CONCEPT-BASED DATA PROCESSING

• US 20110314034A1
• Filed: 06/17/2010
• Published: 12/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2010
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Inventors: Huff, Gerald B., Adhikari, Ram B.
• Application Number:
  US12/818,042
• Publication Number:
  US 20110314034A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/754
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24564 Applying rules; Deductive queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context

Abstract

The present embodiments provide a system that processes data. During operation, the system obtains, from a set of technical users, a set of concept definitions comprising filters against data in a data domain. Next, the system provides the concept definitions to a set of end users of the data. Finally, the system facilitates, for the end users, processing of the data by applying the concept definitions to the data.

Claims

1. A system for processing data, comprising:

a technical-user interface configured to obtain, from a set of technical users, a set of concept definitions comprising filters against data in a data domain;

an end-user interface configured to provide the concept definitions to a set of end users of the data; and

a data-processing apparatus configured to facilitate, for the end users, processing of the data by applying the concept definitions to the data.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a concept-processing apparatus configured to store the concept definitions in a concept repository.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the concept-processing apparatus is further configured to:

identify relationships between the concept definitions; and

annotate the concept definitions in the concept repository based on the relationships.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the technical-user interface is further configured to enable modification of the concept definitions in the concept repository by the technical users.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the technical-user interface and the end-user interface are provided by at least one of an application, a plugin, and a website.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein providing the concept definitions to the end users involves at least one of:

displaying one or more concept descriptions from the concept definitions to the end users; and

enabling searches of the concept definitions by the end users.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein facilitating processing of the data by the end users involves at least one of:

retrieving data associated with the concept definitions for the end users;

combining two or more concept definitions;

modifying parameters associated with the concept definitions; and

generating reports from the data using the concept definitions.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the data domain is associated with at least one of a data provider and a relational database.

9. A computer-implemented method for processing data, comprising:

obtaining, from a set of technical users, a set of concept definitions comprising filters against data in a data domain;

providing the concept definitions to a set of end users of the data; and

facilitating, for the end users, processing of the data by applying the concept definitions to the data.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

storing the concept definitions in a concept repository.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising:

enabling modification of the concept definitions in the concept repository by the technical users.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the concept definitions are provided to the end users using at least one of an application, a plugin, and a website.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein providing the concept definitions to the end users involves at least one of:

displaying one or more concept descriptions from the concept definitions to the end users; and

enabling searches of the concept definitions by the end users.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein facilitating processing of the data by the end users involves at least one of:

retrieving data associated with the concept definitions for the end users;

combining two or more concept definitions;

identifying relationships between the concept definitions;

modifying parameters associated with the concept definitions; and

generating reports from the data using the concept definitions.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the data domain is associated with at least one of a data provider and a relational database.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein each of the concept definitions corresponds to an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document.

17. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for processing data, the method comprising:

obtaining, from a set of technical users, a set of concept definitions comprising filters against data in a data domain;

providing the concept definitions to a set of end users of the data; and

facilitating, for the end users, processing of the data by applying the concept definitions to the data.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, the method further comprising:

storing the concept definitions in a concept repository.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, the method further comprising:

enabling modification of the concept definitions in the concept repository by the technical users.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the concept definitions are provided to the end users using at least one of an application, a plugin, and a website.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein providing the concept definitions to the end users involves at least one of:

displaying one or more concept descriptions from the concept definitions to the end users; and

enabling searches of the concept definitions by the end users.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein facilitating processing of the data by the end users involves at least one of:

retrieving data associated with the concept definitions for the end users;

combining two or more concept definitions;

identifying relationships between the concept definitions;

modifying parameters associated with the concept definitions; and

generating reports from the data using the concept definitions.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the data domain is associated with at least one of a data provider and a relational database.