Apparatus and method for selecting a subset of report templates based on specified criteria

• US 20070203935A1
• Filed: 02/28/2006
• Published: 08/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Business Objects Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Original Assignee: Business Objects SA (SAP SE)
• Inventors: de Souza, Pedro
• Granted Patent: US 7,475,062 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A computer readable medium with executable instructions, includes instructions to process metadata associated with a set of report templates. A subset of report templates is selected from the set of report templates using the metadata. The subset of report templates maximizes a reporting objective subject to a selection rule as specified by the metadata. The subset of report templates is returned.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium with executable instructions, comprising instructions to:

process metadata associated with a set of report templates;

select a subset of report templates from the set of report templates using the metadata, wherein the subset of report templates maximizes a reporting objective subject to a selection rule as specified by the metadata; and

return the subset of report templates.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the instructions to select the subset of report templates from the set of report templates utilize an iterative selection.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 2 further comprising executable instructions to:

select a first report template from the set of report templates;

remove the first report template from the set of report templates; and

insert the first report template into the subset of report templates.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 3 further comprising executable instructions to update the set of metadata to reflect the removal of the first report template from the set of report templates.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 3 further comprising executable instructions to remove a second report template from the set of report templates.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the instructions to select the subset of report templates from the set of report templates utilize a greedy process.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the instructions to select the subset of report templates from the set of report templates utilize a global selection process.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 1 further comprising executable instructions to:

create a ranking for a plurality of subsets drawn from the set of report templates; and

return the ranking for the plurality of subsets.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the instructions to select the subset of report templates from the set of report templates utilize an optimized search over a plurality of subsets drawn from the set of report templates.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the instructions to process the set of metadata include instructions to compute a metric.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the instructions to process metadata include instructions to construct a selection table including a set of dynamic metadata and a set of static metadata.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 1 further comprising executable instructions to offer for sale the subset of report templates.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein metadata includes an element of metadata selected from the group consisting of:

a second plurality of report templates; and

a plurality of names for the second plurality of report templates.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the metadata includes an element of metadata selected from the group consisting of:

a model determining costs associated with deploying the subset of report templates;

a model for inter report template dependencies; and

a model for inter report template synergies.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the metadata includes an element of metadata selected from the group consisting of:

a question; and

a rating for the question.

16. A computer implemented method comprising:

specifying a reporting objective;

receiving metadata for a first set of report templates; and

applying the reporting objective to select a subset of report templates from the first set of report templates based on the metadata.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising generating a digital signal embodied in a carrier wave that includes the subset of report templates.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the set of metadata includes an element of metadata selected from the group consisting of:

a second set of report templates;

a selection rule;

a question;

a rating for the question; and

a model determining costs associated with deploying the subset of report templates.

19. The method of claim 16 further comprising processing the metadata such that a metric for each report template in a representative subset of report templates from the first set of report templates is computed.

20. The method of claim 16 further comprising constructing a selection table for the set of report templates based on the metadata.

21. The method of claim 16 wherein the reporting objective is an objective of a customer.