Online analytic processing cube with time stamping

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9830366-B2
Application number	US-38345309-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 23, 2009
Priority date	Mar 22, 2008
Publication date	Nov 28, 2017
Grant date	Nov 28, 2017

Abstract

In one example embodiment, a system and method are shown for receiving data that include a time stamp. The system and method also include building an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube that includes a dimension, the dimension acting as a schema for the data that include the time stamp. The system and method may also include populating the OLAP cube with an object, the object including the data and the time stamp as at least one attribute. The system and method may also include storing the OLAP cube.

First claim

What is claimed is:

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 bu

Assignees

• Wagner Steven
• Thomson Reuters Global Resources

Inventors

• Wagner Steven

Classifications

• G06F16/2465 Primary

  Query processing support for facilitating data mining operations in structured databases · CPC title

• G06F16/2477

  Temporal data queries · CPC title

• G06Q40/123

  Tax preparation or submission · CPC title

• G06F2216/03

  Data mining · CPC title

• G06Q40/02

  Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance (credit or loans G06Q40/03) · CPC title