SUPPLEMENTAL SYSTEM FOR BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS

• US 20150025925A1
• Filed: 07/21/2014
• Published: 01/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motio Incorporated (Peak6 LLC)
• Original Assignee: Motio Incorporated (Peak6 LLC)
• Inventors: Moore, Roger, Kaplonski, Edward
• Granted Patent: US 10,346,770 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.11
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management

Abstract

In various implementations, a supplemental system may be provided. The supplemental system may be coupled to business intelligence environment(s) to facilitate deployment, version control, testing, and/or other processes. In some implementations, the supplemental system may be communicably coupled to an external version control. The external version control may store one or more versions of components of the business intelligence environment(s) and the supplemental system may utilize the versions to perform one or more operations, such as, but not limited to, facilitating deployment, version controlling, and/or testing. In some implementations, the supplemental system may utilize information from a ticket manager in deployments of BI Artifact(s).

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining a set of alterations to a first copy of a set of BI Artifacts;

receiving a request from a user to commit the set of alterations to a BI environment;

transmitting the set of alterations to an external version control;

receiving a conflict notification from the external version control based at least partially on the transmitted set of alterations and a second copy of the set of BI Artifacts stored in a memory of the external version control, wherein the conflict notification identifies whether a conflict exists between the transmitted set of alterations and the second copy of the set BI Artifacts;

determining whether a conflict exists between the transmitted set of alterations and the second copy of the set of BI Artifacts based on at least one of the conflict notification or one or more conflict assistance tests, wherein at least one of the conflict assistance tests is based on a comparison between the second copy of the set of BI Artifacts and the first copy of the set of BI Artifacts;

transmitting a request to the external version control to commit the alterations to the second copy of the set of BI Artifacts residing in the external version control if a determination is made that a conflict does not exist; and

transmitting a request to the BI environment to change the set of BI Artifacts in the BI environment based on the set of alterations if a determination is made that a conflict does not exist.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first copy includes a first version of a first BI Artifact and the second copy includes a second version of the first BI Artifact.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first copy of the set of BI Artifacts resides in the BI environment such that the first copy of the set of BI Artifacts does not overwrite the set of BI Artifacts in the BI environment.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising if a determination is made that a conflict exists, restricting at least one of:

commitment of the set of alterations to the external version control;

or changes to the set of BI Artifacts in the BI environment based on the set of alterations.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the conflict assistance tests is based on a comparison between a portion of the first copy of the set of BI Artifacts that was not altered by the set of alterations and a corresponding portion in the second copy of the set of BI Artifacts.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating a third copy of the set of BI Artifacts by retrieving the second copy of the set of BI Artifacts from the external version control;

identifying a set of differences between the third copy of the set of BI Artifacts and the first copy of the set of BI Artifacts;

merging the identified set of differences into the first copy of the set of BI Artifacts to create a merged copy of the set of BI Artifacts;

allowing one or more of the conflict assistance tests to be applied to the merged copy of the set of BI Artifacts;

determining whether a conflict exists between the first copy of the set of BI Artifacts and the third copy of the set of BI Artifacts based at least partially on the results of one or more of the conflict assistance tests;

transmitting the merged copy of the set of BI Artifacts to the external version control to commit the merged copy of the set of BI Artifacts, if a determination is made that a conflict does not exist between the first copy of the set of BI Artifacts and the third copy of the set of BI Artifacts; and

restricting transmission of the merged copy of the set of BI Artifacts to the external version control, if a determination is made that a conflict does exist between the first copy of the set of BI Artifacts and the third copy of the set of BI Artifacts.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

identifying the conflict if a determination is made that a conflict does exist between the first copy of the set of BI Artifacts and the third copy of the set of BI Artifacts; and

allowing a user to provide a second set of alterations to the first copy of the set of BI Artifacts such that the conflict is resolved.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

transmitting the provided second set of alterations to the external version control;

receiving a second conflict notification from the external version control based on the transmitted second set of alterations and the second copy of the set of BI Artifacts stored in a memory of the external version control; and

wherein the second conflict notification identifies whether a conflict exists between the transmitted second set of alterations and the second copy of the set BI Artifacts;

determining whether a second conflict exists between the transmitted second set of alterations and the second copy of the set of BI Artifacts based at least partially on the second conflict notification;

allowing the second set of alterations to be committed to the external version control if a determination is made that a second conflict does not exist; and

allowing the set of BI Artifacts in the BI environment to be changed based on the second set of alterations if a determination is made that a second conflict does not exist.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the set of alterations comprises intercepting one or more communications in the BI environment, wherein intercepting one or more communications comprises intercepting at least one of:

database queries in the BI environment,

communications from a message bus,

or communications in the BI environment between a user and the BI environment related to changes to a set of BI Artifacts.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying a request from a first user for access to a set of BI Artifacts that resides in a first BI environment;

determining the contents of the requested set of BI Artifacts;

determining a version identification for each of the BI Artifacts in the requested set of BI Artifacts from the external version control;

generating a first copy of the requested set of BI Artifacts in the first BI environment such that the generated first copy of the requested set of BI Artifacts does not overwrite the set of BI Artifacts that resides in the first BI environment;

generating a check out record based on the determined version identification of one or more of the BI Artifacts in the requested set of BI Artifacts and user information associated with the first user; and

storing the generated check out record in a memory coupled to the SI system.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein generating a first copy of the requested set of BI Artifacts in the first BI environment comprises generating the first copy on a local drive.

12. A method comprising:

requesting a listing of tickets from an external ticket manager, wherein a ticket is associated with one or more BI Artifacts, and wherein to obtain approval of the ticket at least one of the associated BI Artifacts is changed;

presenting a listing of approved tickets to a user, wherein the listing of approved tickets is based on the requested listing of tickets and identification of approval of tickets from the external ticket manager;

receiving a selection of a set of approved tickets from the listing of approved tickets;

identifying a set of alterations to one or more BI Artifacts associated with the selected set of approved tickets;

receiving a selection of at least a portion of the set of alterations to generate a second set of alterations to deploy in a BI environment;

transmitting the second set of alterations to an external version control;

receiving a conflict notification from the external version control based on the transmitted second set of alterations and a first copy of the set of BI Artifacts stored in a memory of the external version control, wherein the conflict notification identifies whether a conflict exists between the transmitted second set of alterations and the first copy of the set of BI Artifacts;

determining whether a conflict exists between the transmitted second set of alterations and the first copy of the set of BI Artifacts based on the conflict notification;

requesting commitment of the second set of alterations to the set of BI Artifacts residing in external version control if a determination is made that a conflict does not exist; and

requesting at least one change to the set of BI Artifacts in the BI environment based on the second set of alterations if a determination is made that a conflict does not exist.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein determining whether a conflict exists between the transmitted second set of alterations and the second copy of the set of BI Artifacts is further based on one or more conflict assistance tests, wherein at least one of the conflict assistance tests is based on a comparison between the first copy of the set of BI Artifacts and the one or more BI Artifacts associated with the selected set of ticket.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

generating a third copy of the set of BI Artifacts by retrieving a second copy of the set of BI Artifacts in the external version control;

merging the set of BI Artifacts with the third copy of the set of BI Artifacts to generate a merged set of BI Artifacts, wherein merging the set of BI Artifacts with the third copy of the set of BI Artifacts comprises applying the second set of alterations to the third copy of the set of BI Artifacts;

transmitting the merged set of BI Artifacts to the external version control;

determining if a conflict exists based on the transmission of the merged set of BI Artifacts to the external version control; and

if a determination is made that a conflict does not exist, requesting that the set of BI Artifacts in the BI environment be changed based on at least one of;

the second set of alterations,

or the merged copy.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein determining if a conflict exists is further based on one or more conflict assistance tests, and wherein at least one of the conflict assistance tests is based on a comparison between the third copy of the set of BI Artifacts and the set of BI Artifacts associated with the selected set of tickets.

16. A method of managing versions of BI Artifacts comprising:

accessing communications in a BI environment between a user and the BI environment related to a set of BI Artifacts;

identifying a first change requested by the user via an interface in the BI environment to the set of BI Artifacts prior to allowing the first change to be transmitted to one or more other components of the BI environment to process the first change;

determining whether to allow the requested first change to the set of BI Artifacts in the BI environment based at least partially on one or more conflict assistance tests, wherein at least one of the conflict assistance tests is based at least partially on the requested first change to at least one of the BI Artifacts of the set of BI Artifacts;

presenting at least one notification to the user in an interface of the BI environment based at least partially on one or more results of at least one of the conflict assistance tests; and

allowing the requested first change to the set of BI Artifacts in the BI environment by transmitting the requested first change to one or more of the other components of the BI environment if a determination is made to allow the requested first change to the set of BI Artifacts.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising restricting the requested first change to the set of BI Artifacts in the BI environment if a determination is made to not allow the requested first change to the set of BI Artifacts.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein presenting at least one notification comprises presenting a conflict;

and further comprising;

receiving a second change in the BI environment from the user to resolve the conflict, if a determination is made to not allow the requested first change;

generating a set of alterations based on the identified first change and the received second change; and

transmitting the generated set of alterations to one or more of the other components of the BI environment to allow the set of alterations to be made to the set of BI Artifacts in the BI environment.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein identifying a first change requested by the user in the BI environment to the set of BI Artifacts comprises:

determining if at least one of the communications in the BI environment between the user and the BI environment related to a set of BI Artifacts is included in a predetermined listing of changes;

determining that the first change has occurred if at least one of the communications in the BI environment between the user and the BI environment related to the set of BI Artifacts is included in the predetermined listing of changes; and

determining that the first change has not occurred if at least one of the communications in the BI environment between the user and the BI environment related to the set of BI Artifacts is not included in the predetermined listing of changes.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein accessing communications in the BI environment between the user and the BI environment related to the set of BI Artifacts comprises intercepting communications from a BI Bus of a BI environment;

and further comprising;

identifying a second change requested by the user based on the intercepted communications from the BI Bus;

allowing one or more conflict assistance tests based at least partially on the requested second change to at least one of the BI Artifacts of the set of BI Artifacts, wherein allowing one or more conflict assistance tests comprises at least one of requesting execution of at least one conflict assistance test in the BI environment or executing at least one conflict assistance test in the BI environment; and

presenting at least one notification to the user in an interface of the BI environment based on one or more results of one or more of the conflict assistance tests.

21. The method of claim 16 wherein accessing communications in the BI environment between the user and the BI environment related to the set of BI Artifacts comprises intercepting database queries of a BI system;

and further comprising;

identifying a second change requested by the user based on the intercepted database queries;

allowing one or more conflict assistance tests based at least partially on the requested second change to at least one of the BI Artifacts of the set of BI Artifacts; and

presenting at least one notification to the user in an interface of the BI environment based on one or more results of at least one of the conflict assistance tests.

22. The method of claim 16 wherein accessing communications in the BI environment between the user and the BI environment related to the set of BI Artifacts comprises intercepting communications, wherein intercepting communications comprises intercepting at least one of database queries or communications from a message bus of a BI system;

and further comprising;

identifying a second change requested by the user based on the intercepted database queries;

allowing one or more conflict assistance tests based at least partially on the requested second change to at least one of the BI Artifacts of the set of BI Artifacts; and

presenting at least one notification to the user in an interface of the BI environment based on one or more results of at least one of the conflict assistance tests.