Methods and systems for accessing data

Abstract

Some embodiments of the invention provide a user interface that allows a user to specify one or more attributes that should be included in a master reference data set, and identify which of these attributes should serve as enterprise specified identifiers that can be used to identify the particular master reference data set in an enterprise data storage. Some embodiments of the invention provide a method that allows the master reference data set to be accessed and updated in the data storage through the use of the enterprise specified identifiers.

1 . For an enterprise, a method of maintaining a master data set that includes a plurality of attributes, said method comprising:
 a) from a user, receiving identification of at least one attribute of said master reference data set, said master reference data set representing the most reliable reference data set for an entity that is maintained by the enterprise;   b) designating each identified attribute as a key for accessing the master reference data set for the entity.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least two different attributes of said master reference data set are designated as keys for accessing the master reference data set. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one designated attribute is a business identifier for the entity, wherein said business identifier for the entity is an identifier that is stored in a plurality of different data storages and can uniquely identify a single reference data set for the entity in each of the data storages. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising providing access to said master reference data set using each designated identifier. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  further comprising providing access to the master reference data set using a default access key, wherein said default access key is an internally generated key and the designated identifier is not an internally generated key. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising providing access to relationship data sets for the entity using each designated identifier, said relationship data sets providing a composite view of the entity's relationship to other entities in the enterprise. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising providing access to transactional data sets for the entity using each designated identifier. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein said master reference data set is stored in a first data storage, and the transactional data sets are stored in another data storage in the enterprise that is apart from the first data storage. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising providing access to the master reference data set through a previously stored value that is not the current value stored for the entity. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising enabling cross-reference correlation for updating reference data sets in different data storages in response to an update to the master reference data set. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising providing a user interface (“UI”) for displaying the attributes of the master reference data set and receiving selection of the attributes to be designated as keys for accessing the master reference data set. 
     
     
         12 . A graphical user interface (“GUI”) comprising:
 a) a display area for displaying attributes of a reference data set, wherein said reference data set represents a master reference data set for an entity that is based on several different reference data sets for the entity in an enterprise; 
 b) at least one widget for designating a set of attributes of the mater reference data set as a set of keys for accessing the reference data set. 
 
     
     
         13 . The GUI of  claim 12  further comprising at least one widget for specifying attributes that should be included in the reference data set. 
     
     
         14 . A method comprising:
 a) from an application, receiving a request to access a master reference data set for an entity, said request comprising at least one data value, wherein said master reference data set is based on at least two reference data sets maintained for the entity in an enterprise;   b) identifying a data value in the request as an attribute designated as a key for accessing the master reference data set;   c) providing access to the master reference data set using the identified data value in the request.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein providing the access comprises identifying a previous data value associated with the data value to locate the master reference data set. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14  further comprising updating the master reference data set using at least one other data value in the request. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein said master reference data set is stored in a first data storage, the method further comprising updating the reference data set in a second data storage that is apart from the first data storage in response to the update to the master reference data set. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14  further comprising providing access to transactional data sets for the entity, wherein providing the access to the transactional data sets comprises sending a distributed query across a set of data storages to locate the transactional data sets. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 14  further comprising providing access to relationship data sets for the entity, said relationship data sets providing a composite view of the entity's relationship to other entities in the enterprise. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the identifying comprises identifying data value as the key from a plurality of other keys that are designated as the keys for accessing the master reference data set.