Disambiguating point-of-sale data through item indexing

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, and computer-readable medium can disambiguate point-of-sale data. One method receives one or more measured values. Each measured value indicating a quantity of sales allocated to a respective individual item. The method also receives an unallocated value indicating a quantity of sales allocated to an undifferentiated grouping of a plurality of the individual items. The method calculates, for each individual item of the plurality of the individual items associated with the undifferentiated grouping, a fraction of the undifferentiated grouping attributable to the respective individual item, and estimates a total sales value for at least one of the plurality of the individual items, based at least in part upon a respective measured value and a respective fraction of the undifferentiated grouping attributable to the respective individual item.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving one or more measured values, each measured value indicating a quantity of sales allocated to a respective individual item;   receiving an unallocated value indicating a quantity of sales allocated to an undifferentiated grouping of a plurality of the individual items;   calculating, for each individual item of the plurality of the individual items associated with the undifferentiated grouping, a fraction of the undifferentiated grouping attributable to the respective individual item; and   estimating, for at least one of the plurality of the individual items, a total sales value based at least in part upon a respective measured value and a respective fraction of the undifferentiated grouping attributable to the respective individual item.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing the total sales value for the at least one of the plurality of the individual items to a sales forecasting system.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 scrubbing the one or more measured value to remove a portion of the quantity of sales allocated to the respective individual item that are deemed to potentially distort the respective estimate of total sales value.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein scrubbing comprises removing a portion of the quantity of sales that are associated with a special order of the respective individual item. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein calculating a fraction of the undifferentiated grouping attributable to the respective individual item comprises:
 determining a production value for each individual item;   determining an un-sold value for each individual item;   calculating, for each respective individual item, an item's unallocated value by subtracting from the production value, associated with the respective individual item, at least the un-sold value, associated with the respective individual item, and the measured value, associated with the respective individual item; and   calculating, for each respective individual item, the fraction of the undifferentiated grouping attributable to the respective individual item by dividing the unallocated value, associated with the respective individual item, by a sum of all the unallocated values of the individual items.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein estimating, for at least one of the plurality of the individual items, a total sales value further comprises:
 determining a transferred value for each of the at least one individual item, wherein the transferred value indicates a quantity that is not included in the respective measured value; and   wherein calculating, for each respective individual item, an item's unallocated value also comprises subtracting the transferred value associated with the respective individual item from the production value, associated with the respective individual item.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein calculating a fraction of the undifferentiated grouping attributable to the respective individual item comprises:
 determining the fraction of the undifferentiated grouping attributable to the respective individual item based, at least in part, upon a quantity of each individual item produced and an amount of each individual item directly accounted for.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein estimating, for at least one of the plurality of the individual items, a total sales value comprises:
 computing an approximately-allocated value for each of the at least one individual item, by allocating to each of the individual items a portion of the unallocated value based upon the respective fraction of the undifferentiated grouping attributable to the respective individual item; and   adding, for each of the at least one individual item, the respective approximately-allocated value to a respective measured value to create the total sales value associated with the respective individual item.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein both the measured value and the unallocated value for each respective individual item are associated with a same period of time. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one measured value is associated with a grouped item, wherein the grouped item comprises a plurality of other individual items; and
 wherein receiving one or more measured values comprises allocating the measured value associated with the grouped item to two or more measured values associated with the other individual items included by the grouped item.   
     
     
         11 . A computer program product for estimating sales information, the computer program product being tangibly and non-transitorily embodied on a computer-readable medium and including executable code for execution on a data processing apparatus, the executable code comprising:
 instructions to receive one or more measured values, each measured value indicating a quantity of sales allocated to a respective individual item;   instructions to receive an unallocated value indicating a quantity of sales allocated to an undifferentiated grouping of a plurality of the individual items;   instructions to calculate, for each individual item of the plurality of the individual items associated with the undifferentiated grouping, a fraction of the undifferentiated grouping attributable to the respective individual item; and   instructions to estimate, for at least one of the plurality of the individual items, a total sales value, based at least in part upon a respective measured value and a respective fraction of the undifferentiated grouping attributable to the respective individual item.   
     
     
         12 . The computer program product of  claim 11 , wherein the executable code further comprises:
 instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to provide the total sales values for each of the plurality of the individual items to a sales forecasting system.   
     
     
         13 . The computer program product of  claim 11 , wherein the executable code further comprises:
 instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to scrub the one or more measured value to remove a portion of the quantity of sales allocated to respective individual item that are deemed to potentially distort the respective estimate of total sales value.   
     
     
         14 . The computer program product of  claim 11 , wherein the executable code further comprises:
 instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to calculate a fraction of the undifferentiated grouping attributable to the respective individual item by determining the fraction of the undifferentiated grouping attributable to the respective individual item based, at least in part, upon a quantity of each individual item produced and an amount of each individual item directly accounted for.   
     
     
         15 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein the executable code further comprising:
 instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to estimate a total sales values for each of the plurality of the individual items by:
 computing an approximately-allocated value for each of the at least one individual item, by allocating to each of the individual items a portion of the unallocated value based upon the respective fraction of the undifferentiated grouping attributable to the respective individual item; and 
 adding, for each of the at least one individual item, the respective approximately-allocated value to a respective measured value to create the total sales value associated with the respective individual item. 
   
     
     
         16 . An apparatus comprising:
 an item indexer configured to:
 receive one or more measured values, each measured value indicating a quantity of sales allocated to a respective individual item, 
 receive an unallocated value indicating a quantity of sales allocated to an undifferentiated grouping of a plurality of the individual items, and 
 calculate, for each individual item of the plurality of the individual items associated with the undifferentiated grouping, a fraction of the undifferentiated grouping attributable to the respective individual item; and 
   a sales disambiguator configured to estimate, for at least one of the plurality of the individual items, a total sales value based at least in part upon a respective measured value and a respective fraction of the undifferentiated grouping attributable to the respective individual item.   
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 a production forecaster configured to predict consumer demand for each individual item based, at least in part, upon the total sales value for each of at least one of the plurality of the individual items estimated by the sales disambiguator.   
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 a data scrubber configured to scrub the one or more measured values to remove a portion of the quantity of sales allocated to respective individual item that are deemed to potentially distort the respective estimate of total sales value.   
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the item indexer is configured to calculate a fraction of the undifferentiated grouping attributable to the respective individual item based, at least in part, upon a quantity of each individual item produced and an amount of each individual item directly accounted for. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the sales disambiguator is configured to estimate, for at least one of the plurality of the individual items, a total sales value by:
 computing an approximately-allocated value for each of the at least one of the plurality of the individual items, by allocating to each of the at least one of the plurality of the individual items a portion of the unallocated value based upon the respective fraction of the undifferentiated grouping attributable to the respective individual item; and   adding, for the at least one of the plurality of the individual item, the respective approximately-allocated value to a respective measured value to create the total sales value associated with the respective individual item.