Methods and Systems for Sharing Information in a Supply Chain

• US 20100235322A1
• Filed: 01/25/2010
• Published: 09/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Bhatt, Chaitanya, Kuruganti, Aditya S., Moxley, William, Doshi, Kedar
• Granted Patent: US 9,286,364 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/610
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/273 Asynchronous replication or reconciliation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

Method and systems for sharing product data involved in a supply chain among a plurality of subscribers to an on-demand database is described. Data related to a product is received from a first subscriber and stored into a first section of the on-demand database reserved for the first subscriber. The first subscriber then communicates a request to share the product data with one or more second subscribers. Once the first subscriber receives an acceptance from the one or more second subscribers, the product data van be stored in a second section of the on-demand database reserved for the second subscriber. Changes made to the data associated with the product can be synchronized between the two subscribers.

Claims

1. A method of sharing information involved in a supply chain among a plurality of subscribers of a database system, each subscriber having users that access the database system, wherein the plurality of subscribers includes a first subscriber and a second subscriber, the method comprising:

the database system receiving, from the first subscriber, first data related to a product;

creating, from the first data, a first product record in a first section of the database system reserved for the first subscriber, the first product record being an instance of a first product object;

the database system receiving, from a second subscriber, an acceptance of a request to share product data of the first product record with the second subscriber;

storing second data associated with the first product record in a second section of the database system that is reserved for the second subscriber; and

the database system synchronizing a change made to the first product record in the first section by updating the second data stored in the second section.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second data is stored as part of a second product record.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an association between the first product record and an opportunity record that represents a business deal among the subscribers, wherein the request to share the first product record is part of a request to share the opportunity record, and

creating at least one additional product record, wherein the request to share the opportunity record includes the at least one additional product record.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from a first user of the first subscriber, a request to share the product data of the first product record with the second subscriber.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a mapping from the product data of the first product record stored in the first section of the database system to the second data stored in the second section of the database system, wherein the mapping defines which fields of the first product object are mapped to corresponding fields of a second product object of the second subscriber.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving a selection of the fields of the first product object to be mapped, wherein the selected fields determine what product data is to be shared with the second subscriber.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the mapping is retroactively applied to the first product object shared with a second subscriber.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein a field of the second product record is automatically updated in the second section when the corresponding field of the first product record is modified in the first section, the second product record being an instance of the second product object.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the database system automatically determines the mapping of one of more fields of the first product object to the second product object.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving, from the first subscriber, a selection of one or more fields of the first product object that correspond to respective fields of the second product object; and

mapping the selected fields to corresponding field of the second product object of the second subscriber.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the mapping is packaged as a product object and shared by the first subscriber with the second subscriber.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the database system receiving, from the first subscriber, an acceptance to a request to share the second product data with the first subscriber; and

the database system synchronizing a change made to the second product data in the second section by updating the first product record stored in the first section.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first subscriber and second subscriber have associated permissions within the database system in order to share product data.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein, the method further comprises:

creating a queue of one or more second subscribers in the database system;

receiving a request to share product data from the first subscriber; and

forwarding the request to share product data to the next available second subscriber in the queue.

15. A computer program product comprising a tangible computer readable medium storing a plurality of instructions for controlling one or more processors of a database system to perform an operation for sharing information involved in a supply chain among a plurality of subscribers, each subscriber having users that access the database system, wherein the plurality of subscribers includes a first subscriber and a second subscriber the instructions comprising:

the database system receiving, from the first subscriber, first data related to a product;

creating, from the first data, a first product record in a first section of the database system reserved for the first subscriber, the first product record being an instance of a first product object;

the database system receiving, from a second subscriber, an acceptance of a request to share product data of the first product record with the second subscriber;

storing second data associated with the first product record in a second section of the database system that is reserved for the second subscriber; and

the database system synchronizing a change made to the first product record in the first section by updating the second data stored in the second section.

16. An database system for sharing information in a supply chain among a plurality of subscribers, each subscriber having users that access the database system, wherein the plurality of subscribers includes a first subscriber and a second subscriber, the system comprising:

a database that receives, from the first subscriber, data related to a product; and

one or more processors configured to;

create, from the data, a first product record in a first section of the database system reserved for the first subscriber, the first product record being an instance of a first product object;

receive, from the second subscriber, an acceptance of a request to share product data with the second subscriber;

store data associated with the first product record in a second section of the database system that is reserved for the second subscriber, wherein the data is stored as a second product record; and

synchronize a change made to the data associated with the first product record in the first section by updating the data associated with the second product record stored in the second section.

17. The database system of claim 16, wherein the database is customizable to allow the second subscriber to automate the sharing of product data from the first subscriber.

18. The database system of claim 17, wherein the database is customizable to allow the second subscriber to automate the creation of a new product data record in the second section when changes are made to shared product data in the first section.