Dynamically detecting exceptions based on data changes

• US 7,797,356 B2
• Filed: 02/02/2007
• Issued: 09/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Crivat, Ioan Bogdan, MacLennan, C. James, Iyer, Raman S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali; Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hocker; John P
• Application Number:
  US11/670,783
• Publication Number:
  US 20080189639A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,320 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 10, 707/104.1, 707/625, 707/810
• US Class Current: 707/810
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/177 of tables; using ruled lines

Abstract

Fields contained in data expressed as tabular data having columns and rows can initially be marked as exceptions, wherein a column within a row can be the potential cause of the exception. A user configurable parameter can be utilized to change the sensitivity or allowable exceptions for each row and/or column, to increase or decrease the number of exceptions detected. As data within each field are modified, added or deleted, or when the configurable parameter is changed, the exceptions marked can be automatically updated. Such updated exceptions can be the same or different from the initially marked exceptions. As such, a user can evaluate data and determine whether various changes within the data will change various outcomes.

Claims

1. A computing system that facilitates dynamically detecting data exceptions in tabular data, comprising:

(A) one or more computer processors and one or more computer-readable media;

(B) a predictive analysis component, executable upon the one or more computer processors, the predictive analysis component comprising;

(i) receiving tabular data from an application,

(ii) building a model for detecting exceptions within the tabular data by detecting one or more clusters,

(iii) determining one or more rows that are exceptions by determining a distance between the one or more rows and the one or more clusters, and

(iv) marking the one or more rows that are exceptions within the tabular data;

(C) an interface component that provides a user configurable parameter that defines a threshold for making the one or more rows as an exception

(D) a comparison component that receives changes to one or more parameters of the tabular data and automatically evaluates the one or more parameters against the one or more marked rows and selectively updates the one or more marked rows;

(E) a sensitivity value that has a low value and a high value, the low value results in less exceptions being marked in the tabular data and the high value represents more exceptions being marked in the tabular data; and

(F) a notification component that automatically invokes the comparison component when a data change occurs.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising an interface component that provides a user configurable parameter that defines a threshold for marking the one or more rows as an exception.

3. The system of claim 1, the one or more parameters is at least one of a data modification, a data addition, a data deletion, or a sensitivity parameter change or combinations thereof.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the comparison component utilizes conditional formatting to update the one or more rows that are displayed.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising a display component that presents the tabular data and the one or more marked rows.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the predictive analysis component and the comparison component are executed on a server independent of the location of the tabular data.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a scoring component that utilizes data mining techniques to update the one or more marked rows.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more rows are marked by a highlighting scheme.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the tabular data is contained in a spreadsheet application.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the tabular data is contained in an XML application.

11. A computerized method for dynamically detecting and presenting exception data, the method performed within a computing environment, comprising:

(A) at least one computer processor and at least one computer-readable media

(B) a predictive analysis component, executable upon the one or more computer processors, the predictive analysis component comprising;

(i) receiving tabular data from an application,

(ii) building a model for detecting exceptions within the tabular data by detecting one or more clusters,

(iii) determining one or more rows that are exceptions by determining a distance between the one or more rows and the one or more clusters, and

(iv) marking the one or more rows that are exceptions within the tabular data;

(C) an interface component that provides a user configurable parameter that defines a threshold for making the one or more rows as an exception

(D) a comparison component that receives changes to one or more parameters of the tabular data and automatically evaluates the one or more parameters against the one or more marked rows and selectively updates the one or more marked rows;

(E) maintaining a sensitivity value that has a low value and a high value, the low value results in less exceptions being marked in the tabular data and the high value represents more exceptions being marked in the tabular data; and

(F) a notification component that automatically invokes the comparison component when a data change occurs.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising comparing an exception score with a sensitivity metric and providing a configurable set point.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein presenting the exception result to a user, comprises highlighting a row and a column within the row with a highlighting scheme.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising utilizing a data mining system that contains a pattern model.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein presenting the exception result to a user is on the fly as data change notifications are received.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising accepting a user change to at least one of a data modification, a data addition, a data deletion or a sensitivity metric parameter, or combinations thereof.

17. A computer program product comprising:

(A) at least one computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions encoded thereon which, when executed upon one or more computer processors, performs a method comprising;

(i) receiving tabular data from an application,

(ii) building a model for detecting exceptions within the tabular data by detecting one or more clusters,

(iii) determining one or more rows that are exceptions by determining a distance between the one or more rows and the one or more clusters, and

(iv) marking the one or more rows that are exceptions within the tabular data;

(v) providing a user configurable parameter that defines a threshold for marking the one or more rows as an exception;

(vi) a comparison component receiving changes to one or more parameters of the tabular data and automatically evaluating the one or more parameters against the one or more marked rows and selectively updating the one or more marked rows;

(vii) maintaining a sensitivity value that has a low value and a high value, the low value resulting in less exceptions being marked in the tabular data and the high value representing more exceptions being marked in the tabular data;

(viii) automatically invoking the comparison component when a data change occurs; and

(ix) presenting an exception result to a user.