Patent ID: 7752169

Claim:
A method for managing information about backups of first and second computers having first and second respective different backup programs that compile and report the information in first and second respective, different formats defining different relative locations in the first and second reports for same types of items of the information, the method comprising the steps of: a third computer receiving in a first report in the first format first information about a backup of the first computer, the first information in the first format specifying (a) in a first location of the first report a quantity of files attempted to be backed up from the first computer, (b) in a second location of the first report a quantity of the files actually backed up from the first computer, (c) in a third location of the first report a code for an error in the backup of the first computer, and (d) in a fourth location in the first report whether the backup of the first computer was incremental or full; the third computer receiving in a second report in the second format second information about a backup of the second computer, the second information in the second format specifying (a) in a fifth location of the second report a quantity of files attempted to be backed up from the second computer, (b) in a sixth location of the second report a quantity of the files actually backed up from the second computer, (c) in a seventh location of the second report a code for an error in the backup of the second computer, and (d) in an eighth location in the second report whether the backup of the second computer was incremental or full, wherein the first, second, third and fourth locations in the first report differ relatively from the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth locations, respectively, in the second report; the third computer re-formatting one or both of the first and second reports such that (a) relative report locations are substantially the same for the specifications of the respective quantities of files attempted to be backed up from the first and second computers, (b) relative report locations are substantially the same for the specifications of the respective quantities of the files actually backed up from the first and second computers, (c) relative report locations are substantially the same for the specifications of the respective codes for errors in the backup of the first and second computers, and (d) relative report locations are substantially the same for the specifications of whether the respective backups of the first and second computers were incremental or full; and the third computer generating a re-formatted report, based on the re-formatting step, for each of the one or both of the first reports which the third computer re-formatted.