Patent ID: 8745040

Claim:
A method of using an application comprising: receiving, by a processor of a computing device executing a host application, a request to display a business service context for a business service, the business service being an application or device within an Information Technology (IT) environment, the application associated with the business service including an application related to an email server, file server, Help-Desk application, a customer relationship management (CRM) application, or an automation application, the business service context including a plurality of attributes associated with the business service; receiving, by a network interface of the computing device and from an at least partially virtual database, an aggregated database result regarding the business service, the at least partially virtual database including a storage portion having non-virtual fields and a cache having virtual fields associated with the plurality of attributes, the aggregated database result being an aggregation of virtual values from the virtual fields and non-virtual values from the non-virtual fields, wherein the virtual values are received and temporally stored in the cache of at the at least partially virtual database from at least one of a plurality of business applications remote from the host application to be aggregated with the non-virtual values to form the aggregated database result, the virtual values including calculated performance metrics associated with the business service; and displaying, within a context of the host business application, a graphical user interface element that displays the business service context including the virtual values and the non-virtual values of the aggregated database result associated with the plurality of attributes.