Apparatus and method for indexing data changes
A computer-readable medium to direct a computer to function in a specified manner includes executable instructions to: create a data table characterizing data values; standardize changes between data values to produce standardized values; and apply a weighting factor to the standardized values to produce a data change index.
1 . A computer-readable medium to direct a computer to function in a specified manner, comprising executable instructions to:
create a data table characterizing data values;
standardize changes between data values to produce standardized values; and
apply a weighting factor to the standardized values to produce a data change index.
2 . The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions to standardize include executable instructions to determine the actual and percent changes associated with the data values.
3 . The computer-readable medium of claim 2 , further comprising executable instructions to compute the mean and standard deviation of the actual and percent changes associated with the data values.
4 . The computer-readable medium of claim 3 , further comprising executable instructions to use the mean and standard deviation values to produce the standardized values.
5 . The computer-readable medium of claim 3 , further comprising executable instructions to use the mean and standard deviation values to produce standardized percent change values.
6 . The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions to apply a weighting factor include executable instructions to receive a user defined weighting factor.
7 . A computer implemented method of processing data, comprising:
creating data values;
standardizing changes between data values to produce standardized values; and
applying a weighting factor to the standardized values to produce data variance values.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein standardizing changes includes determining the actual and percent changes associated with the data values.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein determining the actual and percent changes includes determining the mean and standard deviation of the actual and percent changes associated with the data values.
10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising using the mean and standard deviation values to produce the standardized values.
11 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising using the mean and standard deviation values to produce standardized percent change values.
12 . The method of claim 7 , wherein applying a weighting factor includes receiving a user defined weighting factor.