Method and apparatus for modeling a business processes

• US 8,554,604 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2001
• Issued: 10/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Chen, Kay-Yut
• Primary Examiner(s): MANSFIELD, THOMAS L
• Application Number:
  US09/944,969
• Publication Number:
  US 20030046123A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,422 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7.36, 705/7.37
• US Class Current: 705/7.37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• 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 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data

Abstract

A method of determining the behavioral outcome resulting from a business rule includes the step of defining at least one player, business rules, and an environment that defines actions that the player can take in accordance with the business rules. The definitions are translated into a codified script. The behavioral outcome resulting from player-selected actions during execution of the codified script are determined.

Claims

1. A method of determining an economic impact of business policies, comprising:

a) providing player definitions defining a plurality of players and an associated set of rules defining a decision space, a decision-making process tree, an information set, an outcome function, and a payoff function for each player;

b) translating, in a computer system, the player definitions into at least one codified script; and

c) executing, in the computer system, the at least one codified script, wherein a result of the outcome and payoff functions at the end of execution of a script stage determines the economic impact of the business policies defined by the rules.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the players are exclusively human.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the players comprise a combination of human and automated players.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

d) modifying the associated set of rules for one or more players; and

e) repeating steps b)-c) according to the modified set of rules.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

d) providing calibration data for the defined players based on empirical sales information, wherein the at least one script is generated in accordance with the player definitions and the calibration data.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

d) providing a plurality of scenarios defining variations on the set of rules associated with one or more players, wherein step c) further comprises generating scripts corresponding to the player definition variations.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one script is compiled on the fly during execution.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one script is compiled in its entirety before execution.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of rules associated with at least one player defines at least one business policy from the group comprising:

advertising policy, sales policy, returns policy, rebate policy, minimum advertised price policy.

10. An apparatus for determining an economic impact of business policies, comprising:

a computer system;

a business process definition module executable in the computer system for providing player definitions defining a plurality of players and an associated set of rules defining a decision space, a decision-making process tree, an information set, an outcome function, and a payoff function for each player;

a script translator module executable in the computer system for translating the player definitions into codified scripts, wherein the codified scripts define at least one simulation stage; and

a simulation module executable in the computer system for executing the codified scripts, wherein a result of the outcome and payoff functions at the end of execution of the at least one simulation stage determines the economic impact of the business policies.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the players comprise automated players.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising:

a calibration module executable in the computer system for providing calibration data for the defined players based on historical information, wherein the codified scripts are generated in accordance with the player definitions and the calibration data.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising:

a scenario database providing a plurality of scenarios defining variations on the set of rules associated with one or more players, wherein the script translator module generates scripts corresponding to the player definition variations.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the scripts are compiled on the fly during execution.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the scripts are compiled in their entirety before execution.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the set of rules associated with at least one player defines at least one business policy from the group comprising:

advertising policy, sales policy, returns policy, rebate policy, and minimum advertised price policy.

21. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein in response to modification of the set of rules for one or more players, the script translator re-translates the player definitions into modified scripts, and the simulation module is for executing the modified scripts.

17. A method of predicting a behavioral outcome resulting from a business rule, comprising:

a) defining at least one player, business rules, and an environment that defines actions that the player can take in accordance with the business rules;

b) translating, by a computer system, the definitions into a codified script; and

c) determining, by the computer system, a behavioral outcome resulting from player-selected actions during execution of the codified script.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the behavioral outcome includes an economic state of each player.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

d) executing variations of the codified script.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving historical data and producing calibration data based on the historical data,

wherein the codified script is translated from the definitions and the calibration data.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

modifying the definitions;

translating the modified definitions into a modified script; and

determining another behavioral outcome resulting from player-selected actions during execution of the modified script.