ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN FOR INTRA-COMPANY STOCK TRANSFER APPLICATION SOFTWARE

• US 20100138258A1
• Filed: 12/03/2008
• Published: 06/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Colle, Renzo, Steinbach, Jochen, Hetzer, Stephan, Reinelt, Klaus, Heger, Achim, Poth, Andreas, Freund, Jens
• Granted Patent: US 8,311,904 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for implementing a software architecture design for a software application implementing intra-company stock transfer of physical inventory. The application is structured as multiple process components interacting with each other through service operations, each implemented for a respective process component. The process components include a Supply and Demand Matching process, a Customer Requirement Processing process component, a Logistics Execution Control process component, a Site Logistics Processing process component, an Outbound Delivery Processing process component, an Inbound Delivery Processing process component, an Inventory Processing process component, a Production and Site Logistics Auxiliaries process component and a Freight Documents Processing process component.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising application software encoded on a tangible machine-readable information carrier, the application software being structured as process components interacting with each other through service interfaces, the software comprising:

a plurality of process components, each of the process components being a package of software implementing a respective and distinct business process, the plurality of process components including;

a supply and demand matching process component that manages the tasks used to ensure that sufficient material receipt elements exist to cover material demand while taking available capacity into account;

a customer requirement processing process component that controls the customer requirements in the supply chain;

a logistics execution control process component that creates, controls, and monitors the supply chain execution activities used for the fulfillment of an order on a macro-logistics level;

a site logistics processing process component that prepares, physically executes, and confirms the logistics processes within a site;

an outbound delivery processing process component that manages and processes the outbound delivery requirements for shipping goods to a product recipient;

an inbound delivery processing process component that manages and processes the inbound delivery requirements for received goods from a vendor;

an inventory processing process component that manages the inventory and recording of inventory changes;

an accounting process component that handles the representation of relevant business transactions for valuation and profitability analysis;

a production and site logistics auxiliaries processing process component that supports the functionality valid for multiple process components; and

a freight documents processing process component that processes the freight-related documents for shipping purposes; and

a plurality of service operations, each service operation being implemented for a respective process component, the operations comprising inbound and outbound operations, the outbound operation for a first process component being operable to send a message to a second process component of the plurality of process components, the second process component having an inbound operation for receiving the message, the passing of messages between an inbound and an outbound operation defining a message-based pair-wise interaction between the respective process components of the respective operations, the pair-wise interactions between pairs of the process components including interactions between;

the inventory processing process component and the supply and demand matching process component;

the site logistics processing process component and the accounting process component;

the logistics execution control process component and the outbound delivery processing process component;

the logistics execution processing process component and the inbound delivery processing process component; and

the outbound delivery processing process component and the inbound delivery processing process component.

2. The product of claim 1, wherein:

each of the plurality of process components is assigned to no more than one deployment unit among multiple deployment units, and each deployment unit is deployable on a separate computer hardware platform independent of every other deployment unit; and

all interaction between a process component in one deployment unit and any other process component in any other deployment unit takes place through the respective service interfaces of the two process components.

3. The product of claim 2, wherein the deployment units comprise:

a production and site logistics execution deployment unit that includes the site logistics processing process component, the outbound delivery processing process component, the inbound delivery processing process component, the freight documents processing process component, the production and site logistics auxiliaries processing process component, and the inventory processing process component; and

a supply chain control deployment unit that includes the supply and demand matching process component, the customer requirement processing process component, and the logistics execution control process component.

4. The product of claim 1, wherein:

each of the process components includes one or more business objects; and

none of the business objects of any one of the process components interacts directly with any of the business objects included in any of the other process components.

5. The product of claim 4, wherein the business objects comprise a business process object.

6. The product of claim 4, wherein none of the business objects included in any one of the process components is included in any of the other process components.

7. The product of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of process agents, each process agent being either an inbound process agent or an outbound process agent, an inbound process agent being operable to receive a message from an inbound operation, an outbound process agent being operable to cause an outbound operation to send a message, each process agent being associated with exactly one process component.

8. The product of claim 7, wherein the inbound process agents comprise a first inbound process agent operable to start the execution of a business process step requested in a first inbound message by creating or updating one or more business object instances.

9. The product of claim 7, wherein the outbound process agents comprise a first asynchronous outbound process agent that is called after a business object that is associated with the first outbound process agent changes.

10. The product of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise synchronous and asynchronous operations.

11. A system, comprising:

a computer system comprising one or more hardware platforms for executing a computer software application;

a plurality of process components, each of the process components being a package of software implementing a respective and distinct business process, the plurality of process components including;

a supply and demand matching process component that manages the tasks used to ensure that sufficient material receipt elements exist to cover material demand while taking available capacity into account;

a customer requirement processing process component that controls the customer requirements in the supply chain;

a logistics execution control process component that creates, controls, and monitors the supply chain execution activities used for the fulfillment of an order on a macro-logistics level;

a site logistics processing process component that prepares, physically executes, and confirms the logistics processes within a site;

an outbound delivery processing process component that manages and processes the outbound delivery requirements for shipping goods to a product recipient;

an inbound delivery processing process component that manages and processes the inbound delivery requirements for received goods from a vendor;

an inventory processing process component that manages the inventory and recording of inventory changes;

an accounting process component that handles the representation of relevant business transactions for valuation and profitability analysis;

a production and site logistics auxiliaries processing process component that supports the functionality valid for multiple process components; and

a freight documents processing process component that processes the freight-related documents for shipping purposes; and

a plurality of service operations, each service operation being implemented for a respective process component, the operations comprising inbound and outbound operations, the outbound operation for a first process component being operable to send a message to a second process component of the plurality of process components, the second process component having an inbound operation for receiving the message, the passing of messages between an inbound and an outbound operation defining a message-based pair-wise interaction between the respective process components of the respective operations, the pair-wise interactions between pairs of the process components including interactions between;

the inventory processing process component and the supply and demand matching process component;

the site logistics processing process component and the accounting process component;

the logistics execution control process component and the outbound delivery processing process component;

the logistics execution processing process component and the inbound delivery processing process component; and

the outbound delivery processing process component and the inbound delivery processing process component.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein:

each of the process components includes one or more business objects; and

none of the business objects of any one of the process components interacts directly with any of the business objects included in any of the other process components.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein none of the business objects included in any one of the process components is included in any of the other process components.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein a plurality of process agents, each process agent being either an inbound process agent or an outbound process agent, an inbound process agent being operable to receive a message from an inbound operation, an outbound process agent being operable to cause an outbound operation to send a message, each process agent being associated with exactly one process component.

15. The system of claim 11, the system comprising multiple hardware platforms, wherein:

the site logistics processing process component, the outbound delivery processing process component, the inbound delivery process component, the production and site logistics auxiliaries processing process component, and the inventory processing process component are deployed on a first hardware platform;

the accounting process component is deployed on a second hardware platform; and

the supply and demand matching process component, the customer requirement processing process component, and the logistics execution control process component are deployed on a third hardware platform.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein each of the first through the third hardware platforms are distinct and separate from each other.

17. A method for developing a computer software application, comprising:

obtaining in a computer system digital data representing an architectural design for a set of processes implementing an end-to-end application process, the design specifying a process component for each process in the set of processes, the design specifying further specifying a set of process component interactions, wherein;

a supply and demand matching process component that manages the tasks used to ensure that sufficient material receipt elements exist to cover material demand while taking available capacity into account;

a customer requirement processing process component that controls the customer requirements in the supply chain;

a logistics execution control process component that creates, controls, and monitors the supply chain execution activities used for the fulfillment of an order on a macro-logistics level;

a site logistics processing process component that prepares, physically executes, and confirms the logistics processes within a site;

an outbound delivery processing process component that manages and processes the outbound delivery requirements for shipping goods to a product recipient;

an inbound delivery processing process component that manages and processes the inbound delivery requirements for received goods from a vendor;

an inventory processing process component that manages the inventory and recording of inventory changes;

an accounting process component that handles the representation of relevant business transactions for valuation and profitability analysis;

a production and site logistics auxiliaries processing process component that supports the functionality valid for multiple process components; and

a freight documents processing process component that processes the freight-related documents for shipping purposes; and

the process component interactions include interactions between;

the inventory processing process component and the supply and demand matching process component;

the site logistics processing process component and the accounting process component;

the logistics execution control process component and the outbound delivery processing process component;

the logistics execution processing process component and the inbound delivery processing process component; and

the outbound delivery processing process component and the inbound delivery processing process component; and

using the design including the specified process components and the specified process component interactions to develop a computer software application to perform the set of processes.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein each process in the set of processes is a business process transforming a defined business input into a defined business outcome.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein obtaining digital data representing the architectural design further comprises editing the design before using the design.