METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR THE UPDATE OF REMOTE DATA USING PERSISTENT KEYS

A method and system for the creation, enhancement and update of data on a customer database using data from a central database and persistent keys that are linked to each data structure is disclosed. The persistent keys allow the matching of equivalent data structures between the remote and central databases so that enhancement data from the central database can be overlaid onto the customer database. The persistent keys also make the update of data on the customer database more efficient, since key matching allows the transfer of only the data that is needed to update the customer database. The central database may physically contain all of the enhancement data, or may use a central database manager to transparently link a group of physically remote databases using the persistent keys. Data may be transferred from the central database to the customer database either in batch mode or in a near real-time mode through a direct table join. The linking feature of the persistent keys further allows the linkage of the customer database and the central database to create a multidimensional database.