Online analytic processing cube with time stamping

1. A computer-implemented method for performing tax calculations and for using time-stamped data to track modifications made over time to data to document versions of tax calculations and tax positions asserted by a tax reporting entity, the method comprising:

receiving data comprising a first data version associated with a first time stamp and a second data version associated with a second time stamp, the second data version representing a modified version of the first data version, the first and second time stamps having been automatically associated respectively with the first and second data versions by a computer without intervention from a user and representing an actual time each data version was saved to memory, the data for use in performing tax calculations;

building a first Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube version related to a first tax position asserted by the tax reporting entity related to a tax issue, the first OLAP cube version including a dimension, the dimension acting as a schema for the first data version that includes the first time stamp;

populating the first OLAP cube version with a first object, the first object including the first data version and the first time stamp as at least one attribute;

using the first OLAP cube version to perform tax calculations and to generate a first tax related data set related to the first tax position;

attaching a first document to the first tax related data set by generating a first attachment record comprising a first attachment time stamp attribute;

building a second OLAP cube version related to a second tax position asserted by the tax reporting entity related to the tax issue, the second OLAP cube version including a dimension, the dimension acting as a schema for the second data version that includes the second time stamp;

populating the second OLAP cube version with a second object, the second object including the second data version and the second time stamp as at least one attribute;

using the second OLAP cube version to perform tax calculations and to generate a second tax related data set related to the second tax position and different from the first tax related data set; and

attaching a second document to the second tax related data set by generating a second attachment record comprising a second attachment time stamp attribute;

whereby using a time-based criteria the first and second OLAP cube versions may be restored at a later date and after modifications to the data have occurred to generate time-based versions of the tax calculations performed and tax positions asserted by the tax reporting entity.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising: modifying

the data to create modified data, the modifying categorized as an event; and

associating an additional time stamp with the modified data to reflect a time of the event.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , further comprising storing the event into an event history, the event history including a time of the event.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , further comprising building a plurality of OLAP cube versions respectively using a plurality of data versions to respectively generate a plurality of tax related data sets.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , further comprising using a time-based criteria to selectively build one of the plurality of OLAP cube versions based on time-stamp data associated with the plurality of data versions.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second OLAP cube versions are stored into Random Access Memory (RAM).

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the dimension includes at least one of an entity dimension, an account dimension, or a jurisdiction dimension.

8. A computer-implemented method for performing tax calculations and for using data associated with a time attribute to track modifications made over time to data to document versions of tax calculations and tax positions asserted by a tax reporting entity, the method comprising:

retrieving a first Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube related to a first tax position asserted by the tax reporting entity related to a tax issue and populated with first object, the first object including a first time attribute and a first data attribute, the first time attribute automatically associated with the first data attribute without intervention from a user, the first time attribute representing an actual time the first data attribute was modified;

performing a first tax related calculation using the first OLAP cube and data retrieved from the data attribute, the calculation reflecting the data at a first time defined by the first time attribute;

attaching a first document to the data defined by the first time attribute by generating a first attachment record comprising the first time attribute;

displaying a result of the first calculation associated with the first time, the result including a first tax related data set related to the first tax position;

retrieving a second OLAP cube related to a second tax position asserted by the tax reporting entity related to the tax issue and populated with second object, the second object including a second time attribute and a second data attribute, the second time attribute automatically associated with the second data attribute without intervention from a user, the second time attribute representing an actual time the second data attribute was modified;

performing a second tax related calculation using the second OLAP cube and data retrieved from the second data attribute, the calculation reflecting the data at a second time defined by the second time attribute;

attaching a second document to the data defined by the second time attribute by generating a second attachment record comprising the second time attribute;

displaying a result of the second calculation associated with the second time, the result including a second tax related data set related to the second tax position;

whereby using a time-based criteria the first and second OLAP cubes may be restored at a later date and after modifications to the data have occurred to generate time-based versions of the tax calculations performed and tax positions asserted by the tax reporting entity.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the first time and the second time are part of an event history for the data, the event history including a history of modifications made to the data.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the first and second OLAP cubes include a dimension that includes at least one of an entity dimension, an account dimension, or a jurisdiction dimension.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , further comprising querying the first or second OLAP cubes using a Multidimensional Expression (MDX) language.

12. A computer system for processing tax related data in performing tax calculations and for using time-stamped data to track modifications made over time to data to document versions of tax calculations, the system comprising:

a receiver to receive tax related data comprising a first tax related data version associated with a first time stamp and a second tax related data version associated with a second time stamp, the second tax related data version representing a modified version of the first tax related data version, the first and second time stamps having been automatically associated respectively with the first and second data versions by a computer without intervention from a user and representing an actual time each data version was saved to memory;

a cube building engine to build a first Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube version related to a first tax position asserted by the tax reporting entity related to a tax issue, the first OLAP cube version including a dimension, the dimension acting as a schema for the first tax related data version that includes the first time stamp, and to build a second OLAP cube version related to a second tax position asserted by the tax reporting entity related to the tax issue, the second OLAP cube version including a dimension, the dimension acting as a schema for the second tax related data version that includes the second time stamp;

an object population engine to populate the first OLAP cube version with a first object, the first object including the first tax related data and the first time stamp as at least one attribute, and to populate the second OLAP cube version with a second object, the second object including the second data version and the second time stamp as at least one attribute; and

a processor adapted to use the first and second OLAP cube versions to perform tax calculations and to generate first and second tax related result data sets representing time-based version of the tax calculations performed, and related to the first and second tax positions respectively; and

attaching a first document to the first tax related result data set by generating a first attachment record comprising a first attachment time stamp attribute, and attaching a second document to the second tax related result data set by generating a second attachment record comprising a second attachment time stamp attribute;

whereby using a time-based criteria the first and second OLAP cube versions may be restored at a later date and after modifications to the data have occurred to generate additional time-based versions of the tax calculations performed and tax positions asserted by the tax reporting entity.

13. The computer system of claim 12 , further comprising:

a data modification engine to modify the tax related data to create modified tax related data, the modification categorized as an event; and

an association engine to associate an additional time stamp with the modified tax related data to reflect a time of the event.

14. The computer system of claim 13 , further comprising an event aggregation engine to store the event into an event history, the event history including the time of the event.

15. The computer system of claim 12 , wherein the first and second OLAP cube versions are stored into Random Access Memory (RAM).

16. The computer system of claim 12 , wherein the dimension includes at least one of an entity dimension, an account dimension, or a jurisdiction dimension.

17. A computer system for processing tax related data in performing tax calculations, the system comprising:

a cube retrieval engine to retrieve a first Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube related to a first tax position asserted by the tax reporting entity related to a tax issue and populated with a first object, the first object including a first time attribute and a first data attribute, the first time attribute automatically associated with the first data attribute without intervention from a user, the first time attribute representing an actual time the first data attribute was modified, and to retrieve a second OLAP cube related to a second tax position asserted by the tax reporting entity related to the tax issue and populated with second object, the second object including a second time attribute and a second data attribute, the second time attribute automatically associated with the second data attribute without intervention from a user, the second time attribute representing an actual time the second data attribute was modified;

a tax calculation engine to perform a first tax related calculation using first tax related data retrieved from the first data attribute, the first tax related calculation reflecting the first tax related data at a first time defined by the first time attribute, and to perform to perform a second tax related calculation using second tax related data retrieved from the second data attribute, the second tax related calculation reflecting the second tax related data at a second time defined by the second time attribute;

a display to display a first tax related result of the first calculation associated with the first time, the first tax related result related to the first tax position, and to display a second tax related result of the second calculation associated with the second time, the second tax related result related to the second tax position; and

the tax calculation engine further adapted to attach a first document to the first tax related data by generating a first attachment record comprising a first attachment time stamp attribute, and attaching a second document to the second tax related data by generating a second attachment record comprising a second attachment time stamp attribute;

whereby using a time-based criteria the first and second OLAP cubes may be restored at a later date and after modifications to the data have occurred to generate additional time-based versions of the tax calculations performed and tax positions asserted by the tax reporting entity.

18. The computer system of claim 17 , wherein the first time and the second time are part of an event history for the tax related data, the event history including a history of modifications made to the tax related data.

19. The computer system of claim 17 , wherein the first and second OLAP cubes include a dimension that includes at least one of an entity dimension, an account dimension, or a jurisdiction dimension.

20. The computer system of claim 17 , further comprising a query engine to query the first and second OLAP cubes through the use of a Multidimensional Expression (MDX) language.

21. An apparatus comprising:

means for retrieving a first Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube related to a first tax position asserted by a tax reporting entity related to a tax issue and populated with a first object, the first object including a first time attribute and a first data attribute, the first time attribute automatically associated with the first data attribute without intervention from a user, the first time attribute representing an actual time the first data attribute was modified;

means for processing the first OLAP cube and performing a first tax calculation using first tax related data retrieved from the first data attribute, the first tax calculation reflecting the first tax related data at a first time defined by the first time attribute;

means for displaying a first tax related result of the first tax calculation associated with the first time, the first tax related result related to the first tax position;

means for retrieving a second OLAP cube related to a second tax position asserted by the tax reporting entity related to the tax issue and populated with a second object, the second object including a second time attribute and a second data attribute, the second time attribute automatically associated with the second data attribute without intervention from a user, the second time attribute representing an actual time the second data attribute was modified;

means for processing the second OLAP cube and performing a second tax calculation using second tax related data retrieved from the second data attribute, the second tax calculation reflecting the second tax related data at a second time defined by the second time attribute;

means for displaying a second tax related result of the second tax calculation associated with the second time, the second tax related result related to the second tax position;

whereby using a time-based criteria the first and second OLAP cubes may be restored at a later date and after modifications to the data have occurred to generate time-based versions of the tax calculations performed and tax positions asserted by the tax reporting entity; and

means for attaching a first document to the first tax related data by generating a first attachment record comprising a first attachment time stamp attribute, and attaching a second document to the second tax related data by generating a second attachment record comprising a second attachment time stamp attribute.

22. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions, which when implemented by one or more machines, cause the one or more machines to perform the following operations:

retrieve a first Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube related to a first tax position asserted by a tax reporting entity related to a tax issue and populated with a first object, the first object including a first time attribute and a first data attribute, the first time attribute automatically associated with the first data attribute without intervention from a user, the first time attribute representing an actual time the first data attribute was modified;

perform a first tax calculation using tax related data retrieved from the first data attribute, the first tax calculation reflecting the tax related data at a first time defined by the first time attribute;

display a tax related result of the first tax calculation associated with the first time, the result including a first tax related data set related to the first tax position;

retrieve a second OLAP cube related to a second tax position asserted by the tax reporting entity related to the tax issue and populated with a second object, the second object including a second time attribute and a second data attribute, the second time attribute automatically associated with the second data attribute without intervention from a user, the second time attribute representing an actual time the second data attribute was modified;

perform a second tax calculation using tax related data retrieved from the second data attribute, the second tax calculation reflecting the tax related data at a second time defined by the second time attribute;

display a tax related result of the second tax calculation associated with the second time, the result including a second tax related data set related to the second tax position; and

attach a first document to the first tax related data set by generating a first attachment record comprising a first attachment time stamp attribute, and attach a second document to the second tax related data set by generating a second attachment record comprising a second attachment time stamp attribute;

whereby using a time-based criteria the first and second OLAP cubes may be restored at a later date and after modifications to the data have occurred to generate time-based versions of the tax calculations performed and tax positions asserted by the tax reporting entity.