METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DEVELOPING DATA INTEGRATION APPLICATIONS WITH REUSABLE FUNCTIONAL RULES THAT ARE MANAGED ACCORDING TO THEIR OUTPUT VARIABLES

1 . A method of defining functional rules for a data integration application such that said functional rules may be reused in the same data integration application or in other data integration applications, the method comprising:

a. receiving a functional rule as part of a first data integration application and storing said functional rule in a persistent data store, wherein a functional rule comprises a set of programmatic expressions that operate to consume a set of input values and to produce an output value, and wherein the output value is represented by a first semantic name that indicates the meaning of the output value;

b. associating the received functional rule with the first semantic name in the persistent data store;

c. receiving a second semantic name and recalling from the persistent data store a functional rule associated with the second semantic name; and

d. importing the recalled functional rule into a second data integration application;

e. such that a functional rule received as part of a first data integration application whose output value is represented by a semantic name may be reused in a second data integration application that refers to the same semantic name.

2 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the first data integration application and the second data integration application are two separate data integration applications.

3 . The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

a. recalling from the persistent data store a set of functional rules associated with the second semantic name;

b. presenting the recalled functional rules to a user;

c. in response to user input, selecting a functional rule from the recalled set of functional rules; and

d. importing the selected functional rule into the second data integration application.

4 . A system for defining functional rules for a data integration application such that said functional rules may be reused in the same data integration application or in other data integration applications, the system comprising:

a. a persistent data store that is operable to store computer-readable data and to store relations among said data;

b. logic for receiving a functional rule as part of a first data integration application and storing said functional rule in the persistent data store, wherein a functional rule comprises a set of programmatic expressions that operate to consume a set of input values and to produce an output value, and wherein the output value is represented by a first semantic name that indicates the meaning of the output value;

c. logic for associating the received functional rule with the first semantic name in the persistent data store;

d. logic for receiving a second semantic name and recalling from the persistent data store a functional rule associated with the second semantic name; and

e. logic for importing the recalled functional rule into a second data integration application;

f. such that a functional rule received as part of a first data integration application whose output value is represented by a semantic name may be reused in a second data integration application that refers to the same semantic name.

5 . The system according to claim 4 wherein the first data integration application and the second data integration application are two separate data integration applications.

6 . The system according to claim 4 further comprising:

a. logic for recalling from the persistent data store a set of functional rules associated with the second semantic name;

b. logic for presenting the recalled functional rules to a user;

c. logic for selecting, in response to user input, a functional rule from the recalled set of functional rules; and

d. logic for importing the selected functional rule into the second data integration application.