US 8,150,803 B2 · Relationship data management

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a system for processing relationship data that expresses relationship between various entities. In some embodiments, the entities are entities associated directly with an enterprise. The entities in some embodiments described below also include entities associated indirectly with the enterprise through other entities. In some embodiments, the system consolidates disparate relationship data sets that relate to the same set of entities. For instance, in some embodiments, the system includes several data storages that store relationship data. For at least two entities, at least two different data storages store two different relationship data sets that differently express the relationship between the two entities. The system includes a hierarchy manager that receives the two different relationship data sets and consolidates the two different relationship data sets into one relationship data set that best expresses the relationship between the two entities.

Claims26

Dependent claims

A system for processing relationship data sets that express relationships between various entities associated with an enterprise, said entities comprising people and organizations, the system comprising:

a plurality of data storage devices for storing a plurality of relationship data sets representing non-activity data sets, each relationship data set expressing a hierarchical relationship between at least two different entities;
and
a hierarchy manager for managing relationship data sets by
(i) receiving the relationship data sets from the plurality of data storages,
(ii) consolidating, based on one or more trust scores that are calculated according to a predefined function, each of at least two relationship data sets that express a same relationship between the two different entities,
(iii) storing the consolidated relationship data set as a relationship data set that represents a most reliable version of the relationship between the two different entities, and
(iv) maintaining, for each of a set of relationship data sets, a set of attributes that indicates a direction of the relationship between parent and child entities, and at least one of a start date and an end date to track a change in the hierarchical relationship between the different entities.

4 more elements

A method for processing a first relationship data set and a second relationship data set, each relationship data set representing a non-activity data set and expressing a hierarchical relationship between a set of entities associated with an enterprise, said set of entities comprising a person and an organization, the method comprising:

receiving, from a first data storage, the first relationship data set that expresses a first hierarchical relationship between a particular pair of entities;
determining that the second relationship data set stored in a second data storage expresses a second hierarchical relationship between the same particular pair of entities;
based on the determination, merging the received first relationship data set and the second relationship data set into one relationship data set by (i) storing, based on one or more trust scores that are calculated according to a predefined function, one of the first and second relationship data sets in the second data storage as a most reliable version of the relationship between the particular pair of entities, and (ii) maintaining the other of the first and second relationship data sets as relationship metadata regarding at least one of history and lineage of the first and second relationship data sets;
and
in response to a determination that the merging produced an unreliable relationship data set, performing a subsequent unmerge operation by iterating through the relationship metadata to restore the other of the first and second relationship data sets to a state before the merging of the first and second relationship data sets.

2 more elements

For an enterprise having a plurality of associated entities, a method of expressing a relationship between two different entities in terms of at least a plurality of attributes, said entities comprising a person and an organization, the method comprising:

identifying a first relationship data set that expresses a first hierarchical relationship between the two different entities, the first hierarchical relationship comprising a first piece of non-activity data for an attribute;
identifying a second relationship data set that expresses a second hierarchical relationship between the two different entities, the second hierarchical relationship comprising a second piece of non-activity data for the attribute;
calculating a first trust score for the first piece of data of the first relationship data set and a second trust score for the second piece of data of the second relationship data set, said trust scores serving as indicators regarding the reliability of the first and second pieces of data, and at least one of said trust scores is calculated according to a predefined data decay function that reduces the reliability of the corresponding piece of data at a specified rate over time;
consolidating the first relationship data set and the second relationship data set into one consolidated relationship data set, said consolidating comprising selecting one of the first and second pieces of data as a most reliable version of the piece of data of the attribute based on a comparison of the calculated trust scores;
and
in a computer readable medium, storing the consolidated relationship data set to express the relationship between the two different entities.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Relationship data management

Life of this patent

Relationship data management

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims26