LINKING ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING DATA TO BUSINESS CAPABILITIES

• US 20100131330A1
• Filed: 11/25/2008
• Published: 05/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Appel, David B., Brown, Daniel C., Corneil, Chad K., Merrifield, Eric S. JR.
• Granted Patent: US 8,655,711 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce

Abstract

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for linking enterprise resource planning data to business capabilities. Embodiments provide a linkage between schematized ERP data (e.g., financial data) and schematized business capabilities. The linkage provides the ability to report in a visual way that permits the linkage of such things as business value, performance, maturity, interconnectedness, process standardization, compliance, etc. As such, businesses capabilities can be linked to specific spend amounts in ERP data.

Claims

1. In a computer architecture, a method for making a business related decision based on how a specified portion of enterprise resource planning data maps to an organization'"'"'s business capabilities, the method comprising

an act of accessing a schema-based model for the organization, the schema-based model modeling a plurality of interrelated business capabilities for the organization at a specified level of detail, each business capability representing a portion of what work the organization does;

an act of accessing a schema-based representation of a portion of enterprise resource planning data for the organization, the portion of enterprise resource planning data formatted in a format for purposes of report generation;

an act of identifying an express schema-based link between the portion of enterprise resource planning data and each of the plurality of interrelated business capabilities, each schema based-link linking the portion of enterprise resource data to a corresponding business capability, each schema-based link including property values indicative of a corresponding business capability'"'"'s contribution to the portion of enterprise resource planning data;

an act of utilizing the property values to identify what business capabilities specifically contribute to the portion of enterprise resource data; and

an act of making a business related decision with respect to the specified portion of enterprise resource planning data based on the identified business capabilities and the property values.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing a schema-based model for the organization comprises an act accessing a business capability model, the capability model defining service level expectations that can contribute to enterprise resource planning data.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing a schema-based representation of a portion of enterprise resource planning data for the organization comprises an act of accessing schematized financial data for the organization.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing a schema-based representation of a portion of enterprise resource planning data for the organization comprises an act of accessing enterprise resource planning data formatted for inclusion in a report to a governmental agency

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing a schema-based representation of a portion of enterprise resource planning data comprise an act of accessing schematized data from the database of an enterprise resource planning system for the organization.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing a schema-based representation of a portion of enterprise resource planning data comprise an act of accessing data for a proposed project the organization is considering undertaking.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising

an act of generating a contribution mapping from the property values, the contribution making indicating the specific contribution of contributing business capabilities to the financial data.

8. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the act of making a business related decision with respect to the specified portion of enterprise resource planning data comprises making a decision based on the contents of the contribution mapping.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of making a business related decision with respect to the specified portion of enterprise resource planning data comprises an act of making a decision with respect to one or more of:

a vertical industry strategy for the organization and a strategic direction for the organization.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of making a business related decision with respect to the specified portion of enterprise resource planning data comprises an act of aligning the goals of an organizational project with the contributions of the business capabilities.

11. A computer program product for use in a computer architecture, the computer program product for implementing a method for making a business related decision based on how a specified portion of enterprise resource planning data maps to an organization'"'"'s business capabilities, the computer program product comprises one or more physical storage media having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed at a processor, cause the computer architecture to implement the method, including the following:

access a schema-based model for the organization, the schema-based model modeling a plurality of interrelated business capabilities for the organization at a specified level of detail, each business capability representing a portion of what work the organization does;

access a schema-based representation of a portion of enterprise resource planning data for the organization, the portion of enterprise resource planning data formatted in a format for purposes of report generation;

identify an express schema-based link between the portion of enterprise resource planning data and each of the plurality of interrelated business capabilities, each schema based-link linking the portion of enterprise resource data to a corresponding business capability, each schema-based link including property values indicative of a corresponding business capability'"'"'s contribution to the portion of enterprise resource planning data;

utilize the property values to identify what business capabilities specifically contribute to the portion of enterprise resource data; and

make a business related decision with respect to the specified portion of enterprise resource planning data based on the identified business capabilities and the property values.

12. The computer program product as recited in claim 11, wherein computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to access a schema-based model for the organization comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to access a business capability model, the capability model defining service level expectations that can contribute to enterprise resource planning data.

13. The computer program product as recited in claim 11, wherein computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to access a schema-based representation of a portion of enterprise resource planning data for the organization comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to access schematized financial data for the organization.

14. The computer program product as recited in claim 11, wherein computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to access a schema-based representation of a portion of enterprise resource planning data for the organization comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to access enterprise resource planning data formatted for inclusion in a report to a governmental agency

15. The computer program product as recited in claim 11, wherein computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to access a schema-based representation of a portion of enterprise resource planning data for the organization comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to access schematized data from the database of an enterprise resource planning system for the organization.

17. The computer program product as recited in claim 11, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to generate a contribution mapping from the property values, the contribution making indicating the specific contribution of contributing business capabilities to the financial data.

18. The computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to make a business related decision with respect to the specified portion of enterprise resource planning data based on the identified business capabilities and the property values comprise computer-executable instructions that when execute cause the computer architecture to make a decision based on the contents of the contribution mapping.

19. The computer program product as recited in claim 11, wherein computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to make a business related decision with respect to the specified portion of enterprise resource planning data based on the identified business capabilities and the property values comprise computer-executable instructions that when execute cause the computer architecture to make a decision with respect to a one or more of a vertical industry strategy for the organization and a strategic direction for the organization.

20. A networked computer system for an organization, the networked computer system including:

one or more processors;

system memory;

one or more physical storage media, the physical storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions representing an enterprise resource planning system, the enterprise resource planning system including;

a plurality of software modules for implementing business functionality of the organization;

a database that stores data in a central location accessible to each of the plurality of software modules such that the plurality of software modules can interoperate based on the stored data; and

a data aggregator, the data aggregator configured to format data from the database into one or more data formats used by the organization, including formatting financial data for financial reporting; and

the physical storage media also having stored thereon one or more external software modules external to the enterprise resource planning system, the one or more other software modules configured to map contributions from the organization'"'"'s business capabilities to the financial data, the one or more external software modules configured to;

access a schema-based model for the organization, the schema-based model modeling a plurality of interrelated business capabilities for the organization, each business capability representing a portion of what work the organization does;

access a schema-based representation of the financial data, the financial data formatted for financial reporting;

identify an express schema-based link between the financial data and each of the plurality of interrelated business capabilities, each schema based-link linking the financial data to a corresponding business capability, each schema-based link including property values indicative of a corresponding business capability'"'"'s contribution to the financial data;

utilize the property values to identify what business capabilities specifically contribute to the financial data; and

generate a contribution mapping from the property values, the contribution making indicating the specific contribution of contributing business capabilities to the financial data.