Linking enterprise resource planning data to business capabilities

• US 8,655,711 B2
• Filed: 11/25/2008
• Issued: 02/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Merrifield, Eric S. Jr., Brown, Daniel C., Corneil, Chad K., Appel, David B.
• Primary Examiner(s): DELICH, STEPHANIE ZAGARELLA
• Application Number:
  US12/323,086
• Publication Number:
  US 20100131330A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,911 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7.36, 705/7.37, 705/7.39
• US Class Current: 705/7.36
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce

Abstract

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for linking enterprise resource planning data to business capabilities. Embodiments provide a linkage between schematized ERP data (e.g., financial data) and schematized business capabilities. The linkage provides the ability to report in a visual way that permits the linkage of such things as business value, performance, maturity, interconnectedness, process standardization, compliance, etc. As such, businesses capabilities can be linked to specific spend amounts in ERP data.

Claims

1. A method, in a computer architecture, for using a plurality of weighted links between enterprise resource planning data of an organization and business capabilities of the organization to facilitate making business-related decisions based on how a specified business capability contributes to a specified portion of enterprise resource planning data, the method comprising:

an act of a computing system, including a processor and memory, accessing a schema-based model that models a business architecture for the organization, the schema-based model modeling a plurality of interrelated business capabilities for the organization at a specified level of detail, each business capability representing a different type of work the organization performs;

an act of the computing system accessing a schema-based representation of enterprise resource planning data for the organization, the enterprise resource planning data formatted in a generic format for purposes of report generation related to industrial classification and/or regulatory compliance, the enterprise resource planning data lacking organization-specific formatting, the enterprise resource planning data including a plurality of different portions, each different portion relating to a different type of business-related function of the organization;

an act of the computing system identifying a plurality of express schema-based links between the enterprise resource planning data and the plurality of interrelated business capabilities, each schema based-link linking a particular business capability to a corresponding portion of the enterprise resource planning data that is transformed during a business process involving the particular business capability, each schema based-link is weighted by including in each express schema-based link a corresponding property value that is indicative of a relative contribution of the particular business capability to the corresponding portion of the enterprise resource planning data;

based on the identified plurality of express schema-based links and the corresponding property values weighting each link, an act of the computing system generating a contribution mapping, the contribution mapping reflecting the relative contribution that each of the plurality of interrelated business capabilities makes to each of the plurality of different portions of the enterprise resource planning data; and

an act of making a business related decision with respect to a particular portion of enterprise resource planning data based on the contribution mapping, wherein the decision is made by an act of aligning the goals of an organizational project with the relative contributions of the business capabilities.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing a schema-based model that models the business architecture for the organization comprises an act accessing a business capability model, the capability model defining service level expectations that can contribute to enterprise resource planning data.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing a schema-based representation of enterprise resource planning data for the organization comprises an act of accessing schematized financial data for the organization.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing a schema-based representation of enterprise resource planning data for the organization comprises an act of accessing enterprise resource planning data formatted for inclusion in a report to a governmental agency.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing a schema-based representation of enterprise resource planning data comprise an act of accessing schematized data from a database of an enterprise resource planning system for the organization.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing a schema-based representation of enterprise resource planning data comprises an act of accessing data for a proposed project the organization is considering undertaking.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of making a business related decision with respect to the particular portion of enterprise resource planning data comprises an act of making a decision with respect to one or more of:

a vertical industry strategy for the organization and a strategic direction for the organization.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of express schema-based links include one or more links between a particular one of the interrelated business capabilities and a plurality of the different portions of the enterprise resource planning data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of different portions of the enterprise resource planning data comprise at least one of:

SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) reporting data, NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) reporting data, SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) reporting data, or EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) reporting data.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the contribution mapping includes higher numerical values correlating to higher relative contributions and lower numerical values correlating to lower relative contributions.

11. A hardware storage device for use in a computer architecture, for implementing a method for using weighted links between enterprise resource planning data of an organization and business capabilities of the organization to facilitate making business related decisions based on how a specified business capability contributes to a specified portion of enterprise resource planning data, the hardware storage device having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed at a processor, cause the computer architecture to implement the method, including the following:

accessing a schema-based model that models a business architecture for the organization, the schema-based model modeling a plurality of interrelated business capabilities for the organization at a specified level of detail, each business capability representing a different type of work the organization performs;

accessing a schema-based representation of enterprise resource planning data for the organization, the enterprise resource planning data formatted in a generic format for purposes of report generation related to industrial classification and/or regulatory compliance, the enterprise resource planning data lacking organization-specific formatting, the enterprise resource planning data including a plurality of different portions, each different portion relating to a different type of business-related function of the organization;

identifying an plurality of express schema based links between the enterprise resource planning data and the plurality of interrelated business capabilities, each schema based-link linking a particular business capability to a corresponding portion of the enterprise resource planning data that is transformed during a business process involving the particular business capability, each schema based-link is weighted by including in each express schema-based link a corresponding property value that is indicative of a relative contribution of the particular business capability to the corresponding portion of the enterprise resource planning data;

based on the identified plurality of express schema-based links and the corresponding property values weighting each link, generating a contribution mapping, the contribution mapping reflecting the relative contribution that each corresponding business capability makes to each of the plurality of different portions of enterprise resource planning data;

providing the contribution mapping which is usable for making a business related decision based on the contribution mapping; and

making a business related decision with respect to a particular portion of enterprise resource planning data based on the provided contribution mapping, wherein the decision is made by an act of aligning the goals of an organizational project with the relative contributions of the business capabilities.

12. The hardware storage device as recited in claim 11, wherein computer executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to access a schema-based model that models a business architecture for the organization comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to access a business capability model, the capability model defining service level expectations that can contribute to enterprise resource planning data.

13. The hardware storage device as recited in claim 11, wherein computer executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to access a schema-based representation of a portion of enterprise resource planning data for the organization comprise computer executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to access schematized financial data for the organization.

14. The hardware storage device as recited in claim 11, wherein computer executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to access a schema-based representation of a portion of enterprise resource planning data for the organization comprise computer executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to access enterprise resource planning data formatted for inclusion in a report to a governmental agency.

15. The hardware storage device as recited in claim 11, wherein computer executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to access a schema-based representation of a portion of enterprise resource planning data for the organization comprise computer executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to access schematized data from a database of an enterprise resource planning system for the organization.

16. The hardware storage device as recited in claim 11, wherein computer executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer architecture to make-provide the contribution mapping which is usable for making a business related decision based on the contribution mapping comprise computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer architecture to make-provide the contribution mapping which is usable for making a decision with respect to one or more of:

a vertical industry strategy for the organization and a strategic direction for the organization.

17. A networked computer system for an organization, the networked computer system including:

one or more processors;

system memory;

one or more physical storage media, the physical storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions representing;

a plurality of software modules for implementing business functionality of the organization;

a database that stores data in a central location accessible to each of the plurality of software modules such that the plurality of software modules can interoperate based on the stored data; and

a data aggregator, the data aggregator configured to format data from the database into one or more data formats used by the organization, including formatting financial data for financial reporting; and

the physical storage media also having stored thereon one or more other software modules configured to implement a method comprising;

accessing a schema-based model that models a business architecture for the organization, the schema based model modeling a plurality of interrelated business capabilities for the organization at a specified level of detail, each business capability representing a different type of work the organization performs;

accessing a schema-based representation of enterprise resource planning data for the organization, the enterprise resource planning data formatted in a generic format for purposes of report generation related to industrial classification and/or regulatory compliance, the enterprise resource planning data lacking organization-specific formatting, the enterprise resource planning data including a plurality of different portions, each different portion relating to a different type of business-related function of the organization;

identifying a plurality of express schema-based links between the enterprise resource planning data and the plurality of interrelated business capabilities, each schema based-link linking a particular business capability to a corresponding portion of the enterprise resource planning data that is transformed during a business process involving the particular business capability, each schema based-link is weight by including in each express schema-based link a corresponding property value that is indicative of a relative contribution of the particular business capability to the corresponding portion of the enterprise resource planning data; and

based on the identified plurality of express schema-based links and the corresponding property values weighting each link, generating a contribution mapping, the contribution mapping reflecting the relative contribution that each of the plurality of interrelated business capabilities makes to each of the plurality of different portions of the enterprise resource planning data; and

making a business related decision with respect to a particular portion of enterprise resource planning data based on the contribution mapping, wherein the decision is made by aligning the goals of an organizational project with the relative contributions of the business capabilities.