PORTABLE DATA MANAGEMENT

• US 20110178971A1
• Filed: 01/15/2010
• Published: 07/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Meeks, David T., Saillet, Yannick
• Granted Patent: US 8,478,705 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 706/47
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/025 Extracting rules from data

Abstract

Embodiments for methods, systems, and computer program products for creating and managing a portable data rule using an electronic computing device are presented including: causing the electronic computing device to create a rule definition including, defining an expression by a user, where the expression defines a logic of a rule, causing the electronic computing device to parse the expression into a logical variable associated with the expression, causing the electronic computing device to identify the logical variable, and causing the electronic computing device to store the rule definition, where the rule definition includes the expression and the logical variable. In some embodiments, the causing the electronic computing device to identify the logical variable includes: causing the electronic computing device to return a name of the logical variable; and causing the electronic computing device to return an expected type of the logical variable.

Claims

1. A method for creating and managing a portable data rule using an electronic computing device, the method comprising:

causing the electronic computing device to create a rule definition, the causing the electronic computing device to create the rule definition includes,

defining an expression by a user, wherein the expression defines a logic of a rule,

causing the electronic computing device to parse the expression into at least one logical variable associated with the expression,

causing the electronic computing device to identify the at least one logical variable, and

causing the electronic computing device to store the rule definition, wherein the rule definition includes at least the expression and the at least one logical variable.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the causing the electronic computing device to identify the at least one logical variable comprising:

causing the electronic computing device to return a name of the at least one logical variable; and

causing the electronic computing device to return an expected type of the at least one logical variable.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the identifying the at least one logical variable further comprises:

causing the electronic computing device to return a default binding target.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

before the causing the electronic computing device to store the rule definition, validating the rule definition, the validating the rule definition including,

creating a temporary rule executable,

executing the temporary rule executable, and

if the executing the temporary rule executable is not valid, returning to the defining the expression by the user.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the temporary rule executable comprises:

a reference to at least one rule definition;

a temporary binding list, wherein the temporary binding list includes,

a temporary name of the at least one logical variable,

a temporary type of the at least one logical variable, and

a temporary binding target of the at least one logical variable.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a stored rule definition;

causing the electronic device to extract the at least one logical variable associated with the expression;

causing the electronic device to bind the at least one logical variable with a target;

causing the electronic device to generate a rule executable, wherein the rule executable is a physical implementation of the rule definition; and

causing the electronic device to execute the rule executable.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the causing the electronic device to bind the at least one logical variable with a target is bound by a method selected from the group consisting of:

creating a new target binding, selecting a default target binding, and modifying an existing target binding.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the rule executable comprises:

a reference to at least one rule definition;

a binding list, wherein the binding list includes,

the name of the at least one logical variable,

a type of the at least one logical variable, and

a binding target for the at least one logical variable.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the rule executable further comprises:

an output specification for determining how an output is presented;

a join condition for presenting how the binding target is utilized to join a table during the executing of the rule executable;

a runtime settings for determining how the rule executable will access the data store; and

an execution history for logging statistics of the executing of the rule executable.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the statistics are selected from the group consisting of:

a run number, a run start date, a run start time, a run row information, a run row pass percentage, a run ID, a user name, a run duration, a total number of analyzed rows, a variance to a predefined benchmark, a rule set record pass percentage, a rule set row pass percentage, a rule set standard deviation, a rule set row per rule pass percentage, a rule set row rule fail rate, and a rule set row detail result.

11. A system for defining and managing a plurality of portable data rules comprising:

a user interface for managing I/O functions of the system, the user interface including a rule editor, wherein the rule editor is configured for defining a plurality of rule definitions;

a rule repository for storing the plurality of rule definitions;

a data processing engine in electronic communication with the user interface and the rule repository for generating and executing a rule executable, wherein the rule executable is one of the plurality of portable data rules; and

a data store in electronic communication with the data processing engine for storing data upon which the rule executable operates.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of rule definitions comprises:

an expression for each of the plurality of rule definitions, wherein the expression defines a logic of a rule, wherein the logic of the rule includes at least one logical variable; and

a logical variable list, wherein the logical variable list includes,

a name of the at least one logical variable, and

an expected type of the at least one logical variable.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the logical variable list further comprises a default binding target of the at least one logical variable.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the rule executable comprises:

a reference to at least one of the plurality of rule definitions;

a binding list, wherein the binding list includes,

the name of the at least one logical variable,

a type of the at least one logical variable, and

a binding target for the at least one logical variable.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the rule executable further comprises:

an output specification for determining how an output is presented;

a join condition for presenting how the binding target is utilized to join a plurality of tables during an executing of the rule executable;

a runtime settings for determining how the rule executable will access the data store; and

an execution history for logging statistics of the executing of the rule executable.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the statistics are selected from the group consisting of:

a run number, a run start date, a run start time, a run row information, a run row pass percentage, a run ID, a user name, a run duration, a total number of analyzed rows, a variance to a predefined benchmark, a rule set record pass percentage, a rule set row pass percentage, a rule set standard deviation, a rule set row per rule pass percentage, a rule set row rule fail rate, and a rule set row detail result.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the binding target is selected from the group consisting of:

a physical column, a physical table, a constant, a project variable, and a system variable.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the expression is selected from the group consisting of:

a logical expression, a model, and a matrix.

19. The system of claim 12, further comprising a rule set, the rule set including:

at least two of the plurality of rule definitions;

a public logical variable list, wherein, wherein the public logical variable list includes,

a public logical variable name of the at least one logical variable corresponding with the at least two of the plurality of rule definitions, wherein the public logical variable name corresponds with a public logical variable, and wherein the public logical variable is internally bound with the at least one logical variable, and

an expected public type of the at least one logical variable corresponding with the at least two of the plurality of rule definitions.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein public logical variable list further comprises a public default binding target for each of the at least one logical variables.

21. A computing device program product for creating and managing a portable data rule using a computing device, the computing device program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium;

first programmatic instructions for creating a rule definition including,

second programmatic instructions for defining an expression by a user, wherein the expression defines a logic of a rule,

third programmatic instructions for parsing the expression into at least one logical variable associated with the expression,

fourth programmatic instructions for identifying the at least one logical variable, and

fifth programmatic instructions for storing the rule definition, wherein the rule definition includes at least the expression and the at least one logical variable, wherein the programmatic instruction are stored on the computer readable storage medium.

22. The computing device program product of claim 21, further comprising:

sixth programmatic instructions for selecting a stored rule definition;

seventh programmatic instructions for extracting the at least one logical variable associated with the expression;

eighth programmatic instructions for binding the at least one logical variable with a target;

ninth programmatic instructions for generating a rule executable, wherein the rule executable is a physical implementation of the rule definition; and

tenth programmatic instructions for executing the rule executable.

23. The computing device program product of claim 21, wherein the fourth programmatic instructions for identifying the at least one logical variable comprises:

eleventh programmatic instructions for returning a name of the at least one logical variable;

twelfth programmatic instructions for returning an expected type of the at least one logical variable; and

thirteenth programmatic instructions for returning a default binding target.

24. The computing device program product of claim 22, wherein the rule executable comprises:

a reference to at least one rule definition;

a binding list, wherein the binding list includes,

the name of the at least one logical variable,

a type of the at least one logical variable, and

a binding target for the at least one logical variable.

25. The computing device program product of claim 24, wherein the rule executable further comprises:

an output specification for determining how an output is presented;

a join condition for presenting how the binding target is utilized to join a table during the executing of the rule executable;

a runtime settings for determining how the rule executable will access the data store; and

an execution history for logging statistics of the executing of the rule executable.