Methods and systems for global sales forecasting

• US 6,804,657 B1
• Filed: 05/11/2000
• Issued: 10/12/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Sultan, Juliette
• Primary Examiner(s): Hafiz, Tariq R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): BOSWELL, BETH V
• Application Number:
  US09/569,188
• Time in Patent Office: 1,615 Days
• Field of Search: 705/10, 705/7, 705/8, 705/11, 705/1, 705/35, 705/36, 709/200, 709/213, 707/1, 707/100, 707/101, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 705/7.31
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A method of generating a real time global sales forecast for a company includes steps of defining an hierarchical structure for a sales force of the company and defining a place within the structure for each member thereof. Original pipeline sales information may then be remotely entered by members of the sales force and tagged to the customer, to the relevant product and/or services and to that member of the sales force having entered it. Pipeline sales information included in the original pipeline sales information may then be selectively modified to generate forecast sales information that is also stored and tagged. The original pipeline sales information is maintained unchanged in the database. The stored sales forecast and/or pipeline information may then be selectively aggregated according to the hierarchical structure to generate a real time sales forecast over a selected time period.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of generating a real time global sales forecast for a multi-national company, comprising the steps of:

defining an hierarchical structure for a sales force of the company, the hierarchical structure being a global sales hierarchical structure that includes a national hierarchical sales structure for each country where the company maintains a sales force;

defining a place within the hierarchical structure for each member of the sales force;

accepting original pipeline sales information remotely entered by members of the sales force over a computer network, the original pipeline sales information is accepted in a plurality of national currencies;

storing the original pipeline sales information in a database, the stored original pipeline sales information being tagged to that member of the sales force having entered the original pipeline sales information;

selectively modifying pipeline sales information included in the stored original pipeline sales information to generate forecast sales information while maintaining the stored original pipeline sales information unchanged;

storing the forecast sales information in the database and tagging the stored forecast sales information to that member of the sales force having modified the pipeline sales information; and

selectively aggregating the stored sales forecast information according to a hierarchy indicated by the hierarchical structure to generate, upon request, a real time global sales forecast over a selected time period, by selectively aggregating the stored sales forecast information of each national hierarchical sales structure in at least one of the plurality of national currencies, converting a currency of each aggregated stored sales forecast information into the at least one of the plurality of national currencies, and aggregating each of the currency-converted and aggregated stored sales forecast information to generate the real time global sales forecast.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the original pipeline sales information is accepted in a plurality of national currencies and wherein the selective aggregation step includes the steps of:

selecting at least one currency of the plurality of currencies in which the real time sales forecast is to be generated, and

converting the aggregated stored forecast information to the selected at least one currency.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the pipeline sales information-storing step includes a step of transmitting the pipeline sales information to the database over the computer network.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the network includes the Internet.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each member of the sales force of the company is assigned a permission level, the assigned permission level determining which stored sales forecast information are aggregated in the real time sales forecast.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein a real time sales forecast is generated by aggregating only stored sales forecast information and/or stored pipeline sales information of those members of the sales force having a lower permission level than a member of the sales force having requested the real time sales forecast.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the sales force includes C-level executives of the company irrespective of whether the C-level executives have sales responsibilities.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of granting a special permission level, the special permission level enabling a person to whom it is granted to generate a real time sales forecast of selected stored sales forecast information and/or selected pipeline sales information.

7. The method of 6, further comprising the step of granting a global permission level, the global permission level enabling that member of the sales force to whom it is granted to generate a real time sales forecast including all stored sales forecast information and/or all stored pipeline sales information.

10. A computer system configured for generating a real time global sales forecast for a multi-national company, comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one data storage device coupled to said at least one processor;

a plurality of processes spawned by said at least one processor, the processes including processing logic for;

defining an hierarchical structure for a sales force of the company, the hierarchical structure being a global sales hierarchical structure that includes a national hierarchical sales structure for each country where the company maintains a sales force;

defining a place within the hierarchical structure for each member of the sales force;

accepting original pipeline sales information remotely entered by members of the sales force over a computer network, the original pipeline sales information is accepted in a plurality of national currencies;

storing the original pipeline sales information in a database, the stored original pipeline sales information being tagged to that member of the sales force having entered the original pipeline sales information;

selectively modifying pipeline sales information included in the stored original pipeline sales information to generate forecast sales information while maintaining the stored original pipeline sales information unchanged;

storing the forecast sales information in the database and tagging the stored forecast sales information to that member of the sales force having modified the pipeline sales information; and

selectively aggregating the stored sales forecast information according to a hierarchy indicated by the hierarchical structure to generate, upon request, a real time global sales forecast over a selected time period, by selectively aggregating the stored sales forecast information of each national hierarchical sales structure in at least one of the plurality of national currencies;

converting a currency of each aggregated stored sales forecast information into the at least one of the plurality of national currencies, and aggregating each of the currency-converted and aggregated stored sales forecast information to generate the real time global sales forecast.

11. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the original pipeline sales information is accepted in a plurality of national currencies and wherein the selective aggregation step includes the steps of:

selecting at least one currency of the plurality of currencies in which the real time sales forecast is to be generated, and

converting the aggregated stored forecast information to the selected at least one currency.

12. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the pipeline sales information-storing step includes a step of transmitting the pipeline sales information to the database over the computer network.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the network includes the Internet.

14. The computer system of claim 10, each member of the sales force of the company is assigned a permission level, the assigned permission level determining which stored sales forecast information are aggregated in the real time sales forecast.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a real time sales forecast is generated by aggregating only stored sales forecast information and/or stored pipeline sales information of those members of the sales force having a lower permission level than a member of the sales force having requested the real time sales forecast.

17. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the sales force includes C-level executives of the company irrespective of whether the C-level executives have sales responsibilities.

18. The computer system of claim 10, further comprising the step of granting a special permission level, the special permission level enabling a person to whom it is granted to generate a real time sales forecast of selected stored sales forecast information and/or selected pipeline sales information.

16. The computer system of 15, further comprising the step of granting a global permission level, the global permission level enabling that member of the sales force to whom it is granted to generate a real time sales forecast including all stored sales forecast information and/or all stored pipeline sales information.

19. A machine-readable medium having data stored thereon representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by computing device, causes said computing device to generating a real time global sales forecast for a multi-national company by performing the steps of:

defining an hierarchical structure for a sales force of the company, the hierarchical structure being a global sales hierarchical structure that includes a national hierarchical sales structure for each country where the company maintains a sales force;

defining a place within the hierarchical structure for each member of the sales force;

accepting original pipeline sales information remotely entered by members of the sales force over a computer network, the original pipeline sales information is accepted in a plurality of national currencies;

storing the original pipeline sales information in a database, the stored original pipeline sales information being tagged to that member of the sales force having entered the original pipeline sales information;

selectively modifying pipeline sales information included in the stored original pipeline sales information to generate forecast sales information while maintaining the stored original pipeline sales information unchanged;

storing the forecast sales information in the database and tagging the stored forecast sales information to that member of the sales force having modified the pipeline sales information; and

selectively aggregating the stored sales forecast information according to a hierarchy indicated by the hierarchical structure to generate, upon request, a real time global sales forecast over a selected time period, by selectively aggregating the stored sales forecast information of each national hierarchical sales structure in at least one of the plurality of national currencies;

converting a currency of each aggregated stored sales forecast information into the at least one of the plurality of national currencies, and aggregating each of the currency-converted and aggregated stored sales forecast information to generate the real time global sales forecast.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the original pipeline sales information is accepted in a plurality of national currencies and wherein the selective aggregation step includes the steps of:

selecting at least one currency of the plurality of currencies in which the real time sales forecast is to be generated, and

converting the aggregated stored forecast information to the selected at least one currency.

21. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the pipeline sales information-storing step includes a step of transmitting the pipeline sales information to the database over the computer network.

22. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the network includes the Internet.

23. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein each member of the sales force of the company is assigned a permission level, the assigned permission level determining which stored sales forecast information are aggregated in the real time sales forecast.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 23, wherein a real time sales forecast is generated by aggregating only stored sales forecast information and/or stored pipeline sales information of those members of the sales force having a lower permission level than a member of the sales force having requested the real time sales forecast.

26. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the sales force includes C-level executives of the company irrespective of whether the C-level executives have sales responsibilities.

27. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, further comprising the step of granting a special permission level, the special permission level enabling a person to whom it is granted to generate a real time sales forecast of selected stored sales forecast information and/or selected pipeline sales information.

25. The machine-readable medium of 24, further comprising the step of granting a global permission level, the global permission level enabling that member of the sales force to whom it is granted to generate a real time sales forecast including all stored sales forecast information and/or all stored pipeline sales information.