Systems and methods for maintaining group membership records

A system for maintaining group membership records, the system comprising:

• a group membership module programmed to maintain a record of group memberships for a membership hierarchy, the membership record identifying a direct relationship between a first object and a second object in the membership hierarchy;
• an update module programmed to:
• receive a membership update indicating that, as of a first point in time, a direct relationship between the second object and a third object changed;
• update the record of group memberships to reflect the change in the relationship between the second object and the third object;
• a deduction module programmed to deduce, based on the membership update and the record of group memberships, a change in an indirect relationship between the first object and the third object as of the first point in time;
• wherein the group membership module is further programmed to:
• use the record of group memberships, the updated change in the direct relationship between the second and third objects, and the deduced change in the indirect relationship between the first and third objects to provide a view of object relationships within the membership hierarchy as the object relationships exist at the first point in time;
• maintain a historical record of group memberships as they existed before the first point in time;
• at least one processor programmed to execute the group membership module, the update module, and the deduction module.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to:

• maintain a record of group memberships for a membership hierarchy, the membership record identifying a direct relationship between a first object and a second object in the membership hierarchy;
• receive a membership update indicating that, as of a first point in time, a direct relationship between the second object and a third object changed;
• update the record of group memberships to reflect the change in the relationship between the second object and the third object;
• deduce, based on the membership update and the record of group memberships, a change in an indirect relationship between the first object and the third object as of the first point in time;
• use the record of group memberships, the updated change in the direct relationship between the second and third objects, and the deduced change in the indirect relationship between the first and third objects to provide a view of object relationships within the membership hierarchy as the object relationships exist at the first point in time;
• maintain a historical record of group memberships as they existed before the first point in time.