Parameterized database drill-through

• US 20040139102A1
• Filed: 07/23/2003
• Published: 07/15/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Vierich, Ralf, Ferguson, Kevin
• Granted Patent: US 9,075,859 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2425 Iterative querying; Query formulation based on the results of a preceding query
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP

Abstract

A database interface for generating drill-through pats for various data cubes, derived from different report generating applications is disclosed. The interface comprises: (a) means for accepting a request from a user for data; (b) means for translating the request into a drill-through path selected from a plurality of possible drill-through paths between a source and a target; (c) means for applying one or more parameters to the selected drill-rough path to produce a valid drill-through path and to transfer the requested data over the valid drill-through path to an application; and (d) display means for displaying the requested data to the user.

Claims

1. In a decision support system, an interface for generating drill-through paths comprising:

(a) means for accepting a request from a user for data;

(b) means for translating the request into a drill-through path selected from a plurality of possible drill-through paths between a source and a target;

(c) optional means for applying one or more parameters to the selected drill-though path to produce a valid drill-through path and to transfer the requested data over the valid drill-through path to an application; and

(d) display means for displaying the requested data to the user,

2. A computer-based method for obtaining data from one or more compatible data sources for use within applications implementing a decision support system, the method comprising the steps of:

in a business modeling tool before using a business intelligence application,

(a) modeling a mapping of data between a source and a target to produce one or more possible drill-tough paths between the source and the target, each drill-through path having one or more parameter mappings;

in a business intelligence application, using a report authoring tool,

(b) accepting a request from a user for data;

(c) translating the request into a drill-though path selected from the possible drill-through paths between the source and the target;

(d) applying one or more parameters to the selected drill-through path to produce a valid parameter mapping and transferring the requested data over the valid parameter mapping to an application; and

(e) displaying the requested data to a user.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the translating step includes the steps of:

(a) creating a list of parameters (query items) from source and target reports;

(b) for each source parameter, determining a parameter mapping that maps the parameter to the target and collecting them as a single drill-through path;

(c) if more tan one parameter mapping points to the same target parameter then duplicating the parameter mapping one for each duplicate target path, thereby avoiding conflicts in forming the filter path and

(d) continuing to duplicate the parameter mappings until all the parameter mappings for each drill-through path point to unique target parameters.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the source and the target are each of types which are selected from a group consisting of report and model.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the source is of a type selected from a group consisting of report and model and the target is a cube derived from a dimension map using a transformation tool.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the drill-through path is defined by Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the drill-through pat is defied by an HTML FORM.

3. A computer-based method for obtaining data from one or more compatible data sources for use within applications implementing a decision support system wherein there is an a business intelligence application, using a report authoring tool, which accepts a request from a user for data, translates the request into a drill-through path selected from the possible drill-through paths between the source and the target, applies one or more parameters to the selected drill-through path to produce a valid parameter mapping and transfers the requested data over the valid parameter mapping to an application, and displays the requested data to a user, the method comprising:

(a) modeling a mapping of data between a source and a target to produce one or more possible drill-through paths between the source and the target, each drill-through path having one or more parameter mappings.

4. A computer-based method for obtaining data from one or more compatible data sources for use within applications implementing a decision support system wherein there is a tool to model the mapping of data between a source and a target to produce one or more possible drill-through paths between the source and the target, each drill-through path having one or more parameter mappings, the method comprising the steps of.

(a) accepting a request from a user for data;

(b) translating the request into a drill-through path selected from the possible drill-through paths between the source and the target;

(c) applying one or more parameters to the selected drill-tough path to produce a valid parameter mapping and transfering the requested data over the valid parameter mapping to an application; and

(d) displaying the requested data to a user.

10. A computer-based system for obtaining data from one or more compatible data sources for use wit applications implementing a decision support system, the system comprising:

(a) means for modeling a mapping of data between a source and a target to produce one or more possible drill-through paths between the source and the target, each drill-though path having one or more parameter mappings;

(b) means for accepting a request from a user for data;

(c) means for translating the request into a drill-through path selected from the possible drill-through paths between the source and the target;

(d) means for applying one or more parameters to the selected drill-through path to produce a valid parameter mapping and to transfer the requested data over the valid parameter mapping to the application; and

(e) display means for displaying the requested data to a user.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the means for translating further comprises:

(a) means for creating a list of parameters (query items) from source and target reports;

(b) means for determining, for each source parameter, a parameter mapping that maps the parameter to the target;

(c) means for collecting the parameter mappings as a single drill-through path; and

(c) means for duplicating the parameter mappings one for each duplicate target path to avoid conflicts in forming the filter path.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the source and the target are each of types which are selected from a group consisting of report and model.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein the source is of a type selected from 4 group consisting of report and model and the target is a cube derived from a dimension map using a transformation tool.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the drill-through path is defined by a Uniform Resource Locator (L).

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the drill-through path is defied by an HTML FORM template.

16. An apparatus for obtaining data from one or more compatible data sources for use within applications implementing a decision support system, the apparatus comprising:

(a) means for modeling a mapping of data between a source and a target to produce one or more possible drill-through paths between the source and the target, each drill-through path having one or more parameter mappings;

(b) means for accepting a request from a user for data;

(c) means for translating the request into a drill-through path selected from the one or more possible drill-through paths between the source and the target;

(d) means for applying one or more parameters to the selected drill-through path to produce a valid parameter mapping and to transfer the requested data over the valid parameter mapping to the application; and

(e) display means for displaying the requested data to the user.

17. Computer executable software code stored on a computer readable medium, the code for obtaining data from one or more compatible data sources for use wit applications implementing a decision support system, the code comprising,

(a) code for modeling a mapping of data between a source and a target to produce one or more possible drill-through paths between the source and the target, each drill-through path having one or more parameters;

(b) code for accepting a request from a user for data;

(c) code for slating the request into a drill-through selected from the one or more possible drill-through paths between the source and the target;

(d) code for applying one or more parameters to the selected drill-through path to produce a valid parameter mapping and m transfer the requested data over the valid parameter mapping to the application; and

(e) code for displaying the requested data to the user.