US 6,668,253 B1 · Enterprise information management system and methods

Abstract

A system for enterprise information management includes a data warehouse server; a transformation and staging server connected to the data warehouse server for providing transformed and cleansed data to the data warehouse server; a data source application connected to the transformation and staging server to provide data to the transformation and staging server, wherein the transformation and staging server obtains data from the data source application via requests and places the data into temporary staging tables to prepare for the transformation and cleansing process prior to movement of the data to the data warehouse server; a financial consolidation application connected to the transformation and staging server for performing consolidation and reporting of financial data; a web server connected to the data warehouse server; and a plurality of clients connectable to the web server for accessing data from the data warehouse server via the web server.

Claims34

Dependent claims

A system for enterprise information management, comprising:

a data warehouse server;
a transformation and staging server connected to the data warehouse server for providing transformed and cleansed data to the data warehouse server;
a data source application connected to the transformation and staging server to provide data to the transformation and staging server;
a financial consolidation application connected to the transformation and staging server for performing consolidation and reporting of financial data;
a web server connected to the data warehouse server;
and
a plurality of clients connectable to the web server for accessing data from the data warehouse server via the web server,
wherein a client accessing the data warehouse server via the web server is presented with a login screen and is required to provide a valid user identifier and password in order to access the system, and wherein, upon authentication of the user identifier and password, a new browser window is opened at the client and the client is presented with a user interface (UI) tailored to the client's preferences and security privileges,
wherein the UI comprises,
a task list.
buttons/controls for launching components of the system, and
a content area for task related data and output, wherein each item listed in the task list has supporting screens that populate the content area,
wherein the UI provides access to performance indicators through home paves made up of one to four reports or graphs displayed on the content area, and
wherein clients are provided with a set of predefined drill paths or next steps for the user to follow in analyzing their data, wherein the predefined next steps display additional reports with new, more detailed, or related information to a report currently being viewed.

11 more elements

A method for enterprise information management, comprising:

providing an enterprise information management system, the system comprising a data warehouse server, a transformation and staging server connected to the data warehouse server for providing transformed and cleansed data to the data warehouse server, a data source application connected to the transformation and staging server to provide data to the transformation and staging server, a financial consolidation application connected to the transformation and staging server for performing consolidation and reporting of financial data, a web server connected to the data warehouse server, and a plurality of clients connectable to the web server for accessing data from the data warehouse server via the web server;
by the transformation and staging server:
retrieving operational data from the data source application using a data flow plan;
validating and cleansing the retrieved operational data;
loading the data into an appropriate temporary staging table;
and
performing a second phase of validations and cleansing, including referential integrity validations and aggregate processing validations;
and
loading information from the transformation and staging server on the data warehouse server,
wherein the loading of information comprises one of:
a round-robin approach used for refresh processing and extracting information from permanent tables;
and
a see-saw approach used for non-refresh processing and extracting information from temporary tables,
wherein the round-robin approach comprises:
(a) exporting information to flat files on the transformation and staging server, selecting rows from normalized, denormalized, and summary tables,
(b) loading information into the normalized, denormalized, and summary load tables;
(c) for each table
(c1) updating load statistics metadata on the data warehouse server, indicating that the information is in a “loading” state;
(c2) renaming the current table to a temporary table as a temporary holding area;
(c3) renaming the load table to the actual table, making the latest information available to the users;
(c4) renaming the temporary table to the load table to prepare for the next period's processing batch;
(c5) updating the load statistics metadata on the data warehouse server indicating that the information is in a “updated” state and updating the date, time, number of records loaded;
and
(d) deleting all of the information from the normalized, denormalized, and summary load tables to prepare for the next period's processing batch.

21 more elements

A method for enterprise information management, comprising:

providing an enterprise information management system comprising a data warehouse server, a transformation and staging server connected to the data warehouse server for providing transformed and cleansed data to the data warehouse server, a data source application connected to the transformation and staging server to provide data to the transformation and staging server, a financial consolidation application connected to the transformation and staging server for performing consolidation and reporting of financial data, a web server connected to the data warehouse server, and a plurality of clients connectable to the web server for accessing data from the data warehouse server via the web server;
by the transformation and staging server:
retrieving operational data from the data source application using a data flow plan;
validating and cleansing the retrieved operational data;
loading the data into an appropriate temporary staging table;
and
performing a second phase of validations and cleansing, including referential integrity validations and aggregate processing validations;
and
loading information from the transformation and staging server on the data warehouse server,
wherein the loading of information comprises one of:
a round-robin approach used for refresh processing and extracting information from permanent tables;
and
a see-saw approach used for non-refresh processing and extracting information from temporary tables,
wherein the see-saw approach comprises:
(a) exporting information to flat files on the transformation and staging server, selecting rows from the normalized, denormalized, and summary temporary tables;
(b) for each table of the normalized, denormalized, and summary temporary tables:
(b1) updating the load statistics metadata on the data warehouse server indicating that the information is in a “loading” state;
(b2) renaming the current table load table;
(b3) loading information into the load table;
(b4) renaming the load table to the permanent table;
and
(b5) updating the load statistics metadata on the data warehouse server indicating that the information is in a “updated” state and updating the date, time, number of records loaded.

19 more elements

A computerized record-keeping system that tracks and records transactions of a method for enterprise information management, comprising:

providing a system for enterprise information management comprising a data warehouse server, a transformation and staging server connected to the data warehouse server for providing transformed and cleansed data to the data warehouse server, a data source application connected to the transformation and staging server to provide data to the transformation and staging server, a financial consolidation application connected to the transformation and staging server for performing consolidation and reporting of financial data, a web server connected to the data warehouse server, and a plurality of clients connectable to the web server for accessing data from the data warehouse server via the web server;
by the transformation and staging server:
retrieving operational data from the data source application using a data flow plan;
validating and cleansing the retrieved operational data;
loading the data into an appropriate temporary staging table;
and
performing a second phase of validations and cleansing, including referential integrity validations and aggregate processing validations;
and
loading information from the transformation and staging server on the data warehouse server,
wherein the loading of information comprises one of:
a round-robin approach used for refresh processing and extracting information from permanent tables, and
a see-saw approach used for non-refresh processing and extracting information from temporary tables,
wherein the round-robin approach comprises:
(a) exporting information to flat files on the transformation and staging server, selecting rows from normalized, denormalized, and summary tables;
(b) loading information into the normalized, denormalized, and summary load tables;
(c) for each table:
(c1) updating load statistics metadata on the data warehouse server, indicating that the information is in a “loading” state;
(c2) renaming the current table to a temporary table as a temporary holding area;
(c3) renaming the load table to the actual table, making the latest information available to the users;
(c4) renaming the temporary table to the load table to prepare for the next period's processing batch;
and
(c5) updating the load statistics metadata on the data warehouse server indicating that the information is in a “updated” state and updating the date, time, number of records loaded;
and
(d) deleting all of the information from the normalized, denormalized, and summary load tables to prepare for the next period's processing batch.

21 more elements

A computerized record-keeping system that tracks and records transactions of a method for enterprise information management, comprising:

providing a system for enterprise information management comprising a data warehouse server, a transformation and staging server connected to the data warehouse server for providing transformed and cleansed data to the data warehouse server, a data source application connected to the transformation and staging server to provide data to the transformation and staging server, a financial consolidation application connected to the transformation and staging server for performing consolidation and reporting of financial data, a web server connected to the data warehouse server, and a plurality of clients connectable to the web server for accessing data from the data warehouse server via the web server;
by the transformation and staging server:
retrieving operational data from the data source application using a data flow plan;
validating and cleansing the retrieved operational data;
loading the data into an appropriate temporary staging table;
and
performing a second phase of validations and cleansing, including referential integrity validations and aggregate processing validations;
and
loading information from the transformation and staging server on the data warehouse server,
wherein the loading of information comprises one of:
a round-robin approach used for refresh processing and extracting information from permanent tables, and
a see-saw approach used for non-refresh processing and extracting information from temporary tables,
wherein the see-saw approach comprises:
(a) exporting information to flat files on the transformation and staging server, selecting rows from the normalized, denormalized, and summary temporary tables;
(b) for each table of the normalized, denormalized, and summary temporary tables:
(b1) updating the load statistics metadata on the data warehouse server indicating that the information is in a “loading” state;
(b2) renaming the current table load table;
(b3) loading information into the load table;
(b4) renaming the load table to the permanent table;
and
(b5) updating the load statistics metadata on the data warehouse server indicating that the information is in a, “updated” state and updating the date, time, number of records loaded.

18 more elements

A system for enterprise information management comprising:

a data warehouse server;
a transformation and staging server connected to the data warehouse server for providing transformed and cleansed data to the data warehouse server;
a data source application connected to the transformation and staging server to provide data to the transformation and staging server;
a financial consolidation application connected to the transformation and staging server for performing consolidation and reporting of financial data;
a web server connected to the data warehouse server;
and
a plurality of clients connectable to the web server for accessing data from the data warehouse server via the web server,
wherein a client accessing the data warehouse server via the web server is presented with a login screen and is required to provide a valid user identifier and password in order to access the system, and wherein, upon authentication of the user identifier and password, a new browser window is opened at the client and the client is presented with a user interface (UI) tailored to the client's preferences and security privileges,
wherein the UI comprises,
a task list.
buttons/controls for launching components of the system, and
a content area for task related data and output, wherein each item listed in the task list has supporting screens that populate the content area,
wherein the UI provides access to performance indicators through home pages made up of reports or graphs displayed on the content area, and
wherein the UI provides an exception folder to store at least one exception report satisfying at least one exception condition defined by a user, wherein the at least one exception condition has an associated color identifier and cannot be changed by a user when the at least one exception report is run.

11 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Enterprise information management system and methods

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Enterprise information management system and methods

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Abstract

Claims34