Methods and systems for mass data handling in a preference processing context

• US 7,716,085 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2005
• Issued: 05/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Stier, Andreas
• Primary Examiner(s): FADOK, MARK A
• Application Number:
  US11/319,367
• Publication Number:
  US 20060212335A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,594 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 705/26.8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for generating vendor declaration requests in a trade preference processing context. In one implementation, an electronic database is utilized that contains at least one of purchase order data sets and goods receipt data sets that include information about vendors and about goods purchased from the vendors. The electronic database may be accessed to assemble a worklist from the information included in the data sets. The worklist may define a plurality of processing packages associated with individual vendors and indicate the goods purchased from the vendors. The processing packages on the worklist may then be processed in a batch process to generate the vendor declaration requests.

Claims

1. A method of data processing, comprising:

providing access to an electronic database containing at least one of purchase order data sets and goods receipt data sets, the data sets including information about vendors and about goods obtained from the vendors;

assembling a worklist from the information included in the data sets, the worklist defining a plurality of processing packages, each processing package being associated with an individual vendor and indicating one or more goods obtained from the vendor; and

processing the plurality of processing packages of the worklist in a batch process using a processor, wherein during the batch process each processing package is processed to generate, in a trade preference processing context, a vendor declaration request for a particular vendor, the vendor declaration request listing the one or more goods obtained from the vendor and prompting the vendor to issue a vendor declaration for the one or more listed goods.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

blocking competing access to at least one of the data sets underlying a particular processing package while the particular processing package is processed in the batch process.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

cleaning a memory from data only temporarily required for generating a current vendor declaration request before processing a subsequent processing package from the worklist.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the purchase order data sets and the goods receipt data sets additionally include temporal information, the temporal information being indicative of a relevant date for a purchase order or a goods receipt, respectively.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein assembling of the worklist comprises:

evaluating a relevant date included in the data sets; and

considering an individual data set for the purpose of generating the worklist only if the relevant date included therein is newer than a predefined date.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating at least one of purchase order data sets and goods receipt data sets by way of online transaction processing (OLTP).

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

continuously updating the electronic database upon creation of at least one of a new purchase order data set and a new goods receipt data set.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

evaluating user-specified control data during at least one of assembling of the worklist and processing of the plurality of processing packages.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein assembling the worklist comprises:

selecting data sets from the database in accordance with the control data; and

assembling the worklist based on information contained in the selected data sets.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending each vendor declaration request to the vendor associated with the request.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving vendor declarations in response to the vendor declaration requests, the vendor declarations specifying preference processing information for the goods listed in the vendor declaration requests.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

calculating a comparison value for a complex good composed of the individual goods obtained from the vendors, wherein the comparison value is calculated taking into account the preference processing information specified in the vendor declarations.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

additionally taking into account a price of the individual goods obtained from the vendors when calculating the comparison value.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

comparing the comparison value with the price of the complex good; and

generating a preference certificate for the complex good dependent on the result of the comparison.

15. A method for data processing, comprising:

continuously updating an electronic database of an online transaction processing (OLTP) feeder system with data sets including information about vendors and about goods obtained from the vendors;

selecting individual data sets in the electronic database to assemble a plurality of processing packages from the information included in the selected data sets, each processing package being indicative of an individual vendor and one or more goods obtained from the vendor; and

processing the plurality of processing packages in a batch using a processor, wherein during the batch process each processing package is processed to generate, in a trade preference processing context, a vendor declaration request for a particular vendor, the vendor declaration request listing the one or more goods obtained from the vendor and prompting the vendor to issue a vendor declaration for the one or more listed goods.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

selecting the data sets in accordance with one or more previously defined selection criteria including at least one of a relevant data set date and a regional constraint.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

reserving a memory space for the processing of at least one of the worklist and an individual processing package on the worklist.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

releasing a memory space that has been reserved for the processing of a processing package before processing the next processing package.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the data sets in the electronic database additionally include temporal information.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein assembling of the worklist comprises:

evaluating the temporal information included in the data sets.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein assembling of the worklist comprises:

considering an individual data set for the purpose of generating the worklist only if the temporal information included in the data set meets a predefined criterion.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the predefined criterion is a temporal threshold.

23. A computer program product comprising

a first program code portion for accessing an electronic database containing at least one of purchase order data sets and goods receipt data sets, the data sets including information about vendors and about goods obtained from the vendors;

a second program code portion for assembling a worklist from the information included in the data sets, the worklist defining a plurality of processing packages, each processing package being associated with an individual vendor and indicating one or more goods obtained from the vendor; and

a third program code portion for processing the plurality of processing packages on the worklist in a batch process using a processor, wherein during the batch process each processing package is processed to generate, in a trade preference processing context, a vendor declaration request for a particular vendor, the vendor declaration request listing the one or more goods obtained from the vendor and prompting the vendor to issue a vendor declaration for the one or more listed goods.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein at least one of the first program code portion, second program code portion and third program code portion is stored on a computer-readable recording medium.

25. A system of data processing, comprising:

a feeder sub-system including an electronic database containing at least one of purchase order data sets and goods receipt data sets, the data sets including information about vendors and about goods obtained from the vendors; and

a processing sub-system coupled to the feeder sub-system, the processing subsystem including a database for storing a worklist derived from the information included in the data sets, the worklist defining a plurality of processing packages, each processing package being associated with an individual vendor and indicating one or more goods obtained from the vendor, and including a processor for processing the plurality of processing packages on the worklist in a batch process using a processor, wherein during the batch process each processing package is processed to generate, in a trade preference processing context, a vendor declaration request for a particular vendor, the vendor declaration request listing the one or more goods obtained from the vendor and prompting the vendor to issue a vendor declaration for the one or more listed goods.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the feeder sub-system is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the ERP component is operable in an online transaction processing (OLTP) mode.