Investment database application

• US 7,533,118 B2
• Filed: 12/23/2004
• Issued: 05/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Morgan Stanley Services Group Inc. (Morgan Stanley)
• Original Assignee: Morgan Stanley
• Inventors: Chaudri, Bikramjit Singh
• Primary Examiner(s): Truong; Cam Y T
• Application Number:
  US11/020,405
• Publication Number:
  US 20050187969A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,601 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/3, 707/200, 707204-205, 715/500, 715/523
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/86 Mapping to a database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/149 Adaptation of the text data for streaming purposes, e.g. Efficient XML Interchange [EXI] format
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/154 Tree transformation for tree-structured or markup documents, e.g. XSLT, XSL-FO or stylesheets
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

An investment database application is configured to perform a download process and an upload process. During the download process, the investment database application creates a spreadsheet out of a customized spreadsheet template, receives XML data from a database on a server system, converts the XML data, loads the spreadsheet with the converted data, and saves the populated spreadsheet template to a location specified by the user. During the upload process, the investment database application may convert a populated spreadsheet template created during the download process into an XML formatted file and transmit the XML file to a secure server system that loads the XML data into a Relational Database Management System (RDMS).

Claims

1. A system for processing data comprising:

a client system comprising a computer-readable storage disk;

a spreadsheet application installed on the client system; and

an investment database application installed on the client system and in communication with the spreadsheet application;

wherein the investment database application comprises a download option accessible from the spreadsheet application for downloading a snapshot of data generated by a server system without a user leaving the spreadsheet application;

wherein the investment database application presents a list of selectable spreadsheet templates, each spreadsheet template having a corresponding business process associated therewith, and said each spreadsheet template comprising named ranges that are parsed by the investment database application;

wherein the investment database application presents selectable information available for download by the client system, the selectable information relating to the business process of a selected spreadsheet template;

wherein the investment database application automatically creates an electronic spreadsheet based on the selected spreadsheet template, the electronic spreadsheet rendered by the spreadsheet application;

wherein the investment database application downloads Extensible Markup Language (XML) formatted data associated with a selected portion of the selectable information from the server system and converts the XML formatted data into spreadsheet formatted data;

wherein the investment database application automatically populates the electronic spreadsheet with the converted XML formatted data;

wherein the investment database application converts spreadsheet formatted data from the populated electronic spreadsheet into XML formatted data and transmits the converted spreadsheet formatted data to the server system, the transmitted data to be uploaded to a database of the server system subsequent to validation of the transmitted data by a business controller of the server system, the validation based on a specification of the business process of the selected spreadsheet template; and

wherein the investment database application provides an indication when the upload is successful based on a confirmation response received from the server system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the business process of the selected spreadsheet template comprises one of:

a business plan process, an asset tracking process, an operations pages process, a debt and hedge schedules process.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the selectable information available for download comprises one or more of:

a list of fund information, investments associated with the fund information, and a reporting period.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the investment database application comprises a plug-in to the spreadsheet application.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a component object model interface installed on the client system, the component object model interface configured to transfer data between the client system and the server system through a network.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the component object model interface communicates with the server system through the network using a standard protocol.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the

business controller includes logic specific to the business process of the selected spreadsheet template;

and

wherein the database is for storing data related to the business process of the selected spreadsheet template.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the business process of the selected spreadsheet template comprises one of:

a business plan process, an asset tracking process, an operations pages process, a debt and hedge schedules process.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the selectable information available for download comprises a list of fund information dynamically generated by the business controller based on the business process of the selected spreadsheet template.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the business controller is configured to generate the snapshot of data from data existing on the database.

11. A method for processing data stored in a database of a server system, the method comprising:

presenting a list of selectable spreadsheet templates using an investment database application installed on a client system, the client system comprising a computer-readable storage disk, the investment database application in communication with a spreadsheet application installed on the client system, each spreadsheet template having a corresponding business process associated therewith, and said each spreadsheet template comprising named ranges that are parsed by the investment database application;

presenting selectable information available for download by the client system using the investment database application, the selectable information relating to the business process of a selected spreadsheet template;

automatically creating an electronic spreadsheet based on the selected spreadsheet template using the investment database application, the electronic spreadsheet rendered by the spreadsheet application;

downloading Extensible Markup Language (XML) formatted data associated with a selected portion of the selectable information from the database to the client system and converting the XML formatted data into spreadsheet formatted data using the investment database application, wherein the investment database application comprises a download option accessible from the spreadsheet application for downloading a snapshot of data generated by the server system without a user leaving the spreadsheet application;

automatically populating the electronic spreadsheet with the converted XML formatted data using the investment database application; and

converting spreadsheet formatted data from the populated electronic spreadsheet into XML formatted data and transmitting the converted spreadsheet formatted data to the server system, the transmitted data to be uploaded to the database subsequent to validation of the transmitted data by a business controller of the server system, the validation based on a specification of the business process of the selected spreadsheet template; and

providing an indication when the upload is successful based on a confirmation response received from the server system.

12. A computer-readable storage disk having stored thereon instructions which executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

present a list of selectable spreadsheet templates using an investment database application installed on a client system and in communication with a spreadsheet application installed on the client system, each spreadsheet template having a corresponding business process associated therewith, and said each spreadsheet template comprising named ranges that are parsed by the investment database application;

present selectable information available for download by the client system using the investment database application, the selectable information relating to the business process of a selected spreadsheet template;

automatically create an electronic spreadsheet based on the selected spreadsheet template using the investment database application, the electronic spreadsheet rendered by the spreadsheet application;

download Extensible Markup Language (XML) formatted data associated with a selected portion of the selectable information from a server system to the client system and convert the XML formatted data into a format compatible with the spreadsheet application using the investment database application, wherein the investment database application comprises a download option accessible from the spreadsheet application for downloading a snapshot of data generated by the server system without a user leaving the spreadsheet application;

automatically populate the electronic spreadsheet with the converted XML formatted data using the investment database application; and

convert spreadsheet formatted data from the populated electronic spreadsheet into XML formatted data and transmit the converted spreadsheet formatted data to the server system, the transmitted data to be uploaded to a database of the server system subsequent to validation of the transmitted data by a business controller of the server system, the validation based on a specification of the business process of the selected spreadsheet template; and

provide an indication when the upload is successful based on a confirmation response received from the server system.