System and method for analyzing statistics in a reporting system

• US 7,617,201 B1
• Filed: 06/20/2001
• Issued: 11/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microstrategy Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Microstrategy Incorporated
• Inventors: Hutz, David, Meyer, Douglas F., Bedell, Jeffrey A., Ramachandran, Ramkumar, Orozco, Luis V., Codini, Michael, Trundle, Steven S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wassum; Luke S
• Application Number:
  US09/884,467
• Time in Patent Office: 3,065 Days
• Field of Search: 707/102, 705/7
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2462 Approximate or statistical queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

A system and method for monitoring and analyzing statistics regarding informational and transactional data is provided. Data distribution servers provide e-mail and other messages of topical interest to a subset of the subscribers. The content may be generated by an OLAP based channel database system, and the output may also be communicated to individuals via spreadsheet programs data, pager, telephone, mobile phone, fax, personal digital assistants, HTML e-mail and other formats, including a workbook file attachment. Statistics regarding the provided reports are generated and compiled. Analysis of the statistics may enable evaluations of system performance, application usage, and optimal configurations for the system.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for capturing at least one statistic or data regarding performance operation of a business intelligence reporting system that generates business intelligence reports based on requests submitted to perform analysis of data contained in a database, the method comprising the steps of:

gathering at least one statistic or data related to the performance operation of the reporting system while the reporting system is operating;

analyzing the at least one statistic or data;

generating at least one output based on the gathered at least one statistic or data, wherein the at least one output includes an alert if the analysis of the at least one statistic or data indicates that a condition has occurred, and wherein executing the requests results in two statistics records for the requests containing prompts; and

categorizing the at least one statistic or data into one of a plurality of groups to configure a frequency of gathering the at least one statistic or data.

2. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of providing the output to an end user.

3. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of storing the at least one gathered statistic or data in a database accessible by the reporting system for generating reports utilizing the gathered statistic or data.

4. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of providing the output to an end user in real-time, enabling the end user to analyze the reporting system in real-time.

5. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of analyzing the output, where analyzing the output comprises using at least one of:

a) a decision support technique; and

b) a decision support software.

6. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, where the at least one statistic or data is related to at least one of:

a) metadata usage;

b) server data;

c) concurrency data;

d) overall system usage;

e) individual user activity;

f) report usage data;

g) report definition data;

h) standard query language data;

i) object usage data; and

j) database usage data.

7. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of allocating costs of reporting system usage to a user of the reporting system based on the at least one output.

8. The computer implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the reporting system is an OLAP system.

9. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of performing automated tuning of the reporting system based on the at least one output.

19. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one statistic or data is gathered to monitor processing of a cache request.

10. A medium storing code for causing a processor to capture at least one statistic or data regarding performance operation of a business intelligence reporting system that generates business intelligence reports based on requests submitted to perform analysis of data contained in a database, the medium comprising:

code for causing a processor to gather at least one statistic or data related to the operation of the reporting system while the reporting system is operating;

code for causing a processor to analyze the at least one statistic or data;

code for causing a processor to generate at least one output based on the gathered at least one statistic or data, wherein the at least one output includes an alert if the code for causing a processor to analyze the at least one statistic or data indicates that a condition has occurred, and wherein executing the requests results in two statistics records for the requests containing prompts; and

code for causing a processor to categorize the at least one statistic or data into one of a plurality of groups to configure a frequency of gathering the at least one statistic or data.

11. The medium according to claim 10, further comprising code for causing a processor to provide the output to an end user.

12. The medium according to claim 10, further comprising code for causing the processor to store the at least one gathered statistic or data in a database accessible by the reporting system for generating reports utilizing the gathered statistic or data.

13. The medium according to claim 10, further comprising code for causing the processor to provide the output to an end user in real-time, enabling the end user to analyze the reporting system in real-time.

14. The medium according to claim 10, further comprising code for causing the processor to analyze the output, where analyzing the output comprises using at least one of:

a) a decision support technique; and

b) a decision support software.

15. The medium according to claim 10, where the at least one statistic or data is related to at least one of:

a) metadata usage;

b) server data;

c) concurrency data;

d) overall system usage;

e) individual user activity;

f) report usage data;

g) report definition data;

h) standard query language data;

i) object usage data; and

j) database usage data.

16. The medium according to claim 10, further comprising code for causing the processor to allocate costs of reporting system usage to a user of the reporting system based on the at least one output.

17. The medium according to claim 10, wherein the reporting system is an OLAP system.

18. The medium according to claim 10, further comprising code for causing the processor to automatically tune the reporting system based on the at least one output.

20. A system for capturing at least one statistic or data regarding performance operation of a business intelligence reporting system that generates business intelligence reports based on requests submitted to perform analysis of data contained in a database, the system comprising:

a statistics processor module for gathering at least one statistic or data related to the operation of the reporting system while the reporting system is operating;

an analytical engine for analyzing the at least one statistic or data;

a statistics report generator module for generating at least one output based on the gathered at least one statistic or data, wherein the at least one output includes an alert if the analytical engine indicates that a condition has occurred based on the

analysis of the at least one statistic or data, and wherein executing the requests results in two statistics records for the requests containing prompts; and

a storage module for categorizing the at least one statistic or data into one of a plurality of groups to configure a frequency of gathering the at least one statistic or data.

21. The system according to claim 20, further comprising an output module for providing the output to an end user.

22. The system according to claim 20, wherein the storage module stores the at least one gathered statistic or data in a database accessible by the reporting system for generating reports utilizing the gathered statistic or data.

23. The system according to claim 20, further comprising an output module for providing the output to an end user in real-time, enabling the end user to analyze the reporting system in real-time.

24. The system according to claim 20, wherein the analytical engine analyzes the output, where analyzing the output comprises using at least one of:

a) a decision support technique; and

b) a decision support software.

25. The system according to claim 20, where the at least one statistic or data is related to at least one of:

a) metadata usage;

b) server data;

c) concurrency data;

d) overall system usage;

e) individual user activity;

f) report usage data;

g) report definition data;

h) standard query language data;

i) object usage data; and

j) database usage data.

26. The system according to claim 20, wherein the statistics report generation module allows allocation of costs of reporting system usage to a user of the reporting system based on the at least one output.

27. The system according to claim 20, wherein the reporting system is an OLAP system.

28. The system according to claim 20, further comprising an intelligence server capable of performing automated tuning of the reporting system based on the at least one output.