Hierarchical Data Versioning for Historical Query Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems face difficulties in timely updating hierarchical data structures while preserving historical information, as overwriting existing data structures to reflect changes in organizational hierarchies makes it challenging to retrieve and utilize past hierarchical data effectively.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a data structure versioning system where each version of the hierarchical organizational structure includes a validity period, allowing only one version to be active at a time, with inactive and historical copies stored for archival and querying purposes, enabling seamless transition and retrieval of historical data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the existing data structure is overwritten with new hierarchical information to reflect organizational changes, then the data structure accurately reflects the updated hierarchy, but it becomes difficult to retrieve and use past hierarchical information when querying historical data
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements versioning of hierarchical data structures, where each version represents a snapshot of the hierarchy at a specific point in time. When the hierarchy changes, a new version is created rather than overwriting the existing one, preserving all historical versions for future retrieval and analysis.
Solution Approach 2:
The hierarchical data structure is divided into multiple discrete versions, each representing a specific state of the organization at different time periods. This segmentation allows independent access to each version without affecting others, enabling both current hierarchy reflection and historical data retrieval.
2Reliability
If hierarchical data structures are updated to reflect organizational changes, then the structure remains current and accurate, but historical data becomes difficult to access and analyze
Solution Approach 1:
Each version of the hierarchical data structure is stored as a separate copy with metadata indicating its temporal context. This allows the system to maintain accurate current representation while making historical versions easily queryable through version filtering mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
Historical versions are prepared and stored in advance with associated metadata about their validity periods. This preliminary action ensures that when historical data is needed, the appropriate versions are already available for immediate retrieval and analysis without requiring complex reconstruction processes.
Data Source
AI summary
Changes to a hierarchical organizational structure may be stored in different versions of a data structure depicting the hierarchical organizational structure. Each of these versions may include a validity period field representing a time period that the hierarchical organizational structure depicted in the version accurately reflects the organizational structure of the organization. Each of the versions may also be designated as active or inactive. In some instances, each of the versions may be designated as inactive except for a version that reflects the organizational structure of the organization at a particular time, which may change over time. Historical copies of versions may be stored and subsequently recalled to identify an organizational structure that was in effect at a particular time in the past. The recalled version may then be used to limit the results of a query to a selected node of the historical organizational structure.