DIMENSION-BASED FINANCIAL REPORTING USING MULTIPLE COMBINATIONS OF DIMENSIONS

• US 20090319403A1
• Filed: 06/23/2008
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ford, Amy Lynn, Evans, Michael Ricke, Schlueter, Geoffrey Richard, Bush, Michael Allen
• Granted Patent: US 8,417,594 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

Tools and techniques are described for dimension-based financial reporting using multiple combinations of dimensions. These tools may provide methods that include receiving requests, submitted on behalf of users of dimension-based financial reporting systems. These methods may create reports from the financial reporting systems. In some cases, these requests from the users may reference incomplete account structures, and may also specify customized hierarchies for the reports. In such cases, the methods may determine that these requests reference incomplete account structures, and may transform the incomplete account structures to create fully-qualified requests. In addition, these methods may include identifying dimensions, as maintained by the financial reporting systems, that are responsive to the requests, and may combine these dimensions into responses to the requests.

Claims

1. At least one computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method comprising:

receiving a request from at least one user to create a report to be populated from a dimension-based financial reporting system;

receiving a representation of at least one customized hierarchy for creating the report; and

sending a further request, on behalf of the user, to the financial reporting system to create the report, wherein the further request references at least one incomplete account structure.

2. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions for receiving the representation of the customized hierarchy include instructions for receiving a representation of a hierarchy specifies a plurality of dimensions to be incorporated within the report.

3. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions for receiving a request from the user include instructions for receiving a request that specifies least one group of dimensions to be incorporated within the report.

4. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions for receiving a request from the user include instructions for receiving a request that specifies least one range of dimensions to be incorporated within the report.

5. The storage medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions for receiving from the financial reporting system a response to the further request, wherein the response is reported according to the customized hierarchy.

6. At least one computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method comprising:

receiving a request, submitted on behalf of a user of a dimension-based financial reporting system, to create a report from the financial reporting system, wherein the request references at least one incomplete account structure, and specifies a least one customized hierarchy for the report;

determining that the request references an incomplete account structure;

transforming the incomplete account structure to create a fully-qualified request;

identifying a plurality of dimensions maintained by the financial reporting system that are responsive to the request; and

combining the dimensions into a response to the request.

7. The storage medium of claim 6, wherein the instructions for determining that the request references an incomplete account structure include instructions for determining that least one of the dimensions referenced by the request is not fully populated.

8. The storage medium of claim 6, further comprising instructions for submitting at least one query to a general ledger system with the fully-qualified request.

9. The storage medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions for receiving a response from the general ledger system to the fully-qualified request,

10. The storage medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions for processing a response to the query through the customized reporting hierarchy.

11. The storage medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions for processing the response include instructions for filtering the response through a plurality of dimensions specified by the customized reporting hierarchy.

12. The storage medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions for processing the response include instructions for filtering the response through a plurality of members associated with at least one of the dimensions specified by the customized reporting hierarchy.

13. The storage medium of claim 6, wherein the instructions for combining the dimensions include instructions for processing a range of dimensions specified in the request.

14. The storage medium of claim 6, wherein the instructions for combining the dimensions include instructions for processing at least one group of dimensions specified in the request.

15. The storage medium of claim 6, wherein the instructions for receiving a request include instructions for receiving a request that references a combination of the dimensions.

16. The storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions for receiving a request include instructions for receiving at least a further request that references a further combination of the dimensions.

17. The storage medium of claim 6, wherein the instructions for transforming the incomplete account structure include instructions for creating a fully-qualified account by filling in the incomplete account structure with wildcards.

18. At least one computer-readable storage medium encoded with a data structure, the data structure comprising:

a plurality of representations of respective dimensions for organizing information corresponding to a plurality of reported financial transactions, wherein at least some of the dimensions are populated to include information related to members of the dimensions; and

a hierarchy for reporting information related to at least some of the financial transactions, wherein the hierarchy is customized in response to user input to incorporate at least some of the dimensions.

19. The storage medium of claim 18, wherein at least a first one of the dimensions is fully populated with information pertaining to the financial transactions, and wherein at least a second one of the dimensions is not fully populated.

20. The storage medium of claim 19, wherein the data structure is responsive to at least one query to return at least the first and the second dimensions.