1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with a data structure configured to represent a time-related profile of a resource as a hierarchy, the data structure comprising: an ordered set of nodes forming a hierarchy of temporal levels, wherein a temporal level comprises a set of nodes from the ordered set of nodes having a similar or same magnitude temporal span; each of at least some of the nodes from the ordered set of nodes comprises a set of data fields for storing profile-related data, at least one being a time span indicator, and up to four links comprising: a link to a temporally-immediate prior same-level node; a link to a temporally-immediate subsequent same-level node; a link to a next higher temporal level node having a time span that includes the node's time span; and a link to a next lower temporal level node having a time span that is included within the time span of the node; and wherein the set of data fields for storing profile-related data for at least some of the nodes from the ordered set of nodes that form a lowest temporal level comprises one or more resource values; wherein the set of profile-related data of a node comprises a maximum resource value representing a maximum cumulative change value of the resource within the time span of the node, a minimum resource value representing a minimum cumulative change value of the resource within the time span of the node, and a base resource value representing an initial value of the resource at the start of the time span of the node; wherein a change in the base resource value is propagated to the temporally-immediate subsequent same-level node and to the next higher temporal level node having a time span that includes the node's time span; and wherein a change in the maximum resource value and/or the minimum resource value is propagated to the next higher temporal level node having a time span that includes the node's time span and is not propagated to the temporally-immediate subsequent same-level node.