Data access service queries

1. A computer-implemented method for selectively presenting information stored in a business warehouse, the method comprising:

transmitting, by a server to a client, a list of available data access services, the list of data access services being part of a library containing at least one data access service for each of a plurality of on-line analytical processing data access queries, the data access service being a service offered by the server to the client to provide access to an on-line analytical processing query performed at the server system through a service call to the data access service, the data access service having a predefined selection of input parameters to define a selection of data from the query and a predefined selection of a single output parameter to define output data to be provided as a result of the selection of the data from the query based on the input parameters, at least one of the data access services being built using a data access service designer, the data access service designer including an object tagger to attach semantic information to a service and its input and output parameters;

receiving, by the server from the client, data characterizing an invocation of a selected data access service from the list; and

transmitting, by the server to the client, data within the business warehouse using the selected data access service via a data access service provider wrapping an existing business warehouse object type to expose its data as the data access service.

2. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, by the server, data characterizing (i) an on-line analytical processing data access query having dimensions and measures, (ii) selected input parameters from the dimensions of the data access query, (iii) selected output parameters from at least one of the dimensions and measures of the data access query; and

generating, by the server, another data access service based on the selected input and output parameters; and

storing, by the server, the other data access service in the library.

3. A method as in claim 2 , further comprising: transmitting data, by the server, to enable a user to be presented with a series of interrogatories within a graphical user interface to select at least one of the input and output parameters.

4. A method as in claim 2 , further comprising: receiving, by the server, data characterizing selection of at least one dimension of the data access service query in a row or a column format as an input parameter.

5. A method as in claim 2 , further comprising: receiving, by the server, data characterizing selectively removed output parameters or non-mandatory input parameters.

6. A method as in claim 2 , further comprising: restricting, by the server, input parameter capabilities from a multiple value input to a single value input.

7. A method as in claim 2 , further comprising: overwriting, by the server, input parameter values with default input parameter values.

8. A method as in claim 2 , wherein a single measure of the data access service query is selected as an output parameter.

9. A method as in claim 2 , wherein a single dimension of the data access service query is selected as an output parameter.

10. A method as in claim 2 , further comprising: filtering, by the server, query data along a dimension corresponding to the selected input parameter of the data access service.

11. A method as in claim 2 , further comprising: aggregating, by the server, all dimensions except for any dimension to be specified as an output of the data access service.

12. A method as in claim 2 , further comprising: associating by the server, a description for each data access service.

13. A method as in claim 12 , wherein the selecting a data access service from a library comprises conducting a word search of the descriptions associated with each data access service.

14. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the data access service designer allows semantic enrichment of parameters of the data access service.

15. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the data access service is a business warehouse object type that represents a service to obtain data from a business warehouse, the data access service providing access to business warehouse data by means of pre-existing business warehouse object types, wherein the data access service is persisted on a business warehouse service in database tables.

16. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a server, data characterizing (i) an on-line analytical processing data access query having dimensions and measures, (ii) selected input parameters from the dimensions of the data access query, (iii) a single output parameter from at least one of the dimensions and measures of the data access query;

generating, by the server, a data access service based on the selected input and output parameters, the data access service being a service offered by the server to a client to provide access to the on-line analytical processing query performed at the server through a service call to the data access service, the selected input and output parameters serving as predefined criteria of the data access service to apply to the data access query in response to the service call;

aggregating, by the server, attributes from a plurality of generated data access services across multiple services in a central repository; and

generating, by the server, a library of data access services based on the aggregated attributes, the library being accessible by a client at a server such that the client can select and invoke the data access services within the library;

wherein at least one of the services is built using a data access service that includes an object tagger to attach semantic information to a service and its input and output parameters.

17. A method as in claim 16 , further comprising:

receiving, by the server, data indicating that a data access service from the library has been invoked by the client; and

transmitting, by the server to the client, data within the business warehouse using the selected data access service.

18. A system comprising:

a server comprising at least one first computing system; and

a client coupled to the server comprising at least one second computing system;

wherein the client requests a list of available data access services from the server, the list of data access services being part of a library containing at least one data access service for each of a plurality of on-line analytical processing data access queries, the data access service being a service offered by the server to the client to provide access to an on-line analytical processing query performed at the server system through a service call to the data access service, the data access service having a predefined selection of input parameters to define a selection of data from the query and a predefined selection of a single output parameter to define output data to be provided as a result of the selection of the data from the query based on the input parameters, at least one of the data access services being built using a data access service designer, the data access service designer including an object tagger to attach semantic information to a service and its input and output parameters;

wherein the client invokes a selected data access service from the list; and

wherein data within the business warehouse is presented at the client using the selected data access service via a data access service provider wrapping an existing business warehouse object type to expose its data as the data access service.

19. A system as in claim 18 , wherein the data access service is a business warehouse object type that represents a service to obtain data from a business warehouse, the data access service providing access to business warehouse data by means of pre-existing business warehouse object types, wherein the data access service is persisted on a business warehouse service in database tables.

20. A system as in claim 18 , wherein the server:

transmits data to the client to enable a user to be presented with a series of interrogatories within a graphical user interface to select at least one of the input and output parameters.