Patent ID: 7185016

Claim:
A computer system comprising a metadata model transformer for transforming a metadata model that represents one or more data sources having physical data, the transformer comprising: one or more data access model transformations for refining description of the physical data in the data source expressed by data access model objects in a metadata model having a data access layer containing the data access model objects having a lower degree of abstraction, a business layer containing business model objects having a higher degree of abstraction compared to the data access model objects, and a package layer containing package model objects; one or more data access to business model transformations for constructing business model objects in the business layer based on the data access model objects in the data access layer by adding business rules for representing business concepts; one or more business model transformations for refining the business rules expressed by the business model objects; and one or more business to package model transformations for constructing package model objects in the package layer based on the business model objects in the business layer, whereby the package model objects provide a representation of the business concepts wherein the metadata model is stored in a storage device.