Patent ID: 7529762

Claim:
A method for managing data comprising: executing an established workflow process, said workflow process being defined by at least one sequence of workflow actions, said workflow actions being determined at various nodes; forming a workflow data warehouse (WDW) that monitors executions of said workflow process and systematically stores workflow data generated during said executions of said workflow process, including categorizing said workflow data as process data and as node data and further including storing said process data in a first data structure different than a second data structure for storage of said node data, said process data being data generated during said executions and relevant to each said node of said sequence of workflow actions within said workflow process, said node data being data generated during said executions and related to individual said nodes within said workflow process, wherein said first and second data structures are both base data structures in a relational schema of data structures within said WDW, such that said first and second data structures are co-base level data structures in said relational schema; defining a star schema in which said first data structure is a generic process data structure and said second data structure is a generic node data structure to define two separate base data structures; identifying generic process data as portions of said process data that are common in various models of workflow processing, such that said generic process data are generally model-independent; storing said generic process data in said generic process data structure only upon completions of said sequence of workflow actions to which said generic process data is relevant; identifying generic node data as portions of said node data that are common to various types of said nodes, such that said generic node data are generally node-type independent; and storing said generic node data in said generic node data structure.