Resource allocation management

• US 8,744,888 B2
• Filed: 04/04/2012
• Issued: 06/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Li, Wen-Syan, Qi, Jie
• Primary Examiner(s): Bartley, Kenneth
• Application Number:
  US13/439,368
• Publication Number:
  US 20130268307A1
• Time in Patent Office: 790 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35, 705/36.R, 705/7.11, 705/7.12, 706/13, 706/14
• US Class Current: 705/7.12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

In accordance with aspects of the disclosure, a system and methods are provided for managing resource allocation by generating a finance-investment plan relative to one or more time intervals while maintaining a cash reserve at a predetermined threshold based on information related to financial activities including asset related activities and liability related activities. The systems and methods may include evaluating accounts receivable patterns for each asset to determine cash surplus ranges within the one or more time intervals, evaluating accounts payable patterns for each liability to determine cash flow gaps within the one or more time intervals, maintaining an asset-to-liability ratio during the one or more time intervals, and generating the finance-investment plan while maintaining the cash reserve at the predetermined threshold within the one or more time intervals based on the asset-to-liability ratio and potential cash flow forecasting schemes for each asset and liability.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

at least one processor and memory; and

a resource allocation manager stored in memory and configured to cause the at least one processor to generate a finance-investment plan relative to one or more time intervals while maintaining a cash reserve at a predetermined threshold based on information related to one or more financial activities including asset related activities and liability related activities and store the finance-investment plan in the memory, the resource allocation manager including;

an asset handler configured to retrieve information related to one or more assets from an asset database and evaluate accounts receivable patterns for each asset to determine cash surplus ranges within the one or more time intervals;

a liability handler configured to retrieve information related to one or more liabilities from a liability database and evaluate accounts payable patterns for each liability to determine cash flow gaps within the one or more time intervals;

a risk handler configured to determine and maintain an asset-to-liability ratio related to the determined cash surplus ranges and the determined cash flow gaps during the one or more time intervals;

a genetic algorithm handler configured to generate one or more potential cash flow forecasting schemes for each asset and liability based on the accounts receivable patterns for each asset and the accounts payable patterns for each liability while maintaining the cash reserve at the predetermined threshold; and

a financial activity optimizer configured to generate the finance-investment plan while maintaining the cash reserve at the predetermined threshold within the one or more time intervals based on the asset-to-liability ratio and the one or more potential cash flow forecasting schemes for each asset and liability.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the information related to the one or more financial activities includes data related to the one or more financial activities including historical data and future cash flow forecasting data.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the information related to the one or more assets includes investment portfolio data related to the one or more assets including historical data and future cash flow forecasting data.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the information related to the one or more liabilities includes loan portfolio data related to the one or more liabilities including historical data and future cash flow forecasting data.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the risk handler is further configured to determine when the asset-to-liability ratio changes and recalculate the asset-to-liability ratio when cash is added from at least one of the assets to the cash reserve as revenue and when cash is allocated to at least one of the liabilities from the cash reserve as payment.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein:

each of the assets is related to an investment including a short-term investment providing revenue as cash inflow to the cash reserve, and

each of the potential cash flow forecasting schemes are generated to determine potential cash surplus ranges for each asset and potential increases in revenue for each asset.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein:

each of the liabilities is related to a loan including a short-term loan requesting payment as cash outflow from the cash reserve, and

each of the potential cash flow forecasting schemes are generated to determine potential cash flow gaps for each liability and potential loan interest expenses for each liability.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the genetic algorithm handler is configured to:

generate the one or more potential cash flow forecasting schemes based on using investment portfolio information of each asset to determine the cash surplus ranges within the one or more time intervals while maintaining the cash reserve at the predetermined threshold.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the genetic algorithm handler is configured to:

generate the one or more potential cash flow forecasting schemes based on using loan portfolio information of each liability to determine the cash flow gaps within the one or more time intervals while maintaining the cash reserve at the predetermined threshold.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the financial activity optimizer is configured to:

evaluate each potential cash flow forecasting scheme for each asset and liability; and

select a best potential cash flow forecasting scheme by considering one or more of the asset-to-liability ratio, the potential cash surplus ranges for each asset, and the potential cash flow gaps for each liability while maintaining the cash reserve at the predetermined threshold.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the genetic algorithm handler comprises:

a chromosome comparator configured to compare a plurality of financial forecast chromosomes, each financial forecast chromosome including the one or more potential cash flow forecasting schemes for each asset and liability within the one or more time intervals based on the accounts receivable patterns for each asset and the accounts payable patterns for each liability, and configured to compare each of the plurality of financial forecast chromosomes relative to the predetermined threshold of the cash reserve, to thereby output a selected subset of the plurality of financial forecast chromosomes; and

a chromosome combiner configured to combine financial forecast chromosomes of the selected subset of the plurality of financial forecast chromosomes to obtain a next generation of financial forecast chromosomes for output to the chromosome comparator and for subsequent comparison therewith of the next generation of financial forecast chromosomes with respect to the predetermined threshold of the cash reserve, as part of an evolutionary loop of the plurality of financial forecast chromosomes between the chromosome comparator and the chromosome combiner,

wherein the financial activity optimizer is further configured to monitor the evolutionary loop and select a selected financial forecast chromosome therefrom for implementation of the finance-investment plan based thereon.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the chromosome combiner is further configured to combine the financial forecast chromosomes including selecting pairs of financial forecast chromosomes and crossing over portions of each pair of financial forecast chromosomes to obtain a child chromosome of the next generation.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein at least a portion of the evolutionary loop is executed using parallel processes in which each generation of financial forecast chromosomes is divided into sub-groups for parallel processing thereof.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the financial activity optimizer is further configured to select the selected financial forecast chromosome after a predetermined number of generations of the evolutionary loop, or after determining that the selected financial forecast chromosome satisfies the predetermined threshold of the cash reserve.

15. A computer-implemented method performed by at least one processor of a computing device, the method comprising:

generating, by the at least one processor, a finance-investment plan relative to one or more time intervals while maintaining a cash reserve at a predetermined threshold based on information related to one or more financial activities including asset related activities and liability related activities including;

retrieving information related to one or more assets from an asset database and evaluating accounts receivable patterns for each asset to determine cash surplus ranges within the one or more time intervals;

retrieving information related to one or more liabilities from a liability database and evaluating accounts payable patterns for each liability to determine cash flow gaps within the one or more time intervals;

determining and maintaining an asset-to-liability ratio related to the determined cash surplus ranges and the determined cash flow gaps during the one or more time intervals;

generating one or more potential cash flow forecasting schemes for each asset and liability based on the accounts receivable patterns for each asset and the accounts payable patterns for each liability while maintaining the cash reserve at the predetermined threshold;

generating the finance-investment plan while maintaining the cash reserve at the predetermined threshold within the one or more time intervals based on the asset-to-liability ratio and the one or more potential cash flow forecasting schemes for each asset and liability; and

storing the finance-investment plan in memory.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

comparing a plurality of financial forecast chromosomes, each financial forecast chromosome including the one or more potential cash flow forecasting schemes for each asset and liability within the one or more time intervals based on the accounts receivable patterns for each asset and the accounts payable patterns for each liability;

comparing each of the plurality of financial forecast chromosomes relative to the predetermined threshold of the cash reserve, to thereby output a selected subset of the plurality of financial forecast chromosomes;

combining financial forecast chromosomes of the selected subset of the plurality of financial forecast chromosomes to obtain a next generation of financial forecast chromosomes for output and for subsequent comparison therewith of the next generation of financial forecast chromosomes with respect to the predetermined threshold of the cash reserve, as part of an evolutionary loop of the plurality of financial forecast chromosomes; and

monitoring the evolutionary loop and selecting a selected financial forecast chromosome therefrom for implementation of the finance-investment plan based thereon.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

combining the financial forecast chromosomes including selecting pairs of financial forecast chromosomes and crossing over portions of each pair of financial forecast chromosomes to obtain a child chromosome of the next generation,

wherein at least a portion of the evolutionary loop is executed using parallel processes in which each generation of financial forecast chromosomes is divided into sub-groups for parallel processing thereof.

18. A computer program product, the computer program product being tangibly embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, are configured to:

generate, by the at least one processor, a finance-investment plan relative to one or more time intervals while maintaining a cash reserve at a predetermined threshold based on information related to one or more financial activities including asset related activities and liability related activities, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, are further configured to;

retrieve information related to one or more assets from an asset database and evaluate accounts receivable patterns for each asset to determine cash surplus ranges within the one or more time intervals;

retrieve information related to one or more liabilities from a liability database and evaluate accounts payable patterns for each liability to determine cash flow gaps within the one or more time intervals;

determine and maintain an asset-to-liability ratio related to the determined cash surplus ranges and the determined cash flow gaps during the one or more time intervals;

generate one or more potential cash flow forecasting schemes for each asset and liability based on the accounts receivable patterns for each asset and the accounts payable patterns for each liability while maintaining the cash reserve at the predetermined threshold;

generate the finance-investment plan while maintaining the cash reserve at the predetermined threshold within the one or more time intervals based on the asset-to-liability ratio and the one or more potential cash flow forecasting schemes for each asset and liability; and

store the finance-investment plan in memory.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, are configured to:

compare a plurality of financial forecast chromosomes, each financial forecast chromosome including the one or more potential cash flow forecasting schemes for each asset and liability within the one or more time intervals based on the accounts receivable patterns for each asset and the accounts payable patterns for each liability;

compare each of the plurality of financial forecast chromosomes relative to the predetermined threshold of the cash reserve, to thereby output a selected subset of the plurality of financial forecast chromosomes;

combine financial forecast chromosomes of the selected subset of the plurality of financial forecast chromosomes to obtain a next generation of financial forecast chromosomes for output to the chromosome comparator and for subsequent comparison therewith of the next generation of financial forecast chromosomes with respect to the predetermined threshold of the cash reserve, as part of an evolutionary loop of the plurality of financial forecast chromosomes between the chromosome comparator and the chromosome combiner; and

monitor the evolutionary loop and select a selected financial forecast chromosome therefrom for implementation of the finance-investment plan based thereon.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, are configured to:

combine the financial forecast chromosomes including selecting pairs of financial forecast chromosomes and crossing over portions of each pair of financial forecast chromosomes to obtain a child chromosome of the next generation,

wherein at least a portion of the evolutionary loop is executed using parallel processes in which each generation of financial forecast chromosomes is divided into sub-groups for parallel processing thereof.