Apparatus and method for defining relationships between component objects in a business intelligence system

1 . A computer readable memory, comprising:

a table with a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, including:

a first entry in a first row storing a first component object ID for a parent component object,

a second entry in the first row storing a second component object ID for a child component object, and

a third entry in the first row storing a third component object ID for a relationship object defining the relationship between the parent component object and the child component object, wherein the first row defines an edge in a graph; and

a set including:

the parent component object,

the child component object, and

the relationship object, wherein the parent component object and the child component object are objects in a business intelligence system.

2 . The computer readable memory of claim 1 wherein the child component object and parent component object are selected from at least one of a user and a user group, a document and a category, a universe and a data connection, a category and a universe, and a server and a server group.

3 . The computer readable memory of claim 1 wherein the table forms a portion of a cube.

4 . The computer readable memory of claim 1 wherein the set includes a plurality of component objects, and each component object in the plurality of component objects is unique.

5 . The computer readable memory of claim 4 wherein the plurality of component objects includes at least one component object and at least one relationship object.

6 . The computer readable memory of claim 1 wherein the table includes a second row, the first row and the second row defining a tree.

7 . The computer readable memory of claim 1 wherein the relationship object includes metadata.

8 . The computer readable memory of claim 7 wherein the metadata is divided into a plurality of properties.

9 . The computer readable memory of claim 8 wherein a property of the plurality of properties is contained in a property bag.

10 . The computer readable memory of claim 7 wherein the metadata encodes rules for the relationship between the parent component object and the child component object defined by the relationship object.

11 . The computer readable memory of claim 7 wherein the metadata encodes rules for a graph.

12 . The computer readable memory of claim 1 further comprising instructions to encode rules for the relationship between the parent component object and the child component object defined by the relationship object.

13 . The computer readable memory of claim 1 further comprising instructions to encode rules for a graph.

14 . The computer readable memory of claim 1 further comprising a set of rules constraining the relationship between the parent component object and the child component object defined by the relationship object and constraining the form of a graph.

15 . The computer readable memory of claim 14 wherein the set of rules includes a set of graph characteristic rules.

16 . The computer readable memory of claim 15 wherein the set of graph characteristic rules controls the shape and behavior of the graph.

17 . The computer readable memory of claim 15 wherein the set of graph characteristic rules controls how deletes are cascaded through the graph.

18 . The computer readable memory of claim 14 wherein the set of rules includes a set of graph constraint rules.

19 . The computer readable memory of claim 18 wherein the set of graph constraint rules controls which objects are allowed in the graph.

20 . The computer readable memory of claim 18 wherein the set of graph constraint rules controls how the first data structure is modified.

21 . The computer readable memory of claim 14 wherein the set of rules includes a set of graph security rules.

22 . The computer readable memory of claim 14 wherein the set of rules includes a set of graph edge copy rules.