System to automate mapping of variables between business process applications and method therefor

1. A method comprising:

receiving a first profile associated with a first application and a second profile associated with a second application, each profile identifying a set of data fields, each data field identified by a corresponding full path name;

parsing each full path name of each data field of each profile to determine a corresponding shortest unique path alias by truncating as many left-most justified delimiter-separated sub-strings included in the full path name as possible without creating ambiguity with another truncated full path name of the same profile;

receiving a database including a plurality of mapping pairs, each mapping pair identifying a relationship between a respective source alias and a respective destination alias;

determining using a computer that the database includes a first mapping pair having a destination alias matching a first shortest unique path alias associated with the second profile;

determining that a source alias included in the first mapping pair matches a second shortest unique path alias associated with the first profile; and

providing a first mapping suggestion specifying a first full path name of a first data field of the first profile corresponding to the second shortest unique path alias and a second full path name of a first data field of the second profile corresponding to the first shortest unique path alias, wherein the first mapping suggestion includes a data manipulation operation identifying a manipulation of data associated with the first data field of the first profile.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining that the database includes a second mapping pair having a destination alias matching the first shortest unique path alias associated with the second profile;

determining that a source alias included in the second mapping pair matches a third shortest unique path alias associated with the first profile; and

providing a second mapping suggestion specifying a second full path name of the first profile corresponding to the third shortest unique path alias and the second full path name of the second profile corresponding to the first shortest unique path alias.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the first mapping suggestion is assigned a first confidence attribute based on frequency information associated with the first mapping pair and the second mapping suggesting is assigned a second confidence attribute based on frequency information associated with the second mapping pair, wherein the frequency information is indicative of how many times a respective mapping pair has been submitted to the database.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the database includes a collection of mapping pairs identified in a plurality of profile maps submitted to the database.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first mapping pair does not include information identifying an application associated with the source alias or information identifying an application associated with the destination alias.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

parsing each full path name of each profile to determine a corresponding leaf alias consisting of a right-most justified substring of the full path name;

receiving a leaf database including a plurality of mapping pairs, each mapping pair identifying a relationship between a respective source alias and a respective destination alias;

determining that the leaf database includes a second mapping pair having a destination alias matching a leaf alias associated with the second profile;

determining that a source alias included in the second mapping pair matches a second leaf alias associated with the first profile; and

providing a second mapping suggestion specifying a first full path name of the first profile corresponding to the second leaf alias and a second full path name of the second profile corresponding to the first leaf path alias.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing a system integration application program based on the providing, the system integration application program to provide an interface for communicating information between the first application the second application.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the data manipulation operation identifies a string manipulation to generate a value associated with the data field identified by the second full path name based on a value associated with the data field identified by the first full path name.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the data manipulation operation identifies a numerical manipulation to generate a value associated with the data field identified by the second full path name based on a value associated with the data field identified by the first full path name.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the data manipulation operation is specified by a program script, the manipulation to generate a value associated with the data field identified by the second full path name based on a value associated with the data field identified by the first full path name.

11. A method comprising:

receiving a first profile associated with a first application and a second profile associated with a second application, each profile identifying a set of data fields, each data field identified by a corresponding full path name;

identifying using a computer associations between data fields of the first profile and data fields of the second profile based on mapping pairs included in a full path mapping database;

parsing each full path name of each data field of the first profile and of the second profile to determine a corresponding shortest unique path alias, wherein the shortest unique path alias corresponding to each full path name of a profile is determined by truncating as many left-most justified delimiter-separated sub-strings included in the full path name as possible without creating ambiguity with another truncated full path name of the same profile;

identifying associations between data fields of the first profile and data fields of the second profile based on mapping pairs included in a shortest unique path mapping database; and

providing a prioritized list of mapping suggestions based on the identified associations, wherein a first mapping suggestion includes a data manipulation operation identifying a manipulation of data associated with the first data field of the first profile.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein providing the prioritized list further comprises determining a relative priority of the mapping suggestions based on frequency information stored at each database, the frequency information indicative of how many times a respective mapping pair has been submitted to the respective database.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein identifying associations based on mapping pairs included in a full path mapping database further comprises:

receiving a first database including a plurality of mapping pairs, each mapping pair identifying a relationship between a respective source alias and a respective destination alias;

determining that the first database includes a first mapping pair having a destination full path name matching a first full path name associated with the second profile; and

determining that a source full path name included in the first mapping pair matches a second full path name associated with the first profile.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein identifying associations based on mapping pairs included in a shortest unique path mapping database further comprises:

parsing each full path name of each profile to determine a shortest unique path alias corresponding to each full path name;

receiving a first database including a plurality of mapping pairs, each mapping pair identifying a relationship between a respective source alias and a respective destination alias;

determining that the first database includes a first mapping pair having a destination alias matching a first shortest unique path alias associated with the second profile; and

determining that a source alias included in the first mapping pair matches a second shortest unique path alias associated with the first profile.

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising identifying associations between data fields of the first profile and data fields of the second profile based on mapping pairs included in a leaf mapping database, the identifying comprising:

parsing each full path name of each profile to determine a corresponding leaf alias consisting of a right-most justified substring of the full path name;

receiving a leaf database including a plurality of mapping pairs, each mapping pair identifying a relationship between a respective source alias and a respective destination alias;

determining that the leaf database includes a first mapping pair having a destination alias matching a leaf alias associated with the second profile; and

determining that a source alias included in the first mapping pair matches a second leaf alias associated with the first profile.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing a prioritized list of mapping suggestions, a relative priority of the mapping suggestions based on frequency information stored at each database, the frequency information indicative of how many times a respective mapping pair has been submitted to the database.

17. The method of claim 11 further comprising providing a system integration application program based on the providing, the system integration application program to provide an interface for communicating information between the first application the second application.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein the data manipulation operation identifies a string manipulation or a numerical operation to generate a value associated with a data field identified by the second full path name based on a value associated with the data field identified by the first full path name.

19. A system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor for executing instructions stored in the memory to perform a method comprising:

receiving a first profile associated with a first application and a second profile associated with a second application, each profile identifying a set of data fields, each data field identified by a corresponding full path name;

parsing each full path name of each data field of each profile to determine a corresponding shortest unique path alias by truncating as many left-most justified delimiter-separated sub-strings included in the full path name as possible without creating ambiguity with another truncated full path name of the same profile;

receiving a database including a plurality of mapping pairs, each mapping pair identifying a relationship between a respective source alias and a respective destination alias;

determining that the database includes a first mapping pair having a destination alias matching a first shortest unique path alias associated with the second profile;

determining that a source alias included in the first mapping pair matches a second shortest unique path alias associated with the first profile; and

providing a first mapping suggestion specifying a first full path name of a first data field of the first profile corresponding to the second shortest unique path alias and a second full path name of a first data field of the second profile corresponding to the first shortest unique path alias, wherein the first mapping suggestion includes a data manipulation operation identifying a manipulation of data associated with the first data field of the first profile.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein creating ambiguity with another truncated full path name of the same profile comprises creating a truncated full path name that is identical to another truncated full path name.