Framework for hierarchy-based data processing

A method comprising:

• receiving a request to process a type of policy for an item based on a location associated with a user requesting procurement of the item and a category associated with the item;
• determining a first identifier encoding for the location associated with the user based on a hierarchy of locations comprising a first plurality of nodes, each node having a node identifier, wherein determining the first identifier encoding for the location comprises traversing a first path through the hierarchy of locations starting at a root node of the first plurality of nodes and ending at a node in the first plurality of nodes that represents the location associated with the user and concatenating the node identifiers associated with the root node with the node identifiers associated with nodes along the first path through the hierarchy of locations and the node identifier associated with the node that represents the location associated with the user;
• determining a second identifier encoding for the category associated with the item based on a hierarchy of categories comprising a second plurality of nodes, each node having a node identifier, wherein determining the second identifier encoding for the category comprises concatenating the node identifiers associated nodes along a second path through the hierarchy categories to a node that represents the category associated with the item;
• determining a first set of search identifiers based on the first identifier encoding for the location;
• determining a second set of search identifiers based on the second identifier encoding for the category;
• determining a set of combinations of search identifiers based on the first and second sets of search identifiers;
• identifying a set of policies from a plurality of policies based on the set of combinations of search identifiers, wherein each policy in the set of policies identified from the plurality of policies has the type of policy specified in the request;
• and
• applying the set of policies to a set of values provided by the user for a set of fields in a form associated with the item.

A system comprising:

• a set of processing units;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that when executed by at least one processing unit in the set of processing units cause the at least one processing unit to:
• receive a request to process a type of policy for an item based on a location associated with a user requesting procurement of the item and a category associated with the item;
• determine a first identifier encoding for the location associated with the user based on a hierarchy of locations comprising a first plurality of nodes, each node having a node identifier, wherein determining the first identifier encoding for the location comprises traversing a first path through the hierarchy of locations starting at a root node of the first plurality of nodes and ending at a node in the first plurality of nodes that represents the location associated with the user and concatenating the node identifiers associated with the root node with the node identifiers associated with nodes along the first path through the hierarchy of locations and the node identifier associated with the node that represents the location associated with the user;
• determine a second identifier encoding for the category associated with the item based on a hierarchy of categories comprising a second plurality of nodes, each node having a node identifier, wherein determining the second identifier encoding for the category comprises concatenating the node identifiers associated nodes along a second path through the hierarchy categories to a node that represents the category associated with the item;
• determine a first set of search identifiers based on the first identifier encoding for the location;
• determine a second set of search identifiers based on the second identifier encoding for the category;
• determine a set of combinations of search identifiers based on the first and second sets of search identifiers;
• identify a set of policies from a plurality of policies based on the set of combinations of search identifiers, wherein each policy in the set of policies identified from the plurality of policies has the type of policy specified in the request;
• and
• apply the set of policies to a set of values provided by the user for a set of fields in a form associated with the item.