Patent ID: 7853625

Claim:
A computer system for defining data mappings between data elements in a first data structure and data elements in a second data structure, the computer system executing instructions for: selecting a first data element in the first data structure for mapping; suggesting a first possible data mapping definition to a user based on a first previous data mapping definition, the first possible data mapping definition defining a mapping from the first data element in the first data structure to a first data element in the second data structure; suggesting a second possible data mapping definition based on a second previous data mapping definition, the second previous data mapping definition defining a mapping from a data element in a fifth data structure to a data element in a sixth data structure; prioritizing the first possible data mapping definition and the second possible data mapping definition based on a predefined rule; and mapping the first data element in the first data structure to the first data element in the second data structure according to the first possible data mapping definition in response to acceptance of the first possible data mapping definition by the user, wherein the first previous data mapping definition defines a mapping from a data element in a third data structure to a data element in a fourth data structure, at least one of the third and fourth data structures being different from the first and second data structures, and wherein the predefined rule specifies the first possible data mapping definition is ranked higher than the second possible data mapping definition when each of the third and fourth data structures is part of a first data structure set containing the first data structure or is part of a second data structure set containing the second data structure and when at least one of the fifth and sixth data structures is not part of the first data structure set and is not part of the second data structure set.