Method for performing real-time analytics using a business rules engine on real-time heterogeneous materialized data views

• US 8,464,278 B2
• Filed: 10/01/2008
• Issued: 06/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Nesamoney, Diaz H., Krishnan, Vaikom B., Jazayeri, Nasrollah, Handwerker, Martin L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ho, Andy
• Application Number:
  US12/243,557
• Publication Number:
  US 20090031327A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,714 Days
• Field of Search: 719/318, 707/999.1
• US Class Current: 719/318
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99938 Concurrency, e.g. lock management in shared database

Abstract

A method for performing real-time analytics using a business rules engine on real time heterogeneous materialized data views is disclosed. The method comprises processing of rows produced by views corresponding to events. The rows are processed according to business rules by a view engine. Views with conditions equivalent to rule conditions are subscribed to by a rule engine, which outputs action messages corresponding to the rule condition. Where the rule condition is satisfied, a statement to that effect is sent, with any available reportlets, to an alert engine. The alert engine handles alert states corresponding to the action statement, saves any corresponding reportlets, and generates a message to fire an alert to a notification engine. The notification engine formats the alert and sends the alert by a selected medium, such as email, a webservice call, or another network protocol.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

monitoring, by a computer, a real-time stream of data to detect a change in a value of a data element of the real-time stream of data, wherein the real-time stream of data is received from an external system;

responsive to detecting the change, materializing a real-time view of the change;

determining that the real-time view satisfies a rule condition of a user-defined business rule, wherein the user-defined business rule sets forth the rule condition, a subsequent particular event, and a corresponding action to be taken when the rule condition is satisfied; and

responsive to determining that the rule condition is satisfied, triggering the corresponding action of the user-defined business rule, wherein triggering the corresponding action comprises

selectively forestalling the corresponding action until the subsequent particular event occurs, and

cancelling the corresponding action if the subsequent particular event does not occur during a specified time duration.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the corresponding action comprises an alert.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the alert is generated in an end user interaction system, and wherein the end user interaction system comprises a medium selected from a group consisting of e-mail, a web browser, a portal, a query and reporting tool, a spreadsheet program, voice, facsimile, wireless, an annunciator, and a personal digital assistant.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the user-defined business rule is defined using a business view and wherein the business view includes historical data.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, further comprising subscribing to a plurality of hidden views automatically generated in response to the real-time stream of data, wherein a condition of one of the plurality of hidden views is equivalent to the rule condition of the user-defined business rule.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising processing the business view and the plurality of hidden views, wherein the corresponding action describes the truthfulness of the rule condition, and wherein the corresponding action is selected from a group consisting of fire, raise, lower, and no action.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein triggering of the corresponding action comprises:

determining that the real-time stream of data is ordered; and

serializing the corresponding action accordingly.

8. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the processing further comprises:

determining that the business view comprises a reportlet view; and

responsive to determining that the business view comprises the reportlet view, outputting a reportlet corresponding to the reportlet view wherein the corresponding action includes the reportlet.

9. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein triggering the corresponding action comprises:

publishing a message, wherein the message states that a rule on the view took an action selected from the group consisting of fired, raised, lowered, did nothing, for the event and the row and for a specified plurality of columns, wherein the group corresponds to an alert state for the business view; and

handling the alert state, wherein the handling comprises sending a request to trigger the corresponding action and selectively sending a corresponding reportlet.

10. A method comprising:

monitoring, by a computer, a real-time stream of data to detect a change in a value of a data element of the real-time stream of data, wherein the real-time stream of data is received from an external system;

responsive to detecting the change, materializing a real-time view of the change;

determining that the real-time view satisfies a rule condition of a user-defined business rule, wherein the user-defined business rule sets forth the rule condition, a subsequent particular event, and a corresponding action to be taken when the rule condition is satisfied; and

responsive to determining that the rule condition is satisfied, triggering the corresponding action of the user-defined business rule, wherein triggering the corresponding action comprises

tracking at least one of a raised and a lowered state for each unique tuple of a plurality of tuples, wherein each unique tuple of the plurality of tuples corresponds to one unique column of a plurality of columns of the data received from the external system,

for each unique tuple of the plurality of tuples, excluding an identifier that identifies the unique column corresponding to the unique tuple from the corresponding action when the unique tuple is set to the raised state, or including the identifier that identifies the unique column corresponding to the unique tuple in the corresponding action when the unique tuple is not set to the raised state, and

cancelling the corresponding action when no columns are included in the corresponding action.

11. A computer-implemented system for performing real-time analytics on heterogeneous data views, comprising:

a processor;

an agent recorded on a medium readable by the processor, the agent executed by the processor to monitor a real-time stream of data to detect a change in a value of a data element of the real-time stream of data, wherein the real-time stream of data is received from an external system;

a view engine recorded on a medium readable by the processor, the view engine executed by the processor to receive the change from the agent, to materialize a real-time view of the change, wherein the materialized real-time view comprises a business view and a hidden view, and wherein the business view is used to define a business rule;

a rule engine recorded on a medium readable by the processor, the rule engine executed by the processor to receive the materialized real-time view from the view engine, to subscribe to the hidden view, wherein the hidden view includes a condition equivalent to a rule condition of the user-defined business rule, to selectively forestall generating of an action message until a subsequent particular event occurs, and to cancel the generating of the action message if the subsequent particular event does not occur during a specified time duration;

an alert engine recorded on a medium readable by the processor, the alert engine executed by the processor to receive the action message to take an action from the view engine, to handle an alert state corresponding to the message, and to generate a request to fire an alert; and

a notification engine recorded on a medium readable by the processor, the notification engine executed by the processor to receive the request from the alert engine, to format the alert as a notice, and to send the notice to a user.

12. The system as recited in claim 11, further comprising a reportlet engine recorded on a medium readable by the processor, the reportlet engine executed by the processor to receive a stream of rows from the view engine, to subscribe to a reportlet view, and to generate a reportlet corresponding to the reportlet view, wherein the alert engine receives the reportlet.

13. The system as recited in claim 11, further comprising a context engine recorded on a medium readable by the processor, the context engine executed by the processor to provide context to the view engine, wherein the context comprises historical data relevant to the materialized view, and wherein the context is added to the materialized view, and to retrieve the context from a context connection.

14. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the rule engine is further executed to determine that the real-time stream of data is ordered and, responsive to determining, to serialize the action message.

15. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein the rule engine comprises a rule serializer for performing and serializing.

16. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein the rule serializer comprises a function selected from a group consisting of a hash table from an identifier corresponding to the change, and a circular, doubly-expanding array of the action corresponding to the change.

17. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the alert engine performs the handling by a handler selected from a group consisting of:

a red-black balanced binary tree of raised rows corresponding to a set of ‘

for a specific’

raise columns and a lower index corresponding to a set of ‘

for a specific’

lower columns, wherein the lower index comprises a pointer to one of the raised rows that is removed to perform a lower action;

a red-black balanced binary tree of raised rows;

a red-black balanced binary tree of raised values wherein a ‘

for a specific’

clause corresponds to a single column; and

a hash table of raised values.

18. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the notification engine comprises:

a notifier factory to receiving the request from the alert engine, and to send the notice to the user; and

a format factory to receive a formatting request from the notifier factory, and to format the notice based on the formatting request.

19. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein the notifier notice factory comprises:

an email notifier to send the notice, wherein the notice comprises an email;

a web services notifier to send the notice to a web-based application; and

a notification persistence engine to persist the notice for later querying through an interface by a portal.

20. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein the format factory comprises:

a HTML reportlet formatter;

a text reportlet formatter;

a PDF reportlet formatter; and

a spreadsheet reportlet formatter.

21. A system for performing real-time analytics on heterogeneous data views, comprising:

a processor;

an agent recorded on a medium readable by the processor, the agent executed by the processor to monitor a real-time stream of data to detect a change in a value of a data element of the real-time stream of data, wherein the real-time stream of data is received from an external system;

a view engine recorded on a medium readable by the processor, the view engine executed by the processor to receive the change from the agent, to materialize a real-time view of the change, wherein the materialized real-time view comprises a business view and a hidden view, and wherein the business view is used to define a business rule;

a rule engine recorded on a medium readable by the processor, the rule engine executed by the processor to receive the materialized real-time view from the view engine, to subscribe to the hidden view, wherein the hidden view includes a condition equivalent to a rule condition of the user-defined business rule, and to generate an action message to take an action corresponding to the rule condition, wherein the rule engine is further configured to determine that the action message includes a clause to track at least one of a raised and a lowered state for each unique tuple of a plurality of tuples, wherein each unique tuple of the plurality of tuples corresponds to one unique column of a plurality of columns of the real-time stream of data received from the external system;

an alert engine recorded on a medium readable by the processor, the alert engine executed by the processor to receive the action message from the view engine, to handle an alert state corresponding to the action message, and to generate a request to fire an alert, wherein the request to fire the alert includes identifiers that identify each of the unique columns corresponding to unique tuples not having the raised stated but does not include identifiers that identify each of the unique columns corresponding to the unique tuples having the raised state; and

a notification engine recorded on a medium readable by the processor, the notification engine executed by the processor to receive the request from the alert engine, to format the alert as a notice, and to send the notice to a user.

22. In a computer system for monitoring business activity, a computer-readable storage medium having a computer-readable program code embodied therein for causing the computer system to:

monitor a real-time stream of data to detect a change in a value of a data element of the real-time stream of data, wherein the real-time stream of data is received from an external system;

responsive to detecting the change, materialize a real-time view of the change, wherein the materialized real-time view comprises a business view and a hidden view, and wherein the business view is used to define a business rule;

subscribe to the hidden view, wherein the hidden view includes a condition equivalent to a rule condition of the user-defined business rule;

selectively forestall generating an action message until a subsequent particular event occurs;

cancel the generating of the action message when the subsequent particular event does not occur during a specified time duration;

handle an alert state corresponding to the message;

request that an alert be fired;

format the alert as a notice; and

send the notice to a user.

23. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 22, wherein the computer-readable program code further causes the computer system to:

where the materialized real-time view includes a reportlet view, generate a reportlet corresponding to the reportlet view, wherein the notice includes the reportlet.

24. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 22, wherein the computer-readable program code further causes the computer system to add historical data relevant to the materialized real-time view.

25. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 22, wherein the computer-readable program code causes the computer system to determine that the real-time stream of data is ordered, and serialize the action message.

26. In a computer system for monitoring business activity, a computer-readable storage medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein for causing the computer system to:

monitor a real-time stream of data to detect a change in a value of a data element of the real-time stream of data, wherein the real-time stream of data is received from an external system;

responsive to detecting the change, materialize a real-time view of the change, wherein the materialized real-time view comprises a business view and a hidden view, and wherein the business view is used to define a business rule;

subscribe to the hidden view, wherein the hidden view includes a condition equivalent to a rule condition of the user-defined business rule;

generate an action message to take an action corresponding to the rule condition specified by the user-defined business rule based upon the received real-time stream of data;

determine that the action message includes a clause to track at least one of a raised and a lowered state for each unique tuple of a plurality of tuples;

handle an alert state corresponding to the message;

request that an alert be fired;

format the alert as a notice; and

send the notice to a user.