Managing consistent interfaces for financial business objects across heterogeneous systems

• US 8,775,280 B2
• Filed: 07/28/2011
• Issued: 07/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Zech, Sandra, Welte, Joachim, Einsiedel, Heiko, Oppert, Till, Seyfried, Juergen A., Osterloh, Martin, Wevelsiep-Djokic, Jelena
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender, Ryan
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHEIN, ALLEN C
• Application Number:
  US13/192,590
• Publication Number:
  US 20130030963A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,076 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

A business object model, which reflects data that is used during a given business transaction, is utilized to generate interfaces. This business object model facilitates commercial transactions by providing consistent interfaces that are suitable for use across industries, across businesses, and across different departments within a business during a business transaction. In some operations, software creates, updates, or otherwise processes information related to a financial plan, a financials notification, a bank directory entry file and/or a direct debit mandate business object.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium including program code for providing a message-based interface for exchanging financials notification information representing operational business transactions in a form that is standardized for multiple kinds of operational business transactions and contains data needed to operate follow-up processes in financials and to enter the business transactions in a set of books, the medium comprising:

program code for receiving via a message-based interface derived from a common business object model, where the common business object model includes business objects having relationships that enable derivation of message-based interfaces and message packages, the message-based interface exposing at least one service as defined in a service registry and from a heterogeneous application executing in an environment of computer systems providing message-based services, a first message for providing a notification of financials notification information, the first message including a first message package hierarchically organized in memory based on and derived from the common business object model, the first message package including;

at a first hierarchical level in the first message package, a financials notification bundle notification message entity; and

at the first hierarchical level in the first message package, a financials notification package including, at a second hierarchical level in the first message package, at least one financials notification entity, where each financials notification entity includes, at a third hierarchical level in the first message package, a reconciliation period counter value, a company identifier (ID), an original entry document reference, an accounting business transaction date, and an accounting business transaction type code;

program code for processing the first message based on the hierarchical organization of the first message package, where processing the first message includes unpacking the first message package based on the hierarchical organization of the first message package and the first message package'"'"'s derivation from the common business object model, wherein the particular hierarchical organization of the first message package is used at least in part to identify the purpose of the first message; and

program code for sending a second message to the heterogeneous application responsive to the first message, where the second message includes a second message package derived from the common business object model to provide consistent semantics with the first message package.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the financials notification package further includes, at the second hierarchical level in the first message package, at least one of the following:

a cash item package, a debtor item package, a product tax item package, a sales item package, and a cancelled business transaction package.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein each financials notification entity further includes, at the third hierarchical level in the first message package, at least one of the following:

an original entry document external ID and a note.