Patent ID: 7103607

Claim:
A method of responding to a request for data about an enterprise, the method comprising the steps of: storing a plurality of names for a single entity associated with the enterprise as a first plurality of corresponding concepts in a database of concepts and relationships among concepts, which database describes a plurality of entities associated with the enterprise, wherein each name of the plurality of names is associated with a particular concept of the first plurality of corresponding concepts; designating a first concept of the first plurality of corresponding concepts as a normative concept, wherein the normative concept is used to relate the single entity to other entities of the enterprise; storing in the database a first relationship of a first relationship type, the first relationship defined for the first concept and an alternative concept of the first plurality of corresponding concepts, wherein the first relationship includes an attribute indicating the alternative concept is one of a synonym for the first concept, an acronym for the first concept and a translation into a different language than a language of the first name corresponding to the first concept; storing in the database a second relationship of a second relationship type between the first concept and a second concept not among the first plurality of corresponding concepts, wherein the second concept is different than the first concept; receiving a request including data indicating a particular name of the plurality of names, wherein the request does not include data indicating a first name corresponding to the first concept, wherein: the particular name corresponds to a particular alternative concept of the first plurality of corresponding concepts, and the database does not include a relationship defined for the second concept and the particular alternative concept; and in response to receiving the request, sending a response including content of a file that is associated in the database with the second concept.