Methods and systems enabling the identification of actual costs in a transaction based financial and manufacturing environment
First Claim
1. A computer implemented actual costing method for collecting and presenting an actual cost of manufacturing an item or performing a service, comprising the steps of:
- collecting actual costs of performing a job, manufacturing an item and/or purchasing an item,creating a unique cost source identifier data structure for each collected actual cost, each created cost source identifier data structure including a plurality of attribute fields;
populating one the plurality of attribute fields of the created cost source identifier data structure with the collected actual cost;
storing the populated cost source identifier data structure in a memory of a computer;
associating each unique cost source identifier data structure to a step carried out while manufacturing the item or while performing the service; and
organizing and storing the cost source identifier data structures within the computer as a hierarchical structure that is modeled on;
a structure of the item manufactured ora sequence of operations carried out while performing the service;
implementing a selected accounting casting method for actual cost collection and a selected accounting costing method for actual cost presentation by accessing and selectively traversing the hierarchical structure, the selected accounting costing method for actual cost collection being independent of the selected accounting costing method for cost presentation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A computer implemented actual costing method for collecting and presenting an actual cost of performing a business activity includes the steps of carrying a first and/or a second step, the first step including collecting the actual cost of at least one job performed in furtherance of the business activity, the second step including collecting the actual cost of at least one item manufactured in furtherance of the business activity. A unique cost source identifier is created for each collected actual cost and the collected actual cost is stored therein. Each unique cost source identifier is then associated with its corresponding item or job within the business activity. A selected accounting costing method for actual cost collection and a selected accounting costing method for actual cost presentation based upon the stored cost source identifiers may then be implemented. As the actual discrete costs for each item or selected items manufactured and for each job or selected jobs performed in furtherance of the business activity have been collected and stored in respective unique cost source identifiers, the selected accounting costing method for actual cost collection may be different than the selected accounting costing method for cost presentation.
23 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A computer implemented actual costing method for collecting and presenting an actual cost of manufacturing an item or performing a service, comprising the steps of:
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collecting actual costs of performing a job, manufacturing an item and/or purchasing an item, creating a unique cost source identifier data structure for each collected actual cost, each created cost source identifier data structure including a plurality of attribute fields; populating one the plurality of attribute fields of the created cost source identifier data structure with the collected actual cost; storing the populated cost source identifier data structure in a memory of a computer; associating each unique cost source identifier data structure to a step carried out while manufacturing the item or while performing the service; and organizing and storing the cost source identifier data structures within the computer as a hierarchical structure that is modeled on; a structure of the item manufactured or a sequence of operations carried out while performing the service; implementing a selected accounting casting method for actual cost collection and a selected accounting costing method for actual cost presentation by accessing and selectively traversing the hierarchical structure, the selected accounting costing method for actual cost collection being independent of the selected accounting costing method for cost presentation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer system to compute an actual cost of manufacturing an item or performing a service from collected actual costs incurred while manufacturing the item or performing the service, comprising;
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at least one processor; at least one data storage device coupled to the at least one processor; a plurality of processes spawned by said at least one processor, the processes including processing logic for; collecting actual costs of performing a job, manufacturing an item and/or purchasing an item, creating a unique cost source identifier data structure for each collected actual cost, each created cost source identifier udata structure including a plurality of attribute fields; populating one of the plurality of attribute fields of the created cost source identifier data structure with the collected actual cost; storing the populated cost source identifier data; associating each unique coat source identifier data structure to a step carried out while manufacturing the item or while performing the service; and organizing and storing the cost source identifier data structures as a hierarchical structure tat is modeled on; a structure of the item manufactured, or a sequence of operations carried out while performing the service; implementing a selected accounting costing method for actual cost collection and a selected accounting costing method for actual cost presentation by accessing and selectively traversing the hierarchical structure, the selected accounting costing method for actual cost collection being independent of the selected accounting costing method for cost presentation. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A machine readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by a computer system, causes said computer system to perform the steps of:
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collecting, in substantially real time, an actual cost of each of a plurality of constituent items or operations affecting a cost of manufacturing an item or performing a service; creating a unique cost source identifier data structure for each collected actual cost, each created cost source identifier data structure including a plurality of attribute fields; populating one of the plurality of attribute fields of the created cost source identifier data structure with the collected actual cost; assigning each collected actual cost to a unique logical structure associated with a corresponding one of said items or operations; storing each populated cost source identifier data structure to create a hierarchical organization of cost source identifier data structures configured to allow the actual cost of the activity to be ascertained at any stage of a performance thereof, the hierarchical organization being modeled on a structure of the item manufactured or a sequence of steps carried out while performing the service. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification