Discovering a business relationship network, and assessing a relevance of a relationship

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory that contains instructions that are readable by said processor to cause said processor to:
• examine records that describe transactions between entities;
• construct, in a database, a data structure that represents a relationship network, based on said transactions, wherein said relationship network represents (i) a first entity and (ii) a second entity that is separated from said first entity by N tiers, where N is a whole number greater than or equal to 1;
• and
• calculate a relevance of said second entity to said first entity as a function of a characteristic of said second entity.

A tangible storage medium, comprising:

• instructions that are readable by a processor to cause said processor to:
• examine records that describe transactions between entities;
• construct, in a database, a data structure that represents a relationship network, based on said transactions, wherein said relationship network represents (i) a first entity and (ii) a second entity that is separated from said first entity by N tiers, where N is a whole number greater than or equal to 1;
• and
• calculate a relevance of said second entity to said first entity as a function of a characteristic of said second entity.