Patent ID: 8161374

Claim:
A method for providing multi-dimensional data analysis, the method comprising: defining a plurality of data options, wherein the plurality of data options are associated with a plurality of rows of a data grid; defining a plurality of structure options, wherein the plurality of structure options are associated with a plurality of columns of the data grid; receiving a data value for each intersection of the plurality of data option rows and structure option columns; mapping each received data value to a common scoring scale; sorting the plurality of rows according to a first weighting criterion; sorting the plurality of columns according to a second weighting criterion; displaying the sorted plurality of rows and the sorted plurality of columns as a butterfly diagram, wherein being operative to display the sorted plurality of rows and the sorted plurality of columns as a butterfly diagram comprises: displaying a data value associated with an intersection of a highest value of the first weighting criterion and the second weighting criterion in an upper left cell of the data grid, displaying data values associated with intersections of descending values of the first weighting criteria and the second weighting criteria down and to the right such that an intersection of the lowest value of the first weighting criterion and the second weighting criterion is displayed in a lower right cell of the data grid, displaying a first histogram to the right of the data grid, wherein the first histogram comprises a mapping of the first weighting criterion to the sorted plurality of rows, and displaying a second histogram below the data grid, wherein the second histogram comprises a mapping of the second weighting criterion to the sorted plurality of columns; and applying a formatting associated with the common scoring scale to each cell of the data grid, wherein the formatting comprises at least one of the following: a text format, a font, a highlight, a text color, a background color, an additional text element, and an animation.