Analytical server including metrics engine

A method of operating an analytical server which is positioned between a client and a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS), the method operable to provide an interface between the client and a relational database located on the RDBMS, the relational database having fact tables, dimension tables, and metadata describing the relationships between the fact and dimension tables, the method comprising:

• receiving in the analytical server, from the RDBMS, at least a portion of the metadata information regarding the relational database and its organization, including information about a logical hierarchy of the fact and dimension tables;
• receiving in the analytical server, from the client, a metric query;
• determining, based on the received information regarding the logical hierarchy of the fact and dimension tables and based on the metric query received from the client, which hierarchical levels of the fact and dimension tables are available in the relational database for responding to the metric query;
• determining at least one database query according to the available hierarchical levels of the fact and dimension tables;
• sending the determined at least one database query to the RDBMS, wherein the at least one database query comprises multiple fact table queries, the multiple fact table queries each yielding results;
• calculating metric values by assessing which hierarchical levels are available in the results, lining up the results along the available hierarchical levels and performing an outer join;
• and
• whereby the metric query can be responded to by the analytical server based on responses of the RDBMS to the determined at least one database query.

A method of operating an analytical server which is positioned between a client and a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS), the method operable to provide an interface between the client and a relational database located on the RDBMS, the relational database having fact tables, dimension tables, and metadata describing the relationships between the fact and dimension tables, the method comprising:

• receiving in the analytical server, from the RDBMS, at least a portion of the metadata information regarding the relational database and its organization, including information about a logical hierarchy of the fact and dimension tables;
• receiving in the analytical server, from the client, a metric query;
• determining, based on the received information regarding the logical hierarchy of the fact and dimension tables and based on the metric query received from the client, which hierarchical levels of the fact and dimension tables are available in the relational database for responding to the metric query;
• determining at least one database query according to the available hierarchical levels of the fact and dimension tables;
• sending the determined at least one database query to the RDBMS whereby the metric query can be responded to by the analytical server based on responses of the RDBMS to the determined at least one database query;
• receiving a plurality of metric queries from the client, the plurality of metric queries requesting at least two metrics which are broken down at the same hierarchical level;
• and
• sending at least one database query to the RDBMS which retrieves measures from the RDBMS which are usable in common between the at least two metrics.