System and method for managing compliance with strategic business rules

• US 20030120528A1
• Filed: 10/23/2002
• Published: 06/26/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Electronic Data Systems Corporation (Perspecta, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Electronic Data Systems Corporation (Perspecta, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shaver, Joseph M., Tehrani, Saeid, Kruk, Jeffrey M., Quigney, Peter P., Richards, Paul J.
• Application Number:
  US10/279,138
• Publication Number:
  US 20030120528A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/34 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2216/03 Data mining
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/237 Lexical tools
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/247 Thesauruses; Synonyms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• 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 10/06395 Quality analysis or 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 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation

Abstract

A method of managing compliance with strategic business rules is provided. The method includes storing procurement data concerning historical procurement events in a procurement data warehouse. The method further includes storing one or more business compliance rules specifying conditions for a particular procurement event to be compliant. The method further includes automatically analyzing a portion of the procurement data related to the particular procurement event to determine whether or not the particular procurement event is compliant according to the one or more business compliance rules. The method further includes automatically generating a visual output based on whether or not the particular procurement event is determined compliant.

Claims

1. A method of managing compliance with strategic business rules, comprising:

collecting procurement data from a plurality of data sources, the procurement data including information regarding a plurality of procurement events;

storing the collected procurement data in a procurement data warehouse;

storing one or more business compliance rules specifying conditions for a particular procurement event to be compliant;

automatically analyzing a portion of the procurement data related to the particular procurement event to determine whether or not the particular procurement event is compliant according to the one or more business compliance rules; and

automatically generating a visual output based on whether or not the particular procurement event is determined compliant.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the procurement data includes information automatically extracted from a plurality of electronic contracts based on a set of linguistic rules.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting procurement data from a plurality of data sources comprises:

storing a plurality of electronic contracts including unstructured textual data;

determining one or more linguistic patterns associated with a business parameter;

generating linguistic rules based on the one or more linguistic patterns; and

using text mining tools to automatically extract particular regarding the business parameter from the unstructured textual data using one or more of the linguistic rules; and

receiving at least a portion of the automatically extracted information.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically determining a financial impact based on whether or not the particular procurement event is determined compliant;

and

wherein the visual output specifies the determined financial impact.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

at least one of the one or more business compliance rules specifies how to determine the financial impact of non-compliance; and

automatically determining a financial impact based on whether or not the particular procurement event is determined compliant comprises automatically determining the financial impact if the particular procurement event is determined non-compliant.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein:

at least one of the one or more business compliance rules specifies one or more approved suppliers from which a particular supply may be purchased;

the portion of the procurement data related to the particular procurement event specifies the actual supplier from which the particular supply is actually purchased; and

automatically analyzing a portion of the procurement data related to the particular procurement event to determine whether or not the particular procurement event is compliant comprises determining whether the one or more approved suppliers includes the actual supplier.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically determining a financial impact based on whether or not the particular procurement event is determined compliant; and

updating the procurement data based on the automatically determined financial impact.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically generating business rule feedback based on the analysis of the procurement data, the business rule feedback indicating the effectiveness of the one or more business compliance rules; and

updating at least one of the business compliance rules based at least on the automatically generated business rule feedback.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the business rule feedback includes feedback regarding situations in which the particular procurement event determined to be non-compliant provides a financial benefit.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the business rule feedback includes feedback regarding situations in which the one or more business compliance rules are not effective for analyzing the particular procurement event;

and

adding one or more new business compliance rules for analyzing the particular procurement event.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

periodically updating the procurement data stored in the procurement data warehouse;

periodically analyzing the portion of the procurement data related to the particular procurement event to determine whether or not the particular procurement event is compliant;

automatically generating periodic reports based on whether or not the particular procurement event is determined compliant; and

automatically distributing the periodic reports to one or more business entities.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically generated visual output comprises a three-dimensional visualization.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically generated visual output comprises a plurality of visualizations which may be navigated through using automated navigation tools.

14. Software for managing compliance with strategic business rules, the software being embodied in computer-readable media and when executed operable to:

collect procurement data from a plurality of data sources, the procurement data including information regarding a plurality of procurement events;

cause storage of the collected procurement data in a procurement data warehouse;

cause storage of one or more business compliance rules specifying conditions for a particular procurement event to be compliant;

analyze a portion of the procurement data related to the particular procurement event to determine whether or not the particular procurement event is compliant according to the one or more business compliance rules; and

generate a visual output based on whether or not the particular procurement event is determined compliant.

15. The software of claim 14, wherein the procurement data includes information automatically extracted from a plurality of electronic contracts based on a set of linguistic rules.

16. The software of claim 14, wherein collecting procurement data from a plurality of data sources comprises:

causing storage of a plurality of electronic contracts include unstructured textual data;

accessing linguistic rules generated based on one or more linguistic patterns associated with a business parameter; and

using text mining tools to extract information regarding the business parameter from the textual data using one or more of the linguistic rules; and

receiving at least a portion of the automatically extracted information.

17. The software of claim 14, further operable to determine a financial impact based on whether or not the particular procurement event is determined compliant;

and

wherein the visual output specifies the determined financial impact.

18. The software of claim 17, wherein:

at least one of the one or more business compliance rules specifies how to determine the financial impact of non-compliance; and

determining a financial impact based on whether or not the particular procurement event is determined compliant comprises determining the financial impact if the particular procurement event is determined non-compliant.

19. The software of claim 17, wherein:

at least one of the one or more business compliance rules specifies one or more approved suppliers from which a particular supply may be purchased;

the portion of the procurement data related to the particular procurement event specifies the actual supplier from which the particular supply is actually purchased; and

analyzing a portion of the procurement data related to the particular procurement event to determine whether or not the particular procurement event is compliant comprises determining whether the one or more approved suppliers includes the actual supplier.

20. The software of claim 14, further operable to:

determine a financial impact based on whether or not the particular procurement event is determined compliant; and

update the procurement data based on the determined financial impact.

21. The software of claim 14, further operable to:

generate business rule feedback based on the analysis of the procurement data, the business rule feedback indicating the effectiveness of the one or more business compliance rules; and

update at least one of the business compliance rules developed based on the business rule feedback.

22. The software of claim 14, further operable to:

periodically update the procurement data stored in the procurement data warehouse;

periodically analyze the portion of the procurement data related to the particular procurement event to determine whether or not the particular procurement event is compliant;

generate periodic reports based on whether or not the particular procurement event is determined compliant; and

distribute the periodic reports to one of more business entities.

23. The software of claim 14, wherein:

the visual output comprises a plurality of visualizations; and

the software is further operable to provide navigation tools for navigating through the plurality of visualizations.

24. A system for managing compliance with strategic business rules, comprising:

a data collection module operable to collect procurement data from a plurality of data sources, the procurement data including information regarding a plurality of procurement events;

a procurement data warehouse operable to store the collected procurement data;

a compliance rules database operable to store one or more business compliance rules specifying conditions for a particular procurement event to be compliant;

a compliance analysis module operable to automatically analyze a portion of the procurement data related to the particular procurement event to determine whether or not the particular procurement event is compliant according to the one or more business compliance rules; and

a data visualization module operable to automatically generate a visual output based on whether or not the particular procurement event is determined compliant.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the procurement data includes information automatically extracted from a plurality of electronic contracts based on a set of linguistic rules.

26. The system of claim 24, further comprising:

a contracts database operable to store a plurality of electronic contracts include unstructured textual data;

a linguistic rule database operable to store linguistic rules generated based on one or more linguistic patterns associated with a business parameter;

a text mining module comprising text mining tools operable to automatically extract information regarding the business parameter from the textual data using one or more of the linguistic rules; and

wherein collecting procurement data from a plurality of data sources includes receiving at least a portion of the automatically extracted information.

27. The system of claim 24, further comprising a compliance impacts module operable to automatically determine a financial impact based on whether or not the particular procurement event is determined compliant by the compliance analysis module;

and

wherein the visual output specifies the determined financial impact.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein:

at least one of the one or more business compliance rules specifies how to determine the financial impact of non-compliance; and

the compliance impacts module operable to automatically determine the financial impact if the particular procurement event is determined non-compliant.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein:

at least one of the one or more business compliance rules specifies one or more approved suppliers from which a particular supply may be purchased;

the portion of the procurement data related to the particular procurement event specifies the actual supplier from which the particular supply is actually purchased; and

the compliance analysis module operable to automatically analyze the portion of the procurement data related to the particular procurement event to determine whether the one or more approved suppliers includes the actual supplier.

30. The system of claim 24, further comprising a compliance impacts module operable to:

automatically determine a financial impact based on whether or not the particular procurement event is determined compliant by the compliance analysis module; and

update the procurement data stored in the procurement data warehouse based on the automatically determined financial impact.

31. The system of claim 24, further comprising a compliance rules monitoring module operable to update at least one of the one or more business compliance rules based at least on the visual output generated by the data visualization module.

32. The system of claim 24, further comprising a contracts management module operable to automatically extract contract information, based on one or more linguistic rules, from one or more electronic contracts having unstructured textual data;

and

wherein the one or more business compliance rules are generated based at least in part on contract information extracted by contracts management module.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the compliance analysis module is further operable to generate business rule feedback based on the analysis of the procurement data, the business rule feedback indicating the effectiveness of the one or more business compliance rules;

and

wherein the compliance rules database is further operable to store one or more updated business compliance rules developed based on the business rule feedback.

34. The system of claim 24, further comprising:

periodically updating the procurement data stored in the procurement data warehouse;

periodically analyzing the portion of the procurement data related to the particular procurement event to determine whether or not the particular procurement event is compliant;

automatically generating periodic reports based on whether or not the particular procurement event is determined compliant; and

automatically distributing the periodic reports to one or more business entities.

35. The system of claim 24, wherein the data visualization module is operable to automatically generate a plurality of visualizations;

and

wherein the system further comprises one or more output navigation tools allowing navigation through the plurality of visualizations.