Automatically moving multidimensional data between live datacubes of enterprise software systems

• US 20060230067A1
• Filed: 04/12/2005
• Published: 10/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Tarnoff, Finuala, Bowen, David S., Pitstick, John Martin, Oppenheimer, Leonard Roy
• Granted Patent: US 8,468,125 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/254 Extract, transform and load [ETL] procedures, e.g. ETL data flows in data warehouses

Abstract

Techniques are described for sharing multidimensional data between software systems, such as enterprise software systems. Specifically, the techniques provide mechanisms for defining inter-application “links” for automatically moving data among different databases associated with the enterprise software systems. For example, a system may include a first database storing multidimensional data for a first software application, and a second database storing multidimensional data for a second software application. The system further includes an interface by which an administrator defines a link that specifies a source area of the first database and a target area of the second database. A link control module automatically moves multidimensional data from the source area to the target area in accordance with the link. The link control module may automatically move the multidimensional data directly between live portions of the respective databases.

Claims

1. A method for exporting data from a software system comprising:

defining a link from a first software application to a second software application, wherein the link specifies a source area of a multidimensional database associated with the first software application and a target area of a multidimensional database associated with the second software application; and

automatically moving multidimensional data from the source area to the target area in accordance with the link.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein defining a link comprises:

identifying a source data cube and a target data cube;

identifying a source dimension of the source data cube and a target dimension of the target data cube; and

defining a mapping between items of the source dimension and items of the target dimension.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein automatically moving multidimensional data includes moving the multidimensional data in accordance with the mapping.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

defining at least one data transformation; and

applying the transformation to the multidimensional data when moving the multidimensional data from the source area to the target area.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein defining a link comprises defining a data aggregation that maps a plurality of items along a source dimension to one item along a target dimension.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein defining a link comprises mapping an item along a source dimension to a plurality of if items along a target dimension.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

defining a schedule for invoking the link; and

automatically moving the multidimensional data in accordance with the schedule.

8. The method of claim 1,

wherein defining a link comprises defining an administrative link, and

wherein automatically moving multidimensional data comprises executing one or administrative jobs to move the multidimensional data.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

downloading multidimensional planning data to a client device of a user;

automatically moving the multidimensional data from the source ara to the planning data upon manual invocation of the link by the user; and

saving the planning data to the target area from the client device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically moving multidimensional data comprises moving the multidimensional data from a live source area storing current multidimensional data for the first software application to a live target area storing current multidimensional data associated with the second software application.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically moving multidimensional data comprises exporting a consistent set of data from the source area.

12. A system comprising:

a first database storing multidimensional data for a first software application;

a second database storing multidimensional data for a second software application;

an interface to receive input that defines a link specifying a source area of the first database and a target area of the second database; and

a link control module that automatically moves multidimensional data from the source area to the target area in accordance with the link.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the interface includes input areas by which an administrator defines the link by specifying a source data cube of the source database, a target data cube of the target database, a source dimension of the source data cube and a target dimension of the target data cube.

14. The system of claim 13,

wherein the interface includes input areas by which an administrator defines a mapping between items of the source dimension and items of the target dimension, and

wherein the link control module automatically moves the multidimensional data in accordance with the mapping.

15. The system of claim 12,

wherein the interface includes input areas by which an administrator defines at least one data transformation, and

wherein the link control module applies the transformation to the multidimensional data when moving the multidimensional data from the source area to the target area.

16. The system of claim 12,

wherein the interface includes input areas by which an administrator defines a data aggregation that maps a plurality of items along a source dimension to one item along a target dimension, and

wherein the link control module automatically aggregates at least a portion of the multidimensional data when moving the multidimensional data from the source area to the target area.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the interface includes input areas by which an administrator defines maps an item along a source dimension of the first database to a plurality of items along a target dimension of the second database.

18. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

an import queue within a live portion of the second database; and

an administrative job executing on at least one computer, wherein the administrative job automatically moves the multidimensional data from the first database to the import queue of the second database.

19. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a client device providing an operating environment for a planning software application,

wherein the planning software application downloads user-specific planning data from the second database to the client device, automatically retrieves the multidimensional data from the source area of the first database upon manual invocation of the link by a user, and saves the user-specific planning data and the multidimensional data to the target area from the client device.

20. The system of claim 12,

wherein the source area comprises a live source area that stores current multidimensional data for the first software application, and

wherein the target area comprises a live target area that stores current multidimensional data for the second software application.

21. A computer-readable medium comprising instruction that cause a programmable processor of a computing device to:

present a user interface to receive input specifying;

a source data cube,

a source dimension of the source data cube,

at least one item along the source dimension,

a target data cube,

a target dimension of the target data cube, and

at least one target item of the target dimension; and

automatically move multidimensional data associated with the source items of the source data cube to the target items of the target data cube.