Patent ID: 7577634

Claim:
A computer implemented knowledge-based system for providing advisories to a user on the operation of a business, the system comprising: a database of inference rules relevant to the business; a source of input data about the business operations; an output for rendering advisories for the user; and a processor programmed to: analyze predicates of the inference rules to identify data to be processed and operations to be performed prior to applying the inference rules; process the input data to calculate a plurality of aggregate values based on the analysis of the predicates, wherein the aggregate values are derived from the input data and characterize the input data; process the aggregate values to calculate a plurality of key indicators based on the analysis of the predicates, wherein the key indicators are derived from the aggregate values and the key indicators represent a relationship between different aggregate values; apply the inference rules to the aggregate values and key indicators to generate the advisories; and to output at least some of the advisories on the operation of the business to the user.