System and method for searching enterprise application data

• US 8,219,572 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2008
• Issued: 07/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Ghosh, Rajesh, Soolapani, Vikas
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): PHAN, TUANKHANH D
• Application Number:
  US12/201,308
• Publication Number:
  US 20100057702A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,411 Days
• Field of Search: 707/758, 707/694, 707/668, 709/200, 709/223
• US Class Current: 707/758
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2228 Indexing structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2465 Query processing support for facilitating data mining operations in structured databases

Abstract

A search modeling tool is provided that can communicate with multiple enterprise applications to create object definitions describing searchable data stored in each application. The object definitions may be used to extract searchable data from the applications, thus allowing for manipulation of the data in formats usable for text searching, user presentation, and other applications. The search modeler may interface with each application using common protocols, allowing for generalization of object definitions and subsequent crawling across a variety of enterprise applications.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing searchable data within a system containing multiple enterprise applications, comprising:

establishing, by a computer system, a first connection to a first application in the system;

using, by the computer system, the first connection, receiving information identifying searchable data associated with the first application;

generating, by the computer system, a first searchable data definition for the first application;

adding, by the computer system, an identification of one or more database objects including searchable data associated with the first searchable data definition to the first searchable definition and adding searchable attributes of the one or more database objects to the first searchable definition;

adding, by the computer system, metadata describing the searchable data to the first searchable data definition;

storing, by the computer system, the first searchable data definition;

validating, by the computer system, the first searchable data definition by performing a partial search of the associated data to verify that relationships identified or defined in the first searchable data definition are consistent with relationships stored within the first application;

based on validation of the first searchable data definition, establishing, by the computer system, a second connection to a second application in the system,

using, by the computer system, the second connection, receiving information identifying searchable data associated with the second application; and

adding, by the computer system, metadata describing the searchable data associated with the second application to the first searchable data definition;

wherein the first searchable data definition identifies the searchable data associated with the first and second applications and the locations of the searchable data associated with the first and second applications.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, based on metadata stored in the first searchable data definition, extracting, by the computer system, searchable data from the first application.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing, by the computer system, a diagnostic verification of the searchable data stored in the first application using the first searchable data definition.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the diagnostic verification is performed in real time.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising indexing, by the computer system, the searchable data in the first application based on the first searchable data definition.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adding, by the computer system, metadata describing the searchable data associated with the second application to a second searchable data definition; and

storing, by the computer system, the second searchable data definition in the second application;

wherein the second searchable data definition identifies the searchable data associated with the first and second applications and the locations of the searchable data associated with the first and second applications.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

using, by the computer system, the first and second searchable data definitions, performing a diagnostic search of searchable data stored in the first and second applications using the first and second searchable data definitions.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the diagnostic search is performed in real time.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding, by the computer system, user access and security controls to the first searchable data definition by integrating the searchable data definition with pre-existing user access and security controls to restrict access to data associated with the one or more database objects in accordance with the user access and security controls and the pre-existing user access and security controls.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding, by the computer system, artifacts to the first searchable data definition, wherein the artifacts include crawl trigger events and relationships between the one or more database objects.

9. A computer-implemented method for indexing searchable data stored in a system having multiple enterprise applications, comprising:

using one or more common protocols, communicating, by a computer system, with the applications to identify searchable data stored by the applications, the searchable data corresponding to a plurality of objects stored by the applications, the searchable data comprising searchable data associated with a first application and searchable data associated with a second application;

creating, by the computer system, searchable data definitions comprising metadata identifying one or more locations of the searchable data stored by the applications, the searchable data definitions comprising a first searchable data definition for the first application;

adding, by the computer system, an identification of one or more database objects including searchable data associated with the first searchable data definition to the first searchable definition and adding searchable attributes of the one or more database objects to the first searchable definition;

adding, by the computer system, metadata describing the searchable data associated with the first and second applications to the first searchable data definition, wherein the first searchable data definition identifies the searchable data associated with the first and second applications and the locations of the searchable data associated with the first and second applications;

validating, by the computer system, the first searchable data definition by performing a partial search of the associated data to verify that relationships identified or defined in the first searchable data definition are consistent with relationships stored within the first application; and

based on validation of the first searchable data definition, using the searchable data definitions, indexing, by the computer system, the searchable data stored by the applications.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein each application provides a communication end point adapted to communicate using the one or more common protocols, the communication end point providing an interface to data stored in the application.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

running, by the computer system, a diagnostic query on the searchable data described in the searchable data definitions using a search modeler in communication with the applications.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the search modeler communicates with each application using one or more common protocols.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the diagnostic query is run in real time.

14. A system comprising:

a plurality of processors configured to execute a plurality of enterprise applications including first and second applications, each application having a relational data store storing searchable data and non-searchable data;

a plurality of communication points, each communication point associated with one of the applications and configured to provide a standardized interface to the internal structure of data stored in the data store of the associated application; and

a search modeler in communication with each of the communication points, the search modeler comprising a processor configured to;

create searchable data definitions that identify searchable data in each data store;

the searchable data definitions comprising a first searchable data definition for the first application;

add metadata describing the searchable data associated with the first and second applications to the first searchable data definition, wherein the first searchable data definition identifies the searchable data associated with the first and second applications and the locations of the searchable data associated with the first and second applications;

add an identification of one or more database objects including searchable data associated with the first searchable data definition to the first searchable definition and adding searchable attributes of the one or more database objects to the first searchable definition;

validate the first searchable data definition by performing a partial search of the associated data to verify that relationships identified or defined in the first searchable data definition are consistent with relationships stored within the first application; and

based on validation of the first searchable data definition, use the searchable data definitions to index the searchable data stored by the first and second applications.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising a search crawler comprising a processor configured to extract searchable data using the searchable data definitions.

16. The system of claim 14, further comprising a search engine comprising a processor configured to index searchable data extracted by the search crawler.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor of the search modeler is further configured to perform a diagnostic verification of the metadata stored in the searchable data definitions.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the diagnostic search is performed in real time.