Patent ID: 7606828

Claim:
A database system embodied in computer-readable storage media, the database system comprising: a database, wherein the database is a multidimensional database; a plurality of application tools, each of the tools being configured to access data objects from the database, the tools comprising: a business reporting tool which performs online analytical processing business reporting operations based on one or more data objects accessed from a data buffer, the business reporting tool configured to view the one or more data objects and to not make changes to the one or more data objects, and a business planning tool, integrated with the reporting tool, which performs online analytical processing business planning operations based on the one or more data objects accessed from the data buffer, the business planning tool configured to view the one or more data objects and to change the one or more data objects; the data buffer configured to store a copy of the one or more data objects accessed from the database; and a delta buffer configured to store a delta record, wherein the delta record characterizes a difference between the one or more data objects and a modified version of the one or more data objects, the modified version being a result of a change made by the business planning tool to the data objects accessed from the database, the data objects buffered in the data buffer having a logical key corresponding to the database of the data objects, a description of an aggregation level described by characteristics and key figures from which aggregates of the data object may be constructed, and a description of a selection condition representing a slice of the multidimensional database, the business reporting tool and the business planning tool requesting data from the data buffer having a specified aggregation level and a specified selection condition, the delta buffer and the data buffer providing an integrated view to the business reporting tool and the business planning tool.