Patent ID: 7543224

Claim:
A computer-executable architecture for managing and processing research data, the computer-executable architecture comprising: a computer hardware apparatus; and a computer program that, when loaded and executed, controls the computer hardware apparatus such that it carries out: receiving source data, the source data comprising one of: XML source files and non-XML source files; where the received source data comprises non-XML source files, decomposing the non-XML source files and mapping the decomposed non-XML source files on a defined taxonomy; where the received source data comprises XML source files, breaking each XML source file into a set of XML elements, wherein each XML element includes a data item and metadata that describes the data item, and wherein each XML element includes a link to a document type definition (DTD), and storing each XML element in a predefined schema, wherein each XML element is searchable via a search engine; managing a set of document templates that are used to create research documents; and managing a workflow lifecycle amongst a set of users generating a research document, including assigning and tracking tasks among the set of users.