Accelerated system and methods for synchronizing, managing, and publishing business information

• US 8,325,750 B2
• Filed: 05/25/2010
• Issued: 12/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Eugene, Cherny, Gilat, Fisch, Ronen, Cohen, Stanley, Levin
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Man
• Application Number:
  US12/787,316
• Publication Number:
  US 20100229111A1
• Time in Patent Office: 924 Days
• Field of Search: 370254-360, 370386-415, 709220-229, 707102-109, 715503-509, 715700-760
• US Class Current: 370/412
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide an accelerated system and methods for gathering business information, augmenting that information to conform to requirements for sharing the information and for synchronizing, managing and publishing the information across the supply chain. A control module business gathers information from a variety of enterprise wide systems and stored via an acceleration engine. The information is published to a data pool and registered by the data pool with a registry. One or more embodiments of the user interface component comprise declaratively defined interfaces that are not hardcoded in a source code program. The server interface is capable of utilizing declaratively defined interface definitions for data pool specific messages and data attributes that are not hardcoded in a source code program. Declaratively defined user and server interfaces allow for modification of the interface without altering the source code.

Claims

1. An accelerated system for synchronizing business information comprising:

a database configured to store business information comprising trade item information;

an acceleration engine coupled with said database, said acceleration engine configured to incorporate a database schema structure that extends and optimizes upon standard SQL, wherein said acceleration engine bypasses standard SQL to perform at least one searching, sorting, and retrieval operation;

a control module coupled with a data pool associated with a global registry, said control module configured to manage and synchronize said trade item information with said data pool;

a declaratively defined user interface coupled with said control module, said user interface configured to provide trade item information management functionality to a user, wherein said declaratively defined user interface is configured to be modifiable without altering source code, without recompiling and without reinstalling program components and is further configured to enforce entry of parameters required by said global registry, including product information comprising at least one of an owning organization, a product form, a privacy data label, a product packaging, a sub-brand, variant information, an alternate item classification scheme, a measurement, a product hierarchy level, a product handling parameter, a product packing parameter, a related product link, a coupon family code, a UPC, a PLU, product marking information, hazardous material information, a hazard code, a Hazmat number, or nutritional information; and

a declaratively defined server interface coupled with said control module comprising definitions for data pool specific messages and data pool specific attributes, wherein said declaratively defined server interface is configured to be modifiable without altering source code, without recompiling and without reinstalling program components.

2. The accelerated system for synchronizing business information of claim 1, wherein said declaratively defined user interface is selected from existing user interface configurations.

3. The accelerated system for synchronizing business information of claim 1, wherein said declaratively defined user interface is generated by altering an existing user interface configuration.

4. The accelerated system for synchronizing business information of claim 1, wherein said declaratively defined server interface is selected from existing server interface configurations associated with one or more associated data pools.

5. The accelerated system for synchronizing business information of claim 1, wherein said declaratively defined server interface is generated by altering an existing server interface configuration.

6. The accelerated system for synchronizing business information of claim 1, wherein said declaratively defined user interface is further configured to allow said user to augment attributes of said trade item information required by said data pool.

7. The accelerated system for synchronizing business information of claim 1, wherein said trade item information management functionality comprises at least one of global trade item number (GTIN) management, and GTIN registration.

8. The accelerated system for synchronizing business information of claim 1, wherein said declaratively defined user interface is further configured to provide functionality comprising at least one of publication by GTIN, publication by partner, trade partner management, data pool management, user administration and metadata management.

9. The accelerated system for synchronizing business information of claim 1, further comprising an adapter framework comprising at least one adapter configured to provide an interface between said control module and an external application.

10. The accelerated system for synchronizing business information of claim 9, wherein said at least one adapter comprises at least one application systems adapter configured to provide object-level support for packaged application systems.

11. The accelerated system for synchronizing business information of claim 9, wherein said at least one adapter further comprises at least one touchpoint adapter configured to abstract integration issues between business processes and packaged applications.

12. The accelerated system for synchronizing business information of claim 11, wherein said packaged applications comprise at least one enterprise resource planning system.

13. The accelerated system for synchronizing business information of claim 11, wherein said packaged applications comprise at least one supply chain management system.

14. A computer-implemented method for synchronizing business information, said computer-implemented method comprising:

integrating trade item information on at least one back-end computer system;

providing required attributes for global synchronization of said trade item information;

cleansing said trade item information;

declaratively defining a user interface configured to provide trade item information management functionality to a user, wherein the user interface is further configured to enforce entry of parameters required by a global registry, including product information comprising at least one of an owning organization, a product form, a privacy data label, a product packaging, a sub-brand, variant information, an alternate item classification scheme, a measurement, a product hierarchy level, a product handling parameter, a product packing parameter, a related product link, a coupon family code, a UPC, a PLU, product marking information, hazardous material information, a hazard code, a Hazmat number, or nutritional information;

determining a data pool for communication, the data pool being associated with the global registry;

declaratively defining a server interface comprising definitions for messages and data attributes specific to said data pool;

verifying said data pool is accepting communication; and

sending and receiving trade item information with said data pool;

wherein said user interface and said server interface are configured to be modifiable without altering source code, without recompiling and without reinstalling program components.

15. An accelerated system for synchronizing business information comprising:

a database configured to store business information comprising trade item information;

an acceleration engine coupled with said database, said acceleration engine configured to incorporate a database schema structure that extends and optimizes upon standard SQL, wherein said acceleration engine bypasses standard SQL to perform at least one searching, sorting, and retrieval operation;

a control module coupled with a data pool associated with a global registry, said control module configured to manage and synchronize said trade item information with said data pool;

a declaratively defined user interface coupled with said control module, said user interface configured to provide trade item information management functionality to a user, wherein said declaratively defined user interface is configured to be modifiable without altering source code, without recompiling and without reinstalling program components;

a declaratively defined server interface coupled with said control module comprising definitions for data pool specific messages and data pool specific attributes, wherein said declaratively defined server interface is configured to be modifiable without altering source code, without recompiling and without reinstalling program components; and

an adapter framework comprising at least one adapter configured to provide an interface between said control module and an external application, wherein said at least one adapter includes at least one touchpoint adapter configured to abstract integration issues between business processes and packaged applications.