RESTful Engine for Historical Data in Business Intelligence Reports
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional business intelligence reports do not allow users to access historical data associated with data values, limiting the ability to track computations and modifications.
Innovation Solution
A graphical user interface connected to a server system via a RESTful engine fetches and writes historical data to a file, generating a URL that allows users to display this data, enabling tracking of historical computations and modifications across various operating systems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If conventional reports merely display data values without tracking historical data, then the report structure remains simple, but users cannot access historical data associated with data values
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a RESTful engine as an intermediary component between the business intelligence report and the historical data storage system. This engine handles the complexity of fetching, processing, and presenting historical data, allowing the core report system to remain relatively simple while enabling comprehensive historical data access through standardized API calls and data processing operations
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the historical data retrieval function into a separate RESTful service layer that operates independently from the main report generation logic. This segmentation allows historical data to be fetched, processed, and displayed without complicating the core report structure, as each component has a specific, well-defined responsibility
2Adaptability or versatility
If historical data is fetched and displayed through a RESTful engine, then cross-platform compatibility is improved, but the system architecture becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The RESTful engine implements universal interfaces that can serve multiple operating systems (Windows, Mac OS, iOS, Android) through standardized protocols. The same engine handles data retrieval requests from different platforms, providing cross-platform compatibility without requiring platform-specific implementations, thereby managing complexity through standardization
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex platform-specific data communication mechanisms with standardized RESTful web services that use universal protocols (HTTP, JSON). This substitution eliminates the need for platform-specific integration code, reducing architectural complexity while achieving broad cross-platform compatibility
3Productivity
If historical data is written to a file and accessed via URL, then data retrieval efficiency is improved, but the interface complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The RESTful engine automatically handles the entire data retrieval process including fetching historical data, writing it to files, generating URLs, and presenting it to users. This self-service mechanism eliminates manual data extraction and processing steps, improving retrieval efficiency while the automated URL generation and file handling keep the user interface simple
Data Source
AI summary
The current subject matter describes displaying historical data associated with one or more data values within a business intelligence report. A graphical user interface executed by a computing device can receive, from a user, a request for display of historical data associated with a specified/selected data value in a business intelligence report. Subsequently, a representational state transfer engine (RESTful engine), which can be connected to a server system connected to the computing device, can execute a representational state transfer service (RESTful service) to fetch historical data from current and past instances associated with the data value. Then, the RESTful engine can write the fetched historical data to a file. The RESTful engine can generate or determine a uniform resource locator (URL) to the file, and can send the URL to the computing device. When the URL is selected by the user, the computing device can display the file.