Data is used by the investment and business communities to judge the value of investments, the business case for transactions, the performance of managers, and trends in industries, among many other things. Data may be used in other areas and by other communities to make judgments and decisions on a variety of matters. As such, data for a company or organization is important in general, and up-to-date data (such as projected sales data for example) is potentially invaluable. However, forecast data in a company is typically stored in formats or systems which are not amenable to updates on an asynchronous or random basis.
For example, forecasting cycles are often based on monthly and quarterly updates to information. Government regulations often require reporting on no more than a quarterly basis (every three months). Activities in the real world rarely occur on scheduled dates for updates, a customer may cancel or enhance an order at any time. Moreover, indirect actions with direct effects on customers (such as competitor product announcements or vendor supply changes for example) are also rarely coordinated with a time which is convenient based on accounting schedules.
Thus, it may be advantageous to provide a system which allows for updates on a random or asynchronous basis. Additionally, information in the form of projections is often based on judgment. Thus, it may be advantageous to provide a system in which changes may be made to information based on judgments made after input of such information. Moreover, some information (datapoints) may have particular significance. Thus, it may be advantageous to provide a system in which a user may be notified of changes to particular datapoints.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds