Method of exposing normalized data as denormalized tables

摘要

Provided is a system and method for retrieving data from a database such that a query can be implemented simply and without regard to the actual structure of the database. The claimed method provides virtual tables, or “tracking groups,” that correspond to a business process and then, via a custom driver, coverts queries to those virtual tables into queries to a standard, normalized database. In one embodiment, a database query is parsed into a syntax tree and, then, converted into a first converted query that conforms with conjunctive normal form and a second converted query that conforms with disjunctive normal form. The forms are compared and the form with the least number of sub-queries is selected. A modified query is constructed from the parsed database query based upon the selected query, wherein the modified query includes a pivot to access normalized data in a non-normalized format.