Patent ID: 8407118

Claim:
A method for generating an economic indicator comprising: obtaining first financial data, by a processor, from a first data source, wherein the first data source comprises a first business application executing on a first system, and wherein the first financial data comprises data about a business investment, a first employee productivity measurement before the business investment, and a first employee productivity measurement after the business investment; storing the first financial data on a computer readable storage device; obtaining second financial data, by the processor, from a second data source, wherein the second data source comprises a second business application executing on a second system, and wherein the second financial data comprises data about the business investment, a second employee productivity measurement before the business investment, and a second employee productivity measurement after the business investment; storing the second financial data on the computer readable storage device; aggregating, by the processor, the first financial data and the second financial data to obtain aggregated financial data, wherein aggregating the first financial data and the second financial data comprises: aggregating the first employee productivity measurement before the business investment and the second employee productivity measurement before the business investment to obtain an aggregated employee productivity measurement before the business investment, and aggregating the first employee productivity measurement after the business investment and the second employee productivity measurement after the business investment to obtain an aggregated employee productivity measurement after the business investment; receiving, from a third business application executing on a third system, a request for an economic indicator regarding potential employee productivity and the business investment; generating, by the processor, the economic indicator using aggregated financial data by comparing the aggregated employee productivity measurement before the business investment and the aggregated employee productivity measurement after the business investment to determine a productivity return on the business investment, wherein the business investment comprises an investment in tangible business assets; and making the economic indicator accessible to the third business application.