Order management system

• US 7,469,219 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2004
• Issued: 12/23/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services GmbH (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Goldberg, Nathan D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender; F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Champagne; Luna
• Application Number:
  US10/879,368
• Publication Number:
  US 20050289013A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,639 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/28, 705/1, 705/40, 235/378, 700/14
• US Class Current: 705/7.13
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders

Abstract

A system for managing orders for products, including goods and services, which dynamically creates processes for providing those products has been developed. This order management system creates the processes from pre-defined tasks when the order is received. By operating in this manner, the order management system dynamically creates processes, even for new or changed products and services, and provides a foundation for the process automation and the human workflow that may be required to provision an order. The order management system may include a database, which includes a data structure that enables the functionality of the order manager and stores information relating to products, building blocks, and tasks, including the relationships among the products, building blocks, and tasks. The data structure generally includes a task entity class, a building block entity class, and an order mapping entity class.

Claims

1. An apparatus for managing an order having a plurality of components, the apparatus comprising:

a database, comprising;

a plurality of tasks, each task defined by a task entity class stored in the database, the task entity class including a task status entity storing a jeopardy action status interval and a jeopardy action entity storing information relating to activities that are to be performed if a duration defined by the jeopardy action status interval of the task status entity is exceeded;

a plurality of building blocks;

a process creation module in communication with the database and configured to create a process for managing the order that comprises a subset of the plurality of tasks, and comprising;

an order decomposition module in communication with the database and configured to decompose the order into at least one of the plurality of building blocks to create a building block list, the order decomposition module comprising an order validation module to identify an order type for the order and to determine whether the order can be provisioned, the order decomposition module using data from the database to decompose the order into the at least one of the plurality of building blocks and to determine order validation rules for the order validation module; and

a task list management module in communication with the order decomposition module and configured to create a task list identifying the subset of the plurality of tasks according to the building block list;

a process management module in communication with the process creation module, configured to communicate the process to a system to enable processing of the order, and comprising;

a task sequencing module in communication with the task list management module and configured to determine when one of the subset of the plurality of tasks is to be communicated; and

a task management module in communication with the task sequencing module and configured to communicate the one of the plurality of tasks to the system to enable processing of the order, the task management module including a timer to time a status interval for performing a designated task of the plurality of tasks; and

a jeopardy module in communication with the process management module and responsive to expiration of the timer for performing the activities defined by the jeopardy action entity to be performed when the designated task has not been completed and the duration defined by the jeopardy action status interval of the task status entity is exceeded.

2. An apparatus for managing an order, comprising:

a database;

a plurality of tasks stored in the database, the plurality of tasks including automatic tasks to be completed automatically and manual tasks to be completed manually, each task defined at least in part by a task status entity storing a jeopardy action status interval and a jeopardy action entity storing information relating to activities that are to be performed if a duration defined by the jeopardy action status interval of the task status entity is exceeded;

a process creation module in communication with the database and configured to create a process for managing the order that comprises a subset of the plurality of tasks;

a process management module in communication with the process creation module and configured to communicate the process to a system to enable processing of the order, the process management module configured to identify the manual tasks that are to be provisioned manually and the automatic tasks that are to be provisioned automatically; and

a jeopardy module in communication with the process management module and responsive to expiration of a process timer for performing the activities defined by the jeopardy action entity to be performed when the designated task has not been completed and the duration defined by the jeopardy action status interval of the task status entity is exceeded.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a plurality of building blocks stored in the database.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the process creation module includes an order decomposition module configured to decompose the order into at least one of the plurality of building blocks to create a building block list.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the order decomposition module is further configured to decompose at least one of the plurality of building blocks into a plurality of second building blocks.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the process creation module further comprises a task list management module configured to create a task list comprising the subset of the plurality of tasks according to the building block list.

7. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the order decomposition module further comprises an order validation module.

8. The order manager of claim 2, wherein the process management module comprises a task sequencing module configured to determine a sequence according to which the subset of the plurality of tasks are to be communicated to the system.

9. The order manager of claim 8, wherein the process management module comprises a task management module configured to communicate the subset of the plurality of tasks to the system according to the sequence.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the task management module is further configured to determine whether one of the subset of the plurality of tasks includes an automatic task.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the task management module is further configured to communicate the one of the subset of the plurality of tasks to an automatic system, if the one of the subset of the plurality of tasks is the automatic task.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the task management module is further configured to determine whether one of the subset of the plurality of tasks includes a manual task.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising a manual system, wherein the task management module is further configured to communicate the one of the subset of the plurality of tasks to the manual system, if the one of the subset of the plurality of tasks is the manual task.

14. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the process creation module comprises computer-executable instructions implemented in a computer-readable medium, the computer-executable instructions defining logic for creating a process for managing the order that comprises a subset of the plurality of tasks.

15. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the process management module comprises computer-executable instructions implemented in a computer-readable medium, the computer-executable instructions defining logic for communicating the process to a system for processing the order.

16. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the process creation module comprises computer-executable instructions implemented in an electromagnetic signal, the computer-executable instructions defining logic for creating a process for managing the order that comprises a subset of the plurality of tasks.

17. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the process management module comprises computer-executable instructions implemented in an electromagnetic signal, the computer-executable instructions defining logic for communicating the process to a system for processing the order.

18. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the database comprises a data structure that is based on a database and comprises:

a task entity class configured to store a plurality of task-related data objects;

a building block entity class configured to store a plurality of building block-related data objects; and

an order mapping entity class configured to store a plurality of order mapping-related data objects and comprising a building block mapping table entity configured to create a relationship between one of the plurality of building block data objects and one of the plurality of order data objects;

wherein the building block entity class comprises a building block task mapping data entity configured to create a relationship among one of the building block-type data objects, one of the order mapping-related entities, and one of the task-related entities.

19. A method for order management, the method comprising:

providing a database comprising a plurality of building blocks and a plurality of tasks, the plurality of tasks including a task status entity storing and a jeopardy action entity storing information relating to activities that are to be performed if a task has not been completed;

providing a process creation module configured to create a process for managing the order that comprises a subset of the plurality of tasks, including providing an order decomposition module configured to decompose the order into the at least one of the plurality of building blocks to create a building block list, and providing a task list management module configured to create a task list comprising the subset of the plurality of tasks according to the building block list;

providing a process management module configured to communicate the process to a system to enable processing of the order; and

providing a jeopardy module in communication with the process management module and responsive to expiration of a status interval timer for performing the activities defined by the jeopardy action entity to be performed when a designated task has not been completed as indicated by expiration of the status interval timer.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein providing the process management module further comprises providing a task sequencing module configured to determine a sequence in which the subset of the plurality of tasks are communicated to the system.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein providing the process creation module further comprises providing a task management module configured to communicate the plurality of tasks to the system according to the sequence.