Report management system

• US 20070239508A1
• Filed: 06/30/2006
• Published: 10/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Daedalus Blue LLC
• Original Assignee: Cognos Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Adendorff, Michael, Fazal, Tom, Palmer, Simon
• Granted Patent: US 7,870,016 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A report management system is provided for creating reports to be used by a business intelligence tool that generates instances of reports including information retrieved from one or more underlying data sources. The report management system has an interactive modeling user interface for receiving user inputs and presenting options for management of reports, a content group manager for manipulation of definition of content groups in response to user inputs through the modeling user interface, a measure assignment manager for managing assignment of measures to the content groups in response to user inputs through the modeling user interface, and a report assembler for assembling reports for the content groups based on information of the measures assigned to the content groups.

Claims

1. A report management system for managing reports to be used by a business intelligence tool that generates instances of reports including information retrieved from one or more underlying data sources;

the report management system comprising;

an interactive modeling user interface for receiving user inputs and presenting options for management of reports;

a content group manager for manipulation of definition of content groups in response to user inputs through the modeling user interface;

a measure assignment manager for managing assignment of measures to the content groups in response to user inputs through the modeling user interface; and

a report assembler for assembling reports for the content groups based on information of the measures assigned to the content groups.

2. The report management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the content group manager allows the user to use the content groups defined based on business processes in an organization.

3. The report management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the content group manager allows the user to use the content groups defined based on business function in an organization.

4. The report management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the content group manager allows the user to use the content groups defined based on user roles in an organization.

5. The report management system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the content group manager presents a user role hierarchy based on an organization structure.

6. The report management system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the content group manager allows the user to add a new user role or modify an existing user role in the user role hierarchy.

7. The report management system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the measure assignment manager presents for user'"'"'s selection measures available for a selected user role based on measures available for a parent user role of the selected user role in the user role hierarchy.

8. The report management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the measure assignment manager presents for user'"'"'s selection measures available for a selected content group based on a metadata model representing the underlying data sources.

9. The report management system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

a report refiner for refining the reports assembled by the report assembler in response to user'"'"'s input through the modeling user interface.

10. The report management system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the report refiner comprises

an impact relationship handler for handling manipulation of dependency between measures.

11. The report management system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the report refiner comprises

a dimension handler for handling refinement of dimensions for the measures assigned to the content groups.

12. The report management system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the report refiner comprises

a display style handler for handling settings of display style for dimensional breakdown of one or more measures.

13. The report management system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the report refiner comprises

a layout template handler for handling definition of layout templates for the reports.

14. The report management system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the report refiner comprises

a context filter handler for handling definition of context filter for the content groups.

15. The report management system as claimed in claim 9, wherein one or more of the content groups are defined based on user roles, and the report refiner comprises

an external user role handler for handling mapping between external users listed in an existing directory and user roles.

16. The report management system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising an information model for storing the definition of the content groups, measures assigned to the content groups, and assembled reports.

17. A method of managing reports to be used by a business intelligence tool that generates instances of reports including information retrieved from one or more underlying data sources, the method comprising steps of:

receiving a user input to select a content group;

receiving user input of selection of one or more measures for the selected content group;

assigning the selected measures to the selected content groups; and

assembling a report for the selected content group based on information of the measures assigned to the selected content group.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17 further comprising the step of:

receiving a user input to manipulate the selected content group; and

modifying the selected content group in accordance with the user input.

19. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the receiving a user input to select a content group allows the user to select a content groups defined based on a business process or a business function in an organization.

20. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the content group manager allows the user to use the content groups defined based on functionality in an organization.

21. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the content group manager allows the user to use the content groups defined based on user roles in an organization.

22. The method as claimed in claim 21 further comprising the step of presenting a user role structure as a user role hierarchy corresponding to an organization structure.

23. The method as claimed in claim 22 further comprising the step of allowing the user to add a new user role in the user role hierarchy.

24. The method as claimed in claim 22 further comprising the step of presenting for user'"'"'s selection measures available for the selected user role based on measures available for a parent user role of the selected user role in the user role hierarchy.

25. The method as claimed in claim 17 further comprising the step of presenting for user'"'"'s selection measures available for the selected content group based on a metadata model representing the underlying data sources.

26. The method as claimed in claim 17 further comprising the steps of:

assembling a report for the selected content group;

presenting the assembled report;

receiving users input for refining the report; and

refining the report in response to the users input.

27. The method as claimed in claim 26, wherein the report refining step comprises the step of manipulating dependency between the measures assigned to the selected content group.

28. The method as claimed in claim 26, wherein the report refining step comprises the step of refining dimensions for the measures assigned to the selected content group.

29. The method as claimed in claim 26, wherein the report refining step comprises the step manipulating settings of display style for dimensional breakdown of one or more measures assigned to the selected content group.

30. The method as claimed in claim 26, wherein the report refining step comprises the step of manipulating definition of layout templates for the reports.

31. The method as claimed in claim 26, wherein the report refining step comprises the step of manipulating definition of context filter for the selected content group.

32. The method as claimed in claim 26, wherein the report refining step comprises the step of mapping external users listed in an existing directory to the selected content group.

33. The method as claimed in claim 17 further comprising the step of storing the definition of the content groups, measures assigned to the users, and assembled reports.

34. A computer readable medium storing instructions or statements for use in the execution in a computer of a method of managing reports to be used by a business intelligence tool that generates instances of reports including information retrieved from one or more underlying data sources, the method comprising steps of:

receiving a user input to select a content group;

receiving user input of selection of one or more measures for the selected content group;

assigning the selected measures to the selected content groups; and

assembling a report for the selected content group based on information of the measures assigned to the selected content group.

35. A propagated signal carrier carrying signals containing computer executable instructions that can be read and executed by a computer, the computer executable instructions being used to execute a method of managing reports to be used by a business intelligence tool that generates instances of reports including information retrieved from one or more underlying data sources, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a user input to select a content group;

receiving user input of selection of one or more measures for the selected content group;

assigning the selected measures to the selected content groups; and

assembling a report for the selected content group based on information of the measures assigned to the selected content group.