System and method for managing and monitoring supply costs

• US 8,386,296 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2002
• Issued: 02/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Agile Software Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Agile Software Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Hage, Joe, Krishnan, Raghu, Nave, Joel, Butani, Harish
• Primary Examiner(s): Hayes, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): NELSON, FREDA ANN
• Application Number:
  US10/324,174
• Publication Number:
  US 20030172008A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,723 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/400, 705/26, 705/80, 705/7, 705/10, 705/1.1, 705/8, 705/22, 705/29, 705/37, 705/7.31, 705/7.35, 717/108, 700/121, 700/97, 716/1, 1/1, 707/203, 707/999.009, 707/783, 707/999.001
• US Class Current: 705/7.35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Techniques for managing and estimating supply costs, by drilling down through detailed component lists of tree structured component specifications and rolling up pricing estimates based on predetermined, projected and available criteria and automatically accounting for costs in an organized manner. The costs may be analyzed from a historical perspective, accounting for future costs based on historical cost data within a given past or future date range. The costs may also be analyzed based on average costs of available costed items. Quotes can be received from suppliers for use in estimating supply costs. In addition, scenarios such as partnership splits, where multiple suppliers manufacture and supply common components to buyers at same or different prices, can be taken into account.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

defining, by a computer system, a hierarchy for a product, the hierarchy including at least;

a first node corresponding to a first component of the product, the first node specifying a first supplier for the first component; and

a second node corresponding to a second component of the product, the second node specifying a second supplier and a third supplier for the second component, the second and third suppliers being distinct from the first supplier;

storing, by the computer system in the first node, a price quote from the first supplier for the first component;

storing, by the computer system in the second node, a price quote from the second supplier and a price quote from the third supplier for the second component;

automatically traversing, by the computer system, the hierarchy to determine cost information for the first and second components, the cost information for the first component being based in part on the price quote from the first supplier, the cost information for the second component being based in part on the price quotes from the second and third suppliers; and

generating, by the computer system, a cost estimate for the product by rolling up through the hierarchy the cost information for the first and second components,

wherein a supplier split defined for the second node in the hierarchy corresponding to the second component is inherited by a third component below the second component in the hierarchy;

wherein generating the cost estimate comprises rolling up cost information for the first component and ignoring cost information for components below the first component in the hierarchy in response to setting a quote level for the first node in the hierarchy corresponding to the first component.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the cost information for the first and second components is further based on criteria including one or more of the following:

historical prices, catalogs, foreign currency rates, and time-dependent pricing.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second nodes are stored as first and second objects in a database, each object including one or more tags indicating attributes of the node, and

wherein determining the cost information for the first and second components comprises:

performing a database search to locate the first and second objects based on their respective tags; and

calculating the cost information with an algorithm using the first and second objects.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the cost information for the second component comprises:

retrieving average cost data for the second component;

storing the average cost data in the second node;

analyzing the average cost data to derive a cost factor; and

determining the cost information for the second component based on the cost factor.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the cost information for the first and second components comprises:

if there is available cost data for the first component or the second component, determining the cost information for the first component or the second component based on its available cost data; and

if there is no available cost data for the first component or the second component, determining the cost information for the first component or the second component based on projected cost data, the projected cost data including the price quotes received from the first, second, and third suppliers.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the projected cost data includes data derived from historical records associated with a bill of materials for the product.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the projected cost data for the second component includes an average of the prices quotes from the second and third suppliers.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a pricing estimate by rolling up the cost information for the first and second components comprises converting the cost information for the first and second components into a standard currency.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a pricing estimate by rolling up the cost information for the first and second components comprises taking into account time periods for which the cost information is valid.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the supplier split defined for the second node is used for the third component when no supplier split is otherwise defined for the third component.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein a supplier split defined for the third component takes precedence over the supplier split for the second node when determining the supplier split for the third component.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein a partner is assigned to a parent node that represents an assembly, and one or more child nodes of the parent node inherit the partner, wherein the partner needs one or more items represented by the one or more child nodes to make the parent.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon program code executable by a computer system, the program code comprising:

code that causes the computer system to define, a hierarchy for a product, the hierarchy including at least;

a first node corresponding to a first component of the product, the first node specifying a first supplier for the first component; and

a second node corresponding to a second component of the product, the second node specifying a second supplier and a third supplier for the second component, the second and third suppliers being distinct from the first supplier;

code that causes the computer system to store, in the first node, a price quote from the first supplier for the first component;

code that causes the computer system to store, in the second node, a price quote from the second supplier and a price quote from the third supplier for the second component;

code that causes the computer system to automatically traverse the hierarchy to determine cost information for the first and second components, the cost information for the first component being based in part on the price quote from the first supplier, the cost information for the second component being based in part on the price quotes from the second and third suppliers; and

code that causes the computer system to generate a cost estimate for the product by rolling up through the hierarchy the cost information for the first and second components wherein a supplier split defined for the second node in the hierarchy corresponding to the second component is inherited by a third component below the second component in the hierarchy;

wherein the code that causes the computer system to generate the cost estimate comprises code that causes the computer system to roll up cost information for the first component and ignore cost information for components below the first component in the hierarchy in response to setting a quote level for the first node in the hierarchy corresponding to the first component.

14. A system comprising:

a processor configured to;

define a hierarchy for a product, the hierarchy including at least;

a first node corresponding to a first component of the product, the first node specifying a first supplier for the first component; and

a second node corresponding to a second component of the product, the second node specifying a second supplier and a third supplier for the second component, the second and third suppliers being distinct from the first supplier;

store, in the first node, a price quote from the first supplier for the first component;

store, in the second node, a price quote from the second supplier and a price quote from the third supplier for the second component;

automatically traverse the hierarchy to determine cost information for the first and second components, the cost information for the first component being based in part on the price quote from the first supplier, the cost information for the second component being based in part on the price quotes from the second and third suppliers; and

generate a cost estimate for the product by rolling up through the hierarchy the cost information for the first and second components,

wherein a supplier split defined for the second node in the hierarchy corresponding to the second component is inherited by a third component below the second component in the hierarchy;

wherein to generate the cost estimate the processor is further configured to roll up cost information for the first component and ignore cost information for components below the first component in the hierarchy in response to setting a quote level for the first node in the hierarchy corresponding to the first component.