System and method for providing a data warehouse in accordance with a virtual schema
View Patent ↗According to the invention, techniques for organizing information from systems in a data warehousing environment are provided. In an exemplary embodiment, the invention provides a method for analyzing data from one or more data sources of an enterprise. The method provides a meta-model based technique for modeling the enterprise data. The enterprise is typically a business activity, but can also be other loci of human activity. Embodiments according to the invention can translate data from a variety of sources to particular database schema in order to provide organization to a data warehousing environment.
1. A computer readable storage device-bearing instructions for storing thereon data in accordance with a data model, the data model comprising:
a focal group, comprising:
at least one of a plurality of core components; and
at least one of a plurality of classification components providing classifications for information relating to the core components; and
at least one customized group, comprising:
at least one of a plurality of customer activity components related to the core components; and
at least one of a plurality of activity lookup components related to at least one of the customer activity components, wherein the focal group and the customized group comprise a reverse star schema meta model.
2. The computer readable storage device of claim 1 , wherein
the focal group comprises components, including components that describe at least one of:
customer characteristics,
profiles,
business related classifications,
customer's roles, and
definitions,
wherein the components are in different business functional areas.
3. The computer readable storage device of claim 1 , wherein
the core components further comprises at least one of:
customer entity, and related customer identity information.
4. The computer readable storage device of claim 3 , wherein
the customer identity information further comprises at least one of:
an account identifier,
social security number, and
encrypted name.
5. The computer readable storage device of claim 1 , wherein
the classification components relate to at least one of:
a business, and
a customer.
6. The computer readable storage device of claim 5 , wherein
the classification components further comprise at least one of:
business profile,
demographics,
current profile,
region,
channel, and
sales organization.
7. The computer readable storage device of claim 6 , wherein
a relationship exists between at least one of the classification components and a customer entity within the core components.
8. The computer readable storage device of claim 1 , wherein
the customized group relates to operational business transactions.
9. The computer readable storage device of claim 8 , wherein
the customized group further comprise at least one of:
business measures, and
attributes,
wherein the business measures and attributes describe event transactions.
10. The computer readable storage device of claim 9 , wherein
the event transactions further comprise at least one of:
independent events, and
dependent events.
11. The computer readable storage device of claim 10 , wherein
a sequence comprising two or more event transactions is used to describer various stages of customer activity.
12. The computer readable storage device of claim 11 , wherein
the sequence of event transactions comprises two or more of:
subscription,
payment,
promotion,
price plan change,
service call, and
cancellation.
13. The computer readable storage device of claim 1 , wherein
the customer activity components relate to at least one of:
event transactions, and
measures,
wherein the event transactions and measures relate to customer activities.
14. The computer readable storage device of claim 1 , wherein
the customer activity components further comprise:
at least one of a plurality of attributes.
15. The computer readable storage device of claim 14 , wherein
the at least one of a plurality of attributes includes a selection from among a list of built-in attributes.
16. The computer readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein
the at least one of a plurality of attributes further comprises:
user-defined attributes.
17. The computer readable storage device of claim 16 , wherein
the at least one of a plurality activity lookup components comprises:
detail characteristics of customer event transactions.
18. The computer readable storage device of claim 16 , wherein
the at least one of a plurality activity lookup components comprises:
a products entity.
19. The computer readable storage device of claim 1 , wherein
the at least one of a plurality of core components comprises:
a customer entity, and
at least one of a plurality of account entities, the customer entity and the account entities providing account level concepts to queries relating to customers.
20. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
providing at the computer a focal group, comprising:
at least one of a plurality of core components; and
at least one of a plurality of classification components providing classifications for information relating to the core components; and
providing at the computer at least one customized group, comprising:
at least one of a plurality of customer activity components related to the core components; and
at least one of a plurality of activity lookup components related to at least one of the customer activity components, wherein the focal group and the customized group comprise a reverse star schema meta model.