System and method for managing and analyzing data from an operational database

• US 20060047715A1
• Filed: 08/27/2004
• Published: 03/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Archer Analytics Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Archer Analytics Incorporated
• Inventors: Parizeau, Doug
• Application Number:
  US10/927,762
• Publication Number:
  US 20060047715A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/219 Managing data history or versioning querying versioned data G06F16/2474; querying temporal data G06F16/2477
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2322 using timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A system and method for managing and analyzing data stored in an operational database, such as a Sales Force Automation (SFA) database, provides an analysis of changes to the data over time. An analytical database periodically obtaining a snapshot of an operational database. The analytical database identifies changes within the operational database between the snapshots. The analytical database can classify a type of change that has occurred within the operational database, and organize data copied from the database and calculated data indicative of the changes in the database in tables. The analytical database can provide a report containing information regarding changes in the database over time to a multidimensional analysis tool and/or back to the operational database to provide feedback regarding activity that is tracked by the operational database.

Claims

1. A method of managing data, comprising the steps of:

receiving, at a first point in time, a first copy of data stored in an operational database;

receiving, at a second point in time, a second copy of data stored in the operational database; and

comparing the first copy of data and the second copy of data to identify a change in the data stored in the operational database.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the operational database stores the data as a plurality of values, each value stored in a field of a record.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of comparing comprises identifying a change in a value stored in a field of a record of the database.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of sending a report identifying the change to the operational database.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving, at a third point in time, a third copy of data from the operational database.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of comparing said first copy of data and said third copy of data to identify a change in the data between the first point in time and the third point in time.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of comparing said second copy of data and said third copy of data to identify a change in the data between the second point in time and the third point in time.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the operational database comprises a sales force automation system.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of comparing comprises comparing a sales stage of an opportunity at the first point in time with a sale stage of the opportunity at the second point in time.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of classifying a type of change undergone by the opportunity using a reference tool.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of populating a field of a table with information representative of the type of change undergone by the opportunity.

12. An article of manufacture having computer-readable program means embodied thereon for managing data, the article comprising:

computer-readable program means for receiving, at a first point in time, a first copy of data from an operational database;

computer-readable program means for receiving, at a second point in time, a second copy of data from the operational database; and

computer-readable program means for comparing said first copy of data and second copy of data to provide a report identifying a change in the data between the first point in time and the second point in time.

13. A method of managing data, comprising the steps of:

receiving, at a first point in time, a first copy of data stored in an operational database,

receiving, at a second point in time, a second copy of data stored in the operational database;

comparing the first copy of data and the second copy of data to identify a change in the data stored in the operational database; and

entering a report identifying the change into a multidimensional analysis tool.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of analyzing the report using the multidimensional analysis tool.

15. An article of manufacture having computer-readable program means embodied thereon for managing data, the article comprising:

computer-readable program means for receiving, at a first point in time, a first copy of data from an operational database;

computer-readable program means for receiving, at a second point in time, a second copy of data from the operational database;

computer-readable program means for comparing said first copy of data and second copy of data to provide a report identifying a change in the data between the first point in time and the second point in time; and

computer-readable program means for entering a report identifying the change into a multidimensional analysis tool.

16. A method of managing transactional information relating to sales opportunities, comprising the steps of:

receiving and storing a first copy of data from a SFA database;

receiving and storing a second copy of data from the SFA database after a predetermined time period; and

identifying changes to the data stored in the SFA database over the predetermined time period.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the data is representative of one or more sales opportunities.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the data includes a sales stage of each of said one or more sales opportunities.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of classifying a type of change undergone by the sales stage of each of said one or more sales opportunities.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of providing a report identifying the changes to a multidimensional analysis tool.

21. An article of manufacture having computer-readable program means embodied thereon for managing data, the article comprising:

computer-readable program means for receiving and storing a first copy of data from a SFA database;

computer-readable program means for receiving and storing a second copy of data from the SFA database after a predetermined time period; and

computer-readable program means for identifying changes to the data stored in the SFA database over the predetermined time period.

22. A method of managing data, comprising the steps of:

storing, at a database, information indicative of a sales opportunity;

executing at a database, a query producing a plurality of records including all stales opportunities stored in the database;

storing, at a first time period, the plurality of records at a data management server;

updating the plurality of records in the database; and

storing, at a second time period, the updated plurality of records at the data management server.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of:

identifying changes in the records between the first time period and the second time period.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of:

producing a report that identifies the changes in the records.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising the step of transmitting the report to the database.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising the step of transmitting the report to a multidimensional analysis tool.