Aspects described relate to analyzing data at a high level of abstraction. “Smarts,” incorporating one or more analytic patterns, may be applied to data sources. These Smarts may be in the form of at least one of an equation, rule, constraint or expression to generate a result from applying the analytic pattern to the data. Smarts may be pre-defined and selected from a library based on user preference and the data input. Any suitable user interface may be used to apply analytic pattern(s) to items of data as well as provide a visual environment for a user to make intuitive adjustments to the data, add controls in the user interface to filter or constrain the data, or combinations thereof, resulting in one or more modified results.