Method and apparatus for collaboratively managing supply chains
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsKumar Bhaskaran, Daniel P. Connors, Fenno F. Heath, III, Nitin Nayak
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Abstract
An active collaboration technology in an open architectural framework that delivers information and decision support tools in a timely, contextual and role sensitive manner to present a collaborative dynamic decision making capability to a community of role players within a supply chain process. Such a comprehensive collaborative dynamic decision making capability is made possible through the integration of the business process, the organization of role players and relevant business applications.
Claims22
A communication and decision support method of collaboratively devising, disseminating, deciding and communicating a business plan in a community of role players within a supply chain, comprising:
- collaboratively creating a business scenario by role players having permission to access interactive role sensitive active documents for supply, production and distribution of a product, wherein the interactive role sensitive active documents comprise relevant business information related to the supply chain and business support tools enabling role players to make appropriate decisions for maintaining congruity and efficiency of the supply chain, and wherein the interactive role sensitive active documents are dynamic documents rendering data to a role player in the community of role players based on a predefined role of the role player and a within a context of business processes within the business scenario;
- collaboratively submitting the business scenario, via the interactive role sensitive active documents on a distributed network, to the several role players having permission to access the interactive role sensitive active documents in response to the collaboratively creating the business scenario;
- collaboratively dynamically formulating the business plan based on the collaboratively created and submitted business scenario;
- and
- nesting and maintaining the business scenario and the business plan in the interactive role sensitive active documents including updates of the business scenario and the business plan in response to the collaboratively dynamically formulating the business plan.
A means for collaboratively devising, disseminating and communicating a business plan in a community of role players within a supply chain, comprising:
- creating means for collaboratively creating a business scenario by the role players having permission to access interactive role sensitive active documents for supply, production and distribution of a product, wherein the interactive role sensitive active documents comprise relevant business information related to the supply chain and business support tools enabling role players to make appropriate decisions for maintaining congruity and efficiency of the supply chain, and wherein the interactive role sensitive active documents are dynamic documents rendering data to a role player in the community of role players based on a predefined role of the role player and a within a context of business processes within the business scenario;
- submitting means for collaboratively submitting the business scenario to the several role players having permission to access the interactive role sensitive active documents via the interactive role sensitive active documents on a distributed network;
- formulating means for collaboratively dynamically formulating the business plan based on the collaboratively created and submitted business scenario;
- and
- nesting and maintaining means for nesting and maintaining the business scenario and the business plan in the interactive role sensitive active documents including updates of the business scenario and the business plan.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.