Associative object model for composite entity information

• US 8,190,646 B2
• Filed: 01/02/2008
• Issued: 05/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/02/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Laxminarayanan, Venkatesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Quader, Fazlul
• Application Number:
  US11/968,372
• Publication Number:
  US 20090171996A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,609 Days
• Field of Search: 707/100, 707/792
• US Class Current: 707/792
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor

Abstract

An associative object model for presenting composite entity information is provided. More particularly, a system and method of linking various data related to an entity from isolated databases in a distributed enterprise is provided. The system and method presents composite information on the entity to different systems within the distributed enterprise. The method includes propagating a change of data of a first entity type to one or more related or associated entity types in an active associative object model (AOM) accessible by a subscribing system and a publishing system in an enterprise.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing a first entity type by associating data relating to an entity from a plurality of databases to represent a comprehensive state of the entity;

providing at least one link between the first entity type and one or more related or associated entity types;

subscribing at least one enterprise system subscriber to at least one of;

the first entity type and the one or more related or associated entity types; and

propagating a change to data relating to the entity between linked entity types in an active associative object model (AOM) accessible by a subscribing system and a publishing system in an enterprise,

wherein the change propagates through the AOM by virtue of reference to a point of change such that the at least one enterprise system subscriber subscribed with the at least one of;

the first entity type and the one or more related or associated entity types can observe the change; and

the at least one system subscriber is a member of at least one of the subscribing system and the publishing system, and the at least one system subscriber generates the change to the data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying the first entity type with a unique key comprising one of an AOM key, a global key and a system key.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of:

the change to the first entity type changes composite information of the first entity type and of the to one or more related or associated entity types;

the change of data of the first entity type in any database of the enterprise affects composite information comprehensively in the one or more related or associated entity types; and

the one or more related or associated entity types are configured to propagate changes therebetween.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of:

any of the first entity type and the one or more related or associated entity types are reusable; and

any objects in the first entity type and the one or more related or associated entity types are reusable.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

adding attributes to the first entity type or the one or more related or associated entity types;

adding new entity types; and

making at least one of one to one, one to many and many-to-many associations amongst different entity types in a same AOM schema.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a computer infrastructure that performs the steps of claim 1 and is created, deployed, maintained and supported by a service provider.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising preserving attributes in the AOM.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the data is transformed from one of a subscribing system and a publishing system to the AOM.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the AOM is configured to publish a single, synchronized and integrated master view of any data change to at least the first entity type.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the AOM is oblivious of an underlying industry specific schema.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a plurality of entity types by creating associations between parent objects and child objects of the AOM, the plurality of entity types including the first entity type and the one or more related or associated entity types;

creating a plurality of associations between enterprise systems and the plurality of entity types so that composite entity information (CEI) of the plurality of entity types is linked to the enterprise systems;

updating CEI of the first entity type in a live AOM layer with the change of data;

putting the entity change in a persistence AOM layer via the live AOM, wherein putting the entity change in the persistence AOM layer propagates the change of data.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the AOM comprises a live layer and a persistence layer;

the change to the data is made in the live layer and replicated in the persistence layer based on a direct correlation between the live layer and the persistence layer;

replicating the change in the persistence layer propagates the change of the data between the linked entity types; and

providing the at least one link between the first entity type and the one or more related or associated entity types provides the at least one enterprise system subscriber with the ability to customize their view of the data.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one link between the first entity type and the one or more related or associated entity types is rearranged by the at least one enterprise system subscriber in order to customize associations between the first entity type and the one or more related or associated entity types and a corresponding view of the first entity type and the one or more related or associated entity types.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein a plurality of entity types comprise the first entity type and the one or more related or associated entity types, and the subscribing the at least one enterprise system subscriber comprises the at least one enterprise system subscriber subscribing to at least one of or a combination of the plurality of entity types.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the data comprises attributes of the first entity type;

the AOM is a superset of all attributes that the subscribing system and the publishing system can subscribe to or publish; and

the at least one enterprise system subscriber subscribes to any number of the attributes associated with the first entity type and the one or more related or associated entity types that are subscribed to by the at least one enterprise system subscriber.

11. A system comprising a computer infrastructure configured to:

provide a first entity type by associating data relating to an entity from a plurality of databases to represent a comprehensive state of the entity;

provide at least one link between the first entity type and one or more related or associated entity types;

subscribe at least one enterprise system subscriber to at least one of;

the first entity type and the one or more related or associated entity types; and

propagate a change to data relating to the entity between linked entity types in an active associative object model (AOM) accessible by a subscribing system and a publishing system in the enterprise and publish a single, synchronized and integrated master view of the linked entities with the change,

wherein the change propagates through the AOM by virtue of reference to a point of change such that the at least one enterprise system subscriber subscribed with the at least one of;

the first entity type and the one or more related or associated entity types can observe the change in the master view; and

the at least one enterprise system subscriber is a member of at least one of the subscribing system and the publishing system, and the at least one system subscriber generates the change to the data.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer infrastructure is configured to link objects to linked entities in the AOM.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer infrastructure is configured to identify the linked entities with a unique key.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the computer infrastructure is configured to reuse at least one of the linked entities or the linked objects.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the computer infrastructure is configured to:

add attributes to any of the objects of the linked entities;

add new objects; and

make at least one of one to one, one to many and many-to-many associations amongst different objects in a same AOM schema.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer infrastructure is configured to map the linked entities of a Composite Entity Information (CEI) to at least a publishing and subscribing system of the enterprise.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein a service provider at least one of creates, deploys, maintains and supports a computer infrastructure that performs the steps of claim 14.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer infrastructure is configured to transform documents between the AOM and at least one of the publishing system and the subscribing system.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer infrastructure is configured such that all systems within the enterprise that have subscribed to the linked entities will instantly be able to observe a change.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the published changes represent an entity'"'"'s comprehensive, enterprise-wide and real-time state.

21. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having readable program code embodied in the medium, the computer program product includes at least one component to:

provide a first entity type by associating data relating to an entity from a plurality of databases to represent a comprehensive state of the entity;

provide at least one link between the first entity type and one or more related or associated entity types;

subscribe at least one enterprise system subscriber to at least one of;

the first entity type and the one or more related or associated entity types; and

propagate a change to data relating to the entity between linked entity types in one database of an enterprise in an active associative object model (AOM) accessible by a subscribing system and a publishing system in the enterprise,

wherein the change propagates through the AOM by virtue of reference to a point of change such that the at least one enterprise system subscriber subscribed with the at least one of;

the first entity type and the one or more related or associated entity types can observe the change in the master view; and

the at least one enterprise system subscriber is a member of at least one of the subscribing system and the publishing system, and the at least one system subscriber generates the change to the data.

23. A computer system implementing an associative object model (AOM) schema, the system comprising:

a CPU, a computer readable memory and a computer readable storage media;

first program instructions to provide a first entity type by associating data relating to an entity from a plurality of databases to represent a comprehensive state of the entity;

second program instructions to provide at least one link between the first entity type and one or more related or associated entity types;

third program instructions to associate at least one enterprise system subscriber to at least one of;

the first entity type and the one or more related or associated entity types; and

fourth program instructions to propagate a change to data relating to the entity between linked entity types in an active associative object model (AOM) accessible by a subscribing system and a publishing system in an enterprise,

wherein;

the change propagates through the AOM by virtue of reference to a point of change such that the at least one enterprise system subscriber associated with the at least one of;

the first entity type and the one or more related or associated entity types can observe the change in the master view; and

the first through fourth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory.

24. A method comprising:

providing at least one AOM (associative object model) schema that includes;

at least one composite entity information of at least one entity that comprises;

at least one parent object;

at least one child object;

at least one link between the at least one parent object and the at least one child object; and

a pointer that is directed to the at least one parent object,

wherein the at least one parent object has at least one attribute populated with data regarding the at least one entity and the at least one child object has at least one attribute populated with other data regarding the at least one entity;

providing at least one directional link between the at least one composite entity information of the at least one AOM schema and another composite entity information of another AOM schema in order to provide a parent and child association between the composite entity information;

associating at least one enterprise system subscriber to the at least one AOM schema;

providing an AOM that includes a database that contains the data and the other data for the at least one entity, wherein the database comprises;

the at least one parent object and the corresponding at least one populated attribute and the at least one child object and the corresponding at least one populated attribute;

the at least one link between the at least one parent object and the at least one child object and the at least one directional link between the at least one composite entity information of the at least one AOM schema and the another composite entity information of the another AOM schema; and

the association between the at least one enterprise system subscriber and the pointer that is directed to the at least one parent object of the at least one composite entity information of the at least one AOM schema; and

propagating a change of the data or the other data in the at least one composite entity information to the another composite entity information based on the at least one directional link such that any enterprise system subscriber that is associated with the pointer that is directed to the at least one parent object of the at least one composite entity information of the at least one AOM schema or a pointer that is directed to at least one parent object of the another composite entity information of the another AOM schema can instantly observe the data change.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein:

the at least one composite entity information is profile information for a person;

the at least one parent object is the profile and the associated at least one attribute is populated with a profileID;

the at least one child object is name information for the profile of the person and the associated at least on attribute is populated with a first name of the person;

the another composite entity information is accounting information; and

the at least one directional link provides that the accounting information is the parent of the profile information such that a change regarding the first name of the person is propagated to the accounting information.