FIELD OF THE INVENTION

&null;0001&null; The present invention relates generally to business data management, and more particularly to a method and system to monitor business intelligence data.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

&null;0002&null; A typical business database today contains an enormous amount of data, presenting a problem for managers and others requiring relevant business information or &null;business intelligence data&null; provided in a simplified and timely manner.

&null;0003&null; Existing methods of providing business intelligence data deliver reports on a predetermined schedule, typically containing an unwieldy jumble of data the vast majority of which is superfluous. Furthermore, because these reports are provided on a schedule insensitive to individual need and ignorant of real-time requirements, information often arrives too late to be of use. It would be advantageous to provide user-customizable business intelligence reports.

&null;0004&null; Although existing spreadsheet applications include limited functionality that can provide some rudimentary forms of user-customizable reports typically by permitting the modification of value box properties, this process is tedious and flat, providing little utility.

&null;0005&null; For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for an improved method of monitoring business intelligence data.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

&null;0006&null; The present invention is directed to a business intelligence monitoring method and system. The method, leveraging the functionality of an existing business information-reporting infrastructure, includes the step of authoring a monitor document derived from a determined methodology by creating one or more intelligence indicators, establishing thresholds for the one or more created intelligence indicators and selecting status definitions for the established thresholds.

&null;0007&null; The method further includes the step of building a report guided by the authored monitor document by retrieving data from a data source for each of the one or more intelligence indicators, assigning statuses to each of the one or more intelligence indicators based on the retrieved data and generating a report incorporating one or more intelligence indicators, retrieved data and assigned statuses. The method further includes the step of publishing the built report by parsing one or more selected instruction templates to obtain publishing instructions and publishing predicated on the obtained publishing instructions.

&null;0008&null; In an aspect of the present invention, the method further includes the steps of formulating one or more roll-up rules predicated on a determined methodology and applying the formulated one or more roll-up rules to a plurality of intelligence indicators to establish intelligence indicator relationship.

&null;0009&null; The invention repositions control at a more appropriate level, providing users with smart, responsibility-specific business intelligence monitoring, empowering them with an ability to create customized reports designed by and for those who use them.

&null;0010&null; Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

&null;0011&null; These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:

&null;0012&null; FIG. 1 is an overview of a business intelligence monitor method according to the present invention;

&null;0013&null; FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of the method further including the roll-up rule formulation step;

&null;0014&null; FIG. 3 is an overview of a business intelligence monitor system according to the present invention;

&null;0015&null; FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of the system including a wizard;

&null;0016&null; FIG. 5 illustrates the UDF architecture;

&null;0017&null; FIG. 6 illustrates a status map; and

&null;0018&null; FIG. 7 illustrates a mapping of value ranges to a priority designation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

&null;0019&null; The present invention is directed to a business intelligence monitor method and system. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the method, leveraging the functionality of an existing business information-reporting infrastructure, includes the steps of authoring a monitor document derived from a determined methodology 10, building a report guided by the authored monitor document 20 and publishing the built report 30.

&null;0020&null; The monitor document is authored 10 by creating one or more intelligence indicators 12, establishing thresholds for the one or more indicators 14 and selecting status definitions for the established thresholds 16. The report is built 20 by retrieving data from a data source for each of the one or more indicators 22, assigning statuses to each of the one or more intelligence indicators based on the retrieved data 24 and generating a report incorporating one or more intelligence indicators, retrieved data and assigned statuses 26. The report is published 30 by parsing one or more selected instruction templates to obtain instructions for publishing 32 and publishing predicated on the obtained publishing instructions 34.

&null;0021&null; As illustrated in FIG. 2, in an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes the steps of formulating one or more roll-up rules predicated on a determined methodology 40 and applying the formulated rollup rules to a plurality of intelligence indicators to establish indicator relationship 42.

&null;0022&null; As illustrated in FIG. 3, the system, leveraging the functionality of an existing business information-reporting infrastructure, includes an administrator 100 for authoring a monitor document 102 derived from a determined methodology and a builder 104 for building a report 106 guided by the monitor document 102.

&null;0023&null; The administrator 100 includes an intelligence indicator creator 108 for creating one or more intelligence indicators 110, a threshold establisher 112 for establishing indicator 110 thresholds and a status definition selector 114 for selecting threshold status definitions.

&null;0024&null; The builder 104 includes a data retriever 116 for retrieving data 118 from a data source 120 for each intelligence indicator 110 and a status assignor 122 for assigning statuses 124 to each intelligence indicator 110 based on retrieved data 118. The builder 104 further includes a report generator 126 for generating a report 128 incorporating intelligence indicators 110, retrieved data 118 and assigned statuses 124, and a publisher 130 for parsing one or more selected instruction templatesl32 to obtain instructions to publish the built report 106.

&null;0025&null; As illustrated in FIG. 4, in an embodiment of the present invention, the administrator 100 includes a wizard 134 for the automation and simplification of the process.

&null;0026&null; The Authoring Process:

&null;0027&null; In the authoring process, the administrator 100 creates templates 132 and provides a simplified method of modifying intelligence indicators 110 or viewing them in their hierarchy.

&null;0028&null; Templates 132 are provided in the form of a generalized markup language such as Extensible Markup Language (XML) or another similarly flexible language. As illustrated in Table 1, a template 132 typically includes definitions such as name, owner, threshold values, data source details and publishing details.

1

TABLE 1

Template Architecture in XML

Template

Template settings (1)

Status Definition

Intelligence indicator Group (IG) (n)

IG state (1)

Intelligence Indicator (II) (n)

state (1)

UDF (1) (data pump)

thresholds (1)

threshold (n) (may have UDF)

state history (1)

state (n)

state (1) (actual value retrieved by data pump)

state history (1)

state (n)

link to IG

IG state history (1)

IG state (n)

&null;0029&null; Table 2 illustrates a sample template 132.

2

TABLE 2

Sample Template

Template

IG (European cities)

II (German cities)

II (French cities)

IG (UK cities)

II (Manchester)

IG (London)

II (Westminster)

II (Chelsea)

II (New York)

IG representing indicator group

II representing intelligence indicator

&null;0030&null; The template 132 gets historical data updates during the build process, illustrated in Table 3.

3

TABLE 3

Schematic of Build Process

1. BP XML

Read document

2. IG

Read status definitions (for all IGs)

3. a) II

(for all II's)

3a(i)

Evaluate linked IG (if it exists)

3a(ii)

Get data value

value &null; 50% UDF Mgr UDF Data

3a(iii) Update history

History

Prior Actual &null; 40%

3a(iv) &null; (v) Apply thresholds and map to status definitions

45% 50% 55%

II value

&null;Red&null; &null; &null;Yellow&null; &null; &null;Green&null;

Priority (status

map)

Value &null; 50% Status &null; &null;yellow&null;

3a(vi) Update history with prior state history

e.g. Prior state &null; &null;Red&null;

3b) Roll-up all II states into IG state (see section D)

r &null; UDF Mgr UDF BubbleUp highest priority

e.g. R &null; Y &null; G &null; R &null; G &null; G &null; R

3c) Update history &null;> e.g. Prior state &null; &null;Y&null;

&null;0031&null; Roll-up rules have an open architecture and are associated in a hierarchical manner. Examples of roll-up rules include: indicating the highest priority value encountered; indicating the lowest priority value encountered; and indicating weighted average.

&null;0032&null; In an embodiment of the present invention, the administrator 100 leverages existing security infrastructure in applying to indicators 110 properties such as ownership, read, write and delete. For example, a team leader can view an indicator 110 displaying a threshold level for a performance area in his or her team, but would be prohibited from modifying or deleting that indicator 110; instead having to consult with the indicator 110 owner to make changes.

&null;0033&null; The builder 104 provides the data pump, typically a user defined function-based dynamic link library (UDF DLL), an example of which is illustrated in Table 4.

4

TABLE 4

UDF Management

XML representation in the template

<UDF Lib&null;&null;CogUDFR_BubbleUpRed&null;, Type &null; &null;multi&null;>

<Arg name &null; &null;weight&null;, type &null; &null;double&null;></arg>

<Arg name &null; &null;priority&null;, type &null; &null;double&null;></arg>

</udf>

Type &null; &null;multi&null; &null; > CogUDFR_BubbleUpRed must conform to &null;multi-

call&null; signature

Type &null; &null;single&null; &null; > Library must conform to &null;single call&null; signature

&null;0034&null; In a multi-call signature, the DLL/Builder 104 includes the functions 1. Get Fn Count( ); 2. Get Fn Details ( ); 3. Get Arg Info ( ); 4. Add Row ( ) and 5. Compute ( ). In a multi-call signature, 1, 2 and 3 are responsible for establishing what information is in the UDF and used by the UDF Manager to extract information about what other functions are exposed in the UDF Library; 4 and 5 being the functions that do the actual work. For a single-call signature 1, 2 and 3 are required &null;5 compute ( ). An example of a UDF Signature is illustrated in Table 5.

5

TABLE 5

UDF Signature

long Get Fn Count ( ) - returns number of non-mandatory functions in

Library

boolean Get Fn Details (int fn1 DX, for Details....) - returns details of an

individual function

for IDX &null; function index (integer function or detail)

for Details &null; structure of information about function

&null;

int number of arguments

string name

.

.

&null;

boolean Get Arg Info (int FnIDX, int ArgIDX, ArgDetails...) - returns the

details of an individual argument.

Fn IDX &null; function index

ArgIDX &null; argument index (integer argument ordinal)

ArgDetails &null; structure of argument information

&null;string name

int type (int: front : string)

.

.

&null;

status complete ( ) - This returns a structure containing the result of

computation and status information.

&null;0035&null; The UDF Manager controls the UDF process, first calling the mandatory function GetFnCount to find out how many functions are on the UDF. Then for each function, call GetFnDetails to get its (individual function&null;) information and for each argument on the function, call GetArgInfo gets argument details, wherein the process is repeated. This UDF process is illustrated in psuedo-code in Table 6, and the UDF architecture is illustrated in FIG. 5.

6

TABLE 6

UDF Process in Psuedo-code

for each function

call GetFnDetails

for each argument

call GetArgInfo (store arg as XML)

next argument

(store function as XML)

next function

&null;0036&null; The Build Process:

&null;0037&null; As illustrated in Table 7, the build process consumes the status definitions set in the authoring environment, builds the content and produces the results. The build process also performs required calculations, applies roll-up rules, assigns states 124, updates the template 132 and provides an error log. The builder 104 loops through roll-up rule group commands of all existing roll-up rules.

7

TABLE 7

Build Process

1. Read XML and create monitor objects

2. Read status definitions files to get status map

3. For each Indicator Group (IG)

a) For each Intelligence Indicator (II)

(i) if linked to IG evaluate IG

(ii) execute data pump UDF through UDF Manager to get

actual value

(iii) update history with prior actual

(iv) apply thresholds

(v) apply actual to status map to get state

(vi) update history with prior state

b) Apply roll-up rules to all II&null;s to calculate IG state

c) Update history with prior state

4. Write XML with new status/values etc.

&null;0038&null; The objective of status definitions is to map an arbitrary range of values to a consistent set of states for direct comparison of disparate metrics. As an example, if an intelligence indicator 1, representing costs in a range of $0 to $1,000, indicates that costs has a value of $800, and an intelligence indicator 2, representing percentage profit in a range of &null;25%&null;&null;100%, indicates that percentage profit has a value of 75%.

&null;0039&null; As illustrated in FIG. 6, one status map can be applied to both Intelligence Indicator 1 and Intelligence Indicator 2 despite disparate metrics, enabling their states 124 to be compared directly, such as red versus green rather than $800 versus 75%.

&null;0040&null; A status map can include an arbitrary number of states 124. Each state 124 is assigned a priority, the priority being the metric used to compare any values applied to the status map for the purposes of elements such as rollup rules. The mapping of value ranges to a priority designation for an intelligence indicator 110 is done through the thresholds on the intelligence indicator 110, as illustrated in FIG. 7.

&null;0041&null; Any given value of the intelligence indicator 110 will fall between two thresholds. The lower threshold applies (same as >). An intelligence indicator 110 is assigned a priority associated with a threshold through a mapping to the status map and the state 124 is calculated from the associated priority. The build process retrieves figures from the data source 120 either from a database-reporting tool or by accessing the data source 120 directly.

&null;0042&null; The Publishing Process:

&null;0043&null; Publishing consumes the template 132 by parsing the template 132 to replace intelligence indicator tags with information from the template 132 and applying process logic as defined in the intelligence indicator 110 tags. In addition, publishing creates static reports and provides an error log. Related URL links can be inserted or results customized to display desired elements within a web page, such as a pie chart.

&null;0044&null; In an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes one or more feedback elements to enable external input. In an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes one or more underlying data access elements to access foundational data. In an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes enabling access to a plurality of existing business information reporting infrastructures. In an embodiment of the present invention, the enabled access further includes access to disparate reporting infrastructures.

&null;0045&null; The invention provides an ability to group critical success factors together based on the way one thinks about their business by determining how lower levels will roll up to higher levels. For example, if revenue is red, as in &null;in the red&null; or &null;in the black&null;, how does that impact the sales group. As well, weights can be assigned to critical success factors, such as weighting North American sales higher than Asia-Pacific sales.

&null;0046&null; Critical success factors can be described and descriptions displayed in web pages with links to related information, such as web-based reports, other web sites or work documents. Users can create a history of their intelligence indicators 110 over time and publish static images from business intelligence reporting clients to compare several different intelligence indicators 110 or dimensions of data.

&null;0047&null; In addition, users can publish trend information incorporating a temporal dimension, easily update and re-publish when the cube is refreshed, publish the display and output, and annotate and add notes in a web display. As well, the template 132 can be accessed to perform many value-added techniques, such as data mining.

&null;0048&null; Furthermore, the invention consolidates disparate reporting tools into one user-friendly interface leveraging existing infrastructure, provides for predictive monitoring and delivers great improvements in functionality with a minimum of set-up. The invention delivers qualitative rather than quantitative reports and provides a simple, flexible, extensible, customizable and open architecture.

&null;0049&null; The invention repositions control at a more appropriate level, providing users with smart, responsibility-specific business intelligence monitoring, empowering them with an ability to create customized reports, designed by and for those who use them.

&null;0050&null; Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, other versions are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred embodiments contained herein.