Data model for supply chain planning

• US 6,477,660 B1
• Filed: 03/03/1998
• Issued: 11/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Söhner, Volkmar A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoleil, Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bonzo, Bryce P.
• Application Number:
  US09/033,840
• Time in Patent Office: 1,708 Days
• Field of Search: 705/8, 700/97, 700/102, 700/99, 700/100, 700/106, 714/1
• US Class Current: 714/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations

Abstract

A data model for a supply chain is provided whereby individual working steps in a production process are defined as activities, and organized groups of such activities are defined as orders. Activities are allocated to no more than one resource and contain information concerning the start and finish time for the activity, any resource on which the activity is currently scheduled, and a list of alternative resources, if any. Activities are linked to each other via auxiliary objects, which contain information concerning the minimum and maximum time between activities. Orders may contain input and/or output interface nodes, representing the materials consumed and produced by the order. Each output interface node representing a quantity of material created from one order is linked via an auxiliary object to respective input interface node or nodes from other orders that are scheduled to receive that material. Order anchors are defined whereby a planning algorithm can easily reference an order by its order number in a database table. Planning object anchors allow the planning algorithm to access all the orders for a given material, and resource anchors permit access to all activities scheduled for that resource.

Claims

1. A system for storing and processing supply chain planning information, said information organized and stored in a computer memory for access at a runtime by an application program for supply chain planning, said system comprising:

an input data containing said supply chain planning information about at least one resource, said data being inputted, organized and stored in said computer memory, wherein the organization of said input data comprises the steps of;

a) dividing said input data into plurality of activities, each one of said plurality of activities representing an individual working step in a production process, and being indivisible from a production planning perspective;

b) grouping said plurality of activities into plurality of orders, wherein related activities within same order are linked together into at least one network, each of said related activities referencing all immediately preceding and all immediately following activities in chronological sequence;

c) providing a direct link to a first and last activity within each said order, said direct link stored in a computer memory for access by supply chain planning application program during runtime;

d) providing at least one input interface node for each said order, wherein said input interface node represents a material required by said order, each input interface node being linked to all activities that require said material; and

e) providing at least one output interface node for each said order, wherein said output interface node represents a material created by said order, each output interface node being linked to all activities that create said material;

wherein each output interface node of a first order of said plurality of orders is linked to reference a respective input interface node of each subsequent order of said plurality of orders, scheduled to require the material associated with said output interface node of said first order; and

at least one application program running on said computer, said program accessing and processing said data for supply chain planning by utilizing said direct links stored in said computer memory for access to said first activity of a desired order within said plurality of orders, and thereafter utilizing said links among said related activities within the same order to schedule preceding and subsequent activities in proper chronological sequence,

whereby allowing said supply chain planning application to determine and schedule efficiently all orders for a given resource, which results in reduction of runtime processing and maximization of delivery schedules for said resource.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said reference to all chronologically-sequenced immediately preceding activities and said reference to all chronologically-sequenced immediately subsequent activities, each having at least two attributes, said at least two attributes including a minimum and maximum time interval between said activities and a type of temporal constraint.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of said plurality of activities has at least four attributes, said attributes including a start and finish time, a reference to the resource on which the activity is currently scheduled, and a reference to a list of one or more alternative resources.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein each said input interface node contains information regarding the required material, required quantity, the time at which said required material is required, and any shortage of said required material, said shortage defined as a difference between the required quantity and the quantity of said required material that is delivered by other orders or stock, and wherein each output interface node contains information regarding the created material, created quantity, the time at which said created material is created, and any surplus of said created material, said surplus defined as the difference between the created quantity and the quantity of said created material that is not yet delivered to other orders.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of said plurality of orders has at least one pre-assigned order number, and wherein said system further comprises a database table having an entry for each pre-assigned order number matched to its object identity, which is a reference to the respective order in said plurality of orders.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein a plurality of said activities within at least one order are identified and grouped as at least one operation, each said operation having a pre-assigned operation number, wherein said system further comprises a database table with an entry for each object identity and pre-assigned operation number matched to the earliest activity for said respective operation.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein each material has a pre-assigned material number, said system further comprising a database table having an entry for each pre-assigned material number matched to reference at least one input interface node at which the respective material is required, and an entry for each pre-assigned material number matched to reference at least one output interface node at which the respective material is created.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said database table further contains identifying information for each material, comprising at least one of plant, storage location and batch.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein each resource has a pre-assigned resource number, said system further comprising a database table having an entry for each pre-assigned resource number matched to a chronological sequence of activities scheduled on the respective resource.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein said plurality of orders comprises a first order and m subsequent orders, whereby each input interface node of said m subsequent orders is linked to a respective input interface node of said first order, such that said first order supplies the material demands of said m subsequent orders.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein one of said plurality of orders has k output interface nodes, representing an order producing k different materials.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein a plurality of activities are grouped to form an operation, and wherein a first activity of said operation represents the set up for production, and wherein said successive activities for said operation represent the steps in production.

13. A computerized system for storing, managing and processing of a supply chain planning information by a supply chain planning application program, said system comprising:

a computer with memory for storing an input data containing supply chain planning information about at least one resource, said input data being inputted, stored and organized in said memory, wherein said organization of said input data comprises the steps of;

a) dividing said input data into plurality of activities, each one of said plurality of activities representing an individual working step in a production process;

b) grouping said plurality of activities into plurality of orders, wherein related activities within same order are linked together into at least one network, each of said related activities referencing all immediately preceding and -all immediately following activities in chronological sequence;

c) providing a direct link to a first and last activity within each said order, said direct link stored in a computer memory for access by supply chain planning application program during runtime;

d) providing at least one input interface node for each said order, wherein said input interface node represents a material consumed by said order, each input interface node being linked to all activities that consume said material; and

e) providing at least one output interface node for each said order, wherein said output interface node represents a material created by said order, each output interface node being linked to all activities that create said material;

wherein each output interface node of a first order of said plurality of orders is linked to reference a respective input interface node of each subsequent order of said plurality of orders, scheduled to consume the material associated with said output interface node of said first order; and

at least one application program for accessing and processing said data for supply chain planning, wherein said application program utilizes said direct links stored in said computer memory for access to said first activity of a desired order within said plurality of orders, and thereafter utilizing said links among said related activities within the same order for scheduling preceding and subsequent activities in chronological sequence,

whereby allowing said supply chain planning application to determine and schedule efficiently all orders for a given resource in proper chronological sequence.

14. The computerized system of claim 13, wherein each said input interface node contains information regarding a consumed material, consumed quantity, a time at which said consumed material is to be consumed, and any shortage of said consumed material, said shortage defined as the difference between the quantity required for consumption and the quantity of said consumed material that is delivered by other orders or stock.

15. The computerized system of claim 13, wherein each output interface node contains information regarding a created material, created quantity, a time at which said created material is to be created, and any surplus of said created material, said surplus defined as the difference between the created quantity and the quantity of said created material that is not yet delivered to other orders.

16. The computerized system of claim 13, wherein each of said plurality of orders has a pre-assigned order number, said system further comprising a database table having an entry for each pre-assigned order number matched to its object identity, which is a reference to the respective order in said plurality of orders.

17. The computerized system of claim 13, wherein each material has a pre-assigned material number, said system further comprising a database table having an entry for each pre-assigned material number matched to reference at least one input interface node at which the respective material is consumed, and an entry for each pre-assigned material number matched to reference at least one output interface node at which the respective material is created.

18. The computerized system of claim 17, wherein said database table further comprises identifying information for each material including at least one of plant, storage location and batch.

19. The computerized system of claim 13, wherein said plurality of orders comprises n orders and one subsequent order whereby each output interface node of said n orders is linked to a respective input interface node of said one subsequent order, such that said one subsequent order consumes the materials supplied by said n orders.

20. A computerized system for storing, managing and processing of a supply chain planning information by a supply chain planning application program, said system comprising:

a computer with memory for storing an input data containing supply chain planning information about at least one resource, said input data being inputted, stored and organized in said memory, wherein said organization of said input data comprises the steps of;

a) dividing said input data into plurality of activities, each one of said plurality of activities representing an individual working step in a production process;

b) grouping said plurality of activities into plurality of orders, wherein related activities within same order are linked together into at least one network, each of said related activities referencing all immediately preceding and all immediately following activities in chronological sequence, wherein said reference to all immediately preceding activities and said references to all immediately subsequent activities each have at least two attributes, said at least two attributes including the minimum and maximum time interval between activities and a type of temporal constraint;

c) providing a direct link to a first and last activity within each said order, said direct link stored in a computer memory for access by supply chain planning application program during runtime; and

at least one application program for accessing and processing said data for supply chain planning, wherein said application program utilizes said direct links stored in said computer memory for access to said first activity of a desired order within said plurality of orders, and thereafter utilizing said links among said related activities within the same order for scheduling preceding and subsequent activities in proper chronological sequence,

whereby allowing said supply chain planning application to determine and schedule efficiently all orders for a given resource.

21. The computerized system of 20, wherein a plurality of said activities within at least one order constitute an operation, and wherein each operation has a pre-assigned operation number, and said system further comprising a database table having an entry for each object identity and pre-assigned operation number matched to the earliest activity fore said respective operation.

22. A computerized system for storing, managing and processing of a supply chain planning information by a supply chain planning application program, said system comprising:

a computer with memory for storing an input data containing supply chain planning information about at least one resource, said input data being inputted, stored and organized in said memory, wherein said organization of said input data comprises the steps of;

a) dividing said input data into plurality of activities, each one of said plurality of activities representing an individual working step in a production process;

b) grouping said plurality of activities into plurality of orders, wherein related activities within same order, are linked together into at least one network, each of said related activities referencing all immediately preceding and all immediately following activities in chronological sequence;

c) providing a direct link to a first and last activity within each said order, said direct link stored in a computer memory for access by supply chain planning application program during runtime;

d) grouping a plurality of said activities within at least one order as at least one operation;

e) providing for each said operation a pre-assigned operation number;

at least one database table having an entry for each object identity and containing said pre-assigned operation number defining at least one operation to be performed on said object, said table further comprising a lined reference to the earliest activity for said respective defined operation on said object; and

at least one application program for accessing and processing said data for supply chain planning, wherein said application program utilizes said direct links stored in said computer memory for access to said first activity of a desired order within said plurality of orders, and thereafter utilizing said links among said related activities within the same order for scheduling preceding and subsequent activities in proper chronological sequence.