Apparatus and method for persistent report serving

1. A computer readable medium comprising executable instructions to:

receive a report processing request to process a report at a hierarchical report processor including a parent process and a child process executing on a processing unit, wherein said child process includes a plurality of task processors for processing a plurality of tasks in parallel;

determine whether said child process is eligible to process said report processing request based on a comparison of a task processing time of at least one of said plurality of task processors to a maximum task processing time;

upon determining that said child process is eligible to process said additional report processing request, send said report processing request from said parent process to said child process;

process said report processing request as a task that results from said report processing request and that executes on said child process;

wherein said report includes information automatically retrieved from a data source, where said information is structured in accordance with a report schema specifying the form in which said information is presented; and

wherein said parent process executes concurrently with each child process included in said hierarchical report processor.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , further comprising executable instructions to remove said child process, based on a removal determination by said parent process.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 2 , further comprising executable instructions to:

determine whether said child process is alive.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 2 , wherein said removal determination includes executable instructions to:

determine whether said child process is alive; and

determine whether said child process has an error condition.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 3 , wherein said removal determination by said parent process includes executable instructions to determine whether said child process has exceeded a maximum lifetime parameter.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , further comprising executable instructions to:

stop said child process, based on a stop determination by said parent process;

remove said child process if said child process is stopped; and

remove said child process if said child process is dead.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 6 , further comprising executable instructions to:

monitor a response time of said parent process using said child process; and

stop said child process if said response time exceeds a maximum response time.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 7 , wherein said child process includes a plurality of tasks executing in parallel on an associated plurality of task processors.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein said stop determination includes executable instructions to determine whether said child process is idle.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein said stop determination includes executable instructions to determine whether said child process has an error condition.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein said stop determination includes executable instructions to determine whether said child process has exceeded a maximum lifetime parameter and said plurality of task processors is not executing.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein said child process is idle if said plurality of task processors is not executing over a maximum idle time.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising executable instructions to:

stop each of said plurality of task processors based on a determination by said parent process; and

remove each of said plurality of task processors that is stopped.

14. A computer readable medium comprising executable instructions to:

receive a report processing request to process a report at a hierarchical report processor including a parent process and a child process executing on a processing unit;

send said report processing request from said parent process to said child process;

process said report processing request as a task that results from said report processing request and that executes on said child process;

remove said child process, based on a removal determination by said parent process;

wherein said removal determination by said parent process is based on a maximum lifetime parameter, wherein the maximum lifetime parameter is based on a maximum number of task processors that can be created on said child process;

wherein said report includes information automatically retrieved from a data source, where said information is structured in accordance with a report schema specifying the form in which said information is presented; and

wherein said parent process executes concurrently with each child process included in said hierarchical report processor.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , further comprising executable instructions to:

monitor a performance indicator of said task;

compare said performance indicator to a performance requirement; and

provide an error notification if said performance indicator fails to meet said performance requirement, indicating a task error condition for said task.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein a first task executed by a first child process has a first performance indicator independent of a second performance indicator of a second task executed by a second child process.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein said child process includes executable instructions to process a plurality of tasks in parallel with an associated plurality of task processors.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17 , further comprising executable instructions to notify said parent process of the completion of processing of said plurality of tasks.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 17 , wherein said performance indicator is a task processing time, and wherein said performance requirement is a maximum task processing time.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 17 , further comprising executable instructions to remove said plurality of task processors upon detection of said task error condition.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 17 , further comprising executable instructions to remove a task processor if said task processor is idle.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , further comprising executable instructions to:

choose between selection of said child process and creation of said child process for processing said task, based on a choice by said parent process; and

monitor a performance indicator of said task using said parent process.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 22 , wherein said selection of said child process includes executable instructions to determine a processing load of said child process.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 22 , further comprising executable instructions to choose between selection of a task processor and creation of a new task processor for processing said task at said child process.