System and method for managing spending

• US 20030130878A1
• Filed: 10/23/2002
• Published: 07/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: McLemore, Sandy A., Tehrani, Saeid, Kruk, Jeffrey M., Quigney, Peter P., Richards, Paul J., Shaver, Joseph M.
• Application Number:
  US10/279,180
• Publication Number:
  US 20030130878A1
• 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 spending is provided. The method includes collecting procurement data from a plurality of data sources which may have associated source-specific product catalogs. The method further includes storing a global catalog specifying mapping relationships between source-specific product attributes specified by the source-specific product catalogs and generic attributes specified by the global catalog. The method further includes mapping the source-specific attributes associated with particular products to corresponding generic attributes based on the mapping relationships. The method further includes analyzing a portion of the collected procurement data, including identifying information regarding products associated with the particular procurement events based on the generic attributes associated with the products. The method further includes automatically generating a visual output based on the analysis of the collected procurement data.

Claims

1. A method of managing spending, comprising:

collecting procurement data from a plurality of data sources, the procurement data including information regarding a plurality of procurement events, one or more of the data sources having an associated source-specific product catalog;

storing a global catalog specifying, for each of a plurality of products, mapping relationships between source-specific product attributes specified by the one or more source-specific product catalogs and one or more generic attributes specified by the global catalog;

mapping the source-specific attributes associated with products identified by the collected procurement data to the corresponding generic attributes based on the mapping relationships;

analyzing a portion of the collected procurement data, including identifying information regarding particular products based on the generic attributes associated with the one or more products; and

automatically generating a visual output based on the analysis of the collected procurement data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting procurement data from a plurality of data sources includes collecting 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 information regarding the business parameter from the unstructured textual data using one or more of the linguistic rules; and

collecting at least a portion of the automatically extracted information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the procurement issue concerns the procurement of a particular product; and

the visual output illustrates one or more details of the procurement of the particular product.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the procurement issue concerns two or more procurement parameters; and

the visual output illustrates a relationship between at least two of the two or more procurement parameters.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the visual output comprises a three-dimensional visualization illustrating the relationship between the at least two types of procurement parameters.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein:

the procurement issue concerns the procurement of two or more particular products; and

the visual output illustrates a relationship between the procurement of one of the particular products and the procurement of another of the particular products.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically identifying one or more business entities associated with each of the plurality of procurement events;

and wherein;

the visual output illustrates one or more details regarding procurement events associated with at least one of the one or more business entities.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing one or more business relationships among a set of two or more related business entities; and

automatically identifying, for a particular procurement event associated with a particular business entity of the set of related business entities, one or more related business entities based on the stored business relationships; and

wherein the visual output illustrates procurement information regarding at least two of the set of related business entities.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein:

the set of two or more related business entities comprises two or more business entities having made procurement purchases; and

the visual output illustrates information regarding procurements made by at least two of the set of related business entities.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising automatically receiving the one or more business relationships from a business information provider.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically determining the one or more procurement events associated with the particular procurement issue.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically classifying each of the plurality of procurement events based on one or more classification rules;

14. 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.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for a business intelligence report, the request being initiated based on an analysis of the visual output;

analyzing at least a portion of the collected procurement data; and

automatically generating the business intelligence report in response to the request based on the analysis of the collected procurement data.

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

collecting procurement data from a plurality of data sources;

periodically receiving additional procurement data from one or more of the plurality of data sources; and

updating the procurement data based on the additional procurement data.

17. Software for managing spending, 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, one or more of the data sources having an associated source-specific product catalog;

store a global catalog specifying, for each of a plurality of products, mapping relationships between source-specific product attributes specified by the one or more source-specific product catalogs and one or more generic attributes specified by the global catalog;

map the source-specific attributes associated with products identified by the collected procurement data to the corresponding generic attributes based on the mapping relationships;

analyze a portion of the collected procurement data, including identifying information regarding particular products based on the generic attributes associated with the one or more particular products; and

generate a visual output based on the analysis of the collected procurement data.

18. The software of claim 17, wherein collecting procurement data from a plurality of data sources includes collecting information automatically extracted from a plurality of electronic contracts based on a set of linguistic rules.

19. The software of claim 17, 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 information regarding the business parameter from the unstructured textual data using one or more of the linguistic rules; and

collecting at least a portion of the automatically extracted information.

20. The software of claim 17, wherein:

the procurement issue concerns the procurement of a particular product; and

the visual output illustrates one or more details of the procurement of the particular product.

21. The software of claim 17, wherein:

the procurement issue concerns two or more procurement parameters; and

the visual output illustrates a relationship between at least two of the two or more procurement parameters.

22. The software of claim 21, wherein the visual output comprises a three-dimensional visualization illustrating the relationship between the at least two procurement parameters.

23. The software of claim 21, wherein:

the procurement issue concerns the procurement of two or more particular products; and

the visual output illustrates a relationship between the procurement of one of the particular products and the procurement of another one of the particular products.

24. The software of claim 17, further operable to identify one or more business entities associated with each of the plurality of procurement events;

and

wherein the visual output illustrates one or more details regarding procurement events associated with at least one of the one or more business entities.

25. The software of claim 17, further operable to:

store one or more business relationships among a set of two or more related business entities; and

identify, for a particular procurement event associated with a particular business entity of the set of related business entities, one or more related business entities based on the stored business relationships; and

wherein the visual output illustrates procurement information regarding at least two of the set of related business entities.

26. The software of claim 25, wherein:

the set of two or more related business entities comprises two or more business entities having made procurement purchases; and

the visual output illustrates information regarding procurements made by at least two of the set of related business entities.

27. The software of claim 25, further operable to receive the one or more business relationships from a business information provider.

28. The software of claim 17, 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.

29. The software of claim 17, further operable to:

receive a request for a business intelligence report, the request being initiated based on an analysis of the visual output;

analyze at least a portion of the collected procurement data; and

generate a business intelligence report in response to the request based on the analysis of the collected procurement data.

30. The software of claim 17, wherein collecting procurement data from a plurality of data sources comprises:

collecting procurement data from a plurality of data sources;

periodically receiving additional procurement data from one or more of the plurality of data sources; and

updating the procurement data based on the additional procurement data.

31. A system for managing spending, comprising:

a data warehouse operable to collect procurement data from a plurality of data sources, the procurement data including information regarding a plurality of procurement events, one or more of the data sources having an associated source-specific product catalog;

a global catalog module operable to;

store a global catalog specifying, for each of a plurality of products, mapping relationships between source-specific product attributes specified by the one or more source-specific product catalogs and one or more generic attributes specified by the global catalog; and

map the source-specific attributes associated with one or more products identified by the collected procurement data to the corresponding generic attributes based on the mapping relationships;

a data analysis module operable to analyze a portion of the collected procurement data, including identifying information regarding particular products based on the generic attributes associated with the one or more particular products; and

a data visualization module operable to generate a visual output based on the analysis of the collected procurement data.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein collecting procurement data from a plurality of data sources includes collecting information automatically extracted from a plurality of electronic contracts based on a set of linguistic rules.

33. The system of claim 31, further comprising:

a contracts database operable to store a plurality of electronic contracts including 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 particular information regarding the business parameter from the unstructured textual data using one or more of the linguistic rules; and

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

34. The system of claim 31, wherein:

the procurement issue concerns the procurement of a particular product; and

the visual output illustrates one or more details of the procurement of the particular product.

35. The system of claim 31, wherein:

the procurement issue concerns two or more procurement parameters; and

the visual output illustrates a relationship between at least two of the two or more procurement parameters.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the visual output comprises a three-dimensional visualization illustrating the relationship between the at least two procurement parameters.

37. The system of claim 35, wherein:

the procurement issue concerns the procurement of two or more particular products; and

the visual output illustrates a relationship between the procurement of one of the particular products and the procurement of another one of the particular products.

38. The system of claim 31, further comprising:

a business entity identification module operable to identify one or more business entities associated with each of the plurality of procurement events; and

wherein the visual output illustrates one or more details regarding procurement events associated with the particular business entity.

39. The system of claim 31, further comprising:

a business entity relationships database operable to store one or more business relationships among a set of two or more related business entities; and

a business entity identification module operable to identify, for a particular procurement event associated with a particular business entity of the set of related business entities, one or more related business entities based on the stored business relationships; and

wherein the request concerns procurement events associated with at least one business entity of the set of related business entities; and

wherein the visual output illustrates procurement information regarding at least two of the set of related business entities.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein:

the set of two or more related business entities comprises two or more business entities having made procurement purchases; and

the visual output illustrates information regarding procurements made by at least two of the set of related business entities.

41. The system of claim 39, wherein the business entity identification module is operable to receive the one or more business relationships from a business information provider.

42. The system of claim 31, wherein:

the visual output comprises a plurality of visualizations; and

the data visualization module is further operable to provide navigation tools for navigating through the plurality of visualizations.

43. The system of claim 31, further comprising a business intelligence reporting module operable to:

receive a request for a business intelligence report, the request being initiated based on an analysis of the visual output;

analyze at least a portion of the collected procurement data; and

generate a business intelligence report in response to the request based on the analysis of the collected procurement data.

44. The system of claim 31, wherein the data warehouse is operable to collect procurement data from a plurality of data sources by:

collecting procurement data from a plurality of data sources;

periodically receiving additional procurement data from one or more of the plurality of data sources; and

updating the collected procurement data based on the additional procurement data.