ENTITY VALIDATION FRAMEWORK

• US 20070203851A1
• Filed: 02/28/2006
• Published: 08/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Sudhi, Suraj
• Granted Patent: US 7,558,737 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/75
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A method is provided for validating one entity, say a business or job applicant, for another entity (the requesting entity), say another business, that includes the steps of, classifying the entity type to be validated based on one or more predefined classifiers of an entity, applying one or more validation rules based on the classification for the entity type to produce a validation request, providing a validation request to one or more validation entities that perform at least a portion of the validation in accordance with the validation rules, and providing a validation outcome to the requesting entity that allows the requesting entity to assess the business or job applicant based on the validation rules and the source of the validation outcomes. Such a system and framework allows businesses to perform checks in a more structured and efficient way and allows for the sharing of validation outcomes amongst like entities.

Claims

1. A method for validating one requesting entity for another entity including the steps of:

classifying the entity type to be validated based on one or more predefined classifiers of an entity;

applying one or more validation rules based on the classification for the entity type to produce a validation request;

providing a validation request to one or more validation entities that perform at least a portion of the validation in accordance with the validation rules; and

providing a validation outcome to the requesting entity.

2. The method according to claim 1 including in the step of providing a validation outcome an indication of positive, negative or some other level of validation.

3. The method according to claim 1 including the further step of creating one or more classifiers for determining an entity type.

4. The method according to claim 1 including the further step of creating one or more validation rules.

5. The method according to claim 1 including the further step of providing a validation request to one or more validation entities other than the validation entities of claim 1.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the validation rules include a filter using predetermined criteria.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the validation rules are applied using a predetermined selection of validation criteria.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein all or a portion of the validation request can be provided from one validation entity to another for complete or partial validation of the request.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the validation request includes one or more of a minimum time to respond with a validation outcome or some portion of the validation outcome and the priority of the validation request.

10. The method of claim 1 including the further step of communicating a validation request in an eXtended Mark-up Language.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the entities performing a validation is the requesting entity.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the validation entities includes a central database of validation related information.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein validation entities exchange validation related information rather than validation requests.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the entity requesting validation keeps an accessible record of the entity request outcomes and entity requests.

15. A system for validating one entity for another including:

a hardware integrated classifying arrangement for classifying the entity type to be validated based on one or more predefined classifiers of an entity;

a hardware intergated rule arrangement for applying one or more validation rules based on the classification for the entity type to produce a validation request;

a hardware integrated validation report arrangement for providing a validation request; and

one or more hardware integrated validation arrangements that receive a validation report and perform at least a portion of the validation in accordance with the validation rules and provide a validation outcome to the requesting arrangement using the validation arrangement that received the validation request.

16. A computer readable medium encoded with data representing a computer program that can be used to direct a programmable device for validating one entity for another including:

a classifying element in software form for classifying the entity type to be validated based on one or more predefined classifiers of an entity;

a rule element in software form for applying one or more validation rules based on the classification for the entity type to produce a validation request;

a validation report element in software form for providing a validation request wherein there are one or more validation entities that receive a validation report and perform at least a portion of the validation in accordance with the validation rules and provide a validation outcome to the requesting entity using the validation entity that received the validation request.

17. A computer readable memory, encoded with data representing a computer program that can be used to direct a programmable device for validating one entity for another including:

means for classifying the entity type to be validated based on one or more predefined classifiers of an entity;

means for applying one or more validation rules based on the classification for the entity type to produce a validation request;

means for providing a validation request wherein there are one or more validation entities that receive a validation report and perform at least a portion of the validation in accordance with the validation rules and provide a validation outcome to the requesting entity using the validation entity that received the validation request.