Methods and systems for making pricing decisions in a price management system

• US 7,360,697 B1
• Filed: 11/18/2004
• Issued: 04/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vendavo, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Vendavo, Inc.
• Inventors: Esary, Niel C., Sarkar, Manojit, Marais, Hannes L., Lee, Simon C.
• Primary Examiner(s): HESS, DANIEL A
• Application Number:
  US10/993,412
• Time in Patent Office: 1,251 Days
• Field of Search: 235/383, 705/1, 705/20, 705/400, 705/7, 705/10, 705/30
• US Class Current: 235/383
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06393 Score-carding, benchmarking or key performance indicator [KPI] analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

Pricing decisions and policies in a price management system are made based on a unified database populated with correlated commitment data and transaction data. A historical database is populated with commitment data and transaction data. Each transaction data is then correlated with a commitment data. The resulting correlated data is then analyzed to make pricing decisions and policies.

Claims

1. A method of making a pricing decision in a price management system comprising:

generating commitment data by converting commitments in an object form into commitment data in a single normalized form, and wherein the conversion uses a user-defined mapping file;

populating a historical database with commitment data and transaction data;

correlating each commitment data with a corresponding transaction data to generate correlation data;

populating a unified database with correlation data;

analyzing the unified database; and

wherein pricing decisions are made based on analysis of the unified database.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein commitment data and transaction data are correlated based on corresponding unique identifiers.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein commitment data and transaction data are correlated based on analysis of at least one attribute from each data.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the unified database is stored in random access memory (RAM).

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing of the unified database includes defining business metrics of Key Performance Indicators including a success rate based on a comparison of actual sales against forecasted sales.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing of the unified database includes filters for isolating selected attributes associated with the commitment data or the transaction data.

7. A system for making pricing decisions in a price management system comprising:

a recalculator engine for generating commitment data by converting commitments in an object form into commitment data in a single normalized form, and wherein the conversion uses a user-defined mapping file;

a unified database containing correlation data that correlates commitment data with transaction data;

a user interface for displaying and analyzing the unified database; and

wherein pricing decisions are made based on the analysis of the unified database.

8. The system of claim 7 further comprising:

a historical database populated with commitment data and transaction data; and

a correlation module for correlating the commitment data with the transaction data.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the unified database is stored in memory.

11. The computer program of claim 9 further comprising:

a historical database populated with commitment data and transaction data; and

a correlation module for correlating the commitment data with the transaction data.

10. A computer program product in a computer readable media for making pricing decisions in a price management system comprising:

a recalculator engine for generating commitment data by converting commitments in an object form into commitment data in a single normalized form, and wherein the conversion uses a user-defined mapping file;

a unified database containing correlation data that correlates commitment data with transaction data;

a display for displaying and analyzing the unified database; and

wherein pricing decisions are made based on the analysis of the unified database.