Data model for business relationships

• US 20070250408A1
• Filed: 03/24/2003
• Published: 10/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Siebel Systems Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Muralitharan, Caroline, Lee, Lin, Exley, Richard, Leon, Maria, Catahan, Nardo, Christensen, Adam, Tittel, Silvia
• Granted Patent: US 7,856,454 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A data model that allows for relationships between entities, also referred to as parties, to be modeled as attributes of an entity and for customization of the data model in a manner that facilitates upgrading of the data model. The data model defines a party class that includes a party identifier and a list of relationships of that party with other parties. The relationships may include represented-by relationships, customer-of relationships, contact-of relationships, or employee-of relationships. The party class can be sub-classed (i.e., be a base class for a derived class) depending on the type of party that is being model.

Claims

1. A method in a computer system for representing a class definition, the method comprising:

defining a party class with a party identifier and a list of relationships of the party, the relationships optionally including a list of one or more represented-by relationships, a list of one or more customer-of relationships, a list of one or more contact-of relationships, or list of one or more employee-of relationships; and

defining a plurality of derived classes that derives from the party class and provide data specific to a type of a party.

2. The method of claim 1 including instantiating a derived class for a type of party and initializing data of the instantiated derived class.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the type of a party includes a business unit, a household, an organization, and a person.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein a derived class defines base data for that derived class.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein each contact-of relationship defines a job title for that contact-of relationship.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the party class includes a custom data relationship element for defining a custom relationship for the class.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein a customer relationship between a party and business unit is defined using an attribute of the party.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the class definition is represented as an XML schema.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the party class includes custom data elements at various levels in a hierarchy of class elements representing custom data, wherein the custom data elements reference an XML schema for the custom data.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the party class includes a list of one or more addresses.

11. A method in a computer system for specifying custom data for a class defined using an XML schema, the method comprising:

providing a class XML schema document that includes a class definition that defines a hierarchy of complex elements, the class definition including for various complex elements within the hierarchy of complex elements a reference to a custom element specified in a custom XML schema document; and

providing one or more custom XML schema documents that include definitions of custom elements referenced by the provided class XML schema document.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the class definition defines a party class that is a base class for various types of parties.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the types of a party include a business unit, a household, an organization, and a person.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the reference to a custom element specified in a custom XML schema document includes a specification of a namespace for that custom XML schema document and a definition element whose type is defined in that custom XML schema document.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the reference to a custom element specified in a custom XML schema document includes an identification of a location of the custom XML schema document.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the element whose type is defined in that custom XML schema document is specified as being optional.

17. A method for modeling customer relationships, the method comprising:

identifying parties;

identifying customer relationships between two parties in which one party is a customer of the other party;

for each identified party, creating a party object describing the identified party; and

for each identified customer relationship, storing in the created party object for the party that is the customer of the other party an indication of the other party

wherein when a party is a customer of more than one other party, indications of each other party is stored in the created party object for the party that is the customer.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein a party can be a business unit, a household, an organization, and a person.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein a party can only be a customer of a party that is a business unit.

20. The method of claim 17 including, for each identified customer relationship, storing in the created party object for the party that is the customer of the other party relationship data relating to the customer relationship.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the relationship data includes one or more billing profiles for the party that is the customer.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein the relationship data includes satisfaction rating information of the customer.

23. A computer-readable medium containing a data structure for representing a party, comprising:

a party identifier for identifying the party;

a list for representing zero or more represented-by relationships that indicates representatives of the party;

a list for representing zero or more customer-of relationships that indicates who the party is a customer of;

a list for representing zero or more contact-of relationships that indicates who the party is a contact of; and

a list for representing zero or more employee-of relationships that indicates who the party is an employee of.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein the data structure is part of a derived class that inherits the data structure.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein the party can be a business unit, a household, an organization, or a person.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein the data structure further includes a custom relationship element for defining a custom relationship.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein the data structure includes a list of license data for the party.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein the data structure includes a list of alternate identifiers for the party.

29. A computer-readable medium containing a data structure for representing a party, comprising:

a party identifier for identifying the party;

communications data indicating contact data for the party;

data cleansing data indicating whether the data of the data structure should be cleansed;

a list of addresses indicating addresses associated with party;

a list of relationships indicating relationships between the party and other parties;

a list of alternate identifiers that indicate the identifier of the party; and

a list of license data indication licenses of the party.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 29 including custom data.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 29 wherein the list of relationships include:

a list for representing zero or more represented-by relationships that indicates representatives of the party;

a list for representing zero or more customer-of relationships that indicates who the party is a customer of;

a list for representing zero or more contact-of relationships that indicates who the party is a contact of; and

a list for representing zero or more employee-of relationships that indicates who the party is an employee of.

32. A computer-readable medium containing a data structure that can be customized comprising:

an XML schema for a class, the class having a hierarchy of complex elements including various complex elements within the hierarchy that include a custom element that is specified in a custom XML schema; and

for each custom element, a custom XML schema having custom elements referenced by the XML schema for the class.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 32 wherein the XML schema represents a party class.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 32 wherein the XML schema for the class includes a list of relationships for the class.