Abstract: A data processing device (100) characterizes behavior properties of equipment under observation (105). The device (100) has a plurality of processing units that are adapted to process input values (a) to output values (e) according to numerical transfer functions. The functions implement an input-to-output mapping specified by a configuration (C) that is obtained by pre-processing historic data (114) from a plurality of master equipment (104). The configuration is related to the behavior properties of the equipment (105) so that some of the output values (e) represent the behavior properties of the equipment (105) under observation.

Abstract: Not all facts in a data warehouse are described by the same set of dimensions. However, there can be associations between the data dimensions and other dimensions. By maintaining a set of relationships that are capable of linking the dimensional keys used in existing data to the keys of an associated dimension, a data transformation can be constructed that summarizes by the original and by the associated dimensions in feeds in an analytical data mart (cube) that includes all the dimensions. This cube can then be consolidated and analyzed in a slice-and-dice fashion as though all the dimensions were independent. Data transformed in this manner can be analyzed alongside data from a source that is keyed by all of the dimensions.