System and method for managing item interchange and identification in an extended enterprise

• US 20060235771A1
• Filed: 03/09/2006
• Published: 10/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Agile Software Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Agile Software Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Oberoi, Supreet
• Granted Patent: US 7,854,376 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/29
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 Ensuring data consistency and integrity
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3674 involving authentication

Abstract

A system and method are provided for automatically managing item record interchange in a business enterprise, where an item may be a product, component part, partially assembled or manufactured part, a process, or other item that requires indicia used to identify it within a business enterprise, whether it is a single company enterprise, or a widespread business that receives items from other sources such as manufacturers, suppliers, purchasers, shippers, or other entities. The system provides a universal solution that allows the intake of item records, such as records for manufacturer component parts shipped to a product manufacturer, and integrating the part records from disparate sources into a standard and useable format.

Claims

1. A method for managing item record interchange in a business enterprise comprising:

receiving records related to an item;

identifying indicia identifying an item;

translating item indicia to standard system indicia;

updating alias indicia for an item;

performing edits on the indicia to update the item information; and

executing validation rules having commands that define the manner in which item information is validated.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

identifying indicia that includes at least one of the item'"'"'s name, manufacturer, supplier, assembler or purchaser.

3. A system for managing item record interchange in a business enterprise comprising:

an item intake module configured to receive item records;

an identifying module configured to identify the item according to indicia within the item'"'"'s records;

a translation module configured to automatically translate item name variants into predetermined alias indicia;

a cleansing module configured to update the item indicia;

a validation module configured to validate the item indicia;

an enriching module configured to add new item indicia based on additional intelligence known about the item in the enterprise.

4. A method for translating item identification information comprising:

identifying an item record that has indicia for identifying an item including at least one of the item'"'"'s name, manufacturer, supplier, assembler or purchaser;

establishing multiple levels of alias indicia for an item;

performing edits on the indicia to update the item information; and

executing validation rules having commands that define the manner in which item information is validated.

5. A method according to claim 4, further comprising:

performing exception handling.

6. A method according to claim 5, further comprising performing exception handling in an interactive manner.

7. A method according to claim 4, further comprising adding new alias names to the item.

8. A system for cleansing item identification indicia comprising:

an item intake module configured to receive item records;

an identifying module configured to identify the item according to indicia within the item'"'"'s records;

an aliasing module configured to automatically convert item name variants into predetermined alias indicia.

9. A system according to claim 8 further comprising:

a validation module having validation rules with commands that define the manner in which item indicia is validated.

10. A system according to claim 8 further comprising:

a item record translator for managing item information and configured to automatically convert a item indicia into predetermined indicia.

an interactive framework configured to manage exceptions related to an item and routing of item information.

11. A method comprising:

identifying a item record having indicia for identifying a item including at least one of its name, manufacturer, supplier, assembler or purchaser;

performing edits on the indicia to update the item information;

establishing structural validation rules for defining the manner in which item information is validated;

performing exception handling in an interactive manner.

12. A system configured to cleanse an item record to standardize item names to improve sourcing and inventory consolidation, comprising:

a part number aliasing module configured to automatically convert part numbers originating from separate sources to alternate part numbers;

a parts knowledge base configured to store part information.

13. A method for cleansing a item record to standardize item indicia to improve sourcing and inventory consolidation, comprising:

looking up a standard item name according to a standard indicia data base;

converting a first indicia to a standard indicia;

mapping a standard Indicia to a reference source indicia;

searching an alias for the first indicia;

selecting a item name alias for the first indicia.

14. A method according to claim 13, further comprising:

mapping the first alias indicia is a first MFR name with another alias indicia is another MFR name.

15. In a system for managing item information, a method configured to validate a item record comprising:

looking up a standard item name according to a standard name data base;

if the item has a history in the system, generating a template according to the item history;

if the item has no history in the system and a similar item exists in the system, automatically generating an item matching template by analyzing part matching results and generating an item template according to the matching results.

16. A method according to claim 15, further comprising running a sequence of smart rules to verify the integrity of the indica.

17. A method according to claim 16, further including record structural integrity, as well as the integrity of its attributes of item indicia,

18. A method according to claim 17, wherein the item indicia includes internal part numbers (IPN) and manufacturer part numbers (MPN).

19. A system according to claim 15, further comprising, if the item has no history in the system, and no similar item exists in the system, generating a new template for the item.

20. In a system for managing item information, a method configured to enrich a item record comprising:

assigning a commodity code;

creating a new data source profile;

automatically assigning a plurality of attributes to a part according to a universal component intelligence database;

searching data source profiles by a data source identifier and a data source name.

21. In system for managing item information, a system configured to enrich a item record comprising:

a component intelligence module configured to gather information indicia for components;

a component data base configured to store part information indicia; and

an enrichment module configured to match component indicia to the part.