Subscription membership marketing application for the internet

A method for analyzing direct marketing subscription information comprising:

• receiving a plurality of direct marketing subscription information;
• archiving the plurality of direct marketing subscription information into a repository;
• retrieving from the repository a plurality of selected direct marketing subscription information;
• transforming the plurality of selected direct marketing subscription information into transition table format information;
• populating a facts database with the transition table format information to produce at least one of a plurality of facts tables with a summarization of the transition table format information, wherein the facts tables are structured hierarchically;
• denormalizing the summarization of the transition table format information to produce a plurality of denormalized information, the denormalizing comprising populating selected information from at least one of a plurality of facts tables, stored in a facts table database, to a key table, stored in a groupings tables database, wherein the denormalizing further comprises propagating the selected information from one table to another, each of the tables being at a different level of a hierarchical structure based on the hierarchy of the facts tables;
• and
• providing a report based upon the denormalized information, wherein the report references the key table and not the at least one of the plurality of facts tables, the at least one of the plurality of facts tables includes at least one of a source category table, a source table, a campaign table, or a panels table.

A computer program product for analyzing direct marketing subscription information, the computer program product comprising:

• code that receives a plurality of direct marketing subscription information;
• code that archives the plurality of direct marketing subscription information into a repository;
• code that retrieves from the repository a plurality of selected direct marketing subscription information;
• code that transforms the plurality of selected direct marketing subscription information into transition table format information;
• code that populates a facts database with the transition table format information to produce at least one of a plurality of facts tables with a summarization of the transition table format information, wherein the facts tables are structured hierarchically;
• code that denormalizes the summarization of the transition table format information to produce a plurality of denormalized information, the denormalization comprising populating selected information from at least one of a plurality of facts tables, stored in a facts table database, to a key table, stored in a groupings tables database, wherein the denormalization further comprises propagating information from one table to another, each of the tables being at a different level of a hierarchical structure based on the hierarchy of the facts tables;
• code that provides a report based upon the denormalized information, the code that provides the report being arranged to reference the key table to provide the report;
• and
• a computer readable storage medium for holding the code.

An apparatus for analyzing direct marketing subscription information comprising:

• means for receiving a plurality of direct marketing subscription information;
• means for archiving the plurality of direct marketing subscription information into a repository;
• means for retrieving from the repository a plurality of selected direct marketing subscription information;
• means for transforming the plurality of selected direct marketing subscription information into transition table format information;
• means for populating a facts database with the transition table format information to produce at least one of a plurality of facts tables with a summarization of the transition table format information, wherein the facts tables are structured hierarchically;
• means for denormalizing the summarization of the transition format information to produce a plurality of denormalized information, the means for denormalizing comprising populating selected information from at least one of a plurality of facts tables, stored in a facts table database, to a key table, stored in a groupings tables database, wherein the means for denormalizing further comprises propagating information from one table to another, each of the tables being at a different level of a hierarchical structure based on the hierarchy of the facts tables;
• and
• means for providing a report based upon the denormalized information, the report being arranged to reference the key table.

A system for analyzing direct marketing subscription information comprising:

• at least one of a plurality of clients;
• a web server connected to the at least one of a plurality of clients by a computer network;
• an application server;
• and
• a database server;
• connected to the application server and the web server by a communication medium, wherein the at least one client receives a plurality of direct marketing subscription information and forwards the plurality of direct marketing subscription information via the web server and the application server to the database server, which archives the plurality of direct marketing subscription information into a repository, and wherein
• the application server retrieves from the repository a plurality of selected direct marketing subscription information and transforms the plurality of selected direct marketing subscription information into transition table format information,
• the database server populates a facts database with the transition table format information to produce at least one of a plurality of facts tables with a summarization of the transition table format information, wherein the facts tables are structured hierarchically,
• the application server denormalizes the summarization of the transition format information to produce a plurality of denormalized information, the denormalization comprising populating selected information from at least one of a plurality of facts tables, stored in a facts table database, to a key table, stored in a groupings tables database and propagating information from one table to another, each of the tables being at a different level of a hierarchical structure based on the hierarchy of the facts tables, and
• the application server provides a report based upon the denormalized information, the report being arranged to reference the key table.

A method of analyzing direct marketing subscription information comprising:

• providing a plurality of direct marketing subscription information, wherein the direct marketing subscription information is not structured hierarchically;
• transforming a subset of the plurality of direct marketing subscription information into a plurality of transition tables, structured hierarchically, comprising:
• using a first set of stored procedures, generating a first lookup table for a lookup database, wherein the first lookup table comprises a first level of a hierarchical structure;
• using a second set of stored procedures, generating a second lookup table for a lookup database by propagating at least a portion of information from the first lookup table to the second lookup table, wherein the second lookup table comprises a second level of the hierarchical structure, below the first level;
• and
• using a third set of stored procedures, generating a key table by denormalizing the first and second lookup tables in the facts database, wherein the key table comprises the first and second levels of the hierarchical structure;
• and
• generating a first report by using the key table, without referring to the first or second lookup tables, whereby generating the first report without referring to the first or second lookup tables reduces disk access, thereby improving performance.

A method of analyzing direct marketing subscription information comprising:

• providing a plurality of direct marketing subscription information;
• transforming a subset of the plurality of direct marketing subscription information into a plurality of transition tables;
• using the plurality of transition tables, generating a first lookup table, wherein the first lookup table comprises a first level of a hierarchy of the transition tables;
• creating a second lookup table by propagating at least a portion of information from the first lookup table to the second lookup table, wherein the second lookup table comprises a second level of the hierarchy of the transition tables, which is below the first level of the hierarchy;
• creating a third lookup table by propagating at least a portion of information from the second lookup table to the third lookup table, wherein the third lookup table comprises a third level of the hierarchy of the transition tables, which is below the second level of the hierarchy;
• creating a fourth lookup table by propagating at least a portion of information from the third lookup table to the fourth facts table, wherein the fourth lookup table comprises a fourth level of the hierarchy of the transition tables, which is below the third level of the hierarchy;
• generating a key table by denormalizing the first, second, third, and fourth lookup tables;
• and
• upon receiving a first report request from a client device, generating a first report using the key table without using to the first, second, third, and fourth lookup tables.