Online analytic processing cube with time stamping

#Example embodiments relate generally to the technical field of data management, and in one specific example, to a system and a method for time stamping data.

#As companies continue to strive for efficiency, consistency and flexibility, computers and software executed on computers are increasingly relied upon to automate, semi-automate, enhance, quicken and make reliable and uniform business processes. As a result of rapidly expanding and increasingly cost-effective data storage and management capabilities and ever-increasing bandwidth in data communications, the appetite for increasingly robust software programs with greater access and use of business data has grown. Tax data may often be stored in computer databases where various operations may be readily performed upon the data, using the vast processing power of today's computer systems. A variety of tax software may assist individual or corporate accountants to prepare accurate tax documents. Many tax software applications are capable of importing required financial data related to accounts from databases of various financial institutions such as banks, mortgage companies, investment institutes, etc.

#The convergence of SOX 404 and FASB Interpretation No. 48 (FIN 48) presents tax departments with an unprecedented level of process, documentation, and control requirements. To ensure compliance with FIN 48, tax departments are faced with the need to create a controlled and auditable environment that supports: processes and controls around managing tax positions across the entire organizational structure, all jurisdictions, and over multiple years; the development of a comprehensive inventory of tax positions (certain and uncertain) and balances; judgments regarding the technical merits of the positions; measurement of the appropriate impact to be reported in the financial statements; detailed documentation to be tracked for supporting the judgments around positions and their measured benefit; and new and substantive financial statement disclosures. In addition, with FIN 48, the assessment of the inventory of tax positions is a continual process. With each quarterly financial reporting cycle, decisions regarding the technical merits and proper measurements must be reevaluated, thus requiring the ability to capture and track ongoing analysis, approvals, and related documentation supporting decisions made throughout the process. What is needed is a system that addresses these process, control, and documentation requirements by providing a secure, controlled framework for identifying, evaluating, measuring, and reporting on tax positions—across entities, jurisdictions, and periods—in accordance with FIN 48 and other standards. Existing spreadsheet-based systems and document management tools fall short of facilitating multiple layers of decision making, reducing manual effort, supporting internal controls, and complementing existing tax provision processes. A need exists for a system to help companies comply with the process, documentation, and control requirements of FIN 48; streamline the preparation for, and process of, financial audits; reduce risk, increase accuracy, and improve tax department efficiency and effectiveness; adhere to company-defined SOX 404 controls and FIN 48 processes through a highly configurable, secure, and fully auditable framework.

#In order to facilitate a full understanding of the present invention, reference is now made to the accompanying drawings, in which like elements are referenced with like numerals. These drawings should not be construed as limiting the present invention, but are intended to be exemplary and for reference. Some embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which:

#FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system, according to an example embodiment, for the real-time generation of an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube.

#FIG. 2 is a diagram of a Graphical User Interface (GUI), according to an example embodiment, illustrating a jurisdiction in which an entity files jurisdiction-specific tax data.

#The present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to exemplary embodiments as shown in the accompanying drawings. While the present invention is described herein with reference to the exemplary embodiments, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to such exemplary embodiments. Those possessing ordinary skill in the art and having access to the teachings herein will recognize additional implementations, modifications, and embodiments, as well as other applications for use of the invention, which are fully contemplated herein as within the scope of the present invention as disclosed and claimed herein, and with respect to which the present invention could be of significant utility.

#In some example embodiments, a system and method is shown to establish a historical-factual basis for data. Data as used herein is validated data. Validated data include the data that have been examined by a person (e.g., a tax professional such as an auditor, Certified Public Accountant (CPA), or a Chief Financial Officer (CFO)) who certifies the data as valid with or without modifications. Certification may be in the form of tendering an opinion with regard to the data as to its validity. For example, if a tax auditor would like to see the history of how a certain piece of data has been updated over time, then an OLAP cube, as illustrated herein, is queried, and calculations (e.g., tax calculations) are performed using the data stored in this OLAP cube. These calculations reflect the validated data as it was understood at a particular point in time by a person (e.g., a natural person or legal entity) associated with the data.

#Some example embodiments include the generating of a snap shot or “version” of the validated data as it was understood at some point in time, which is meant to include not only time of day but also calendar day or date including month, day and year or any combination thereof. This may be done by “time-stamping” individual items of data or sets of such data items from initiation and through modifications over time. Each snap shot or version, and data included therein, is used to perform calculations and may produce results attributable to and associable with that version and that “time.” The result of these calculations is used to understand certain historical business decisions of those (e.g., persons running a business) associated with the validated data and to track and reproduce the data, calculations and perhaps basis for the results. In this manner, the invention may be used to over time create a plurality of versions of OLAP cube, data, and results, which may then be at a later date recreated without the need to discretely save each data set and OLAP cube build. In one manner, the invention provides a way to build an OLAP cube using a time-based criterion, effectively recreating the cube, data, and results that would have been generated based on data as it existed at the selected point in time, like a virtual time-machine for data. Given that there are very large amounts of data associated with tax accounting and other applications and that conditions change over time (e.g., additional/fewer/different entities as a result of acquisition, sale, restructuring, etc. over time) the present invention provides an efficient and effective system for 1) making real-time calculations and generating results, and 2) recreating the data and conditions that existed as of a particular point in time to build an OLAP cube consistent with those previous conditions. This is especially powerful in the areas of tax and accounting wherein filings are made with certain assumptions or rules and over time, for example due to rulings and audit decisions, etc., the data is modified to reflect changing conditions. An entity often is faced with the daunting task of going back to support earlier filings only to find that because data has been modified and/or other conditions have changed it may be costly, time-consuming and perhaps impossible to recreate the data and conditions that were valid at some point in time. The OLAP cube and related techniques herein allow entities to efficiently, and in a largely automated or semi-automated fashion, retrace its footsteps along the tax filing path. This can be done for companies comprising many legal entities with many subsidiaries, business units operating in a plurality of jurisdictions, including states and countries, and having thousands of tax related filings