Parts supersession system

• US 20060190342A1
• Filed: 02/22/2005
• Published: 08/24/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Stollarski, Adam, Dendl, Stefan, Von Helmolt, Hans-Ulrich, Kreuels, Carsten, Schick, Wolfram
• Granted Patent: US 8,095,433 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method for identifying replacement parts. Replacement parts may be identified although they do not correlate to obsolete parts on a one-to-one basis. Both replaced parts and their substitutes may be tracked by, for example, associating an identifier with the part. Each identifier may be a string of characters that uniquely refers to the part. The identifier of the replaced part may be linked to an array of identifiers, each corresponding to a replacement part. A user may enter the identifier of the replaced part and retrieve data corresponding to each of the substitutes. During the lifecycle of the product, replacement parts may be replaced. Data may be retrieved showing a hierarchy describing a history of multiple replacements. The user need not know that a part has been replaced to retrieve re-designed or remanufactured part information.

Claims

1. A system for identifying replacement parts comprising:

a customer order manager that manages orders for parts, wherein the orders include identifiers identifying the ordered parts; and

a part database that stores data representing parts supersession, wherein responsive to an identifier of an ordered part submitted by the customer order manager, the parts database determines whether a parts substitution involves multiple replacement parts and, if so, the parts database notifies the customer order manager by providing replacement part identifiers corresponding to the replacement parts;

wherein the customer order manager alters the order to substitute multiple replacement parts for the ordered part.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a browser that displays graphical user interfaces that provide part offerings and accepts the orders from an operator.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a communications manager that supports interactive exchanges a Web browser processed by a terminal operated by the operator.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a supply chain management system that manages the chain of events that are performed to transfer products from suppliers to purchasers;

wherein the supply chain management system comprises the part database.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a customer relationship management system that stores data representing customer profiles, determines who has purchasing authority, and maintains past order histories, wherein the customer order manager resides in the customer relationship management system.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

a supply chain management system that manages the chain of events that are performed to transfer products from suppliers to purchasers;

wherein the supply chain management comprises the part database.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising an Internet sales application that provides users with descriptions of products for sale.

8. A method for identifying replacement products comprising:

extracting data from an order entered by an operator, the data comprising information identifying an ordered item;

comparing the extracted data to identifiers of replaced products;

upon identification of a match, retrieving descriptions of multiple replacement products that substitute for the ordered item; and

rewriting the order to replace submitted data describing the ordered item with retrieved data describing the multiple replacement products.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the ordered item is a re-designed component of a high value item.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the order specifies whether the operator will accept substitute products and the rewritten order is automatically finalized without further acceptance by the operator.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the replaced products and the multiple replacement products are each represented by an object.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the descriptions of multiple replacement products are retrieved by accessing storage pointed to by an array of pointers, each pointer corresponding to one of said multiple replacement products.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein at least one of the objects includes an array of pointers, each pointer pointing to a replacement product object that represents one of said multiple replacement products.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the operator need not approve a modified order including substitute products after providing initial authorization allowing substitution.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the replaced products are replaced kits.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein a subset of the identifiers represent replaced kits and said extracted data is compared to the subset.

17. The method of claim 8, wherein one of the multiple replacement products has been replaced by a second replacement product and the rewritten order comprises retrieved data describing the second replacement product.

18. A computer readable medium storing thereon program instructions that, when executed, cause an executing device to:

extract data from an order entered by an operator, the data comprising information identifying an ordered item;

compare the extracted data to identifiers of replaced products;

upon identification of a match, retrieve descriptions of multiple replacement products that substitute for the ordered item; and

rewrite the order to replace submitted data describing the ordered item with retrieved data describing the multiple replacement products.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the ordered item is a re-designed component of a high value item.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the order specifies whether the operator will accept substitute products and the rewritten order is automatically finalized without further acceptance by the operator.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the replaced products and the multiple replacement products are each represented by an object.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the descriptions of multiple replacement products are retrieved by accessing storage pointed to by an array of pointers, each pointer corresponding to one of said multiple replacement products.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein at least one of the objects includes an array of pointers, each pointer pointing to a replacement product object that represents one of said multiple replacement products.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the operator need not approve a modified order including substitute products after providing initial authorization allowing substitution.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein the replaced products are replaced kits.

26. The method of claim 18, wherein a subset of the identifiers represent replaced kits and said extracted data is compared to the subset.

27. The method of claim 18, wherein one of the multiple replacement products has been replaced by a second replacement product and the rewritten order comprises retrieved data describing the second replacement product.