Automated determination of relevant slice in multidimensional data sources
Data from sources without a current time designator is consumed in scorecard applications by automatically detecting an appropriate time slice based on a last non-empty member in a given level of dimension. Lag values are assigned depending on a level of time dimension members and the last non-empty member. Once the current time value is determined, corresponding values are used for dimensions that are fully loaded with non-empty values. Negative lag values may be used to retrieve data for future members.
1 . A method to be executed at least in part in a computing device for determining a current time member from a data source, comprising:
determining a last non-empty member in a temporally ordered first dimension of the data source;
assigning a lag value to the last non-empty member designating it as the current member; and
retrieving data from the first dimension for a scorecard operation using lag values associated with members relative to the current member.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first dimension is temporally ordered according to layered levels of a time dimension.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the lag value is assigned based on a selected level of the time dimension.
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the lag value designating current member is assigned to a member preceding the last non-empty member, if the selected level of the time dimension includes at least one reporting level with associated empty members in the first dimension.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein an empty member is designated by one of an empty designator, a zero value, and a negative value.
6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
designating a member of a second dimension of the data source that includes only non-empty members as a current member of the second dimension based on the member's association with the last non-empty member of the first dimension.
7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
determining a future member of the second dimension using a negative lag value.
8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the first dimension is an actuals column and the second dimension is a targets column of a scorecard matrix.
9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
updating the scorecard when the current time member changes based on an update of the data source.
10 . A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for determining a relevant slice in a scorecard system, the instructions comprising:
determining a last non-empty data value in a temporally ordered first dimension of the data source associated with a first scorecard metric;
if the last non-empty data value is complete, assigning a zero lag value to the last non-empty data value designating it as the current data value; else assigning a one lag value to the last non-empty data value designating a preceding data value as the current data value; and
designating a data value of a second dimension of the data source associated with the first scorecard metric that includes only non-empty data values as a current data value of the second dimension based on the second dimension's association with the first dimension.
11 . The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions further comprise:
updating at least one parameter of a subordinate report associated with the first scorecard metric based on the current data value.
12 . The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions further comprise:
performing a scorecard operation using the first scorecard metric and a second scorecard metric, wherein the first and the second scorecard metrics are computed based on two different current data values.
13 . The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions further comprise:
triggering an alert associated with the first scorecard metric based on the current data value.
14 . The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions further comprise:
updating at least one parameter of a page filter associated with a scorecard that includes the first scorecard metric.
15 . The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions further comprise:
rendering a scorecard cache invalid, if the current data value changes as a result of an update to the data source.
16 . A system for determining current data values in a data source associated with a scorecard system, comprising:
a scorecard application configured to compute scorecard metrics and provide a scorecard presentation based on the computed scorecard metrics;
the data source configured to store data values associated with the scorecard metrics in a temporally ordered manner; and
a time intelligence module configured to:
determine a last non-empty data value in a first dimension of the data source;
assign a zero lag value to the last non-empty data value designating it as the current data value, if the last non-empty data value is complete; else
assign a one lag value to the last non-empty data value designating a preceding data value as the current data value; and
provide the current data value to the scorecard application for a scorecard operation.
17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the time intelligence module is further configured to designate a data value of a second dimension of the data source that includes only non-empty data values as a current data value of the second dimension based on the second dimension's association with the first dimension.
18 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the scorecard operation includes at least one from a set of: updating at least one parameter associated with a subordinate report, updating at least one page filter parameter, updating a computed scorecard metric, issuing a notification, updating a scorecard matrix.
19 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the time intelligence module is further configured to determine current data values for at least to scorecard metrics with distinct granularities.
20 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the data source is an On Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) data source.