Patent ID: 9384221
Filing Date: 2016-07-05
CPC Classification: G06F

Claim Text:
1. A computer-implemented method for retroactively performing dimension widening on a data element for use in an analytical report, the method comprising: receiving, at a processing circuit, a set of data elements from a database, each of the data elements having a first dimension; receiving, at a processing circuit, a set of dimension widening rules, each of the dimension widening rules including a condition and an action; identifying, by the processing circuit, a first set of the data elements to which any of the dimension widening rules are applicable, wherein a dimension widening rule is applicable to a data element if the first dimension of the data element satisfies the condition of the dimension widening rule; processing, by the processing circuit, the first set of data elements by applying the applicable dimension widening rules to the first set of data elements, wherein the processing circuit generates a dimension widening delta comprising an added dimension different from the first dimension for each of the data elements of the first set of data elements by applying the applicable dimension widening rules, the dimension widening delta generated prior to receiving a query requesting the first dimension and the added dimension; storing the dimension widening deltas for each of the processed data elements in the database, wherein the dimension widening delta for a data element is stored separately from the data element in the database; and receiving the query requesting the first dimension and added dimension; merging the first dimension with the added dimension of the dimension widening delta in response to the query; and generating a response to the query using the merged first dimension and added dimension.