Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Computer conferencing – Cooperative computer processing
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-02
2001-12-18
Geckil, Mehmet B. (Department: 2152)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Computer conferencing
Cooperative computer processing
C709S201000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06332155
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates in general to the field of supply chain, enterprise and site planning and, more particularly, to a system and process allowing collaboration within and between enterprises for optimal decision making.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Supply chain, enterprise and site planning applications and environments are widely used by manufacturing entities for decision support and to help manage operations. Decision support environments for supply chain, enterprise, and site planning have evolved from single-domain, monolithic environments to multi-domain, monolithic environments. Conventional planning software applications are available in a wide range of products offered by various companies. These decision support tools allow entities to more efficiently manage complex manufacturing operations. However, supply chains are generally characterized by multiple, distributed and heterogenous planning environments. Thus, there are limits to the effectiveness of conventional environments when applied to the problem of supply chain planning due to monolithic application architectures. Further, these problems are exacerbated when there is no one “owner” of the entire supply chain.
It is desirable for the next evolutionary step for planning environments to establish a multi-domain, heterogenous architecture that supports products spanning multiple domains, as well as spanning multiple engines and products. The integration of the various planning environments into a seamless solution can enable inter-domain and inter-enterprise supply chain planning. Further, an important function provided by some planning applications is the optimization of the subject environment rather than simply tracking transactions. In particular, the RHYTHM family of products available from I 2 TECHNOLOGIES provide optimization functionality. However, with respect to planning at the enterprise or supply chain level, many conventional applications, such as those available from SAP, use enterprise resource planning (ERP) engines and do not provide optimization.
The success or failure of an enterprise can depend to a large extent on the quality of decision making within the enterprise. Thus, decision support software, such as I 2 TECHNOLOGIES' RHYTHM family of products, that support optimal decision making within enterprises can be particularly important to the success of the enterprise. In general, optimal decisions are relative to the domain of the decision support where the domain is the extent of the “world” considered in arriving at the decision. For example, the decision being made may be how much of a given item a factory should produce during a given time period. The “optimal” answer depends on the domain of the decision. The domain may be, for example, just the factory itself, the supply chain that contains the factory, the entire enterprise, or the multi-enterprise supply chain. (The latter two can be considered to be larger domains or multiple domains.) Typically, the larger the domain of the decision support, the more optimal the decision will be. Consequently, it is desirable for decision support software to cover ever larger domains in the decision making process. Yet, this broadening of coverage can create significant problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, a system and process allowing collaboration within and between enterprises for optimal decision making are disclosed that provide advantages over conventional supply chain, enterprise and site planning environments.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a computer implemented process os provided for enterprise collaboration. The process includes designing a workflow where the workflow has at least one heterocast split and at least one heterocast join. The heterocast split and the heterocast join allow at least one activity to be parameterized, and at least one of the parameters comprising nodes within a node group. The workflow is then instantiated such that the at least one activity is instantiated as a plurality of activities each tailored to a particular node in the node group. The process then involves deploying the workflow including distributing the activities over the nodes in the node group, and executing the workflow to provide multi-enterprise collaboration.
A technical advantage of the present invention is the ability to design, instantiate, deploy, execute, monitor and modify sophisticated multi-enterprise collaborations. This can be used to address the challenges of enterprise as well as multi-enterprise decision support. In particular, this ability can be provided through a global collaboration designer (GCD) and global collaboration manager (GCM).
Additional technical advantages should be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.
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Baker & Botts L.L.P.
Geckil Mehmet B.
i2 Technologies US, Inc.
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