Online analytic processing cube with time stamping

• US 20100250412A1
• Filed: 03/25/2009
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH (The Woodbridge Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Reuters Global Resources Unlimited Company (The Woodbridge Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Wagner, Steven
• Granted Patent: US 9,830,366 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/31
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2465 Query processing support for facilitating data mining operations in structured databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2477 Temporal data queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2216/03 Data mining
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/123 Tax preparation or submission

Abstract

In one example embodiment, a system and method are shown for receiving data that include a time stamp. The system and method also include building an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube that includes a dimension, the dimension acting as a schema for the data that include the time stamp. The system and method may also include populating the OLAP cube with an object, the object including the data and the time stamp as at least one attribute. The system and method may also include storing the OLAP cube.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for performing tax calculations, the method comprising:

receiving data that includes a time stamp, the data for use in performing tax calculations;

building an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube that includes a dimension, the dimension acting as a schema for the data that includes the time stamp;

populating the OLAP cube with an object, the object including the data and the time stamp as at least one attribute;

storing the OLAP cube; and

using the OLAP cube to perform tax calculations and to generate a tax related data set, whereby using a time-based criteria the OLAP cube may be restored at a later date and after modifications to the data have occurred.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying the data to create modified data, the modifying categorized as an event; and

associating an additional time stamp with the modified data to reflect a time of the event.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising storing the event into an event history, the event history including a time of the event.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the data represents a first data version and the modified data represents a second data version and the OLAP cube represents a first OLAP cube version, and further comprising:

building a second OLAP cube version by populating the second OLAP cube version with an object that includes the second data version and the additional time stamp; and

using the second OLAP cube version to perform tax calculations and to generate a second tax related data set different from the first tax related data set.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, further comprising building a plurality of OLAP cube versions respectively using a plurality of data versions to respectively generate a plurality of tax related data sets.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising using a time-based criteria to selectively build one of the plurality of OLAP cube versions based on time-stamp data associated with the plurality of data versions.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the OLAP cube is stored into Random Access Memory (RAM).

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the dimension includes at least one of an entity dimension, an account dimension, or a jurisdiction dimension.

9. A computer-implemented method for performing tax calculations, the method comprising:

retrieving an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube populated with an object, the object including a time attribute and a data attribute;

performing a tax related calculation using the OLAP cube and data retrieved from the data attribute, the calculation reflecting the data at a time defined by the time attribute; and

displaying a result of the calculation associated with the time, the result including a tax related data set.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising performing a second calculation using the data retrieved from the data attribute, the second calculation reflecting the data at a second time defined by a second time attribute.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the time and the second time are part of an event history for the data, the event history including a history of modifications made to the data.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the OLAP cube includes a dimension that include at least one of an entity dimension, an account dimension, or a jurisdiction dimension.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising querying the OLAP cube using a Multidimensional Expression (MDX) language.

14. A computer system for processing tax related data in performing tax calculations, the system comprising:

a receiver to receive tax related data that includes a time stamp;

a cube building engine to build an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube that includes a dimension, the dimension acting as a schema for the tax related data that includes the time stamp;

an object population engine to populate the OLAP cube with an object, the object including the tax related data and the time stamp as at least one attribute;

a storage engine to store the OLAP cube; and

a processor adapted to use the OLAP cube to perform tax calculations and to generate a tax related result data set.

15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein after the tax related dated has been modified, the processor is further adapted to receive and process a time-based criteria to cause the cube building engine to build the OLAP cube using pre-modified tax related data based at least in part on the time stamp to thereby perform tax calculations to generate the tax related data set.

16. The computer system of claim 14, further comprising:

a data modification engine to modify the tax related data to create modified tax related data, the modification categorized as an event; and

an association engine to associate an additional time stamp with the modified tax related data to reflect a time of the event.

17. The computer system of claim 16, further comprising an event aggregation engine to store the event into an event history, the event history including the time of the event.

18. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the OLAP cube is stored into Random Access Memory (RAM).

19. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the dimension includes at least one of an entity dimension, an account dimension, or a jurisdiction dimension.

20. A computer system for processing tax related data in performing tax calculations, the system comprising:

a cube retrieval engine to retrieve an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube populated with an object, the object including a time attribute and a data attribute;

a tax calculation engine to perform a tax related calculation using tax related data retrieved from the data attribute, the tax related calculation reflecting the tax related data at a time defined by the time attribute; and

a display to display a tax related result of the calculation associated with the time.

21. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the tax calculation engine performs a second tax calculation, the second tax calculation uses the tax related data retrieved from the data attribute, and the second tax calculation reflects the tax related data at a second time defined by a second time attribute.

22. The computer system of claim 21, wherein the time and the second time are part of an event history for the tax related data, the event history including a history of modifications made to the tax related data.

23. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the OLAP cube includes a dimension that includes at least one of an entity dimension, an account dimension, or a jurisdiction dimension.

24. The computer system of claim 20, further comprising a query engine to query the OLAP cube through the use of a Multidimensional Expression (MDX) language.

25. An apparatus comprising:

means for retrieving an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube populated with an object, the object including a time attribute and a data attribute;

means for processing the OLAP cube to and performing a tax calculation using tax related data retrieved from the data attribute, the tax calculation reflecting the tax related data at a time defined by the time attribute; and

means for displaying a tax related result of the tax calculation associated with the time.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 further comprising means for modifying the tax related data and having a second time attribute associated with the modified tax related data, whereby the means for processing the OLAP cube performs a second tax calculation using the modified tax related data retrieved from the data attribute, the second tax calculation reflecting the modified tax related data at a second time defined by the second time attribute.

27. A machine-readable medium comprising instructions, which when implemented by one or more machines, cause the one or more machines to perform the following operations:

retrieve an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube populated with an object, the object including a time attribute and a data attribute;

perform a tax calculation using tax related data retrieved from the data attribute, the tax calculation reflecting the tax related data at a time defined by the time attribute; and

display a tax related result of the tax calculation associated with the time.

28. The machine-readable medium of claim 27 comprising instructions adapted to perform the additional operation of performing a second tax calculation using modified tax related data, the second tax calculation reflecting the modified tax related data at a second time defined by the time attribute.