Reporting in a supply chain

• US 20020188513A1
• Filed: 12/19/2001
• Published: 12/12/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PTC Inc.
• Original Assignee: World Chain Incorporated
• Inventors: Gil, Reynaldo, Gangopadhyay, Dipayan, Zhou, Jay, Gordon, Simeon, Nayak, Sandeep
• Granted Patent: US 8,036,939 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/14 for detecting or protecting against malicious traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system and a method for reporting in a supply chain involving an enterprise and at least one partner are provided. A request from a network system for access to real-time data stored in an existing partner system is received at a partner coordinator component. The real-time data relates to a transaction in which the partner is involved. The partner coordinator component is integrated with the existing partner system, and the network system maintains a context for the transaction. The data is converted at the partner coordinator component into a format usable by the network system. The converted real-time data is provided to the network system, thereby enabling the network system to generate real-time reports of the transaction for the enterprise.

Claims

1. An automated method for reporting in a supply chain involving an enterprise and at least one partner, the method comprising:

receiving at a partner coordinator component a request from a network system for access to real-time data stored in an existing partner system, the partner coordinator component integrated with the existing partner system, the real-time data relating to a transaction in which the partner is involved, the network system maintaining a context for the transaction;

converting the data at a partner coordinator component into a format usable by the network system; and

providing the converted real-time data to the network system, thereby enabling the network system to generate real-time reports of the transaction for the enterprise.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the real-time data comprises transaction data involving a status of the transaction.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the real-time data comprises reference data related to the partner.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein converting comprises formatting the real-time data into extensible markup language (XML) format.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising validating the real-time data against the context maintained for the transaction.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising converting the request into a format usable by the existing partner system.

7. An automated method for reporting in a supply chain involving an enterprise and at least one partner, the method comprising:

sending a request for real-time data from a network system to a partner coordinator component integrated with an existing partner system, the real-time data relating to a transaction in which the partner is involved, the network system maintaining a context for the transaction;

receiving at the network system the real-time data from the existing partner system in response to the request; and

generating a real-time report using the real-time data for updating the enterprise on the transaction in which the partner is involved, thereby providing real-time visibility into a status of the partner with respect to the transaction.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the real-time data comprises transaction data involving a status of the transaction.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the real-time data comprises reference data related to the partner.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising converting the real-time data into a format usable by the network system.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein converting comprises formatting the real-time data into extensible markup language (XML) format.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising validating the real-time data against the context maintained for the transaction.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the real-time data comprises transaction data involving a status of the transaction.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the real-time data comprises reference data related to the partner.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the format usable by the network system comprises extensible markup language (XML).

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is further operable to validate the real-time data against the context maintained for the transaction.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is operable to generate a graphical user interface for presenting the report.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the report comprises an alert report to notify the partner of a status of the transaction.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the report comprises a task report to notify the partner of a task relating to the transaction to be performed.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the report comprises an inventory report to update the enterprise or the partner of an inventory level relating to the transaction.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising a customer component representing a customer and integrating into an existing system of the customer, the customer component operable to generate real-time data relevant to one or more transactions in which the customer is involved in the supply chain.

13. A system for reporting in a supply chain involving an enterprise and at least one partner, the system comprising:

a database operable to store real-time data relating to a transaction in which the partner is involved; and

a processor coupled to the database, the processor operable to;

receive a request from a network system for access to the real-time data, the network system maintaining a context for the transaction;

convert the data into a format usable by the network system; and

provide the converted real-time data to the network system, thereby enabling the network system to generate real-time reports of the transaction for the enterprise.

18. A system for reporting in a supply chain involving an enterprise and at least one partner, the system comprising:

a database operable to maintain a context for a transaction in which the partner is involved; and

a processor coupled to the database, the processor operable to;

send a request to a partner coordinator component integrated with an existing partner system for access to real-time data relating to a transaction in which the partner is involved;

receive the real-time data from the existing partner system in response to the request; and

generate a real-time report using the real-time data for updating the enterprise on the transaction in which the partner is involved, thereby providing real-time visibility into a status of the partner with respect to the transaction.

23. A system for reporting in a supply chain involving an enterprise and at least one partner, the system comprising:

an enterprise application component executing on an existing partner system and operable to generate real-time data for a transaction in which the partner is involved; and

a partner coordinator component in communication with the enterprise application component and operable to access the real-time data from the existing partner system, to convert the real-time data into a format usable by a network system, and to provide the converted real-time data to the network system.

24. A partner coordinator component for reporting in a supply chain, involving an enterprise and a partner, the partner coordinator component for communicating between an existing system of the partner and an existing system of the enterprise, the partner coordinator component comprising:

an enterprise application integration component in communication with the existing system of the partner and operable to obtain real-time data from the existing system of the partner; and

a transport component coupled to the enterprise application integration component, the transport component operable to transport a message for conveying the real-time data from the existing system of the partner to the existing system of the enterprise.

25. A system for managing a supply chain involving an enterprise and at least one partner, the system comprising:

an enterprise component representing the enterprise and integrating into an existing system of the enterprise, the enterprise component operable to generate real-time data relevant to one or more transactions in which the enterprise is involved in the supply chain; and

at least one partner component representing a partner and integrating into an existing system of the partner, the partner component operable to generate real-time data relevant to one or more transactions in which the partner is involved in the supply chain;

wherein the enterprise component and the at least one partner component are operable to coordinate for providing a uniform business context throughout the supply chain for the transactions.