Method for automatically invoking a software module in response to an internal or external event affecting the procurement of an item
First Claim
1. A method using a computer system, which includes a data mart with internal data from one or more data sources and external data from one or more data sources, and a plurality of software modules, the method automatically invoking one or more software modules as a response to one or more internal events and/or external events that affect or potentially affect business operations associated with procurement, sourcing, and/or strategic sourcing of one or more items in an enterprise, and comprising the steps of:
- extracting, via one or more software modules, first information regarding one or more internal events from one or more data sources and/or one or more external events from one or more data sources, wherein the first information is potentially relevant to the business operations associated with the procurement, sourcing, and/or strategic sourcing of the one or more items in the enterprise;
loading the first information into the datamart;
determining, via one or more software modules, relevance of the first information to the business operations associated with the procurement, sourcing, and/or strategic sourcing of the one or more items in the enterprise;
analyzing, via one or more software modules, an impact of the first information on the business operations associated with the procurement, sourcing, and/or strategic sourcing of the one or more items in the enterprise;
invoking one or more software modules to provide actions to resolve the impact of the first information on the business operations in the enterprise regarding the procurement, sourcing, and/or strategic sourcing of the one or more items; and
triggering automatically one or more software modules to alert the user that one or more software modules are acting to resolve the impact of the first information on the business operations in the enterprise regarding the procurement, sourcing, and/or strategic sourcing of the one or more items.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for automatically invoking a software module in response to an internal or external event affecting the purchase or sale of an item is disclosed. The method is based on a Value Chain Intelligence (VCI) system that enables suppliers and procurement professionals to leverage enterprise and marketplace data in order to potentially improve decision-making in business enterprises. Accordingly, internal data from enterprises and external data from suppliers, catalogs, and marketplaces are integrated and analyzed in real time for their impact on supply chains processes. When an internal or external event occurs, directly affecting the purchase and/or sale of an item, and/or decisions regarding procurement, sourcing, strategic sourcing, and other business processes, the system understands the event, correlates the event with the aforementioned processes, automatically invokes one or more software modules, which make recommendations and send alerts to users about the potential impact of such an event. Components for implementing this method consist of internal data collection components, external data collection components, data integration components, and data application components. Various methods for searching, extracting, transforming, integrating, analyzing, and representing both data internal to an enterprise and data external to an enterprise are also disclosed.
304 Citations
156 Claims
-
1. A method using a computer system, which includes a data mart with internal data from one or more data sources and external data from one or more data sources, and a plurality of software modules, the method automatically invoking one or more software modules as a response to one or more internal events and/or external events that affect or potentially affect business operations associated with procurement, sourcing, and/or strategic sourcing of one or more items in an enterprise, and comprising the steps of:
-
extracting, via one or more software modules, first information regarding one or more internal events from one or more data sources and/or one or more external events from one or more data sources, wherein the first information is potentially relevant to the business operations associated with the procurement, sourcing, and/or strategic sourcing of the one or more items in the enterprise;
loading the first information into the datamart;
determining, via one or more software modules, relevance of the first information to the business operations associated with the procurement, sourcing, and/or strategic sourcing of the one or more items in the enterprise;
analyzing, via one or more software modules, an impact of the first information on the business operations associated with the procurement, sourcing, and/or strategic sourcing of the one or more items in the enterprise;
invoking one or more software modules to provide actions to resolve the impact of the first information on the business operations in the enterprise regarding the procurement, sourcing, and/or strategic sourcing of the one or more items; and
triggering automatically one or more software modules to alert the user that one or more software modules are acting to resolve the impact of the first information on the business operations in the enterprise regarding the procurement, sourcing, and/or strategic sourcing of the one or more items. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 128)
-
-
41. The method of 1, wherein the first information consists of messages and/or other types of communication data from e-mails, pagers, voice mail, electronic messaging systems, answering machine messages, telephone calls, web page links, web page data, teleconferencing messages, and/or infrared beamed messages.
-
65. A method using a computer system, which includes a data mart with internal data from one or more data sources and external data from one or more data sources, and a plurality of software modules, the method automatically invoking one or more software modules as a response to one or more internal events and/or external events that affect or potentially affect business operations associated with procurement, sourcing, and/or strategic sourcing of one or more items in an enterprise, and comprising the steps of:
-
extracting, via one or more software modules, first information regarding one or more internal events from one or more data sources and/or one or more external events from one or more data sources, wherein the first information is potentially relevant to the business operations associated with the procurement, sourcing, and/or strategic sourcing of the one or more items in the enterprise;
loading the first information into the datamart;
determining, via one or more software modules, relevance of the first information to the business operations associated with the procurement, sourcing, and/or strategic sourcing of the one or more items in the enterprise;
analyzing, via one or more software modules, an impact of the first information on the business operations associated with the procurement, sourcing, and/or strategic sourcing of the one or more items in the enterprise;
triggering automatically one or more software modules to alert the user that one or more software modules are acting to resolve the impact of the first information on the business operations in the enterprise regarding the procurement, sourcing, and/or strategic sourcing of the one or more items; and
invoking one or more software modules to provide actions to resolve the impact of the first information on the business operations in the enterprise regarding the procurement, sourcing, and/or strategic sourcing of the one or more items. - View Dependent Claims (66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156)
-
-
104. The method of 66, wherein the first information consists of messages and/or other types of communication data from e-mails, pagers, voice mail, electronic messaging systems, answering machine messages, telephone calls, web page links, web page data, teleconferencing messages, and/or infrared beamed messages.
-
129. A method using a computer system and a plurality of software modules for assisting users in the procurement of a particular item used in the business activities of an enterprise, the method comprising the step of:
-
receiving, via one or more software modules, external data, wherein the external data relates to an external event corresponding to the particular item of the enterprise and is received from a source external to the enterprise;
analyzing, via one or more of the software modules, the external data, wherein an analysis is made of a predicted impact of the external event on an expected ability of the enterprise to procure the particular item after the external event;
alerting, via one or more of the software modules, a user of the external event and the predicted impact of the external event on the expected ability of the enterprise to procure the particular item after the external event;
recommending, via one or more of the software modules, one or more proposed actions to the user, wherein the one or more proposed actions correspond to procurement of the particular item and mitigate potential impact of the external event on the enterprise.
-
-
143. A method using a computer system and a plurality of software modules for assisting users in the procurement of a particular item used in the business activities of an enterprise, the method comprising the step of:
-
receiving, via one or more software modules, internal data, wherein the internal data relates to an internal event corresponding to the particular item of the enterprise and is received from a source internal to the enterprise;
analyzing, via one or more of the software modules, the external data, wherein an analysis is made of a predicted impact of the external event on an expected ability of the enterprise to procure the particular item after the external event;
alerting, via one or more of the software modules, a user of the external event and the predicted impact of the external event on the expected ability of the enterprise to procure the particular item after the external event;
recommending, via one or more of the software modules, one or more proposed actions to the user, wherein the one or more proposed actions correspond to procurement of the particular item and mitigate potential impact of the external event on the enterprise.
-
Specification