Hierarchical Information Visualizer for Chart of Accounts Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users face difficulty in navigating and analyzing voluminous financial and budgetary data presented in a chart of accounts due to its complex and hierarchical structure, making it challenging to find specific information within the data.
Innovation Solution
A user interface application generates a graphical representation of a tree structure from subtrees based on reference data, allowing users to select elements and visualize hierarchy paths, thereby simplifying the navigation and editing of complex hierarchies by transforming parent and dependent trees into a unified cohesive structure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If a chart of accounts is used to present financial data in an organized fashion, then the data structure becomes densely structured with clear hierarchies, but the user has difficulty navigating through the complex and voluminous data to reach desired information
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the complex chart of accounts hierarchy into multiple independent subtree visualizations. Each subtree represents a specific portion of the hierarchical data (e.g., a department or account category), allowing users to view and navigate individual segments separately rather than overwhelming them with the complete hierarchical structure at once. This segmentation maintains the organized structure while improving navigability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism that generates and displays hierarchy paths between selected elements. These hierarchy paths act as intermediaries that guide users through the complex data structure by showing the specific route from one element to another, effectively mediating between the user's navigation needs and the complex underlying data organization.
2Loss of information
If the complete chart of accounts is displayed to provide comprehensive financial data, then all financial information is available, but the volume of data becomes overwhelming and hard to analyze
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts specific subtrees from the complete chart of accounts and presents them as separate visualizations. By taking out only the relevant portions of the data (specific subtrees) rather than displaying the entire chart of accounts, the system maintains access to comprehensive financial information while reducing the visible data volume to manageable, focused segments that are easier to analyze.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements partial action by allowing users to view and interact with specific subtrees rather than requiring them to process the complete chart of accounts. Users can selectively examine particular portions of the financial data (partial action) without being overwhelmed by the full dataset, enabling focused analysis of relevant financial information.
3Loss of information
If a traditional chart of accounts interface is used, then all hierarchical data is accessible, but users spend excessive time sifting through extensive data sets to find specific information
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by pre-generating and displaying hierarchy paths between elements. When users select elements or need to navigate between them, the system has already prepared the hierarchical relationships and can immediately display the relevant paths, eliminating the need for users to manually sift through data to discover relationships. This preliminary preparation of hierarchical information significantly reduces information search time.
Solution Approach 2:
The hierarchy paths generated by the system act as intermediaries that directly connect and display relationships between financial data elements. Rather than requiring users to navigate through multiple levels of the chart of accounts hierarchy manually, these intermediary path visualizations provide direct visual guidance between related elements, dramatically reducing the time needed to locate and understand relationships between specific financial data.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are disclosed for generating a visualization of an organized hierarchy structure. An editor tool may receive, via a user interface displaying a graphical representation of a tree structure of a plurality of elements, a selection of an element. The tree structure is generated from a plurality of subtrees based on reference data associated with the underlying organized hierarchy structure. The editor tool identifies one or more hierarchy paths in the tree structure associated with the selected element. A visualization of the identified hierarchy paths is generated and presented via the user interface.