Computing and managing conflicting functional data requirements using ontologies

摘要

In one or more embodiments of the invention, functional data analysts may use a functional data authoring module to capture functional metadata in a consistent manner. Conflict reports for the business processes may be generated for a subset of the business processes or as an overall report across all business processes. One or more embodiments of the invention may provide early detection of data usage and type conflicts from functional data requirements, automated detection of conflicts from functional data requirements, reports listing detected conflicts, conflicts resolution tracking mechanism, ongoing notification regarding changes in functional data requirements or detected conflicts, and avoidance of conflicting functional requirement in the realization phase, thereby reducing costs and project risks and avoiding project delays.

主权项

1. A computer program product residing on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving a request to generate a conflict report for two or more business processes; processing a business object of one of the two or more business processes to identify at least one table; parsing the at least one table to identify at least one attribute associated with the one of the two or more business processes; identifying existing entries in an ontology for the at least one attribute of the two or more business processes by comparing the at least one attribute to the ontology associated with the two or more business processes; comparing metadata of the existing entries in the ontology and the at least one attribute to identify a conflicting data requirement between the existing entries and the at least one attribute, wherein a potential conflict is identified when the metadata between the existing entries in the ontology and the at least one attribute includes a same meaning and the data requirement between the existing entries and the at least one attribute is different, wherein a link is created between the existing entries and the at least one attribute based on, at least in part, the identified potential conflict; generating the conflict report for the two or more business processes comprising the conflicting data requirement between the existing entries and the at least one attribute; and automatically resolving the conflicting data requirement between the existing entries and the at least one attribute.