Supplemental System for Visual Identification of BI Artifact Differences
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Solution Overview
Problem
Business intelligence systems face challenges in efficiently identifying meaningful differences between Business Intelligence Artifacts and their outputs, leading to user overwhelm and potential missed changes, especially during software upgrades or comparisons across different environments.
Innovation Solution
A supplemental system instruments Business Intelligence Artifact specifications with exclude markers to render immaterial differences unobtrusively, allowing for targeted comparisons that highlight only meaningful differences, facilitating user satisfaction and confidence in identifying and addressing significant changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If all differences between Business Intelligence Artifacts are displayed to users, then complete information is provided, but users become overwhelmed and may miss meaningful changes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments differences into two distinct categories: meaningful differences (highlighted with visual indicators) and immaterial differences (suppressed or minimized). This segmentation allows the system to present only relevant information to users while maintaining complete difference detection capability, thereby resolving the contradiction between information completeness and user usability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different visual qualities to different types of differences: meaningful differences receive prominent visual treatment (highlighting, coloring, or other visual indicators) while immaterial differences receive minimal or no visual treatment. This local differentiation enables users to quickly identify important changes without being overwhelmed by minor variations
2Measurement precision
If visual highlighting is applied to all differences, then all changes are visible, but the visual noise overwhelms users and reduces focus on important changes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies visual highlighting selectively rather than uniformly: only meaningful differences receive visual emphasis while immaterial differences are suppressed or rendered with minimal visual impact. This selective application eliminates visual noise while preserving accurate detection of all differences, resolving the contradiction between detection accuracy and visual clarity
3Measurement precision
If detailed comparison of all Business Intelligence Artifact outputs is performed, then comprehensive analysis is achieved, but the review process becomes time-consuming and complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the comparison process into two stages: comprehensive difference detection (performed automatically on all outputs) and selective presentation (showing only meaningful differences to users). This segmentation maintains thorough analysis accuracy while dramatically reducing the time users spend reviewing results by filtering out immaterial differences
4Adaptability or versatility
If Business Intelligence Software is upgraded to a different version, then new features and improvements are gained, but unintended and detrimental effects on Business Intelligence Outputs may occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary comparison analysis before and after software upgrades by generating Business Intelligence Artifact outputs from both versions and automatically comparing them. This preliminary action identifies meaningful differences that may indicate unintended effects, allowing stakeholders to assess upgrade impacts before full deployment, thereby maintaining both version flexibility and output reliability
Data Source
AI summary
In various implementations, a supplemental system may be provided. The supplemental system may be coupled to business intelligence environment(s) to facilitate visual identification of meaningful differences. In some implementations, expressions to exclude may be identified and specifications associated with BI Artifacts may be instrumented based on the expressions to exclude. Enhanced Business Intelligence Artifact Outputs may be generated to visually identify differences between BI Artifact Outputs that are not associated with expressions to exclude.