the identified data sources 120 the executable entity 132 identifies a common attribute 142 1 152 1 in which the common attribute is operable as a match column for each of the identified data sources 120 as depicted at step 305 the common attribute in a particular configuration defines a join field operable to implement a join between data such as tables from each of the data sources 120 employing the identified common attribute 142 1 152 1 in each of the data sources the executable entity 132 correlates via the common attribute the objects 122 of the identified data sources 120 according to the defined associations 138 as shown at step 306 the correlation identifies associated objects 122 according to the association 138 typically a match operation therefore correlating further includes accessing via the access method and the location each of the identified data sources as depicted at step 307 accordingly in the exemplary relational database data sources 120 the correlation identifies pairs of objects 140 1 150 2 from each data source having a matching value in the common attribute such as b 2 in the example shown performing the correlation further includes traversing the objects 122 in each of the data sources 120 as depicted at step 308 traversing may be in a linear or sequential manner or may be according to an index hash or other selective mapping operation the executable.