Method and apparatus for modeling a business processes

• US 20030046123A1
• Filed: 08/30/2001
• Published: 03/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Chen, Kay-Yut
• Granted Patent: US 8,554,604 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data

Abstract

A method of determining the behavioral outcome resulting from a business rule includes the step of defining at least one player, business rules, and an environment that defines actions that the player can take in accordance with the business rules. The definitions are translated into a codified script. The behavioral outcome resulting from player-selected actions during execution of the codified script are determined.

Claims

1. A method of determining the economic impact of business policies, comprising the steps of:

a) defining a plurality of players including an associated set of rules defining a possible decision space, a decision-making process tree, an information set, an outcome function, and a payoff function for each player;

b) translating the player definitions into codified scripts; and

c) executing the codified script wherein the result of the outcome and payoff functions at the end of execution of a script stage determines the economic impact of the business policies defined by the rules.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the players are exclusively human.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the players comprise a combination of human and automated players.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

d) modifying the associated set of rules for one or more players; and

e) repeating steps b)-c).

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

d) providing qualitative calibration data for the defined players based on empirical sales information, wherein the scripts are generated in accordance with the player definitions and the calibration data.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

d) providing a plurality of scenarios defining variations on the set of rules associated with one or more players, wherein step c) further comprises the step of generating scripts corresponding to the player definition variations.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the scripts are compiled on the fly during execution.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the scripts are compiled in their entirety before execution.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of rules associated with at least one player defines at least one business policy from the set comprising:

advertising policy, sales policy, returns policy, rebate policy, minimum advertised price policy.

10. An apparatus for determining the economic impact of business policies, comprising:

a) a business process definition module for defining a plurality of players including an associated set of rules defining a possible decision space, a decision-making process tree, an information set, an outcome function, and a payoff function for each player;

b) a script translator module for translating the player definitions into codified scripts, wherein the codified scripts define at least one simulation stage; and

c) a simulation module for executing the codified scripts, wherein the result of the outcome and payoff functions at the end of execution of the at least one script stage determines the economic impact of the business policies defined by the rules.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the players are exclusively human.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the players comprise a combination of human and automated players.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising:

d) a calibration module providing qualitative calibration data for the defined players based on empirical sales information, wherein the scripts are generated in accordance with the player definitions and the calibration data.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising:

d) a scenario database providing a plurality of scenarios defining variations on the set of rules associated with one or more players, wherein the script translator generates scripts corresponding to the player definition variations.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the scripts are compiled on the fly during execution.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the scripts are compiled in their entirety before execution.

17. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the set of rules associated with at least one player defines at least one business policy from the set comprising:

advertising policy, sales policy, returns policy, rebate policy, and minimum advertised price policy.

18. A method of predicting the behavioral outcome resulting from a business rule comprising the steps of:

a) defining at least one player, business rules, and an environment that defines actions that the player can take in accordance with the business rules;

b) translating the definitions into a codified script; and

c) determining a behavioral outcome resulting from player-selected actions during execution of the codified script.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the behavioral outcome includes an economic state of each player.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of:

d) executing variations of the codified script to identify business rules and environment definitions that result in a pre-determined economic state.