Method and system for monitoring a supply-chain

Abstract

A method of monitoring supply chain activity throughout a plurality of supply chain sites includes extracting, at each supply chain site, supply-related data to be monitored. The data is maintained in plural formats at the supply chain sites, and translated the data to a common format. The extracted data is then uploaded to and collected, from each supply chain site, to a data collection center or site. Upon a user request, a portion of the collected data is formatted, at the data collection site, into one of a plurality of views, responsive to criteria selected by the user, for presentation to the user, the portion of formatted data being dependent on access rights granted to the user's supply chain site. Finally, the formatted data view is published to the user's supply chain site. The data collection center comprises a data collector in which the uploaded data is stored, and a publisher for publishing data from the data collector upon request. Each supply chain site has a data storage device for maintaining its own supply-chain data, a data transfer engine (DTE), for transferring the supply-chain data to the data collection center, input means for allowing a user to query the data collector, and a display for displaying data published by the publisher in response to a query. The inbound data received from the multiple supply chain sites is monitored at the data collection site. If a problem condition is detected, such as a forecasted or present shortage or surplus, an alert is asserted, for example, by highlighting an Alert indicator, such as an Alert tab, on a user screen. Upon selection of the highlighted Alert indicator by a user, details of the detected problem condition are displayed.

1 . A data importation method comprising: 
 receiving first product data in a first format;    comparing the first product data with second product data previously received;    reviewing results of the comparison to determine whether there is a problem with the first product data;    changing a format of the first product data to a standard format;    comparing the standard format first product data with third product data, the third product data corresponding to the second product data having format changed to the standard format;    placing the standard format first product data in a category based on the comparison of the standard format first product data with the third product data; and    generating statistics based on the comparison of the standard format first product data with the third product data.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein placing the standard format first product data in a category comprises placing the standard format first product data in an identical products file.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein placing the standard format first product data in a category comprises placing the standard format first product data in a new products file.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising: 
 retrieving original supplier data for an original supplier product;    normalizing at least one company in the retrieved supplier data;    looking up the original supplier product in a product database to determine whether data corresponding to the original supplier product has been provided by other suppliers;    locating a template for the original supplier product corresponding to the retrieved supplier data;    normalizing at least one attribute from the retrieved supplier data by using the template;    defining normalized product data as the supplier data having the normalized at least one company and the normalized at least one attribute; and    inserting the normalized product data into the product database.    
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the step of normalizing at least one company comprises normalizing vendors and manufacturers associated with the product.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the looking the product up step comprises determining whether the retrieved product data already exists in the product database.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising: 
 comparing the normalized at least one attribute with existing attributes;    selecting correct attribute values; and    updating the normalized product data in the product database with the correct attribute values.    
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising a step of updating attribution definitions before the step of inserting the normalized product data.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising: 
 identifying a category associated with the original supplier product;    retrieving original supplier data for other original supplier products; and    optionally assigning to the located template all products in the other supplier original products corresponding to the identified category.    
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein placing the standard format first product data in a category comprises placing the standard format first product data in a changed products file.  
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein placing the standard format first product data in a category comprises placing the standard format first product data in a deleted products file.  
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising: 
 retrieving product data from the delete products file;    looking up the retrieved product data in the product database;    deleting from the database the retrieved product data, which corresponds to a first supplier, when a product corresponding to the retrieved product data has not been deleted for all other suppliers.    
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein placing the standard format first product data in a category comprises placing the standard format first product data in a faulty products file.