Data integration system and method for presenting 360° customer views

• US 20030212654A1
• Filed: 01/23/2003
• Published: 11/13/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Fair Isaac Corporation
• Original Assignee: Fair Isaac Corporation
• Inventors: Severson, Eric, Harper, Jonathan E., Paracha, Bipin, Foster, Gary, Barry, Jeffrey, Myers, William P., Wavell, Rufus, Pope, Benjamin R., Torrance, John, Handerhan, Patrick
• Application Number:
  US10/351,295
• Publication Number:
  US 20030212654A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A data integration system and method collects and stores customer information from disparate information sources in real-time. The stored information can be retrieved and assembled for presentation to a user according to the role and/or security profile of the user. The customer information is presented through a 360° viewer, which is embedded in an application or a browser, or runs as a standalone viewer. A data correlation system and method correlates data records collected from disparate Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications using a three-tier approach comprising deterministic correlation, heuristic correlation and historical correlation. The correlation rules are fully configurable and extensible.

Claims

1. A data integration system, comprising:

a collection module for collecting information in real-time from at least one information source;

a storage device coupled to the collection module for storing a portion of the collected information in accordance with configurable metadata definitions; and

a retrieval module coupled to the storage device for retrieving a selected portion of the collected information from the storage device for presentation to a user, wherein the selection of information is based on the role of the user defined by the configurable metadata definitions.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the information is collected from a plurality of disparate, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications.

3. The system of claim 1, further including

a configurable adapter coupled to the collection module and an information source for translating information from the information source to a format recognizable by the system.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the storage device includes a configurable hierarchical data structure for storing information.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the collection module includes a batch processor for collecting data in non-realtime.

6. The system of claim 1, further including

a configurable viewer coupled to the retrieval module for displaying the selected information to a user.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the viewer is located at a client system.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the viewer receives the selected portion of information as a structured data stream.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the structure of the data stream is defined by the configurable metadata definitions.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the viewer is embedded in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein information is displayed to the user in a format that is native to the CRM application.

12. The system of claim 6, wherein the viewer is a standalone desktop application.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the role of the user includes configurable access rights which determine whether the user can access all or some of the information.

14. A data integration method, comprising:

collecting information in real-time from at least one information source;

storing a portion of the collected information in a storage device in accordance with configurable metadata definitions;

retrieving a selected portion of the collected information from the storage device;

retrieving a selected portion of the information that was not stored in the storage device from the information source; and

combining the two portions of information for presentation to a user, wherein the selection of information is based on the role of the user defined by the configurable metadata definitions.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the collected information is correlated with information previously stored in the storage device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the collected information is correlated using a cross-reference table.

17. A viewer for constructing and presenting a 360-degree customer view of a customer based on data collected from one or more Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications, comprising:

a viewer for presenting a configurable user interface to a user; and

a controller coupled to the viewer for constructing the user interface in accordance with configuration data and the role of the user.

18. The viewer of claim 17, wherein the viewer is embedded in a CRM application and the user interface is presented in a format familiar to a user of the CRM application.

19. The viewer of claim 17, wherein the user is denied access to portions of the data based on the role of the user.

20. The viewer of claim 17, wherein the controller receives the data as a structured result set in response to a query by the user.

21. The viewer of claim 17, wherein the user interface includes a pane from a group of panes consisting of:

a Header pane, a Vital Signs pane, a Navigation pane, a Summary/List pane, and a Detail and Search pane.

22. A process model for use with a system for integrating customer data collected from Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications, comprising:

a Root node;

a Generic Business Relationship (GBR) node; and

a plurality of Generic Business Class (GBC) nodes, wherein the Root node is the top node in a tree structure that includes the GBR node, a parent GBC node and a child GBC node, and wherein the GBR node embodies a relationship between the parent GBC node and the child GBC node.

23. The process model of claim 22, wherein the GBR node represents a 1-to-many relationship between the parent GBC node and the child GBC node.

24. A data integration system, comprising:

means for collecting information in real-time from at least one information source;

means storing a portion of the collected information in a storage device in accordance with configurable metadata definitions; and

means retrieving a selected portion of the collected information from the storage device for presentation to a user, wherein the selection of information is based on the role of the user defined by the configurable metadata definitions.

25. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, which, when executed by a processor in a data integration system, cause the processor to perform the operations of:

collecting information in real-time from at least one information source;

storing a portion of the collected information in a storage device in accordance with configurable metadata definitions; and

retrieving a selected portion of the collected information from the storage device for presentation to a user, wherein the selection of information is based on the role of the user defined by the configurable metadata definitions.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the collected information is correlated with information previously stored in the storage device.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the collected information is correlated using a cross-reference table.

28. A client-server architecture having a client system and a server system for integrating data collected from disparate Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications, the server system comprising:

a collection module for collecting and storing customer data collected from at least one of the CRM applications;

a retrieval module for retrieving a structured dataset containing data stored by the collection module in response to a data request from the client system, wherein the structured dataset includes a subset of the requested data based on the security profile of the user; and

a services module for maintaining a communication connection with the client system and for providing the client system with the structured dataset.

29. The server system of claim 28, wherein the structured dataset includes a subset of the requested data based on a role of the user.

30. The server system of claim 29, wherein the user has a plurality of roles and the structured dataset includes a subset of the requested data based on a superset of permissions associated with the roles of the user.

31. A client-server architecture having a client system and a server system for integrating data collected from disparate Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications, the client system comprising:

a viewer for presenting a configurable user interface to a user;

a controller coupled to the viewer for constructing the user interface in accordance with configuration data; and

a Application Program Interface (API) for receiving a structured dataset from the server system,

wherein the structured dataset includes a subset of the requested data based on the security profile of the user.

32. The client system of claim 31, wherein the structured dataset includes a subset of the requested data based on a role of the user.

33. The client system of claim 32, wherein the user has a plurality of roles and the structured dataset includes a subset of the requested data based on a superset of permissions associated with the roles of the user.

34. A data correlation system for correlating data records collected from disparate Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications, comprising:

a configurable correlation module for applying a multi-tier correlation process to the data records, wherein a first tier is a deterministic process, a second tier is a heuristic process, and a third tier is a referential process; and

a correlation data structure coupled to the correlation module for storing the results of the correlation process for use in a subsequent correlation process.

35. The data correlation system of claim 34, further comprising:

a normalization/standardization module coupled to the correlation module for translating the data records into a common format prior to applying the correlation process.

36. The data correlation system of claim 34, further comprising:

a data enrichment module coupled to the correlation module for enriching data stored in the data records prior to applying the correlation process.

37. The data correlation system of claim 34, comprising:

a referential database coupled to the correlation module for providing unique keys associated with data records for use in the deterministic correlation process.

38. A method of correlating data records collected from disparate Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications, comprising:

comparing data fields in a first data record to data fields in a second data record to determine at least one matching field; and

, if first data fields in the data records are an exact match and the probability that second data fields in the data records match exceeds a predetermined threshold,

recording a successful match in a data structure for use with a subsequent comparison of data records.

39. The method claim 38 further comprising:

normalizing data in the data records prior to performing the comparing step.

40. The method of claim 38 further comprising:

enriching data in the data records prior to performing the comparing step.

41. A computer-readable medium having contained thereon instructions, which, when executed by a processor in a data correlation system for correlating data records collected from disparate Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications, cause the processor to perform the operations of:

comparing data fields in a first data record to data fields in a second data record to determine at least one matching field; and

, if first data fields in the data records are an exact match and the probability that second data fields in the data records match exceeds a predetermined threshold,

recording successful matches in a data structure for use with a subsequent comparison of data records.

42. The computer-readable medium of claim 41, wherein the operations further comprise:

normalizing data in the data records prior to performing the comparing step.

43. The computer-readable medium of claim 41, wherein the operations further comprise:

enriching data in the data records prior to performing the comparing step.

44. A data correlation system for correlating data records collected from disparate Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications, comprising:

means for comparing data fields in a first data record to data fields in a second data record to determine at least one matching field; and

, if first data fields in the data records are an exact match and the probability that second data fields in the data records match exceeds a predetermined threshold,

means for recording successful matches in a data structure for use with a subsequent comparison of data records.