Computer-implemented methods and systems for identifying and reporting deviations from standards and policies for contracts, agreements and other business documents

• US 8,037,004 B2
• Filed: 06/11/2007
• Issued: 10/11/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Rajkumar, Vijay, Sundaramoorthy, Arun Kumar, Kekkar, Sanjay, Srinivasaraghavan, Ashok, Stieber, Rhonda, Kodlyan, John, Patangey, Dayanand
• Primary Examiner(s): FERNANDEZ RIVAS, OMAR F
• Application Number:
  US11/761,338
• Publication Number:
  US 20080306894A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,583 Days
• Field of Search: 706 45- 47, 706/50, 706/62, 707/607, 707/608, 707/917, 707/944, 707/945, 707/953, 707/954, 707/999.001, 707/999.002, 707/999.003
• US Class Current: 706/47
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/18 Legal services

Abstract

A computer-implemented method may include steps of providing a plurality of business document templates; providing a plurality of deviation rules and associating at least some of the plurality of deviation rules with each of the business document templates; storing the plurality of business document templates and the associated plurality of deviation rules; generating a business document (such as a contract, for example) based upon one of the stored plurality of business document templates, the generated business document including a plurality of clauses and business document terms; retrieving the plurality of deviation rules associated with the business document template upon which the business document is based and applying the retrieved plurality of deviation rules against the generated business document; identifying all business document terms of the business document that do not conform to one or more of the applied plurality of deviation rules, and generating a report that includes at least the identified non-conforming business document terms.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having data stored thereon representing sequences of machine-executable instructions for identifying and reporting deviations in customized business documents from standards and policies of organizations, the machine-readable medium comprising:

instructions for receiving a plurality of business document templates;

instructions for providing information configured to generate a graphical user interface that enables a user of the graphical user interface to define a plurality of deviation rules configured to codify one or more standards or policies of an organization and that enables the user to associate at least some of the plurality of deviation rules with each business document template in the plurality of business document templates, the graphical user interface configured to receive from the user information specifying one or more conditions for each deviation rule in the plurality of deviation rules that define when business document terms in customized business documents generated based on the plurality of business document templates do not conform to the one or more standards or policies of the organization, the graphical user interface further configured to receive from the user information associating at least some of the deviation rules in the plurality of deviation rules with at least one of the plurality of business document templates;

instructions for storing the plurality of business document templates and the associated plurality of deviation rules, each of the plurality of business document templates having a plurality of business document generation rules;

instructions for receiving a customized business document generated based upon one of the stored plurality of business document templates, the generated customized business document including a selection of plurality of clauses and business document terms based at least in part from evaluating the plurality of business document generation rules in the one of the stored plurality of business document templates;

instructions for retrieving one or more of the stored deviation rules associated with the business document template upon which the customized business document is based and applying the retrieved one or more deviation rules against the generated customized business document;

instructions for identifying all business document terms of the customized business document that do not conform to the one or more standards or policies of the organization based on the application of the retrieved one or more deviation rules; and

instructions for generating a report that includes at least the identified non-conforming business document terms.

2. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions for generating the report is carried out with the report also including a listing of any of the retrieved one or more deviation rules that were violated by the identified non-conforming business document terms.

3. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions for generating the report is carried out with the report also including a description of any of the retrieved one or more deviation rules that were violated by the identified non-conforming business document terms.

4. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instruction for generating the report is carried out with the report further including details regarding how at least one of the identified non-conforming business document terms failed to conform to the one or more standards or policies of the organization based on the application of the retrieved one or more deviation rules that were violated by the identified non-conforming business document terms.

5. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions for generating the report is carried out with the report further including an identification of any clauses of the plurality of clauses of the generated business document that include the identified non-conforming business document terms.

6. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, further including instructions for defining a new deviation rule, and applying the newly defined deviation rule with at least one of the plurality of business document templates.

7. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein at least one of the retrieved one or more deviation rules defines an allowed value, threshold or range of a variable and wherein the at least one deviation rule identifies a business term as non-conforming when the business term contains a value for a variable that is different than the allowed value, beyond the threshold or outside of the range.

8. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 7, wherein at least one of the retrieved one or more deviation rules includes at least one operator selected from the group consisting of IS, IS NOT, IN, NOT IN, >

=, <

=, >

, <

, =and ≠

.

9. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instruction for generating the report is carried out with the report also including at least one line number in the customized business document where the non-conforming business term appears.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions for generating a notification requiring that identified non-conforming business document terms be brought into conformity before the customized business document is executed.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions for generating a notification requiring that the customized business document that includes the non-conforming business document terms go through an approvals process before the business document is executed.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions for generating the report is carried out with the customized business document being one of a contract, a quote, an agreement, a memorandum, a license and a purchase order.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein at least one of the retrieved one or more deviation rules specifies a list of approvers that must approve the customized business document before the business document is executed.

14. A computer-implemented method for identifying and reporting deviations in customized business documents from standards and policies of organizations, comprising:

receiving, at one or more computer systems, a plurality of business document templates;

providing, with the one or more computer systems, information configured to display a graphical user interface on a display device that enables a user of the graphical user interface to define a plurality of deviation rules configured to codify one or more standards or policies of an organization and that enables the user to associate at least some of the plurality of deviation rules with each business document template in the plurality of business document templates, the graphical user interface configured to receive from the user information specifying one or more conditions for each deviation rule in the plurality of deviation rules that define when business document terms in customized business documents generated based on the plurality of business document templates do not conform to the one or more standards or policies of the organization, the graphical user interface further configured to receive from the user information associating at least some of the deviation rules in the plurality of deviation rules with at least one of the plurality of business document templates;

storing the plurality of business document templates and the associated plurality of deviation rules in a database associated with the one or more computer systems, each of the plurality of business document templates having a plurality of business document generation rules;

receiving, at the one or more computer systems, a customized business document generated based upon one of the stored plurality of business document templates, the generated customized business document including a selection of plurality of clauses and business document terms based at least in part from evaluating the plurality of business document generation rules in the one of the stored plurality of business document templates;

retrieving, with the one or more computer systems, one or more deviation rules associated with the business document template upon which the customized business document is based from the database associated with the one or more computer systems and applying the retrieved one or more deviation rules against the generated customized business document;

identifying, with one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, all business document terms of the customized business document that do not conform to the one or more standards or policies of the organization based on the application of the retrieved one or more deviation rules; and

generating, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, a report that includes at least the identified non-conforming business document terms.

15. A computer system for identifying and reporting deviations in customized business documents from standards and policies of organizations, comprising:

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;

receiving a plurality of business document templates;

providing information configured to display a graphical user interface on a display device that enables a user of the graphical user interface to define a plurality of deviation rules configured to codify one or more standards or policies of an organization and that enables the user to associate at least some of the plurality of deviation rules with each business document template in the plurality of business document templates, the graphical user interface configured to receive from the user information specifying one or more conditions for each deviation rule in the plurality of deviation rules that define when business document terms in customized business documents generated based on the plurality of business document templates do not conform to the one or more standards or policies of the organization, the graphical user interface further configured to receive from the user information associating at least some of the deviation rules in the plurality of deviation rules with at least one of the plurality of business document templates;

storing the plurality of business document templates and the associated plurality of deviation rules, each of the plurality of business document templates having a plurality of business document generation rules;

receiving a customized business document generated based upon one of the stored plurality of business document templates, the generated customized business document including a selection of plurality of clauses and business document terms based at least in part from evaluating the plurality of business document generation rules in the one of the stored plurality of business document templates;

retrieving one or more stored deviation rules associated with the business document template upon which the customized business document is based and applying the retrieved one or more deviation rules against the generated customized business document;

identifying all business document terms of the customized business document that do not conform to the one or more standards or policies of the organization based on the application of the retrieved one or more deviation rules; and

generating a report that includes at least the identified non-conforming business document terms.