second context defined by the second context definition and corresponding to the second particular cell of the second sheet representative of the contribution data in the multidimensional database;

generating, by the one or more processors, an annotation list that includes the first link and the second link;

outputting, by the one or more processors, the annotation list in the graphical user interface; and

displaying the second annotation in the graphical user interface when the second link is selected.

4. A computing device comprising:

a user interface to receive contribution data of an enterprise and to display a sheet of the contribution data, wherein the contribution data is arranged in N dimensions in a multidimensional database, wherein N is greater than two, and wherein the sheet comprises a two-dimensional cross-section of the multidimensional database characterized by full versions of two of the N dimensions and single values for each of the remaining N dimensions;

an annotation interface module to receive a first annotation for an object of the contribution data, wherein the first annotation for the object was previously entered prior to retrieving the first annotation;

a planning application to retrieve a context definition defining a context in which the first annotation was previously entered prior to retrieving the first annotation, wherein the context definition defines a particular cell of the sheet of the contribution data; and

an annotation table to store the first annotation and the context definition corresponding to the first annotation,

wherein the user interface generates a link to the context defined by the context definition and corresponding to the particular cell of the sheet representative of the contribution data in the multidimensional database, outputs the link in a graphical user interface, and displays the first annotation in the graphical user interface when the link is selected.

5. The computing device of claim 4,

wherein the annotation interface module is configured to receive at least two annotations for an object of the contribution data within the same context,

wherein the planning application is configured to retrieve coordinates defining the object within the context definition, and

wherein the annotation table is configured to store the coordinates.

6. The computing device of claim 4, wherein the annotation interface module is configured to store, with the first annotation:

a user identifier to identify a user who entered the first annotation, a date identifier to identify the date on which the first annotation was entered, a value indicator to identify the value of the object at the time the first annotation was entered, and a comment field to present a comment from the user who entered the first annotation.

7. The computing device of claim 4, wherein the annotation interface module is configured to provide a commentary browser to output a link to the context defined by the context definition for the first annotation.

8. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the planning application is configured to cause the user interface to generate the sheet defined by the context associated with the link when the link is selected.

10. The computing device of claim 4, wherein the object comprises a first object, wherein the context definition comprises a first context definition, wherein the context comprises a first context, wherein the particular cell comprises a first particular cell, wherein the link comprises a first link, wherein the sheet comprises a first sheet,

wherein the user interface further receives an indication of a user selection to produce an annotation list for the multidimensional database,

wherein the annotation interface module further retrieves a second annotation for a second object of the contribution data from the enterprise system, wherein the second annotation was previously entered prior to retrieving the second annotation;

wherein the planning application further retrieves a second context definition defining a second context in which the second annotation was previously entered prior to retrieving the second annotation, wherein the second context corresponds to a second particular cell of a second sheet representative of the contribution data in the multidimensional database, the second sheet comprising a second two-dimensional cross-section of the multidimensional database characterized by full versions of two of the N dimensions and single values for each of the remaining N dimensions;

wherein the user interface further generates a second link to the second context defined by the second context definition and corresponding to the second particular cell of the second sheet representative of the contribution data in the multidimensional database, generates an annotation list that includes the first link and the second link, outputs the annotation list in the graphical user interface, and displays the second annotation in the graphical user interface when the second link is selected.