Abstract: This invention addresses the need for dealing with complex planning calculations based on data warehouse or Planning Data Repository (PDR) data where some aggregated data or forecast data might be changed without directly manipulating the underlying data, and where there may be several relationships linking the data. The system is able to deal with complex relationships along more than one axis or dimension. A number of iterations are typically used involving both back-solving and ‘forward-solving’. The subset of cells that needs to be recalculated is identified before steps of back-solving and/or forward-solving using parent/child tables. The scanning of these tables looking for potential dependencies is much simpler and faster than to looking at the actual formulae or functions relating the cells.

Abstract: The invention is directed to statistically quantifying sales opportunities in order to forecast revenue and generate solution-oriented sales plans. The system includes a database of business opportunities and associated conditions. The database represents a mathematical model, such as a Bayesian model, where the conditions and business opportunities are represented as objects within the model. A statistical engine analyzes the database and generates a probability set indicating the probability of successfully achieving the business opportunities. A network interface allows a user, using a remote computer, telephone or personal digital assistant (PDA), to communicate with the system and input data, such as the status of the particular conditions. The statistical engine adaptively adjusts the model. A marketing engine generates a sale plan as a function of the probability set. The sales plan includes a list of activities necessary to achieve each business opportunities.

Abstract: An enterprise planning system includes a plurality of application servers, and an administration console to generate a deployment map that associates each of a set of enterprise planning models with a respective set of the application servers. The administration console, either automatically or in response to input from a system administrator, may finely control the allocation of computing resources to enterprise planning. The administrator console may adjust the deployment map based on approaching deadlines for the enterprise planning activities. When administrating a task associated with an enterprise planning activity, the administration console may break the task into a number of jobs, each job associated with a different slice of the model in accordance with the organizational hierarchy defined by the model. Consequently, allocation of computing resources to enterprise planning may be finely controlled, and may be adjusted to meet the current needs within the organizational hierarchy.

Abstract: This invention addresses the need for dealing with complex planning calculations based on data warehouse or Planning Data Repository (PDR) data where some aggregated data or forecast data might be changed without directly manipulating the underlying data, and where there may be several relationships linking the data. The system is able to deal with complex relationships along more than one axis or dimension. A number of iterations are typically used involving both back-solving and ‘forward-solving’. The subset of cells that needs to be recalculated is identified before steps of back-solving and/or forward-solving using parent/child tables. The scanning of these tables looking for potential dependencies is much simpler and faster than to looking at the actual formulae or functions relating the cells.

Abstract: An interactive system for visualizing business data organized according to the dimensional model allows to combine data from more than one data source and present the data in the form of a graphical, multi-metric data visualization. The visualizations are hierarchically structured and built from visualization elements including, in ascending order of hierarchy, charts, panels, scenes and sheets. The system provides a large variety of two- and three-dimensional visualization elements, mostly predefined charts, which can be combined in any number into fully customized visualizations. In a preferred embodiment, a visualization is built by the system, which prompts the user to select data sources, data items to be visualized, and certain features of the presentation layout.

Abstract: An efficient and reliable method and system for organizing an application in a source environment and deploying the application into a target environment is disclosed. The method comprises steps of (a) defining an application for creating an application definition containing a list of application components, (b) defining a package according to the application definition for creating a package definition including deployment policies, (c) creating an application package according to the package definition, which contains all the information required to install the application, and (d) installing the application package into the target environment. Preferably, the method may further include a step of defining an environment for creating a configuration definition containing information on the source and target environments.

Abstract: The invention provides a means of interacting with a subset of a large amount of related information that assists in providing a user with the overall understanding necessary to execute rapid and knowledgeable decision-making. It consists of a spreadsheet-like client application which interacts with a planning data repository (PDR) and its associated computing resources. All of the data used in computing the values shown in the spreadsheet cells are derived directly from the PDR. Any changes made by the user to the displayed data are sent to the PDR and, when validated, incorporated into the overall data following a two-step process of ‘calculate’ and ‘save’. At the user's desktop machine, the user views a window which contains information temporarily stored locally within the client computer for use by a script application.

Abstract: Business performance information is presented to users by displaying a list of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) having delta indication scores indicating changes in the KPIs, providing display options, receiving selection of a display option, and presenting performance information of the KPIs based on the selected display option.

Abstract: A method of rendering screen of a computer display device under conditions requiring frequent repainting of the screen is disclosed. The display is a part of a computer system running an application under control of an operating system. The application detects the onset of conditions requiring frequent repainting of the screen by checking messages sent by the operating system to the application's message queue. The application then starts the repainting of the screen based on the information retrieved from the queue while checking periodically the message queue to see if the originally detected conditions still apply. If this is the case, the application terminates the original repainting operation and starts a new repainting operation based on the updated information retrieved from the message queue. This cycle is repeated until it is determined that the originally detected conditions no longer apply, in which case a final complete repaint of the screen takes place.

Abstract: The invention comprises a method and system for reducing the apparent complexity faced by a user when confronted by this modeling environment. It provides for a metadata model that represents one or more data sources, the metadata model comprising a query layer combining tee functions of a data access layer and a business layer. The query layer includes query subjects that describe how to retrieve data from the data sources, and the query subjects contain query items. The query layer also allows the use of data access language statements which permit the use of more complex computed query subjects and query items.

Abstract: The invention provides for a method for producing reports for business intelligence that adapt automatically to a context, defied by a locale variable. A parameter map is defined, based on locale key and field names, and a report layout is produced that contains one or more macrotized database language expressions that include partial expressions built using the parameter map. Later, once a user selects a locale, the partial expression resulting from a lookup in the parameter map using the locale is used to modify one or more macrotized database language expressions. Finally, the resulting valid database language expressions are applied to the database to produce a report.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a method for using a relational database management system to support on-line analytical processing (OLAP) systems by providing a security access mechanism. The method of restricting access to data contained in a business intelligence system, comprises the steps of defining one or more security roles, associating the security roles with business intelligence data, selecting one or more security roles from the one or more security roles, combining the one or more security filters with a data access language statement, and interpreting the data access statement.

Abstract: A method of managing slowly changing dimensions in a dimensional database, such as a dimensional data mart, is disclosed. The method consists of providing a dimension template for each dimension undergoing slow changes, which template assigns a behavior to each column of the dimension table. When a row of dimensional data is to be delivered to the dimension table, the table is searched for a record having the key value of the row of data to be delivered. If such a record exists and if any attributes of the row to be delivered have their values changed compared with the existing record, the table is updated according to the behavior type assigned to these attributes in the dimension template, either by overwriting the existing record with the record to be delivered or by creating a new record or records.

Abstract: The invention introduces a method and system to automatically derive the relationships between query subjects and query items within query subjects so that problems such as those that result in double courting of information are avoided. It provides for creating a report by first defining a model based on an existing database comprising two or more query subjects, each query subject comprising at least one fact query item and one primary key, then generating a hierarchy of sets and subsets of key query items within the model. Next a further fact is introduced into one of the query subjects. The expression is decomposed into sub-queries to prevent double counting of data in ambiguously defined situations. This is achieved using the introduced fact to determine that such decomposition is required. Finally, the data is accessed using the sub-queries, and a report is produced.

Abstract: A group query transformation system for Transforming structured query language group query windowed aggregates is provided. The group query transformation system comprises a group query analysis module for analyzing one or more structured query language (SQL)/on-line analytical programming (OLAP) windowed aggregates that are not supported by a target database system, and a group query transformation module for transforming the one or more SQL/OLAP windowed aggregates into semantically equivalent standard aggregate functions that are supported by the target database system.

Abstract: A query transformation system for transforming nested aggregates in a query is provided. The query transformation system comprises a nested aggregate analysis module for analysing a query that is not supported by a target database system, and a nested aggregate transformation module for transforming the query into a semantically equivalent query that is supported by the target database system.

Abstract: A system for storing data is provided. The system comprises one or more member cubes for storing dimension-based partitioned data, and a control cube for accessing the member cubes.

Abstract: The invention introduces a mechanism for analyzing large amounts of data. The end-user selects the various filter expression types and any required parameters used to condense the data, and this allows interactive selection of the most interesting ones as well as the ability to vary parameters for those filter expressions requiring them. These selected filter expressions are used to produce filtered views of the data in the cross-tabulations, so that the end-user gains a better grasp of the significant attributes of the data by having less important data either omitted, or aggregated into arbitrary groups. Because all of the permitted filter expressions are pre-computed there are significant improvements in usability and effectiveness. Further, since the pre-computation of these quite complex functions is performed concurrently there is potential for significant savings in processing resources.

Abstract: A request dispatching system is provided for dispatching requests to a system having a predetermined number of server instances. Each request has its service type. The request dispatching system uses one queue for each service type, and reserves for each queue a minimum number of server instances. In one embodiment, idle server instances may be configured on demand to serve requests of a different type.