Patent ID: 8103685

Claim:
A method of tracking data processing in a storage area network, the method comprising: receiving an indication that processing the collection of data is complete; receiving, from an agent, an agent timestamp associated with a production of a collection of data; creating a history associated with the collection of data and the agent timestamp, wherein creating a history associated with the collection of data and the agent timestamp comprises: storing a plurality of timestamps in the history record within the history table, the plurality of timestamps including: the agent timestamp indicating when the agent has collected data from the resource; and at least one store timestamp created by a store process that operates separately from the agent, the at least one store timestamp indicating when that store process has completed processing of data received by the agent from the store; and normalizing the plurality of timestamps to account for time zone differences associated with the timestamps; and associating the collection of data and the agent timestamp with at least one resource referenced within the collection of data, the agent timestamp indicating a relative age of the collection of data with respect to that resource.