Method and system for safely transporting legacy data to an object semantic form data grid

• US 8,832,020 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2011
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Express Scripts Strategic Development, Inc. (The Cigna Group)
• Original Assignee: Medco Health Solutions Incorporated (The Cigna Group)
• Inventors: Anand, Tej, Landy, Mark Joseph, Chou, Jimmy, Kaplun, Tanya, Myers, Sarah Mord, Foreman, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain
• Assistant Examiner(s): WITZENBURG, BRUCE A
• Application Number:
  US13/296,825
• Publication Number:
  US 20120150797A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,029 Days
• Field of Search: 707/602, 707/758, 707/759, 707/760, 707/761, 707/762
• US Class Current: 707/602
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/254 Extract, transform and load [ETL] procedures, e.g. ETL data flows in data warehouses

Abstract

A computer system architecture and process transforms the organizing principles of business data management seen in traditional or common place settings across disparate data stores into an object-semantic model. The transformation is implemented in a transitory, managed risk implementation approach for data access migration. This approach will enable data agility and will move data storage closer to information storage, while supporting the rapid development of business capabilities. This approach will bridge the gaps between relational database/file based storage (less expressive) and object-semantic representation (more expressive). This process/method will connect information residing in legacy data structures such as relational database/file based storage on disk drives to instances populating an expressive object-semantic model in persistent grid based memory. It will also maintain a linkage between the original legacy data to the enhanced object-semantic data allowing for ongoing modernization and removing the need for point migrations.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

publishing, on a computer processor, legacy tabular data from a legacy data storage device into an object semantic model of a unified grid to create object data, the legacy tabular data associated with a plurality of business platforms of an entity, the unified grid supporting in-memory data storage;

performing, on the computer processor, parallel testing on access of the legacy tabular data in the legacy data storage device and the unified grid to verify accessed data consistency;

based on a successful result of performance of the parallel testing, dynamically mapping, on the computer processor, the legacy tabular data structures into a plurality of grid-based objects within the in-memory data storage of the unified grid;

modifying, on the computer processor, the plurality of business platforms to access the object data on the unified grid in the legacy data storage device based on mapping of the legacy tabular data structures;

modifying, on the computer processor, legacy code of the plurality of business platforms to create modified code that serves objects based on the object data instead of legacy tabular records sets;

harvesting, on the computer processor, a plurality of business rules from the modified legacy code; and

implementing, on the computer processor, the plurality of business rules in a rules engine and a semantic relationship between the objects in place of the plurality of business rules from the modified legacy code.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the plurality of business platforms to access the object data comprises:

modifying the plurality of business platforms to access the object data on the unified grid instead of the legacy tabular data in the legacy data storage device based on mapping of the legacy tabular data structures.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the plurality of business platforms to access the object data comprises:

modifying the plurality of business platforms to such a portion of the plurality of business platforms access the object data on the unified grid and another portion of the plurality of business platforms access the legacy tabular data in the legacy data storage device based on mapping of the legacy tabular data structures.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enforcing and inferring the semantic relationship between the objects.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the legacy tabular data is stored on the legacy data storage device in the form of a relational database and a plurality of files.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a business platform of the plurality of platforms is directed to member eligibility, a plurality of client profiles, prescriber information, a plurality of pharmacy networks, a plurality of maximum allowable cost files, a drug code master file, a plurality of provider claims, a patient history, a plan file, a prior authorization, a formulary, patient coverage, a drug utilization review, copay and pricing, and a benefit design.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the object data of the unified grid is stored in random access memory that is striped and duplicated across a plurality of data banks.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the unified grid includes an object framework that provides a centralized access point to the object data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of business rules includes information and logic relevant to business decisions of the entity.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of business rules includes a first validation rule that relates to valid ranges for an insurance co-pay, a first validation rule for a set of valid identifiers for males or females across different platforms of the plurality of platforms, a workflow processing rule that requires that an incoming claim enter a prescription filling sequence after the incoming claim is validated, logic that requires that certain claims be processed.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein harvesting the plurality of business rules comprises:

selectively harvesting the plurality of business rules among a plurality of available business rules from the modified legacy code based on rule types that are applicable to the unified grid.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the publishing of the tabular data from the legacy data storage device into the object semantic model of the unified grid is performed by an extract, transform, load tool.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein performing parallel tests on the legacy tabular data and the unified grid further determines whether access through the legacy data storage device and the unified grid provide substantially the same results.

12. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the following operations:

publish legacy tabular data from a legacy data storage device into an object semantic model of a unified grid to create object data, the legacy tabular data associated with a plurality of business platforms of an entity, the unified grid supporting in-memory data storage;

perform parallel testing on access of the legacy tabular data in the legacy data storage device and the unified grid to verify accessed data consistency;

based on a successful result of performance of the parallel testing, dynamically map the legacy tabular data structures into a plurality of grid-based objects within the in-memory data storage of the unified grid;

modify the plurality of business platforms to access the object data on the unified grid in the legacy data storage device based on mapping of the legacy tabular data structures;

modify legacy code of the plurality of business platforms to create modified code that serves objects based on the object data instead of legacy tabular records sets;

harvest a plurality of business rules from the modified legacy code; and

implement the plurality of business rules in a rules engine and a semantic relationship between the objects in place of the plurality of business rules from the modified legacy code.