FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT  1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENT RULES  2003

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(See Section 10 and Rule 13)

Title of invention:

AUTOMATED SYSTEM AND METHOD OF DATA SCRUBBING

Applicant
TATA Consultancy Services Limited
A company Incorporated in India under The Companies Act  1956
Having address:
Nirmal Building  9th Floor 
Nariman Point  Mumbai 400021 
Maharashtra  India

The following specification particularly describes the invention  and the manner in which it is to be performed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to data processing and management processes and  more particularly  to an autonomic system and method of performing data cleansing and scrubbing at the field level and presenting the consolidated view thereof on a single screen.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In a typical Corporate Action Announcement process  multiple messages are usually procured from numerous sources that may even involve the message interpretation and translation by several intermediaries. This most often brings about inconsistency and inaccuracy in the information gathered. Further  the currently available methodologies provide source level precedence for the incoming messages  which restricts the entities from choosing the best data available in the market for any event type  particularly in cases where there is reliability of the information provided varies from source to source. Since multiple heterogeneous sources extract and transmit the messages ostensibly relating to same data element  there have been observed much discrepancy in the field/attribute level information of theoretically the same data.

There has been no robust solution that can automate the process by configuring it to choose one attribute from one source (e.g. Record Date) and another attribute from a different source (e.g. Rate of Interest) for the same announcement. This makes the entity handling heavy messages to rely upon a single best source for data acquisition. Additionally user of the entity is also restricted to decide if there is any potentially conflicting information available in the market. This raise the concern of standardized information obtainment involving best market practices  the said standardization involving scrubbing of data at the field or attribute level.

Furthermore  there is no single point view of data or narratives involving all unformatted and unstructured text that is gathered from numerous sources as well as the data/narratives that gets promoted to the Golden Copy. This makes it difficult for the user to have a consolidated and uniform view of the data/narratives provided from different sources including registrars  depositories  exchanges or data vendors and final data/narrative to be present in the Golden Copy. Also  amidst absence of any standardized message processing system it becomes difficult to even identify the best data that can be promoted to the Golden Copy. There does exists a missing usability for the users to manage the narratives from a single point as the user is refrained from the complete view of the data/narrative received from various sources and present in the Golden Copy. The current environment also does not avail any process that can identify the presence of narrative and identify the difference in narratives provided from replacement messages.

In the light of foregoing  there exists a need for a method of reconciling and cleansing or scrubbing data obtained from various heterogeneous sources at the field level to produce a single authoritative Golden Copy of a Corporate Event. There has further arisen a need to provide a system that is capable of presenting a consolidated view of data/narratives received from various sources and the one that shall be present in the Golden Copy for enhanced analysis and better management.

OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION

The principle object of the present invention is to provide an automated system and a method enabling field level scrubbing of data obtained from multiple heterogeneous sources for improved message processing in a corporate action announcement.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a system capable of providing single screen view of data/narratives received from multiple sources and data/narratives promoted to the single authoritative Golden Copy for better manageability of corporate action processes.

Another significant object of the invention is to provide a system enabling usability of the users to manage the narratives from a single consolidated screen view.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a system and method that allows an entity to select one attribute from one source and another attribute from other heterogeneous source for updating Golden Copy with most accurate and consistent data.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a centralized and consolidated corporate action market data processing system and method.

Other object of the present invention is to provide a system that is empowered to rank the source for their trustworthiness thereby enhancing the probability of consolidating more credible information.

In other object of the invention  real time comparison between the data retrieved from multiple sources can be made.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Before the present methods  systems  and hardware enablement are described  it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the particular systems  and methodologies described  as there can be multiple possible embodiments of the present invention which are not expressly illustrated in the present disclosures. It is also to be understood that the terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing particular versions or embodiments only  and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention which will be limited only by the appended claims.

The present invention envisages a system and method for performing field level scrubbing of data obtained from multiple heterogeneous sources and providing a consolidated view of data or narratives obtained from the said sources and those to be present in the Golden Copy in a single Graphical User Interface.

An embodiment contemplates a method for performing data scrubbing at attribute level  where the method comprises of the following steps: receiving data containing at least one significant or non significant attribute and associated values from distributed data sources wherein the sources are assigned weight against each of the attribute value. Thereafter applying configured ranking matrix process which further comprises of the following steps: for the sources which refer to different values for the same attribute  a combined weight is computed. Next  if the combined weight of the significant attribute exceeds a predetermined promotion threshold value  determine if the said weight also exceeds a predetermined confirmation threshold value. Similarly  for the combined weight of the non significant attribute is compared against the promotion threshold  and if the combined weight exceeds the promotional threshold value  the non significant attribute is promoted to a final templated copy. However  for the combined weight less than either of the promotion and confirmation threshold value  a total weight of all the values for the attribute is computed to determine if the total weight exceeds a predetermined task threshold. If the total weight exceeds a work item is raised whereby a user creates a manual source and reapply the ranking matrix process. Next the attributes are promoted to the final templated copy whenever same attribute value are retrieved from the distributed sources or the combined weight exceeds the confirmation threshold score or the total weight exceeds the task threshold  said templated copy containing the scrubbed data being displayed to the user in a graphical user interface.

An embodiment contemplates a system for performing data scrubbing  comprising of:
an input interface configured to receive data containing at least one significant or non significant attribute and associated values from distributed data sources for an event;
a processor  at least one memory configured to store program instructions executable by the processor to apply configured ranking matrix process for determining the attribute values to be promoted to final templated copy based upon a combination of predefined ranking attribute rule and source weighting rule; and
a graphical user interface displaying the final templated copy along with the data received from the distributed sources  the graphical interface including a summary section to display key attributes of the event and a main section to display source headings  attribute headings  final templated copy and incoming data  and a toolbar section adapted to perform plurality of icon-based operations responsive to the summary and main section.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing summary  as well as the following detailed description of preferred embodiments  are better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings  wherein like elements are given like reference numerals. For the purpose of illustrating the invention  there is shown in the drawings example constructions of the invention; however  the invention is not limited to the specific methods and system disclosed. In the drawings:

Figure 1 depicts a block form diagram of an exemplary data scrubbing system in which aspects of the illustrative embodiments may be implemented.

Figure 2 (a) and (b) is a flow diagram illustrating the high level view of performing data scrubbing operation in accordance with one of the disclosed embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 3 (a) and (b) is a screenshot presentation of ranking attribute rule in accordance with one of the disclosed embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 4(a) and (b) is a screenshot presentation of source weighing rule in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 5 is a screenshot providing sample visual presentation of final ranking matrix rule on a single view only screen.

Figure 6a  6b  6c illustrate a flow diagram representing the sequence of steps followed in a ranking matrix application process  according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 7 (a)  (b)  (c)  (d)  (e) (f) and (g) describe a single authorization process flow diagram in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Figures 8 (a)  (b) and (c) provide sample visual presentation of different sections of Event Preview Screen in accordance with one disclosed embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 9 is a screenshot displaying ranking matrix attributes rule details in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 10 is a screenshot displaying attribute level details and the weights assigned to sources in accordance with exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 11 is a screenshot displaying the results obtained on applying ranking matrix rule on one source data in accordance with one illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 12 is a screenshot displaying the results obtained on applying ranking matrix rule on other source data in accordance with one illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 13 is a screenshot displaying the results obtained on applying ranking matrix rule on manual source data in accordance with one illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Some embodiments of this invention  illustrating all its features  will now be discussed in detail.
The words "comprising " "having " "containing " and "including " and other forms thereof  are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items  or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items.

It must also be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims  the singular forms "a " "an " and "the" include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Although any systems and methods similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of embodiments of the present invention  the preferred systems and methods are now described.

The disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention  which may be embodied in various forms. Software programming code  which embodies aspects of the present invention  is typically maintained in a permanent storage such as a computer readable medium. The software programming code may be embodied on any of a variety of known media for use with a data processing system. This includes  but is not limited to  magnetic and optical storage devices such as disk drives  magnetic tape  compact discs (CD""s)  digital video discs (DVD""s)  and computer instruction signals embodied in a transmission medium with or without a carrier wave upon which the signals are modulated. Further  a computerized method refers to a method whose steps are performed by a computing system containing a suitable combination of one or more processors  memory means and storage means.

The illustrative embodiments are described below with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods and systems according to the illustrative embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams  and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams  can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer  special purpose computer  or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine  such that the instructions  which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus  create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable medium that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner  such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

DEFINITIONS:
a) Attribute: Elements of message signified by the key words. e.g. "Interest Rate"  "Period of Interest Calculation"  "Payment Date" etc.
b) Cleansing and Scrubbing: Process to identify best and most reliable data available from various information sources.
c) EPS: Event Preview Screen.
d) Conflict: Potential difference in information provided by the trusted sources where user confirmation is required. This word is also use to signify the absence of Mandatory information from reliable source.
e) Golden Copy: Final message comprising the best reliable data available from various information sources.
f) GUI: Graphic user Interface.
g) Narrative: unformatted text received / added in the message.
h) Ranking: Weight assigned to the source for a specific attribute.
i) Source: Data Source (Market entities) which provide necessary information to the Business entity in concern.

Broadly  the present invention contemplates an automated system and a method enabling field level scrubbing of data obtained from disparately located heterogeneous set of multiple sources. The present invention further provides a consolidated view of data or narratives that are obtained from various sources as well as the data or narratives present in the Golden Copy on a single user interface. The field level data scrubbing system and method  in accordance with one embodiment  enables the user to decide the ranking of data that should be assigned per attribute received from various sources. In yet another embodiment  the present system and the method empowers the user to decide the ranking based on his heuristics with regard to the reliability of the source to provide correct information. According to configured ranking  the cleansing and scrubbing of the attributes is performed and it is decided whether the attribute will be accepted to be part of Golden Copy or not.

One embodiment of the present invention provides a data cleansing and scrubbing system that is suitable for  but not limited to  applications in corporate action announcements. One embodiment of the present invention  apart from data cleansing and scrubbing at the attribute level  provides a user interfacing screen  hereforth referred as Event Preview Screen that provides a consolidated tabular view of data/narratives received from various sources and the data/narratives present in the golden copy in a tabular form.

In one other embodiment of the present invention  the Event Preview Screen of the present invention enables the user to decide for the best data to be present in the Golden Copy in case of conflicts between data provided from various sources. In other alternate embodiment  the invention enables narrative management through addition or editing of narratives in the Golden Copy and allows the user to promote or demote attributes from/to the final golden copy. The other enabling feature highlights the difference(s) in the narratives provided in the replacement messages. Also all the erroneous attributes along with the changed attributes gets highlighted.

In one of the other embodiment of the present invention  the Event preview Screen provides flexibility to perform various operations like  but not limited to  modifying the existing source  creation of new source  creating duplicate of existing source  viewing of raw message of incoming message and Golden Copy  Audit Viewing  attribute level and option level conflict resolution  addition of new standard text narratives directly into the Golden Copy etc from a single point.

Figure 1 depicts the schematic block diagram of the data scrubbing system  according to an embodiment of the invention. Broadly  the system 100 includes three major components  namely an input interface 101  a processor unit 102 and a display interface 103. The input interface is adapted to receive feeds or data from all disparately located heterogeneous data sources. The processor unit 102 comprises of an executing engine which performs the attribute level cleansing and scrubbing of data by applying ranking matrix rule process and provides decision making and control operations. The processor unit 102 further comprises of a database that maintains a set of predefined rules  vis a vis event mapping rule  vendor priority rule  Golden Copy match rule  completeness and confirmation rule and constraint rule  ranking matrix rule and historical data. The attributes processed by the executing engine and qualifying the ranking matrix process gets promoted to the Golden Copy. The final copy is displayed by a display interface 103  also referred to as the Event Preview Screen.

Now turning briefly to Figure 2 (a) and (b)  there is shown a technical flow diagram of performing the data scrubbing operation. As seen and derived  the corporate announcements are captured from various sources like custodians  vendors or manual entries by the input interface 101. This is followed by vendor/data provider mapping  event mapping and security mapping in response to a security request. It is followed by a cleansing mechanism whereby the duplicate entries for an announcement are dropped. A Heldness check is also performed to ensure that relevant entries are allowed and following this a trigger rule is processed. Next  a narrative matching process is initiated which checks if the incoming data for an announcement is same or not. Eventually a Golden Copy template is created based on the content of received incoming. In case the system reports an error  a repair activity is performed. Upon the rectification of error the attribute follows the destined Straight through Processing (STP) Path  else the announcement is either dropped completely or is modified  as the need be.

Figure 2(b) shows the application of ranking matrix rule after matching of the narrative process is performed. Upon finding an exact match  the ranking matrix rule is applied. As mentioned  the preferred embodiment of the present invention employs ranking matrix rule  which in further is a combination of ranking attribute rule and source weighting rule. This rule based on its set up performs the cleansing and scrubbing of the data received from various sources and finalizes the data to be present in the Golden Copy.

In one aspect of the invention the ranking attribute rule of the invention enables the user to introduce a set of well defined expressions. In particular  it enables the user to define the list of attributes that should be present in a Golden Copy per event  market  depository and security type. In another aspect of the invention  the user is enabled to define the significance (mandatory/optional/mandatory to send/view only) for each of the attributes that should be present in the Golden Copy. The significance of the attribute decides completeness of the Golden Copy. In one other aspect of the invention the user defines the promotion and confirmation threshold at event level. Also  the user defines the tolerance per attribute that should be taken into account while comparing the data received from various sources. Figure 3 (a) and (b) provides sample visual presentation of the stated information regarding Ranking attribute rule.

Next  the features of other component of the ranking matrix rule i.e. Source weighting rule are defined. In an embodiment of the present invention  the source weighting rule is destined to be created at the source level. This rule is a child to ranking matrix rule. It enables the user to define the weights for each attribute obtained from each source. This weight is then used for calculation of composite weight of the most reliable value. This composite weight is compared with the promotion and confirmation threshold to decide whether the attribute can be promoted to Golden Copy or not and if it is confirmed or not. Figure 4(a) and (b) provides sample visual presentation of the stated information regarding source weighing rule. Also  Figure 5 represents the final ranking matrix rule as viewed on a single screen.

Referring to Figure 6  flow diagram of ranking matrix process is applied on the data fetched from multiple sources. The process initiates with the user creating a manual announcement and thereon releasing it. As discussed above  a drop and duplicate process is executed upon the processing unit 102  followed by a narrative matching process and a check for completeness. Also  before applying the ranking matrix process  a check on the ranking attribute rules  if defined  is checked. If the rules are found to be explicitly defined  a check is made if multiple announcements from the same source and same timestamp are received. However  if the rules are not defined or in case of multiple announcements from the same source and same timestamp  a work item for user for a manual action is raised.

If a single announcement is received from the same source  logic to decide for the promotion and confirmation of the associated attribute value to the Golden Copy is based upon predefined ranking attribute rule of the ranking matrix process. For each attribute  groups are formed by adding the weights of the all the sources providing the same value. Here no. of groups formed will be equal to the no. of different values provided by different sources and each group will have the weight equal to the sum of weight from each source providing the value present in the group.

For sources providing different attribute values  a combined weight is computed by subtracting the weight of second highest group from the weight first highest group. If the combined weight of the attributes is higher than the predetermined promotion threshold value  as defined in the ranking attributes rule  then the attribute value is selected from the highest group weight and gets promoted to the Golden Copy. However  if the significance level of the attribute value is mandatory or mandatory to send  the combined weight is compared against the confirmation threshold and only if the combined weight is greater than or equal to confirmation threshold  the value in the Golden Copy is marked confirmed. However if the combined weight is less than the promotion threshold then total weight is calculated which is sum of weight of attribute from each source. If total weight is greater than or equal to task level (one of the criteria defined in the ranking matrix rule) then conflict is raised for that attribute and decision is left for the user to decide which value should be present in the Golden Copy. However  if the combined weight for the attribute is less than the confirmation threshold and significance level of the attribute value is mandatory or mandatory to send  the attribute status is changed from “Confirmed” to “Unconfirmed” and the work item for manual action is raised.

Turning briefly to Figure 7 (a)  (b)  (c)  (d)  (e) (f) and (g)  shows a single authorization process flow diagram. As shown  the user creates an announcement and releases it. Now  the announcement proceeds to a preliminary check for duplicates  heldness and narrative matching before being processed by ranking matrix batch process. Now  the Golden Copy is checked for any conflict  missing narratives and if it is in line with the predetermined business rules. If any error occurs  the Golden Copy is assigned a status of “Draft” while the manual announcement status is set as “Pending Authorization”. Accordingly a work item is raised for the user to intervene. If the user is able to successfully resolve the errors  the status of Golden Copy gets changed to “To be authorized” while the manual announcement status is again “Pending Authorization”. The Authorizer checks for errors resolved by the user in the Golden Copy for conflicts  missing narratives and exception of announcement to business rule. If the changes are confirmed by the authorizer  the status of Golden Copy gets changed to “under processing” while the manual announcement status is changed to “processed”. However  if the authorizer rejects the authorization  the statuses get accordingly changed and the user shall make the requisite improvements by way of modification or addition of narratives  if found missing and resolving the conflict on his own self.

In other scenario  if the Golden Copy is not reported of any conflict or of any missing narrative and is ready to be published  whereby an assessment is made if the announcement was made by a power user. If yes and the Golden Copy was not in draft stage or authorization rejected or to be authorized stage  it gets published and its status gets changed to either “/Sent”. However  if the user is a normal user  again the Golden Copy proceeds for authorization wherein the authorizer intervenes to resolve the issue  as explained above.

Another aspect of the invention provides a mechanism for providing a consolidated view of data/ narratives received from various sources and the data/narratives present in the golden copy in a table based interface  referred to as an Event Preview Screen. The interface enhances the readability of the data which gets displayed in the SWIFT format sequence. Further  each of the sequences/options or sub options are displayed with proper header. The display interface allows the user to select data from multiple sources in case of any conflict. The user is further empowered to add the standard narrative text  edit the narratives directly into the Golden Copy and/or promote the best narratives received from various sources into the Golden Copy. In one alternate embodiment  the interface displays the narratives of the replaced messages and highlights the differences between current and previous narratives in case of change between the replaced and replacement messages.

The other enabling feature of the Event Preview Screen highlights the changes in attributes/narratives for easy authorization decision. All the erroneous attributes  referring to those which fail to comply with predefined business validation for the event  also gets highlighted and furthermore  the description for the error so caused also gets displayed. In a preferred embodiment  the Event Preview Screen makes it possible to perform various operations (like modifying the existing source data  creating duplicate of existing source data  view of original message of incoming as it was received from external world  and view of final message generated based on Golden Copy data  Audit View  attribute level and option level conflict resolution  addition of new standard text narratives directly into the GC etc) from a single screen.

In other enabling embodiment  the system allows direct updation of data into the Golden Copy for predefined fields. This facility is especially usable where Business entity needs to provide its own information in the Golden copy message (e.g. some internal deadline for response). The screen enables the user to view all the information regarding the processing status of the incoming messages and the Golden Copy. Even various status of the attributes like successfully promoted  conflict  manually promoted by user and required authorization  manually promoted by user and is authorized are easily identifiable with Event Preview Screen as it displays meaningful icons to increase readability of these status. Further  it also highlights the source name to convey to user various status of the incoming announcement like Draft (undergoing manual editing by a business user)  Option Mismatch etc apart from highlighting the instrument related information like expired instrument  non holding as of current date and so on.

The Event Preview Screen or the display interface 103 is broadly divided into three sections  namely
1. Summary
2. Main Section comprising of Attribute headings  Source headings  Golden Copy and Incoming data
3. Toolbar

Summary Section:
This is a fixed area of the Event Preview Screen that shows the key attributes of the event being viewed. Fields that are displayed in the Summary section are:

? ISIN
? Security number derived from instrument hierarchy (Common Code)
? Security Description
? Event Type
? Mandatory/Voluntary
? Depository
? Event Status
? Default Flag (if the security is in default)
? Maturity Flag (if the security has matured)
? Ranking Matrix information (Market  Instrument type  Internal flag).
? Logged in user information
? Indication of the incoming announcement in case it is under processing.

Figure 8 (a)  (b) and (c) presents a visual representation of summary section of Event Preview Screen.

Next  the main section displays:

Attribute Headings – This part of the Main section provides the name of all the attributes that should be present in the Golden Copy as per the Ranking Matrix Setup and the narratives that are present in either incoming announcement or Golden Copy. The different font represents significance of the attributes defined in the Ranking Matrix Setup. For example Mandatory to send attribute is displayed in Bold and Italics  Mandatory attribute is displayed as Bold  Optional and view only attributes are displayed in normal font. Additionally different colors have been chosen to identify between the headers and the actual attribute names. Within this section there is also a technical information section which displays the attribute names for information such as ranking attribute rule id  Golden Copy and Incoming announcement reference number  their status  receipt date  last modified date and message category.
Figure 8 (a)  (b) and (c) provides sample visual presentation of the Attribute heading of Event Preview Screen.

Source Headings – This section displays the name of each data source visible in the EPS. For Golden Copy  source name is displayed as “Golden Copy”. Referring particularly to Figure 8(b)  this section has a check box available next to each source name  click on which displays the buttons applicable for the selected source like view raw message of the selected source  create duplicate of the selected source  modify the selected source  resolve option mismatch in case the particular source is in option mismatch. Additionally the source names are highlighted in different colors in order to indicate that the source announcement is being edited by the user or is in Option Mismatch with Golden copy data (i.e. user intervention is required to match those option which could not be matched by the system).

Golden Copy and Incoming Data Section - This section provides a single overview of Golden copy data and all participating source data that has been received from various data sources related to a particular event along with any conflicts or problems. This screen displays the values of only those attributes which are part of the Ranking Matrix being configured in the Ranking Matrix Setup screen. The columns are ordered so that the Golden Copy is the first  and rest of the incoming announcements will be in the order in which they have been received in the system.
O This section makes use of various icons in order to indicate several statuses of the attributes. The significance of the icons used within this section is as follows:
O In case a conflict with an attribute occurs  the system will show the value in the Golden Copy that are used in Golden Copy column to display the current state of each attribute are as follows:

? - Indicates attribute is OK and no conflict exists;
? - Indicates Golden Copy does not contain the MS (Mandatory to Send) attribute value as no data feed provided the value.
X - Indicates that the system identified a problem with the attribute and an unresolved conflict exists;
? U - Indicates that a user manually selected this value to be used in the Golden Copy;
X U -Indicates that the conflict has been resolved by a user  but the change is pending authorization.
C - Indicates that the MS/M attribute present in the Golden Copy is confirmed.
UC - Indicates that the MS/M attribute present in the Golden Copy is unconfirmed.

Toolbar Section: This section contains the following buttons / Icon:
• Icon + - This icon open user narrative section which enables user to add predefined standard text narratives directly to the GC. User can also add his own narrative.
• Duplicate – This button is used to create the duplicate announcement of the selected source from the source headings section. This is applicable only for incoming sources.
• Modify - This button is used to modify the incoming announcement of the selected source from the source headings section. This is applicable only for incoming sources.
• Audit View – This button gives the audit details of the Golden Copy.
• Raw Message - This button displays the raw message of the selected source from the source headings section.
• Option Mismatch – This button opens the option mismatch screen for the selected source from the source heading section in case the selected source is in option mismatch. This is applicable only for incoming sources.
• GC Validation - This button highlights the erroneous attributes of the Golden Copy.
• View Error Details - This button opens a GUI containing the detailed description for the list of errors and warnings present in the GC.
• New – This button is used to create a new source from the EPS.
• Save – This button saves the changes made by user by manual conflict resolution or narrative addition/modification/deletion or update of editable values directly into the Golden Copy.
• Release - This button saves and releases the changes made by user by manual conflict resolution or narrative addition/modification/deletion or update of editable values directly into the Golden Copy to be verified by the authorizer.

BEST MODE/EXAMPLE OF WORKING OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The illustrative embodiments provide a mechanism for dynamically selecting which attributes to display in a table based user interface. Thus  the illustrative embodiments may be utilized in many different types of data processing environments including a distributed data processing environment  a single data processing device  or the like. In order to provide a context for the description of the specific elements and functionality of the illustrative embodiments  FIGS. 9  10  11  12 and 13 are provided hereafter as exemplary environments in which exemplary aspects of the illustrative embodiments may be implemented. While the description following the figures shall represent implementation of a mechanism that dynamically selects which properties to display in a table based user interface  this is only exemplary and is not intended to state or imply any limitation with regard to the features of the present invention.

The exemplary embodiment herein shall depict the application of ranking matrix process applied on three sources (Agent  Depository and Manual Announcement created by the user from a manual source) linking to the same golden copy and view of their corresponding Event Preview Screen after processing of each source. Figure 9 as shown depicts ranking matrix rule that are applicable as a part of ranking matrix process for promotion of an attribute to the Golden Copy. Here the event type is declared as “Stock Dividend”  the promotion threshold value determined as 6  confirmation threshold value as 8 and task level threshold being 4.

Next  the details of each attribute along with their corresponding weights assigned to each source are depicted in Figure 10. The significance level of each attribute value is adjudged along with the option type and movement. Thereafter weights are assigned for three different sources. The attributes that are emphasized and explained in the example are as follows:
1. Record Date of Seq D
2. Resulting Security Number of Seq E
3. Dispositions of Fractions of Seq E
4. Payement Date of Secmove (Seq E1) and Cashmove (Seq E2)
5. Additional for Existing Securities of Secmove (Seq E1)

Once the incoming announcement from agent source arrives in the system  it passes through the following processes before the ranking matrix processing is applied:
1. Data Provider Mapping  Event mapping and Security Mapping
2. Duplicate Drop and Heldness check
3. Match Narrative process which results in creation of the Golden Copy template based on the received incoming.
Now  the Ranking Matrix process is applied on the received incoming and based on the ranking matrix rule set up (shown in Figure 9) following results is reached at (shown in Figure 11):

• Record Date being the Mandatory attribute and its weight being 2 which is less than promotion threshold (6) value is not promoted to GC and no conflict is raised for the missing record date.
• Payment Date  Dispositions of Fractions and Additional for Existing Securities being the Mandatory to send attribute and their weight being 2 which is less than promotion threshold (6)  their values are not promoted to GC. Since these attributes are Mandatory to send and they are missing in the GC  GC is blocked from STP (Straight through Processing).
• No Work Item is raised for the user as the incoming announcement is received from a low weight source. Work Item is raised only if total weight (sum of weight of all the sources) >= Task Level and in this case total weight is 2 which is less than task level (4).
• Missing MS values are highlighted in the EPS and missing value is depicted using a question mark icon.
• Payment Date being the SWIFT mandatory field  it is defaulted to Unknown even if the value cannot be promoted from the linked source.

Referring next to Figure 12  second incoming announcement from depository source arrives in the system and passes through the processes explained in step 1 and finally the ranking matrix process is applied. Based on the ranking matrix rule set up (shown in Figure 5) following will be the results  also shown in Figure 12:

• For record date and payment date depository source has provided different information than the agent source. Combined weight will be calculated which is weight of depository source – weight of agent source (6 - 2) = 4. Since the combined weight (4) is < promotion threshold (6)  values will not be promoted into the GC and GC will be blocked.
• Since the total weight (6 + 2 = 8) is > Task Level (4) a Work Item will be raised for the user to take action on the GC.
• Same value of Dispositions of Fractions as that of agent is provided by the depository source  the same is promoted to GC as combined weight (6 + 2 = 8) is > Promotion Threshold (6).
• Dispositions of Fractions is also confirmed as combined weight (6 + 2 = 8) is = Confirmation Threshold (8).

As shown in Figure 13  the user after receiving the Work Item raised above gathers the information from the market in order to resolve the conflict in record date and payment date and provide the missing value of Additional for Existing Securities  navigates to the EPS and creates a manual announcement with the information collected from the market. Manual announcement will pass through the preliminary steps before finally being processed by the ranking matrix process. Based on the ranking matrix rule set up attached above following will be the results:

For record date and payment date  manual source has provided same information as that of the depository source. Combined weight will be calculated which is weight of (manual source + depository source) – weight of agent source ((14 + 6) - 2) = 18. Since the combined weight (18) is > promotion threshold (6)  values will be promoted into the Golden Copy.
Manual source has provided different value of Dispositions of Fractions as that of depository and agent source. Combined weight will be calculated which is weight of manual source – weight of (agent source + depository source) (14 – (6 + 2) = 6. Since the combined weight (6) is = promotion threshold (6) but < Confirmation Threshold (8)  dispositions of fractions will be changed from confirmed to unconfirmed state which is depicted by a down arrow. GC will be blocked and a work item will be created for the user to take action.

Missing additional for existing securities value is provided by the manual source and since weight of manual source (14) > Promotion Threshold (6) and > Confirmation Threshold (8)  the value will be promoted to GC and will be marked as confirmed.

The foregoing description of specific embodiments of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed  and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application  to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents. The listing of steps within method claims do not imply any particular order to performing the steps  unless explicitly stated in the claim.

We claim:

1) A computer implemented method for performing data scrubbing at attribute level  comprising:
receiving data containing at least one significant or non significant attribute and associated values from distributed data sources  the sources being assigned weight against each of the attribute value  and applying configured ranking matrix process thereon  the ranking process comprising:
for the sources referring to different values for the same attribute  computing a combined weight therefrom;
for the combined weight of the significant attribute exceeding a predetermined promotion threshold value  determining if said weight exceeds a predetermined confirmation threshold value  and for the combined weight of the non significant attribute exceeding the promotion threshold  promoting to a final templated copy;
for the combined weight less than the confirmation threshold value  computing a total weight of all the values for the attribute;
determining if the total weight exceeds a predetermined task threshold for a user to create a manual source and reapplying the ranking matrix process; and
promoting the attribute to the final templated copy upon retrieval of same attribute value from the distributed sources or for the combined weight exceeding the confirmation threshold score or for the total weight exceeding the task threshold  said templated copy containing the scrubbed data being displayed to the user in a graphical user interface.

2) The method of claim 1  wherein the significant attribute corresponds to the one assigned with Mandatory or Mandatory to send significance levels.

3) The method of claim 1  wherein the non significant attribute corresponds to the one assigned with Optional or View only significance levels.

4) The method of claim 1  further comprising performing a preliminary mapping like source mapping  event mapping and security mapping; duplicate drop check  heldness check; narrative matching process before applying the ranking matrix process.

5) The method of claim 1  wherein the ranking matrix process employs a combination of ranking attribute rule and a source weighting rule.

6) The method of claim 5  wherein the ranking attribute rule comprises a set of rules determining list of attributes to be present in the final templated copy  significance level of the each attribute  the promotion and confirmation threshold value  task threshold value event mapping rule  source priority rule  narrative match rule  completeness and confirmation rule and not limited to constraint rule.

7) The method of claim 5  wherein the source weighting rule assigns weight to sources against each of the attribute value.

8) The method of claim 1  wherein the combined weight is computed by: selecting the sources providing same attribute value to form one group; determining the groups  so formed  having highest and second highest weights and thereon subtracting the second highest group weight from the first highest group weight to derive the combined weight.

9) The method of claim 1  wherein the total weight is sum of weight of the attributes from each of the source.

10) The method of claim 1  wherein the final templated copy along with the attributes and the associated value obtained from the distributed sources is displayed on a single screen.

11) The method of claim 1  wherein the single graphical user interface provides the final templated copy containing the scrubbed data and the data received from distributed sources in a tabular format.

12) The method of claim 1  further comprising computing of a processing status of the final templated copy based on completeness and conformation status of the significant attributes.

13) The method of claim 1  further comprising displaying on the graphical user interface a summary section to display key attributes of an event and a main section to display source headings  attribute headings  the final templated copy and incoming data  and a toolbar section adapted to perform plurality of icon-based operations responsive to the summary and main section.

14) A system for performing data scrubbing  comprising:
an input interface configured to receive data containing at least one significant or non significant attribute and associated values from distributed data sources for an event;
a processor  at least one memory configured to store program instructions executable by the processor to apply configured ranking matrix process for determining the attribute values to be promoted to final templated copy based upon a combination of predefined ranking attribute rule and source weighting rule; and
a graphical user interface displaying the final templated copy along with the data received from the distributed sources  the graphical interface including a summary section to display key attributes of the event and a main section to display source headings  attribute headings  final templated copy and incoming data  and a toolbar section adapted to perform plurality of icon-based operations responsive to the summary and main section.

15) The system of claim 14  wherein the significant attribute corresponds to the one assigned with Mandatory or Mandatory to send significance levels.

16) The system of claim 14  wherein the non significant attribute corresponds to the one assigned with Optional or View only significance levels.

17) The system of claim 14  wherein the ranking attribute rule comprises a set of rules determining list of attributes to be present in the final templated copy  significance level of the each attribute  the promotion and confirmation threshold values  task threshold value  event mapping rule  source priority rule  narrative match rule  completeness and confirmation rule and not limited to constraint rule.

18) The system of claim 14  wherein the source weighting rule assigns weight to sources against each of the attribute value.

19) The system of claim 14  wherein the summary section shows the key attributes including: security number and description  event type  attribute significance  depository  event processing status  default flag  maturity flag  the ranking matrix information  user information and not limited to indication of incoming data under processing.

20) The system of claim 14  wherein the main section displays the attribute headings including all the attributes that gets promoted to the final templated copy  associated significance levels  reference information for final templated copy and incoming data  and the processing status thereof  receipt date  last modified date and not limited to message content.

21) The system of claim 14  wherein the main section further displays the significance level of the each attribute with specific font characteristics.
22) The system of claim 14  wherein the main section displays the source headings including names of the distributed sources and a check box positioned next to the source name displaying a content corresponding to an underlying function of the selected source.

23) The system of claim 14  wherein the source names are color coded to invoke user intervention for option matching.

24) The system of claim 14  wherein the final templated copy and incoming data is rendered with plurality of icons responsive to show status of attribute corresponding to any conflict raised  user intervention  pending authorization  promotion of attribute to the final templated copy and absence of data from the source.

25) The system of claim 14  wherein the plurality of icon based operations responsive to the main section corresponds to: promoting standard data directly to the final templated copy by the user  creating duplicate or make modifications to the event for the source selected in the source heading section; displaying raw messages  audit details  option mismatch screen  highlighting erroneous attributes along with associated error details and underlying functions associated with user resolution of raised conflicts or edition to data directly promoted to the final templated copy.

Dated this 03rd day of April 2012

Priyank Gupta
Agent for Applicant
IN-PA-1454

ABSTRACT

AUTOMATED SYSTEM AND METHOD OF DATA SCRUBBING

The present invention envisages a system and method enabling automated system and method of performing data cleansing and scrubbing at the attribute level. The system further provides a consolidated view of the scrubbed data or narratives that gets promoted to the final copy and the data or narratives received from multiple sources on a single user interface.

Figure 1