Cross-report Collaboration via Metadata Association
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing business intelligence systems face challenges in enabling effective collaboration across multiple reports and reporting platforms, particularly in geographically dispersed organizations, where users struggle to collaborate on reports spanning different locations and applications.
Innovation Solution
A computerized method and system for managing cross-report collaboration, which generates a collaboration instance by associating data objects with metadata, allowing for the identification and provision of collaboration metadata across reporting platforms, enabling users to collaborate on reports at the sub-report level and across different reports, regardless of the reporting applications used.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a company uses multiple reporting platforms and applications for different geographic locations and business units, then the system can support diverse reporting needs and scalability, but it becomes difficult to enable collaboration across reports and platforms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal collaboration framework that works across multiple reporting platforms and applications. The collaboration instance is created at the data object level and associated through metadata, allowing the same collaboration mechanism to function regardless of which reporting platform or application is used. This enables users to collaborate on reports from different platforms (e.g., SAP BusinessObjects, Microsoft Power BI) without platform-specific limitations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a collaboration service as an intermediary layer between users and reporting platforms. This service manages collaboration instances, associates them with data objects through metadata, and handles the complexity of cross-platform collaboration. The collaboration service acts as a mediator that translates collaboration requests into platform-specific actions, simplifying the user experience while supporting multiple platforms.
2Ease of manufacture
If collaboration is implemented at the report level only, then implementation is simpler, but collaboration cannot be shared across different reports that use the same underlying data
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments collaboration functionality into two levels: collaboration instances associated with specific data objects (fine-grained level) and report-level visibility (coarse-grained level). By associating collaboration instances with underlying data objects through metadata rather than directly with reports, the system enables collaboration to be automatically shared across all reports that use the same data, eliminating redundant collaboration efforts while maintaining implementation simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a nested structure where collaboration instances are embedded at the data object level, which is then referenced by multiple reports. The collaboration metadata is nested within the data object association, and reports nest their collaboration requirements by referencing the underlying data objects. This nested approach allows a single collaboration instance to serve multiple reports without requiring separate collaboration setups for each report.
3Adaptability or versatility
If each report maintains independent collaboration settings, then each report can be customized independently, but collaboration consistency across reports using the same data is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a copying mechanism where collaboration instances associated with data objects are automatically copied or referenced across all reports that use the same data. When a collaboration is established at the data object level, the collaboration metadata is copied to all reports that reference that data object, ensuring consistency. This allows reports to be customized independently while maintaining collaborative consistency through automatic metadata propagation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the system monitors which reports use which data objects and automatically updates collaboration associations accordingly. When data objects are modified or reports are updated, the system provides feedback to maintain proper collaboration associations, ensuring that collaboration consistency is preserved across all relevant reports without requiring manual intervention.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for cross-report collaboration include receiving an identifier for a class of data underlying a first report. A collaboration associated with at least a portion of a second report is identified based on the class of data underlying the first report. Data regarding the identified collaboration is provided in conjunction with the first report to signify that at least a portion of the data underlying it is subject to the collaboration.