Patent ID: 8195698

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for defining a structured view of data in a computer system, comprising: (a) executing a relational database management system (RDBMS) that stores the data in the computer system, wherein: (i) the RDBMS is part of a framework that is configured to manage and view the data; (ii) the data comprises master data that defines and is used to model one or more definitions or views of a business entity; (iii) multiple systems define the same business entity in differing data models; and (iv) access to the master data is limited to one or more workflow data processes of the framework; (b) maintaining, as part of a process and the framework, a series of business rules and the workflow data processes to manage data, wherein the data resides in one or more RDBMS tables, and is hierarchical in nature; (c) accepting user input that defines a hierarchical structure that is projected onto the data; (d) storing the hierarchical structure as metadata in the RDBMS; and (e) utilizing the hierarchical structure to drive a hierarchy viewer, wherein the hierarchy viewer is used to graphically visualize, manage, and manipulate the data in a hierarchical manner.