Policy Based Automation for a Supply Chain

Abstract

A method for managing a supply chain includes: identifying a business context for the supply chain; identifying a set of business policy rules for the business context governing the relationship between entities involved in the supply chain; creating use-case description from the set of business policy rules; creating a plurality of executable code modules corresponding to the use-case description; specifying a plurality of name/value pair for modeling the set of business policy rules; provisioning the plurality of application server computers of the computer network system with the executable code modules; and provisioning a central directory database with the plurality of name/value pairs; whereby the computer network system, in response to events in business transactions between at least two entities involved in the supply chain, is operable to dynamically deliver at least one name/value pair from the central directory database and to execute at least one code module.

1 . A system for administering business policies within a supply chain application in a distributed computer network comprising a plurality of application server computers, the system comprising:
 a policy data repository operable to store data for business policy rules governing a transaction involving an enterprise and at least one partner in the supply chain;   a process execution component operable to administer a workflow related to a transaction; and   a manager component in communication with the process execution component, the manager component operable to dynamically provide least a portion of data for business policy rules from the policy data repository to the process execution component during operation of the system.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the data for business policy rules is formatted as name/value pairs. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the business policy rules are related to a service level agreements defining a relationship between the enterprise and the at least one partner. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the business policy rules specify a turnaround time. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the business policy rules specify a compare value. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the policy data repository comprises a LDAP repository. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the policy data repository comprises a RDBMS repository. 
     
     
         8 . A system comprising:
 a processor;   a storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor, the program logic comprising:
 logic executed by the processor for triggering a case action by a transaction event in a process execution; 
 logic executed by the processor for reaching a decision node in the case action; 
 logic executed by the processor for forming and passing a token identifying a policy resource; 
 logic executed by the processor for receiving the token by a process manager; 
 logic executed by the processor for requesting the policy resource from a policy manager; 
 logic executed by the processor for evaluating the policy resource received from the policy manager responsive to the request; and 
 logic executed by the processor for activating a trigger selected from a plurality of triggers according to results of the evaluating. 
   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the program logic further comprises:
 logic executed by the processor for sending the policy resource to the process manager by the policy manager. 
 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the policy resource comprises a name/value pair. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the policy manager retrieves the policy resource from an LDAP repository. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the policy manager retrieves the policy resource from an RDBMS repository. 
     
     
         13 . A method for administering business policies in a distributed computer network comprising:
 triggering, using at least one computing device, a case action by a transaction event in a process execution;   reaching, using at least one computing device, a decision node in the case action;   forming and passing, using the at least one computing device, a token identifying a policy resource;   receiving, using the at least one computing device, the token by a process manager;   requesting, using the at least one computing device, the policy resource from a policy manager;   evaluating, using at least one computing device, the policy resource received from the policy manager responsive to the request; and   activating, using at least one computing device, a trigger selected from a plurality of triggers according to results of the evaluating.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising:
 sending, using at least one computing device, the policy resource to the process manager by the policy manager. 
 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the policy resource comprises a name/value pair. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the policy manager retrieves the policy resource from an LDAP repository. 
     
     
         17 . Non-transitory computer readable storage media for tangibly storing thereon computer readable instructions for a method comprising:
 triggering a case action by a transaction event in a process execution;   reaching a decision node in the case action;   forming and passing a token identifying a policy resource;   receiving the token by a process manager;   requesting the policy resource from a policy manager;   evaluating the policy resource received from the policy manager responsive to the request; and   activating a trigger selected from a plurality of triggers according to results of the evaluating.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer readable storage media of  claim 17  further comprising sending the policy resource to the process manager by the policy manager. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer readable storage media of  claim 17  wherein the policy resource comprises a name/value pair. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer readable storage media of  claim 17  wherein the policy manager retrieves the policy resource from an LDAP repository.