Patent ID: 8468444

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of preparing a presentation requested from a data report; the method comprising the steps of: displaying a first data report which contains at least one graphical element linked to a first data item specified by metadata, said metadata comprising a dimension or a dimension value and a measure, wherein the first data item is categorized as the dimension or dimension value or the measure; in response to a user's action of selecting the graphical element, automatically generating and presenting, to the user, an analysis of data represented by the graphical element including: determining the metadata of the first data item linked to the graphical element and at least one association of the dimension and measure of the determined metadata, wherein the association of the first data item dimension and measure specifies a set of data; retrieving, from a storage memory, a stored association comparable to the determined association, the stored association being related to presentation properties so as to provide stored presentation properties that (i) describe different presentations with different collections of graphical elements, and (ii) relate to an association in such a way that individual instances of associations relate to different instances of presentation properties; generating a second data report by applying the presentation properties, related to the stored association, to second data items specified by the stored association; and displaying, to the user, the second data report.