Value Chain Management

• US 20080052149A1
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Published: 02/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blue Yonder Group, Inc. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: JDA Software Group Incorporated (RedPrairie Holding Incorporated)
• Inventors: Fischer, David, Sharma, Rakesh, Rangarajan, Bharadwaj, Ganesan, Ramnath, Squires, Geoffrey, Ghodke, Deepak
• Granted Patent: US 10,102,488 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• 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 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• 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 10/06315 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 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities

Abstract

A system for managing a value chain includes a planning application that receives planning data from a number of entities included in a value chain and automatically generates a plan according to the planning data. At least two of the entities do not directly communicate planning data to one another. The system also includes a manager application that receives the plan and automatically identifies one or more exceptions in the plan, communicates planning data relating to the exceptions to one or more of the entities, receives instructions from one or more of the entities regarding how the exceptions are to resolved, and automatically modifies the planning data in response to the instructions.

Claims

1. A system for managing a value chain, comprising:

a planning application operable to receive planning data from a plurality of entities included in a value chain and to automatically generate a plan according to the planning data, at least two of the entities not directly communicating planning data to one another; and

a manager application operable to;

receive the plan and automatically identify one or more exceptions in the plan;

communicate planning data relating to the exceptions to one or more of the entities;

receive instructions from one or more of the entities regarding how the exceptions are to be resolved; and

automatically modify the planning data in response to the instructions.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the planning application comprises a supply chain planning engine, the plurality of entities comprise enterprises, and the plan comprises a supply chain plan for at least a portion of a supply chain including the enterprises.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the exceptions comprises an excess or lack of supply of an item.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the planning data comprises data selected from the group consisting of demand data, supply data, inventory data, and capacity data.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising an electronic marketplace that supports the planning application and the manager application.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the marketplace comprises a web server operable to communicate the planning data relating to the exceptions to one or more entities in the value chain.

7. A method for managing a value chain, comprising:

receiving planning data from a plurality of entities included in a value chain, at least two of the entities not directly communicating planning data to one another;

automatically generating a plan according to the planning data;

automatically identifying one or more exceptions in the plan;

communicating planning data relating to the exceptions to one or more of the entities;

receiving instructions from one or more of the entities regarding how the exceptions are to be resolved; and

automatically modifying the planning data in response to the instructions.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of entities comprise enterprises and the plan comprises a supply chain plan for at least a portion of a supply chain including the enterprises.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one of the exceptions comprises an excess or lack of supply of an item.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the planning data comprises data selected from the group consisting of demand data, supply data, inventory data, and capacity data.

11. Software for managing a value chain, the software embodied in a computer-readable medium and operable, when executed, to:

receive planning data from a plurality of entities included in a value chain, at least two of the entities not directly communicating planning data to one another;

automatically generate a plan according to the planning data;

automatically identify one or more exceptions in the plan;

communicate planning data relating to the exceptions to one or more of the entities;

receive instructions from one or more of the entities regarding how the exceptions are to be resolved; and

automatically modify the planning data in response to the instructions.

12. The software of claim 11, wherein the plurality of entities comprise enterprises and the plan comprises a supply chain plan for at least a portion of a supply chain including the enterprises.

13. The software of claim 11, wherein at least one of the exceptions comprises an excess or lack of supply of an item.

14. The software of claim 11, wherein the planning data comprises data selected from the group consisting of demand data, supply data, inventory data, and capacity data.