Historical data warehousing system

• US 7,664,741 B2
• Filed: 10/11/2006
• Issued: 02/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amdocs Development Limited (Amdocs Ltd.), Amdocs Software Systems Limited (Amdocs Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Amdocs Software Systems Limited (Amdocs Ltd.)
• Inventors: Riggs, Larry T., Serio, Tom, Dunham, Kirven, Lecheler-Moore, Ruth
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong; Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): DANG, THANH HA T
• Application Number:
  US11/548,652
• Publication Number:
  US 20070136330A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,224 Days
• Field of Search: 707/101, 707/103.R, 707/103.Y, 707/3, 707/4, 707/6, 707/202
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/954 Relational
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A method comprises obtaining data from a source system. Further, the obtained data is pre-processed by a stepwise operation to generate pre-processed data. The last operated upon data is recorded. In addition, the pre-processed data is transformed into subject-oriented data by utilizing reusable primary keys and Relational Database Management System dates in the source system to link related pre-processed data. Additionally, the subject-oriented data is stored in a data warehouse. The Relational Database Management System dates are utilized for distinctly characterizing the subject-oriented data when a plurality of tables containing data with duplicate primary keys are combined in the data warehouse.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

a) obtaining data from a source system;

b) pre-processing, utilizing a pre-processor, the obtained data by a stepwise operation to generate pre-processed data, wherein the pre-processing comprises recording only last operated upon obtained data whereby data recording is avoided during data addition for efficiency purposes;

c) transforming the pre-processed data into subject-oriented data by utilizing reusable primary keys and Relational Database Management System dates in an operating system in the source system to link related pre-processed data; and

d) storing the subject oriented data in a data warehouse, wherein the Relational Database Management System dates are utilized for distinctly characterizing the subject-oriented data when a plurality of tables containing data with duplicate primary keys are combined in the data warehouse;

wherein the dates within the Relational Database Management System of the source system are obtained by log-scraping the Relational Database Management System.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising accessing the data warehouse.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the data warehouse includes a standard set of core reports, components and metadata.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the stepwise operation includes performing a function on previous data that is not original data.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the related pre-processed data has different descriptions recorded over time.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the Relational Database Management System dates are utilized for placing the related pre-processed data of the subject-oriented data in a temporal order.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the subject-oriented data is stored in the data warehouse with an associated creation date and deletion date derived from the Relational Database Management System dates.

8. A method according to claim 1, further comprising storing the subject-oriented data in an accessible format.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the pre-processing includes at least one of an ignore function, an insert function, an update function, and a replicate function.

10. A method according to claim 9, wherein the replicate function includes a delete function.

11. A method according to claim 9, wherein the pre-processing associated with the update function returns an error when associated subject-oriented data does not exist in the data warehouse.

12. A method, comprising:

a) obtaining data from a source system;

b) pre-processing, utilizing a pre-processor, the obtained data by a stepwise operation to generate pre-processed data, wherein the pre-processing comprises recording only last operated upon obtained data whereby data recording is avoided during data addition for efficiency purposes;

c) transforming the pre-processed data into subject-oriented data by utilizing reusable primary keys and Relational Database Management System dates in an operating system in the source system to link related pre-processed data; and

d) storing the subject-oriented data in a data warehouse, wherein the Relational Database Management System dates are utilized for distinctly characterizing the subject-oriented data when a plurality of tables containing data with duplicate primary keys are combined in the data warehouse;

wherein the pre-processing includes at least one of an ignore function, an insert function, an update function, and a replicate function;

wherein the pre-processing associated with the insert function returns a warning when associated subject-oriented data already exists in the data warehouse.

13. A method, comprising:

a) obtaining data records from a source system;

b) pre-processing, utilizing a pre-processor, the obtained data records to generate pre-processed data records, wherein the pre-processing comprises operating on each obtained data record in a serial manner, adding new data to a prior operated-on record with an entry being recorded for a last serially operated-on record, whereby data recording is avoided during data addition for efficiency purposes;

c) transforming the pre-processed data records into related subject-oriented data records, wherein the transforming comprises linking related pre-processed data records together by way of reusable primary keys on the source system and dates obtained by trigger within a Relational Database Management System in the source system; and

d) storing the related subject-oriented data records in a historical data warehouse, wherein the Relational Database Management System dates are utilized for distinctly characterizing the subject-oriented data when a plurality of tables containing data with duplicate primary keys are combined in the historical data warehouse.

14. A method, comprising:

a) obtaining data records from a legacy source system;

b) pre-processing, utilizing a pre-processor, the obtained data records to generate pre-processed data records, wherein the pre-processing comprises operating on each obtained data record in a stepwise manner, adding new data to a prior operated-on record with an entry being recorded for the obtained data record having a last stepwise operation;

c) transforming the pre-processed data records into related subject-oriented data records, wherein the transforming comprises linking related pre-processed data records together by way of reusable primary keys on the source system and dates obtained by log-scraping a Relational Database Management System of the legacy source system; and

d) storing the related subject-oriented data records in a data warehouse;

wherein the dates are utilized for distinctly characterizing the subject-oriented data when a plurality of tables containing data with duplicate primary keys are combined in the data warehouse.