Method and apparatus for configurable data aggregation in a data warehouse

• US 8,112,399 B2
• Filed: 11/07/2005
• Issued: 02/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cook, Jonathan Michael, Rendahl, Randy Allan, Robinson, David G., Shi, Shaw-Ben, Buros, Karen Lynn
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoang, Son T
• Application Number:
  US11/268,931
• Publication Number:
  US 20070106711A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,283 Days
• Field of Search: 707/667, 707/694
• US Class Current: 707/667
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/254 Extract, transform and load [ETL] procedures, e.g. ETL data flows in data warehouses

Abstract

A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program code to identify a policy for managing data in a data storage system. Raw data is located in the data storage system for processing to form located data. The located data is aggregated based on the policy to form aggregated data. The aggregated data is stored in the data storage system.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for managing data, the computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying a policy for managing the data in a data storage system;

locating raw data in the data storage system for processing to form located data;

aggregating the located data based on the policy by summarizing the located data to form aggregated data such that the aggregated data is in a condensed form with respect to the located data by not including all of the located data in the aggregated data; and

storing the aggregated data in the data storage system, wherein the identifying step comprises;

retrieving aggregation metadata from a server to identify the policy, wherein the aggregation metadata contains information used to aggregate the located data.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the aggregation metadata sets a schedule for aggregating the data in the data storage system.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the aggregation metadata defines levels of aggregation for the data, and wherein the data is previously aggregated data that has previously been aggregated.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the levels of aggregation comprise at least one of hourly average, daily average, weekly average, quarterly average, and yearly average.

5. A computer-implemented method for managing data, the computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying a policy for managing the data in a data storage system;

locating raw data in the data storage system for processing to form located data;

aggregating the located data based on the policy by summarizing the located data to form aggregated data such that the aggregated data is in a condensed form with respect to the located data by not including all of the located data in the aggregated data;

storing the aggregated data in the data storage system;

receiving first user input in a graphical user interface, wherein the first user input selects a portion of the data in the data storage system;

displaying the selected data; and

receiving second user input in the graphical user interface, wherein the second user input selects (i) a data collection for when the selected data is to be collected to form the raw data, and (ii) a data aggregation interval for when the raw data is to be aggregated to form the aggregated data.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the data includes at least one of the raw data and the aggregated data.

7. A computer-usable storage medium comprising a computer program product stored thereon and operable by a data processing system for managing data, the computer program product comprising:

program code for identifying a policy for managing the data in a data storage system;

program code for locating raw data in the data storage system for processing to form located data;

program code for aggregating the located data based on the policy by summarizing the located data to form aggregated data such that the aggregated data is in a condensed form with respect to the located data by not including all of the located data in the aggregated data; and

program code for storing the aggregated data in the data storage system, wherein the program code for identifying a policy for managing the data in a data storage system comprises;

program code for retrieving aggregation metadata from a server to identify the policy, wherein the aggregation metadata contains information used to aggregate the located data.

8. The computer program product computer-usable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the aggregation metadata sets a schedule for aggregating the data in the data storage system.

9. The computer program product computer-usable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the aggregation metadata defines levels of aggregation for the data, and wherein the data is previously aggregated data that has previously been aggregated.

10. The computer program product computer-usable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the levels of aggregation comprise at least one of hourly average, daily average, weekly average, quarterly average, and yearly average.