Computer implemented methods for data mining and the presentation of business metrics for analysis

A method for acquiring and presenting data for business analysis, comprising:

• identifying a set of data sources to be accessed;
• accessing each of the set of data sources;
• acquiring raw data from each of the accessed set of data sources;
• storing the acquired raw data into raw data type specific compartments, such that each raw data type specific compartment is associated with each of the set of data sources;
• pre-processing the acquired raw data to ensure data integrity;
• transferring the acquired raw data from each of the raw data type specific compartments to processed data type specific compartments to define processed data, the transferring being configured to detect a data type of each raw data type specific compartment and load data components of each raw data type specific compartment into the respective processed data type specific compartment based on the detected data type, the transferring further including,
• converting the data types of each raw data type specific compartment into a single data type, so that each processed data type specific compartment has the same single data type;
• transferring the processed data from each processed data type specific compartment to a temporary database;
• applying display rules, the display rules being configured to define a format and content of a requested report;
• outputting the requested report, the outputting includes,
• referencing the temporary database;
• acquiring data elements from the temporary database using the display rules;
• and
• generating the requested report in one of a spreadsheet format, a world wide web interactive format, an Internet browser compatible format and an electronic mail file format.