Model Driven Reporting Automation for BI Tool Independence
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current Business Intelligence (BI) reporting tools require manual creation and maintenance of reports across multiple BI tools, leading to latency issues and breakage when data source changes occur, due to the lack of automated communication between end-users and report developers, and the need for manual propagation of changes.
Innovation Solution
An automated BI Tool-independent modeling approach is introduced, where reports are specified in a generic fashion using declarative models, separating presentation and computation aspects, allowing for automatic code generation and execution across various BI tools, enabling change impact analysis and cross-query lineage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If manual report creation and maintenance is used, then report accuracy can be controlled by skilled professionals, but latency increases and productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service reporting where end-users can directly author reports using a visual interface without requiring skilled report developers. The declarative model allows users to define reports with parameters, filters, and visualizations that are automatically translated into executable queries, eliminating the need for manual translation by professionals while maintaining report accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical process of manual report creation and maintenance with an automated system. The declarative model serves as a bridge between user requirements and system execution, automatically translating high-level specifications into database queries and visualizations, thus substituting manual mechanical work with automated computational processes.
2Loss of information
If manual communication between end-users and report developers is used, then report requirements can be accurately translated, but latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The declarative model acts as an intermediary between end-users and the reporting system. Users interact with the system through a simplified visual interface that translates their requirements into an intermediate declarative representation, which is then automatically converted into executable queries. This intermediary layer eliminates direct communication needs while maintaining accurate requirement translation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary translation of user requirements into the declarative model format automatically, before the actual report generation. This preliminary action occurs instantaneously when users define their report parameters, eliminating the need for subsequent manual translation and reducing overall latency.
3Reliability
If manual propagation of changes is used, then data model changes can be carefully managed, but latency increases and adaptability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements automated feedback mechanisms that detect changes in the data model or data sources and automatically propagate these changes to affected reports. When changes occur, the system identifies impacted reports through the declarative model's explicit dependencies and automatically updates them, providing continuous feedback without manual intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The declarative model performs preliminary mapping of data relationships and dependencies before changes occur. This pre-established knowledge of data provenance and report dependencies enables the system to automatically identify and propagate changes to the correct reports, preparing the system in advance for change propagation without manual analysis.
4Ease of manufacture
If BI tool-specific report creation is used, then tool-specific features can be fully utilized, but versatility across multiple tools decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal declarative model that serves as a common language across multiple BI tools. Reports authored in this tool-independent format can be automatically translated to various BI tools (Tableau, Power BI, Qlik, etc.), allowing a single report definition to function across multiple different tools without requiring separate creation for each tool.
Solution Approach 2:
The declarative model functions as an intermediary layer between report authoring and BI tool execution. Users author reports once in the universal declarative format, and the system automatically translates this intermediate representation into the specific syntax and format required by each target BI tool, enabling versatility without sacrificing tool-specific feature utilization.
Data Source
AI summary
Approaches for a model-driven tool-agnostic reporting approach are provided. In one example, a report request is received from a business intelligence reporting application, from which a graphical template and query template are created, wherein the graphical template comprises the visual presentation of data responsive to the request and the query template specifies how the data responsive to the request is to be computed. The report created by the approaches described herein is compatible with multiple business intelligence reporting applications.