Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Metadata Content Management and Searching System and Method
FIELD OF INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a metadata content management and
searching system and method.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Competitive economies motivate business managers and other users to
obtain maximum value from their investments for Corporate Performance
Management (CPM) tools, such as Business Intelligence (BI) toots, that are
used
to manage business oriented data and metadata. These CPM tools provide
authored reports or authored drill-through targets. However, the users often
encounter similar problems in finding important reports or relevant data or
drilling
to related content.
[0003] Traditional search technologies often provide incomplete or irrelevant
results in the CPM environments. There exist metadata search tools running
against relational databases, but they also fall short since they do not
leverage
customer's CPM tools and applications. Relying on authored drill-through
targets
can be problematic as new cube, reports, metrics or plans are added, but new
drill targets are not always kept up-to-date. Users can have difficulties
moving
seamlessly between CPM tools or applications, particularly when CPM
applications are created by different individuals or departments.
[0004] It is therefore desirable to provide a mechanism that allows more
effective
searches of business oriented metadata context.
[0005] There exist search engines that use a full-text index combined with
statistical methods to create ordered search results. An example of such a
search engine is page ranking that is described in US Patent No. 6,526,440
issued to Bharat. However, these search engines are not sufficient to search
complex data like business oriented metadata.
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[0006] Some search engines use taxonomies to improve results. Creation of
taxonomies has been carried out by a manual process or by an automated
process based on advanced linguistic analysis.
[0007] However, business taxonomies are difficult and expensive to build
manually. Also, linguistic analysis are often complicated and thus prone to
result
in inaccurate outcome.
[0008] It is therefore desirable to provide a system that manages business
taxonomies automatically without the need for complicated and potentially
inaccurate linguistic analysis.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] It is an object of the invention to provide an improved metadata
content
management system that obviates or mitigates at least one of the disadvantages
of existing systems. The invention uses a taxonomy management system.
[0010] In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is
provided a
method and system for building a searchable corpus that includes taxonomy
definitions (or topic hierarchies) obtained from the structure of business
reporting
metadata.
[0011 J This summary of the invention does not necessarily describe all
features of
the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] These and other features of the invention will become more apparent
from
the following description in which reference is made to the appended drawings
wherein:
Figure 1 is a block diagram showing a metadata content management system in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the metadata content
management system;
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Figure 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a taxonomy management
system;
Figure 4 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a synonymous
management system;
Figure 5 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an index population
system;
Figure 6 is a diagram showing metadata and report values; and
Figures 7-45 are diagrams showing examples of reports and user interface
displays by the metadata content management system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0013] Referring to Figure 1, a metadata content management system 10 in
accordance with an embodiment of the invention is described. The metadata
content management system 10 is suitably used for an enterprise or
organization
that has sources of business oriented information, i.e., business oriented
metadata 20. The metadata content management system 10 interacts with the
business oriented metadata 20, as well as one or more search tools or
components 30 and user reporting applications 40 used by the organization.
[0014] An enterprise or organization typically has un untapped sources of
information, e.g., business oriented metadata 20 and associated values found
in
authored reports and reporting applications 40.
[0015] The metadata content management system 10 indexes the content of the
business oriented metadata 20. It analyzes published information and the
underlying metadata, specifications and key report values to create a search
index that is suitable for the enterprise or organization. These information,
metadata and values may be collectively called as business oriented metadata
in
this specification. The metadata content management system 10 promotes
navigation between BI tools and reporting applications 40, creating a
strategic
view of CPM assets. The metadata content management system 10 captures
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application context, e.g., "viewing location" or "query parameters", it
enables many
unique navigation options beyond traditional folder browsing and text
searching.
[0016] The metadata content management system 10 enhances search and drill-
thru capabilities across the range of user report applications 40 without
requiring
drill-through authoring in source content. A report author simply publishes
target
reports and lets the metadata,content management system 10 find drill
locations
to the published content.
[0017] The metadata content management system 10 organizes business
oriented metadata content in ways that are more relevant and meaningful to
users. The metadata content management system 10 also includes several
personalization and administration options.
[0018] The metadata content management system 10 describes data using
names and labels from actual reports. These names are often more familiar and
relevant to report users. The metadata content management system 10 also
provides enhanced report-to-report drilling and product-to-product navigation.
It
expands the number of places where report users can "drill-to" and "drill-
from" in a
report. Most drilling requires no advance authoring. The metadata content
management system 10 improves the capabilities of search tools. This includes
the concept of 'federated' search across a variety of portal and web search
indices.
[0019] User reporting applications 40 often generate authored relational and
OLAP reports. Those reports provide a wealth of new metadata, including
schema information, that is largely hidden from other tools and reporting
applications. The metadata content management system 10 exposes this data in
a standard format that can be re-used by other CPM applications and tools.
[0020] Figure 2 shows an embodiment of the metadata content management
system 10: The metadata content management system 10 has a content index
component 12, navigation aid drill erg-ine 14 and tools 1-fi. A content index
is an
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index that catalogs individual words or terms along with their usage in
indexed
content. It provides term searches and links to additional data stored in the
content index component 12. The content index may be an XML content index
that describes each indexed item. The XML content index stores applicable
metadata, metrics and planning information that improve search relevance.
Also,
the metadata content management system 10 uses a full-text index which may or
may not be part of the metadata content management system 10. The navigation
and drill engine 14 is a server component that analyses each user's "context"
within their active reporting application 40. It leverages that information to
provide
better search and drill results. Tools 16 provide various features. They allow
integration with search tools 30 and portals.
[0021] The metadata content management system 10 uses indexing so that the
metadata content can be searched and organized in real-time. Indexing is
normally performed by the metadata content management system 10 when the
metadata content is published or updated. Indexing can be performed by a
scheduled administrator task (example: nightly cron job). It can also be
performed manually by an administrator or user.
[0022] A single set of index files is maintained in the content index
component 12
for all users and user groups. The search and drill engine 14 may use a unique
security algorithm to ensure that users see only the results they are
authorized to
access. The metadata content management system 10 validates its search
results against the referenced reporting application. A user only sees items
that
he/she has permission to access. Each reporting application allows different
levels of access:
[0023] The full-text Index contains an entry for each unique word (called a
term)
across all indexed content items (called documents). Each indexed content term
contains the list of documents that has that term. Each indexed content term
also
contains usage statistics and the position of the term within each indexed
document lwhere possible). The- index is stored- ire application server flat
files .
This index is optimized to minimize disk reads and keep term storage as low as
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possible. The metadata content management system 10 may use an
implementation of an existing full-text engine, e.g., the open source Apache
Jakata Lucene full-text engine.
[0024] The XML content index is associated with each indexed document is an
XML file that that catalogs metadata, report values and other reporting
application-specific information. The XML content index items are stored in
flat
files in the application server's file system. A relational database can
optionally
be configured to store this XML index data. "Read" activity related to XML
items
is low compared to full-text index items. XML records are read only after a
list of
preliminary search results has been made.
[0025] As shown in Figure 2, the metadata content management system 10 also
has a taxonomy management system 50, synonymous management system 60
and that an index population system 70. The metadata content management
system 10 provides searchable metadata and report data in a form of knowledge
base documents 54 in the content index component 12 using these components
50-70.
[0026] The business taxonomy management system 50 is used for building a
searchable corpus that includes business taxonomy definitions obtained from
the
structure of business reporting metadata. A taxonomy is a hierarchy of topics
or
subjects. The business taxonomy is used to classify terms and phrases. The
taxonomy lets search components 30 find terms within a given subject or topic.
The taxonomies improves many search engine functions including: search results
relevance, refinement of search criteria and creation of related business
reporting
content.
[0027] An example of a taxonomy is described for a system in which the term
"Cost" is used as a Measure with names: Billing Cost, Average Billing Cost,
Average Billing Cost per Customer, Average Billing Cost per Product, and
Actual
Cost. Also, it is used as a Report Columns/Heading with names: Product Cost,
Planned Total Cost, and Cost of Goods Sold. (n a "taxonomy-aware" system, any
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of these subjects can be used to help find more relevant results for the
otherwise
ambiguous term "Cost".
[0028] The business taxonomy management system 50 uses the structure of
business metadata extracted from reports and other documents to create a
living,
de facto taxonomy definition of topics for a given business entity. This
taxonomy
defines how terms are used in the business.
[0029] The business taxonomy management system 50 can create taxonomy
definition of topics automatically without human intervention. It uses a
deterministic algorithm that provides reliable results without the need for
complicated and potentially inaccurate linguistic analysis.
[0030] As shown in Figure 3, the business taxonomy management system 50
comprises three main components: Content Scanner 52, Knowledge-Base
documents 54, and Taxonomy Engine 56. The Knowledge-Base documents 54
form part of the Content Index 12.
[0031] External components which interact with the main components are:
business oriented metadata or Business Reporting Metadata 20, Full-Text Index
and Search Component 32, and End-users or reporting applications 40 that
provide search terms and consume taxonomy responses.
[0032] Figure 3 shows the flow of information between these components.
[0033] Metadata documents are documents that define query, layout; labeling
and
annotation of other content. Business Reporting Metadata 20 is metadata that
exists anywhere in a business or organization. Examples of metadata documents
include:
Business reporting and analysis metadata documents authored with report
authoring and creation tools. Common examples of these tools include Business
intelligence suites from Business Objects, Hyperion and Cognos.
Business modeling and optimization metadata documents.
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Budgeting, planning and forecasting metadata documents.
Financial consolidation metadata documents.
[0034] The Full-Text Index and Search Component 32 uses a Full Text Index 34.
The Full Text index 34 is a concordance of terms across all scanned or indexed
documents. An entry is made for each scanned word (excepting, e.g., stop words
which are too common to be useful) that lists the exact position of each
occurrence of the word within corpus of documents. From such a list, it is
relatively simple to retrieve all the documents that match a query, without
having
to scan each document. The Full Text Index and Search component 32 is a
typical embodiment that provides users and applications 40 with interfaces to
build and search its Full Text Index 34.
[0035] Users or applications 40 are consumers of the system 50. Users or
applications 40 may be referred to as Operators hereinafter. The user
applications 40 may be web browsers.
[0036] The Content Scanner component 52 reads Business Reporting Metadata
Documents 20. It builds a Knowledge-Base representation of the metadata with
one or more of the following details:
Unique Document Identifier.
Document date.
The structured hierarchy of reporting elements from the source document.
Typical examples include data grouping, headings and labels. Each element
provides a display name used in the reporting elements produced by the source
metadata.
Database queries used in each structured reporting element.
Linkages to other structured reporting elements in this document and other
Business Reporting Metadata Documents.
[0037] The content scanner 52 builds or updates a Knowledge-Base Document
54 for each source metadata document 20. A knowledge base document 54 is
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used to store a knowledge base representation of each term in the each source
metadata document 20 along with references to content that uses the term.
[0038] In this system 50, a Knowledge-Base Document 54 is encoded in
Extensible Markup Language (XML) and stored in system data files. In a
different
embodiment, any storage or encoding mechanism can be used. For example:
data can be stored in database records and accessed with SQL.
[0039] Each Knowledge-Base Document 54 is consumed by the Full-Text Index
and Search Component 32 which adds a reference back to the Knowledge-Base
Document 54 for each term found in the document. The Full-Text Index 34 is
subsequently used by an example like a Full Text Index and Search Engine 32 to
retrieve Knowledge-Base Documents 54 that contain specified search terms.
[0040] The Taxonomy Engine 56 provides services to Users and other
applications 40. When one or more terms are provided, the Taxonomy Engine 56
provides all indexed terms that are Parent Topic Terms, Sibling Topic Terms
and
Descendent Topic Terms. This taxonomy is created dynamically for each term
provided.
[0041 ] The procedure for determining Parent Topic Terms from a given term is:
Use Text Index and Search Engine to find all Knowledge-Base Documents
that contain the given term.
Find structured elements in the matching document where the given term
is used.
Get all structured parent elements relative to the structured element for
each matching term.
Return the list of Display Names from elements found across all matching
documents.
[0042] The procedure for determining Sibling Topic Terms from a given term is:
Use Text Index and Search Engine to find all Knowledge-Base Documents
that contain the given term.
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Find structured elements in the matching document where the given term
is used.
Get all structured sibling elements relative to the structured element for
each matching term.
Return the list of Display Names from elements found across all matching
documents.
[0043] The procedure for determining Descendent Child Topic Terms from a given
term is:
Use Text Index and Search Engine to find all Knowledge-Base Documents
that contain the given term.
Find structured elements in the matching document where the given term
is used.
Get all structured child elements relative to the structured element for each
matching term.
Return the list of Display Names from elements found across all matching
documents.
[0044] Other embodiments may include building taxonomies with "Crawler Task"
that performs functions of the Content Scanner, building Knowledge-Base corpus
with dedicated tools instead of Content Scanner, and/or using a relational
database for the Knowledge-Base corpus.
[0045] Figure 4 shows ari embodiment of the synonymous management system
60. The synonymous management system 60 uses some components which are
commonly used by the taxonomy management system 50. Similar internal and
external components to those shown in Figure 3 are denoted with the same
reference numerals.
[0046] The synonymous management system 60 is used for building a searchable
index corpus that includes synonymous and exemplar terms. A typical search
engine 32 uses these associations to qualify any given search term as either
synonymous with that term, or an example of that term.
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j0047] The synonymous management system 60 improves a search engine 32 by
allowing its operators to search using synonymous terms and exemplar terms.
Synonymous terms are words or phrases that have the same meaning as other
terms. Exemplar terms are words or phrases that are examples of other terms.
[0048] The synonymous management system 60 builds a corpus of exemplar and
synonymous terms from business oriented content and then allows these terms to
be used with any full-text search engine to extend the domain, relevance and
quality of content returned from search queries.
[0049] Traditionally, search engines provide support for similar features
using
some type of thesaurus for synonymous terms. They use a combination of
thesaurus and taxonomy components to provide support for example terms.
Search engines also use these components to improve results by generating
better queries that are refinements of operator input.
[0050] Creation of thesauri and taxonomies is: a) a manual process or b) an
automated process based on advanced linguistic analysis. Each of these systems
is potentially expensive to maintain and can produce inconsistent results.
[0051]The synonymous management system 60 uses the structure of business
metadata extracted from reports and other documents to create a living, de
facto
thesaurus and example term corpus for a given business entity. Processing is
completed automatically without human intervention. The synonymous
management system 60 uses a deterministic algorithm that provides reliable
results without the need for complicated and potentially inaccurate linguistic
analysis.
[0052] As shown in Figure 4, the synonymous management system 60 comprises
a Content Scanner 52, a Knowledge-Base documents 54 and a Synonym and
Example Engine 62. It interacts with external components including business
Reporting Metadata 20, a Full-Text Index and Search Component 32, End-users
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or applications 40, which may be collectively called Operators 40 in this
specification.
[0053] Figure 4 shows the flow of information between these components.
[0054] The synonymous management system 60 also interacts with a Word
Stemming Component 64. The word stemming component 64 may be available
software that is capable of normalizing words to their base form. it removes
pluralization, capitalization, punctuation and common stop words to produce a
unique base terms where possible. Examples of "stemming" are: "Horses" is
normalized to "horse"; "GEEse" is normalized to "goose"; "The Days of
Specialists" is normalized to "day specialist"; and "Functions aren't
comments" is
normalized to "function not comment". Stemming may or may not be a part of the
synonymous management system 60. It serves to reduce knowledge base and
index sizes. It can also improve system performance.
[0055] Users or applications 40 are consumers of the synonymous management
system 60.
[0056] The synonymous management system 60 identifies all content in the
metadata documents 20 that needs to be processed. The set of all required
content is given to the Content Scanner 52.
[0057] The Content Scanner 52 proceeds to produce Knowledge Base documents
54 from all content that it reads. Subsequent processes can be run to update
the
Knowledge Base documents 54.
[0058] The Content Scanner 52 reads Business Reporting Metadata Documents
20. It builds a Knowledge-Base representation of the metadata and stores it as
knowledge base documents 54, as described above.
[0059] The Knowledge-Base Document association are provided on demand by
the Synonym and Example engine 62 to the Full-Text Index 34. The Full-Text
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Index 34 ultimately uses synonyms and examples to provide better searches to
its
users.
[0060] The Synonym and Example Engine 62 is further described in detail. The
Synonym and Example Engine 62 improves the indexing capabilities of a
standard full-text indexing system 32, 34. The synonym and example engine 62
creates logical associations between terms that are used to efficiently answer
the
queries, "What terms are synonymous with Term A?"; "Is Term B synonymous
with Term A?", "What terms are examples of Term A?", and "Is Term B an
example of Term A?".
[0061] By combining terms into phrases and querying each term independently
with one or more of the queries from above, the following questions can be
answered: "Is Phrase B synonymous with Phrase A?", and "Is Phrase B an
example of Phrase B?".
[0062] All of these systems can optionally use word stemming to improve
performance and accuracy.
[0063] Synonym processing is carried out as follows. Synonyms for a given term
are found by searching the Knowledge Base 54 for documents that contain the
given term. A list of documents with the term is retrieved for further
processing.
The XML elements in each matching document is then read to find Term
Isomorphisms (equivalent structures) for the given search term. Synonyms are
retrieved from text in XML elements. Common embodiments include display
headings, labels, sibling elements and links.
[0064] Example processing is carried out as follows. Examples of a given term
are found by searching the Knowledge Base 54 for documents that contain the
given term. A list of documents with the term is retrieved for further
processing.
The XML elements in each matching document is the read to find Term
Isomorphisms (equivalent structures) for the given search term. Examples are
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retrieved from text in XML elements. Common embodiments include query
results, prompt value pick-list, child elements and links.
[0065] In a different embodiment, the Content Scanner 52 may be combined with
a Full-Text Index Scanner that indexes terms, determines synonyms and
determines example terms in one integrated component. A sophisticated
embodiment of a Full-Text Index and Search Service may integrate itself with
the
Synonym and Example component or engine 62.
[0066] Figure 5 shows an embodiment of the index population system 70. The
index population system 70 is used for populating the external search engine
38
that allows referenced content to be found by that search engine 38. The index
population system 70 ri~akes it easy to populate such search engines 38 with
references to content so that the content itself can be found when appropriate
queries are provided by an operator or reporting applications 40.
[0067] Adding content references to an external index is complicated as there
are
hundreds of search engine choices available. No viable standards exist to
allow
promotion of content to all of these search engines. Each search engine
potentially requires a different methods for populating its index with
content,
organizing content, rating search results, and adding security to search
results.
[0068] Traditionally, programmers use APIs to populate indexes directly. Most
API's are specific to a particular search engine thereby making it difficult
to target
multiple search engines.
[0069] Search engines themselves routinely use "crawlers" to roam through
Internets and Intranets looking for content to index. Programmers can write
"software adapters" to help crawlers understand different types of content.
For
example, adapters are written for Word and PDF documents. Like search engine
API's, these adapters are normally specific to a limited number of search
engines.
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[0070] Related indexing standards include OWL and RDF. As of this date,
neither
has the richness or flexibility required to adequately index complex data like
BI
metadata.
[0071] The index population system 70 uses Index Business Cards 76 to create
references to targeted content 22. The index business cards 76 may be standard
HTML files. These files 74 allow the targeted content 22 to be easily indexed
and
subsequently found by search engines 38. Each Index Business Card 76
contains summaries of referenced content instances. These summaries include:
terms, topic hierarchies, report metadata, related information and URIs needed
to
show the content.
[0072] The information of the Index Business Cards 76 is provided in formats
that
are easily consumed by different search engines. This information is not
specific
to any single search engine 38.
[0073] Redundant presentation of data using different formats is used in an
Index
Business Card 76 to increase the number of search engines that can effectively
consume its content.
[0074] Security restrictions may also be applied to referenced content and
they
are reflected in each business card. This allows external search engines 38 to
apply a similar security restriction to the lists of results that they show.
[0075] The index population system 70 comprises a Card Generator 72, and a
file
system 74 containing~index business cards 76. The card generator 72 is a
component that reads referenced content details and produces Index Business
Card content references. The Index Business Cards 76 are files that provide
index data for each content instance. These files 76 are placed on the File
System 74 so that they are subsequently found by Search Crawlers 36.
[0076] The index population system 70 interacts with external components
including content 22, a security provider 24, one or more search crawlers 36,
one
or more search engines 38 and operators 40. The content 22 is a collection of
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original content instances. Other embodiments include an index corpus of
content instances. The security provider 24 is knowledge of, or method of,
determining security access for each content instance.
[0077] The search crawlers 36 are search engines that index content by
"crawling"
through content. Examples include Google Web Server, Google Desktop Search,
MSN Web Search, MSN Desktop Search and other Enterprise Search tools. The
search engines 38 are related search engines that accept queries and provide
search results over the index corpus built by the crawler 36.
[0078] The operators 40 are operators who issues search requests against the
Search Engine 38, views results and navigates to referenced content .
[0079] The file system 74 is a file system for storing Index Business Card
content
references, and may be an external component of the index population system
70. The file system 74 may be Web servers.
[0080] Figure 5 shows the flow of information between components.
[0087] The index population system 70 identifies all Content that needs to be
indexed. The set of all required content is given to the Card Generator 72.
The
Card Generator 72 proceeds to produce one or more Index Business Cards 76 to
represent each content instance. The format of each Index Business Card is
variable. Each card may contain HTML, XML, RDF-XML and plain-text. The
intention is to provide Search Crawlers 36 with the maximum amount of usable
information.
[0082] The card generator 72 gives primary importance to individual terms
present
in the referenced content. A normalized list of these terms are placed in the
Index
Business Card 76. A list of related topics is added along with a list related
concepts and subjects. XML and RDF-XML is normally used.
[0083] The card generator 72 may also add additional site-specific and index-
engine-specific terms, topics; concepts and subjects.
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[0084] URI's are added to provide viewing or execution references to content
instances. Examples include URLs, files paths and application paths with
required parameters.
[0085] Index Business Cards 76 may also include display text which is used to
direct an operator 40 to the referenced content 22 when the business card 76
is
displayed.
[0086] The security restriction applied to each content instance is retrieved
from
the Security Provider 24 and applied to the Index Business Card 76 using the
appropriate security method. Examples include LDAP, Active Directory, UNIX
file
security and Windows NT file security
[0087) When the Card Generator processing is complete, ali generated Index
Business Cards 76 are placed on the accessible file system 74 so that they can
be found by Search Crawlers 40.
[0088] Once consumed by a crawler 36, referenced content instances are
available to users on the related search engine 38. Operators 40 searching for
content subsequently finds Index Business Cards 76 and be redirected to the
target content 22.
[0089] In a different embodiment, Business Cards 76 may be placed on Web
Servers. Business Cards 76 may include RDF-XML. Set of Content Instances
may be stored in an index corpus which is subsequently used by the Card
Generator 72 as the source for creating Index Business Cards 76.
(0090] Examples of operations of the metadata content management system 10
are now described.
[0091]As shown in Figure 6, metadata and associated values are produced by
several CPM tools. Metadata export is expected from metadata modeling tools.
While authoring reports in reporting applications, the creation of new
hierarchies
and data de~inifions occur. These fiiPerai-chies and data-definitions are
useful for
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drilling and searching. In addition, this data often more recognizable to end-
users
since this is the text they see in reports and applications.
[0092] These metadata and report data are considered as Extended Metadata to
describe the metadata created by different authoring and processing phases,
and
Extended Report Data refers to values created in a similar fashion.
[0093] The metadata content management system 10 leverages these extended
metadata and report data, i.e., new BI data, to provide searching and drilling
that
was previously unavailable in existing systems.
[0094] Examples of extended metadata added by the authoring process includes:
Dimension names, Dimension levels, Category names, Alternate category names,
Cube hierarchies, Table and record names, Group names, Parent/child
relationships between categories, groups or tables, Authored drill target
names,
Framework Manager entities, including: packages, namespaces, query items,
query sources and all relevant authored relationships. Examples of extended
authored report values include: Items related by one of more dimensions,
categories, measures groups or tables; Calculated values; and Annotations.
[0095] For example, a BI tool may provides crosstab providing dimension,
category and measure names: These names represent extended metadata.
These names may or may not match tablelcolumn names in a star schema or
other relational model. .lr'et each of these names represents an important
potential target for drilling or searching. Values stored in a cube, including
calculated values, represent extended data or values. They are a valuable
target
for searching. Like extended metadata, many of these values are not found in
any other data store.
[0096] Another reporting tool may provide a report with columns. In such a
report,
each of the column heading represents extended metadata. The report grouping,
e.g., by country, represents another form of extended metadata. Report values
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themselves represent extended report data. They offer important linking and
search targets.
[009i] In these cases, the extended metadata names are the same as those
viewed by the report user. For this reason, extended metadata names are often
most relevant and recognizable to the report user. These names may or may not
match the names used in the underlying database.
[0098] Authored finks, (ike those anchored to the column name "Sales Rep Name"
provides additional summary information about linked a report. The metadata
content management system 10 indexes this information to further increase
search relevance about the destination content.
[0099] Research related to data searching and linking technologies commonly
identifies two basic types of data: Structured data and unstructured data.
Structured data is defined by a formal schema. Typically searched with OLAP,
SQL and XML utilities. Unstructured data is normally found in documents and
static web pages. Searched using free-form queries with web tools like Google.
[00100] The metadata content management system 10 offers searching
solutions over both types of data. Structured Data Searches are used to
implement report-to-report drilling. This includes listing selecting from
multiple
targets. Full-Text Searches are used find reports for unstructured user
queries.
For example: searches launched from IIS or Portal text search tools.
[00101] The metadata content management system 10 maintains a
searchable database of reports, knowledge based documents 54 or the content
index 12, that indexes the key elements of each report. This database is
optimized for efficient searching of metadata names and hierarchies. It also
offers searching of text. This information is used to provide the metadata
content
management system 10 drilling features. The metadata content management
system 10 populates full-text search engines (like the Google Intranet "Search
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Appliance") with information about each report: It allows these search engines
to
find relevant content.
[00102] Searching functions and the user interface of the metadata content
management system 10 are now described. Search functions are launched
internally in reporting applications 40 using a specified user interface.
Alternatively, search may also be requested by any reporting application 40
with
the URL, e.g., http://hostname/crnlxxxxxx?c=search&q=p1\p2\p3...&e=y &u=y
&r=g&back=backURL; where q=p1\p2\p3...represents any number of arbitrary
search terms separated by "\"; e=y shows search edit field with current terms
(for
refining search); u=y is used when clicking hyperlinked results, launch in
separate
window; r=g shows grouped results (default is list results); and backURL shows
a
return address.
[00103] Search results are typically shown in list format by default, sorted
by
relevance score, as shown in Figure 35. The user can click name to launch
matching item, click a group button to show Grouped Results, or click an arrow
button in frame on left to show Related Subjects. The result display also has
the
Search string edit held, which is optional.
[00104] Grouped Results shows search results organized by match criteria
with inner sort by relevance score, as shown in Figure 36. The user can click
name to launch matching item, click a list button to show List Results, or
click an
arrow button in frame on left to show Related Subjects.
[00105] The Subjects pane shows how the current search terms are used in
the index, as shown in Figure 37. The user can click subject name to refine
current search with matching item, or click an arrow button to hide this pane.
[00106] In order to provide Drill-Through functions, the metadata content
management system 10 may provide a HTML User Interface that can be
launched via URL:, such as http:/lhostname/crn/xxxxxx?d=<xml/>
&u=y&r=g&baek=ba~kURL; where d represents "XMLEncoded" XML t~rNl
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specification providing source content, a represents Value 'n' (default)
specifies
that hyperlinked results should be opened in the same window. Value 'y'
specifies
that hyperlinked results should be opened in a separate window. r shows
grouped results (default is list results), and back provides "URLEncoded"
return
address.
[00107] Drill-through functions may also be launched internally in reporting
applications 40.
[00108] Examples of Drilling and Linking applications with the metadata
content management system 10 are now described.
[00109] Meta drilling is feasible when a match can be found between an
item selected in one application and the metadata exported from another
report.
The metadata content management system 10 significantly expands the number
of possible metadata values. Therefore, the number of potential drill targets
is
increased.
[00110] As shown in Figure 7, the dimension name "Channels" in the
PowerPlay cube on the left is used to match a column name in the report on the
right. This drill example illustrates that by using the metadata content
management system 10, drill targets can be determined dynamically at run-time.
This differs from existing CPM tools where drill targets need to be specified
when
a report is being authored.
[00111] The metadata content management system 10 meta drilling means
that applications 40 can drill in any direction. Metadata searches allow the
user to
drill in "non-traditional' ways. For example, it is now possible to drill from
reporting
applications. As shown in Figure 8, the column name "Channels" in a report on
the left is used to match a dimension name (or any star schema element) in a
cube on the right. Optionally, the selected "Independent" channel name on the
left can be used to link to a category name on the right.
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[00112) Meta drilling allows content to be linked using metadata only.
Report values and measures are not needed. As such, these reports can be
efficiently indexed when they are initially published. Indexing needs to be
updated only when a report specification changes. No authoring is needed to
drill
in either direction.
[00113] Meta drilling often results in multiple drill targets. The metadata
content management system ,10 lists the hierarchy of matches and allows a user
to pick an appropriate target, as shown in Figure 9. The metadata content
management system 10 lists matching reports by report type and then sorts them
by a calculated relevance rating.
(00114] The metadata content management system 10 calculates search
relevance by first creating search criteria at the drill source location and
then
comparing this criteria with the resulting list of matching items.
[00115] Source metadata and values are used to create a search
specification. For example: when drilling from an OLAP report, filter
information,
including the current crosstab dimension and category filters plus dimensions
currently being displayed, are used to create a search specification.
[00116] Consider the following drill from a report shown in Figure 10 by
drilling from the Mass Marketer category builds a search specification that
includes terms "looks for item Mass Marketer within Channels", by drilling
from the
GO Sport Line category builds a search specification that includes terms
"looks
for item Go Sport Line within Products", and by drilling from the intersection
of the
Mass Marketer and GO Sport Line categories builds a search specification that
includes both of the terms above.
[00117] If any additional filters are active in the crosstab, for example
Years
= 2003 or Location = California within USA, then the related filter terms will
be
added to the search criteria.
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[00118] The search is submitted to the metadata content management
system 10. The metadata content management system 10 calculates report
relevance by comparing the number of matched terms with those found in each
result item.
[00119] Value drilling and searching allows target report values and
measures to be searched. This means that search criteria can include value
ranges within metadata constraints. As shown in Figure 11, the Order Number
value "160" in a report on the left is used to match same Order Number value
in a
report on the right that is generated by a different reporting tool.
[00120] Value searching allows content to be linked using metadata and
associated report values/measures from actual reports. This type of drilling
allows extends the number of reports that can be matched at the cost of using
more index storage. It is also much slower than searching only metadata. As
such, value searching is not a good choice for drilling. It is better suited
for ad
hoc searching where speed is less of a concern.
[00121 ] Examples shown thus far have concentrated on report-to-report
"drilling". The metadata content management system 10 can also perform full-
text searches against metadata and values.
[00122] One of the easiest ways to increase the visibility of Cognos
applications in any enterprise is to expose reports through the user's
standard
search tools. The metadata content management system 10 allows enterprise
search tools to be used to expose Bl content to report users. Full text search
engines use proprietary technology to index content. The metadata content
management system 10 is responsible for "pushing" index values to each
supported engine. Search indexes are maintained by a search server associated
with each search engine. Storage requirements are dependent on the amount of
information provided by metadata content management system 10. Configuration
options control how much information is "pushed" to these servers. The
metadata
content management system 10 maintains its own index that can be used
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standalone or in conjunction with the search engines. The result is: fast,
relevant
and predictable searches.
[00123] The metadata content management system 10 may also allow
applications to create lists of "see also" links that show related content.
[00124] The metadata content management system 10 facilities are
exposed as WSDL compliant Web Services.
[00125] Another example is described using a report generated using
Cognos PowerPlay to describe how a list of the metadata content management
system 10 search results is produced. In this example, a user wants to find
related CPM content. They initiate their "search" by launching a dynamic
"drill"
from inside a Cognos PowerPlay. The user presses the metadata content
management system 10 "Drill" button, or enters terms in the metadata content
management system 10 "search bar". Figure 12 is an example from PowerPlay
7.3 showing the "Drill" button. Alternatively, as shown in Figure 13, the user
can
type terms in the text search tool or browser SearchBar.
[00126] The navigation and search engine 14 accepts request and builds a
"Source Context". This is carried out as follows. The navigation and search
Engine 14 starts the actual index search. When drilling from a reporting
application like PowerPlay, the engine 14 extracts current filter values, view
settings and al! visible category information to create a "Source Context".
Figure
14 shows an example of "Drill" from PowerPlay and the resultant Source
Context.
[00127] A "Source Context" is also built for "text" searches. The metadata
content management system 10 uses the taxonomy management system 50.
Individual terms are inspected to see if they match subjects in the metadata
content management system subject and term hierarchy, i.e., a "taxonomy".
When a match is found, terms are placed under their respective matching
subjects. This allow terms to be treated like categories within OLAP
dimensions.
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[00128] The metadata content management system 10 also maintains a list
of "aliases" for terms and subjects. It uses the synonymous management system
60. This further extends the number of possible matches, particularly in
enterprise environments, where several names can be used for the same thing.
[00129] Figure 15 shows an example of the SearchBar "Text" and the
resultant Source Context.
[00130] The Navigation and Search Engine 14 now proceeds to process drill
requests and text searches using the same algorithm. Unique words or terms are
extracted from the "Search Context". These terms are passed to full-text
search
engine 32. !t returns a list of documents. Documents are sorted by number of
term "hits" (i.e., documerits with the most occurrences of the given terms are
returned first.). Multiple terms.are automatically processed. Documents with
multiple term "hits" are sorted to the top. Single term hits then follow.
[00131] The number of documents returned may be limited by the "results
page size", e.g., usually a number between 10 and 20. The metadata content
management system 10 may. return 2x times the "results page size".
[00132] The metadata content management system 10 is optimized to
quickly return the "next page" in a result set. Each page requires
approximately
the same amount of time to process, regardless of relative page number.
[00133] The metadata content management system 10 applies a security
check to the intermediate~list of results returned thus far. Batch (or
grouped)
security queries are sent to the appropriate target reporting application 40.
Denied items are removed from the intermediate results. if the number of
result
items falls below the current page size, additional full-text searches are
performed
until a complete page of results is built .
[00134] The metadata content management system 10 may "score" the
intermediate results to improve its relevance. The XML Content Index entry for
each item is retrieved (either from a flat file or the linked rational
database) . The
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original "Source Context" is used to establish the user's position with the
calling
application, or to establish the subject/term relationship of the request.
[00135] Several queries and optimizations are applied over the XML content.
These operations allow the metadata content management system 10 to
ultimately select:
Cubes with best dimension and category matches. Dynamics filters that
navigate the user into a matching cube, are automatically generated.
Reports with best matching of columns, groupings and/or values.
Prompted reports with the best matching prompts. Prompt answers are
automatically generated. Any item with a significant number of matching terms.
Priority given to those terms listed in the metadata content management system
"Enterprise Taxonomy" of subjects/terms.
[00136] The metadata content management system 10 returns a page of
results. An example is shown in Figure 16. The results can be sorted by
relevance (score) or by groups (for example, reports with matching prompts or
Cubes with matching dimensions).
[00137] An example of reporting by example is now described. In this
example, a product manager wants to know who provides customer support for a
particular product at different US retailers. The product manager gives search
terms to the metadata content management system 10. She does not remember
the exact product name spelling, and she only remembers its short form from
other reports she has seen. She uses the term USA for United States and she is
not particular about spacing or capitalization. In each case, she is providing
examples of report metadata, not the metadata itself. On her first try, she
types:
"USA CM backpack staff details".
[00138] The metadata content management system 10 takes her request
and matches metadata:
USA = United States = Location
CM backpack = Canyon Mule Climber Backpack = Product
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[00139] The terms staff details did not match any metadata. Instead it
matched a Report Detail template for an authored report. With the majority of
information collected, the metadata content management system 10 simply asks
for business role as shown in Figure 17.
(00140] She selects the Product Manager role and clicks Finish to get her
answer. The metadata content management system 10 builds and runs a report,
as shown in Figure 18.
[00141] She looks at the report and notices the information is correct except
that all reporting years are included. She wants only year 2004 She returns to
the original search page and adds "2004" so that the search terms are "USA CM
backpack staff details 2004"..
[00142] The metadata content management system 10 builds and runs a
new report as shown in Figure 19. The product manager looks at the answer and
is satisfied.
[00143] In this example, the metadata content management system 10
carried out matching metadata based on unstructured terms- which are aliased
or
even misspelled - is not a linguistic exercise, by using the indexing data
structure.
For each metadata model Framework Manager element, the metadata content
management system 10 indexes the following information as shown in Figure 20.
This means that for each indexed Term there exists zero or more Aliases and
zero or more Examples. For example, consider a Framework Model element
called: "Product". Aliases are obtained from actual published report column
heading and titles that use the FM element Product. Indexed Alias values
include
things like Product List, Product Names, and Prod. Nam. Examples are obtained
by running actual queries to get values for this element. Indexed Example
values
will typically include things like Star-Lite Tent, RayBan Sun Screen, and
Eivis
Retro Sunglasses. From the values shown in this example, we can determine
that a user has entered a Product when they type "star-lite tent", "Prod Nam"
or
"Elvis sunglasses". _ _
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[00144] Hyper-Dimensional Navigation uses a Bar to find content quickly
and easily. When a product manager wants to know who provides customer
support for a particular product at different US retailers, she enters the two
phrases that she feels are most prominent. and intends to narrow her search
from
there. She types: "2004 United States".
[00145] Initial search results show matching reports (as expected) with 2
new frames entitled: Hyper-Dimensional Topics and Related Topics, as shown in
Figure 21.
[00146] Hyper-Dimensional Topics show the number of reports filtered by
2004 and United States. Other enterprise-wide dimensions are shown with the
number of reports that contain some reference to that dimension. Clicking on
any
listed item shows a context menu that lists children and parents across all
indexed
content.
[00147] Related Topics shows parent and sibling dimensions that are related
to current filters.
[00148] To find reports related to retailers and staff, she clicks Retailer
and
Staff items in Hyper-Navigation bar. This effectively searches for reports
that deal
with 2004 (selected previously), United States (selected previously) Retailer
and
Staff creating a "topic crosstab". The new search results show the number of
reports matching the selected criteria, as shown in Figure 22. The exact
report
she is looking for is listed first under the heading Matching Reports.
[00149] An example of hyper-dimensional report creation is now described.
Hyper-Dimensional Navigation can be also used to create reports. This example
shows a sales manager who wants to compare 2005 actual sales against his
forecast for Projection TVs in US and Canada with detail breakdown by Order
Method.
[00150] The sales manager begins at the top level of his enterprise
Navigation Bar. It shows the most frequently referenced reporting categories
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across the entire enterprise. While this navigation bar has literally hundreds
of
topics, only the top seven items for the "Sales Manager Role" are shown in
Figure
23.
[00151] As an alternative to typing search terms, e.g., "2004 United States
Canada Projection TV", he simply clicks the down arrow symbol next to the
related "hyper dimensional topics" shown. Under Products, he selects
Projection
TVs. Under Years he selects 2005. Under Distribution Channel he selects Order
Method. Under Location he selects both United States and Canada. Search
results show matching reports as shown in Figure 24.
[00152] He sees that no reports match his search criteria. Now he checks
the topic Plan Versus Actual and clicks Create report to answer his question.
The
metadata content management system 10 creates a report (using the Sales
Manager business role that he selected last time) as shown in Figure 25.
[00153] Hyper-Dimensional navigation provides a concise definition of report
items needed. Business Role also helps narrow the choices without asking too
many questions..
[00154] Now report extensions are described. Consider the regional sales
manager for GO Sporting Goods. As part of his quarterly expense activity, he
needs to know: "Which salespeople exceeded their target last year?". This user
goes to his "usual" set of reports that have been authored for him. Finding
nothing that would appear.to directly answer his question, he open a report,
entitled Sales Revenue by Salesperson. He sees it has some of the information
needed as shown in Figure 26.
[00155] Verifying that the information shown is correct and appropriate, he
selects the columns of interest - in this case: Sales Year, Staff Name and
Actual
Revenue - and right-clicks to see available options.
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CA 02514165 2005-07-29
[00156] As shown in Figure 27, he selects Show related content to launch
the metadata content management system 10 and find all related reports. He
sees the following search results as shown in Figure 28.
[00157] Seeing that none of the reports match his needs, he decides to
extend his current report by clicking Extend Report with Related Data. He is
asked to describe the extra information he wishes to see as shown in Figure
29.
He types search terms "Sales Target Exceeded" and clicks Finish.
[00158] The component of the metadata content management system 10 is
started to look for models and reporting examples that match the terms
"Sales",
"Target", or "Exceeded". The metadata content management system 10 creates
a new report specification from the model and metadata elements found. The
report is run and the results are shown in Figure 30. The generated report has
new columns: "Sales target" and "Exceeds target". The sales manager got the
numbers he was looking for.
(00159] Advanced users can launch Query Studio or Report Studio to fine
tune the generated report. The user can bookmark this report for later.
(00160] The metadata content management system 10 performed this as
follows. An element with a display title "Sales Target" is found in the model
used
most often by this user. It is deemed to be compatible with the original
report's
list-style format. Similarly, a calculation named "exceeds target" is found in
a
report that shows both actual revenue and sales target elements. This
calculation
is also deemed compatible. The metadata content management system 10
assembles the new report and displays the answer.
[00161] Visual Report Construction is now described. Visual Report
Construction is a simple idea: A user views elements in two reports that he
wants
in a single report. Using a drag-and-drop gesture, he drags elements together.
Visually it's a trivial drag-and-drop gesture. Under-the-covers, it is a
variant of the
Report-Extension $xampleshown--previously.
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CA 02514165 2005-07-29
[00162] In this example, a regional sales manager for GO Sporting Goods.
As part of his quarterly expense activity, he needs to know: "Which
salespeople
exceeded their target last year?". Once again he goes to his "usual" set of
reports
and opens Sales Revenue by Salesperson. He sees it has some of the
information needed as shown in Figure 31. He opens another report, and sees it
has some of the information he wants.
[00163] Dynamic Details are now described. Simple relational list reports
are often created as authored drill-through targets in dimensional reporting
tools,
like PowerPlay. This example shows how the metadata content management
system 10 can automatically produce these reports without authoring.
(00164] In this example, a product manager wants to know who provides
customer support for a particular product at different US retailers. She is
familiar
with PowerPlay. She navigates to where she thinks the answer will be found as
shown in Figure 32.
[00165] Realizing that this cube lacks the detail she needs, she clicks to the
PowerPlay drill-through button. PowerPlay recognizes that no authored drill-
through actions exist for the selected cells, so it passes the request to the
metadata content management system 10 component.
[00166] Having sufficient knowledge about the source cube location from the
selected cells: Year=2004, Product=Canyon Mule Climber Backpack,
Location=United States, the metadata content management system 10 asks her
for two simple clarifications (which can optionally be defaulted in the
future):
"What business role are you currently performing?" and "What kind of details
are
you looking for?". She sees the page shown in Figure 33. From the custom
options shown; she selects Product Manager and Staff Details. She clicks
Finish
to get her answer.
[00167] The metadata content management system 10 creates and runs a
detaiF report that matches criteria in-her chosen rote using the original
selected
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CA 02514165 2005-07-29
cell data as query values. She sees the results as shown in Figure 34. She
verifies the report content by looking at title and column names. She sees her
answer.
[00168] The metadata content management system 10 performed this
example as follows. Filter information is extracted from the source PowerPlay
report. It is combined with the caller's selected job role and detail template
to
create a report with appropriate content. Roles are defined by an
administrator
and users themselves. Detail templates are created by authoring real reports
in
Report Studio and optionally creating templates of the metadata content
management system 10 when saving and updating .
(00169] Administration functions and user interface of the metadata content
management system 10 are now described. The administration functions of the
metadata content management system 10 administration are available only to
users with administration capability.
[00170] Index Properties are viewed via a link on CM item property pages,
as shown in Figure 38.
[00171 ] The item Type is Folder. The Open Folder link lets the user open
the folder in a new window, as shown in Figure 39. Last Indexed shows the
date/time of the most recent indexing on the folder itself (contained items
will
have different dates/times). Re-Index initiates indexing of the folder, then
all of its
content (this is a "deep index" operation- all contained folders, subfolders
and
items are indexed). Disable Indexing stop further indexing of this folder and
all
contained folders, subfolders and items. When first disabled, all contained
index
entries are removed. The indexing user name can be set as "inherited" (default
for new items) or to a specific user. XML index data is shown (read only) OK
saves changes are returns to the Index tab. Cancel returns without making any
changes.
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[00172] Figure 40 shows an example of Item Property Pages. Properties for
content items are the same as folders with minor label changes. It may also
show
a Model Index tab for a metadata model related to this report
[00173] Figure 41 shows an example of Model Property Pages. Properties
for models items are the same as folders with minor label changes. The Model
tab is shown by itself for Model list items. It is shown with an Indexing
Options tab
for reporting application content items (e.g., ReportNet content items).
[00174] General administration functions of the metadata content
management system 10 can be launched from an application, such as Cognos
Connection, using a link in a lunch bar. This option may be shown only to
users
with Content Administration capabilities.
[00175] The opening page shows links available to open Terms, Alias, and
Configuration functions.
[00176] The Terms tab shows usage for each term in the full-text index, as
shown in Figure 42. The administrator can click a letterlnumber tab to move
the
Terms list to the first entry starting with that letter, type partial or
complete Search
text and click the Find button to search for a matching entry in the Terms
list, click
a term in the Terms window to show Documents and Subjects containing that
term, and click a listed document name (in the Documents or Subjects window)
to
see its index information in a pop-up window.
j00177] The Alias tab allows synonyms to be created for common terms or
phrases, as shown in Figure 43. It also allows Series 7 Names to be mapped to
reporting application model (e.g., ReportNet model) item names.
[00178] Equivalent Phrases are initially built by linking indexed framework
metadata models with corresponding labels in cube (e.g., PowerPlay cube) and
reports (e.g., ReportNet reports). Referring elements in each application are
used
to build a list of common Phrases. The Alias tab lets the administrator edit,
add
and delete equivalence associations between these phrases. Phrases are shown
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CA 02514165 2005-07-29
by selecting the Show Equivalent Phrases drop-down item. By default, phrases
may be displayed in alphabetic order.
[00179] The administrator can click a letter/number tab to move the Phrases
list to the first entry starting with that letter, type partial or complete
Search text
and click the Find button to search for a matching entry in the Phrases list,
and
click an entry in the Phrases window to show Equivalent Phrases. All synonyms
are listed and checked in both windows as appropriate.
[00180] Checking an additional entry in the Phrases window causes it to be
added and checked in Equivalent Phrases window. Unchecking an entry in the
Phrases window causes it to be unchecked (but still displayed) in the
Equivalent
Phrases window. Unchecking the selected entry in the Equivalent Phrases
window causes all linked entries to be unchecked in both windows after
confirming the unchecking.
[00181] The administrator can type a term in the Link new term: edit box,
and click the Enter button to directly add a new synonym. If the term exists,
the
term will be listed and checked in both windows as appropriate. If the term
does
not exist in document, the user will be prompted to confirm the addition and
the
term will be added and checked in both windows.
[00182] Other sort orders may include: most common, least common, in
most reports and in least reports. In these modes, the letterlnumber tabs are
hidden and no letter/number separators are shown in the Phrases window.
[00183] Figure 44 shows an example of mapping of Dimension and
Category names to a metadata model item names (e.g., ReportNet Framework
Model Item names). Mapped names are shown by selecting the Show Model
Names drop-down item. By default, phrases may be displayed in alphabetic
order. Other sort orders may include: most common, least common, in most
reports and in least reports.
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[00184] The administrator can click a letter/number tab to move the Model
Item Name list to the first entry starting with that letter, type partial or
complete
Search text and click the Find button to search for a matching entry in the
Model
Item Name list, selecting (highlighting) an entry in the Model Item Name
window
to shows equivalent Names, which causes all linked items are listed and
checked, uncheck an entry in the Name window which causes it to be unlinked
from the highlighted Model Item Name, and click the Add Name toolbar button or
click Add Names button to open the Add Name Dialog.
[00185] The Add Name dialog show all indexed dimension and category
names, as shown in Figure 45. The administrator can click a letter/number tab
to
move the Name list to the first entry starting with that letter, type partial
or
complete Search text and click the Find button to search for a matching entry
in
the Name list, and check desired equivalent names.
[00186] The metadata content management system 10 finds content using
simple terms and phrases. Multi-faceted navigation aids refine searches using
business terminology related specifically to the customer's enterprise. When
content does not t exist, the metadata content management system 10
seamlessly creates a "made-to-order" report, with the help of the customer's
enterprise business terminology.
[00187] Thus, the metadata content management system 10 allow the users
to find relevant BI content using simple term or phrase searches. With the
help of
multi-faceted navigation aids - using business terminology related
specifically to a
particular enterprise or organization, the users can refine searches to zero-
in on
the answer the users need. When content does not exist for particular search
criteria, the metadata content management system 10 seamlessly creates a
"made-to-order" report. Business terminology from the user's enterprise or
organization helps the users refine their report to meet their requirements.
Report
creation is transparent.
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[00188] The metadata content management system 10 allows users to
search user's business oriented metadata and reporting applications. It
provides
a flexible "dynamic drilling" family of features, hyper-dimensional
navigation, to
user's applications. The "context awareness" feature allows seamless
navigation
to relevant related content. A search-oriented interface allows reports to be
found
and run easier and more efficiently. It can also use role-based reporting
components in reporting applications. The metadata content management
system 10 finds answers in existing reports and creates custom reports as
needed. The metadata content management system 10 provides dynamic report
construction. The metadata content management system 10 creates reports
directly from search terms.
[00189] The hyper-dimensional navigation let users navigate their cubes and
reports at a time, using the dimension metaphor of their reporting
applications.
Fast searching combined with intrinsic knowledge of key enterprise reporting
elements allows the metadata content management system 10 to build multi-
dimensional hierarchies on-the-fly. This dynamic structure is used to show a
hyper-dimensional view of all enterprise content that can be navigated like a
PowerPlay cube.
[00190] The metadata content management system of the present invention
may be implemented by any hardware, software or a combination of hardware
and software having the above described functions. The software code,
instructions and/or statements, either in its entirety or a part thereof, may
be
stored in a computer readable memory. Further, a computer data signal
representing the software code, instructions andlor statements may be embedded
in a carrier wave may be .transmitted via a communication network. Such a
computer readable memory and a computer data signal and/or its carrier are
also
within the scope of the present invention, as well as the hardware, software
and
the combination thereof.
[00191] lNhile particular-embodiments of the present invention have been
shown and described, changes and modifications may be made to such
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CA 02514165 2005-07-29
embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention. For example,
the
elements of the metadata content management system are described separately,
however, two or more elements may be provided as a single element, or one or
more elements may be shared with other components in one or more computer
systems.
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