Entries |
Document | Title | Date |
20110060620 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING USERS OF A GYM FACILITY - The present invention relates to a method for managing users of a gym facility. The method comprises the steps of: analysing a population of users or possible users of a gym facility by means of statistical tools in order to detect desires of attaining mean term objectives, or “ASPIRATIONS”, of the population being analysed; determining, by means of statistical tools, a limited number of ASPIRATIONS present in the population being analysed; subdividing the population being analysed, by means of statistical tools, into homogeneous groups each belonging to a given ASPIRATION included in a limited number of ASPIRATIONS; and assigning a user to at least one of the homogeneous groups based on responses to a closed-response questionnaire. The invention also relates to a system for managing users of a gym facility and to an information technology product for managing a gym facility and the users of a gym facility. | 03-10-2011 |
20110087514 | MODELING DISTRIBUTION OF EMERGENCY RELIEF SUPPLIES FOR DISASTER RESPONSE OPERATIONS - A method and system to supply multiple items through a network of inventory staging areas and distribution points by determining inventory stocking levels for a staging area and distribution points, and inventory shipments from said staging area to distribution points and between the distribution points, using an optimization formulation whose objective is to cover maximum overall demand at the distribution points in a given period of time, and to minimize total cost of meeting demand. | 04-14-2011 |
20110112884 | Method and Apparatus for Determining Appropriate Health Care Staffing - Provided is a method for making a schedule of a first number of people needed to staff a health care department for a first time period. The method may comprise defining a first time period, defining a second time period, providing admission numbers, providing residence numbers, predicting a total admission number for the second time period, predicting admission numbers for each of a plurality of acuity levels for the first time period, predicting residence numbers for each acuity level for the first time period, predicting the first number of people, and outputting a schedule of the first number of people in the first time period. | 05-12-2011 |
20110112885 | DISTRIBUTED ORDER ORCHESTRATION - A distributed order orchestration is provided. The system comprises a decomposition layer configured to receive an order and determine one or more orchestration services for fulfilling the order. An orchestration layer is configured to receive the one or more orchestration services for the order and orchestration performing of the one or more orchestration services. A task layer is configured to control performing of one or more tasks for the one or more orchestration services being performed. Also, an external interface layer configured to translate and route the one or more tasks to one or more external systems for processing. The external task layer is configured to receive one or more results for performance of the one or more tasks by the one or more external systems where the one or more results used to orchestrate fulfilling the order. | 05-12-2011 |
20110119104 | INDIVIDUALIZED BEHAVIOR-BASED SERVICE BUNDLING AND PRICING - A method and system analyze service applications being utilized within a computerized network environment using an analytics module of a computerized device to produce operational information of the service applications and usage information of the service applications. The operational information is analyzed using an application behavior analysis module of the computerized device to produce application behavior profiles. The usage information is analyzed using an application association analysis module of the computerized device to produce bundles of the services applications. The application behavior profiles and the bundles of the service applications are analyzed using a pricing module of the computerized device to produce price ranges for each bundle of service applications and cost profiles for each bundle of service applications. | 05-19-2011 |
20110125546 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER-USABLE MEDIUM FOR GENERATING FINANCIAL DATA BASED ON LONG TERM DEMAND DATA - A method and system for generating a multi-year variable priced outsourcing contract based on a long term demand forecast utilizing a diffusion model. Historical data comprising print requirements associated with a business process can be determined. The Bass diffusion model can be developed from such historical data in order to forecast a future print demand by estimating a number of customers migrated to an electronic presentment process. A capacity planning approach can be invoked to determine a capacity requirement that matches a projected estimate of the future print demand based on the diffusion model when the outsourcing contract is being developed. An outsourced operation cost can then be developed utilizing the capacity requirement and incorporated into the outsourcing contract. Such an approach can lead to a more optimal contract and therefore improve competitiveness of a vendor associated with such contract. | 05-26-2011 |
20110131075 | EFFECTIVE SECURITY SCHEDULER - The present invention provides a system and process for creating an effective work schedule for a security checkpoint. The process includes the step of analyzing passenger flow to determine the coverage needed to sustain required service levels, generally through simulating the checkpoint to determine required staffing levels. Another step to optimize workforce levels and schedules is to create workforce schedules that are based on optimized person-hours and key variables. The schedule staffs as needed to achieve the required staffing levels and may consider numerous other factors, including acceptable ranges for shift lengths; a maximum number of start times; and a percentage of part-time or seasonal employees. In a particular embodiment, the schedule is formed by using linear programming to solve for a tour assignment matrix (defining a schedule) from a demand matrix representing the needed number of workers and a co efficient matrix representing the availability of workers. | 06-02-2011 |
20110153382 | FORECASTING DEMAND AND AVAILABILITY OF RESOURCES OF A MILITARY INSTALLATION - Methods and computer systems for forecasting demand and availability of resources of a geographic region are provided. Physical, operational, traffic and construction data for a geographic region for a specified time period is utilized to compare the operational needs for at least one resource for a geographic region to the available resources to forecast demands and availability of the at least one resource for the geographic region over the specified time period and determine whether the demand for the at least one resource exceeds the availability of the at least one resource. The forecasted demand and availability of the at least one resource for the geographic region for the specified time period is stored and presented. | 06-23-2011 |
20110184773 | Method and System for Planning Paratransit Runs - A method and system for paratransit run-cutting are provided. Expected demand is determined over a set of time intervals for a time period from historical demand data stored in a database. A supply of vehicles required to meet a desired level of the expected demand over each of the time intervals during the time period is estimated. At least partial runs are blocked together from the supply estimated, during the estimating, for each of the time intervals during the time period according to a set of rules. | 07-28-2011 |
20110184774 | Method and System for Planning Paratransit Runs - A method and system for paratransit run-cutting are provided. Expected demand and variance in the expected demand are determined over a set of time intervals for a time period from historical demand data stored in a database. A supply of vehicles required to meet a desired level of the expected demand over each of the time intervals during the time period is estimated. At least partial runs are blocked together from the supply estimated, during the estimating, for each of the time intervals during the time period. Additional time is appended onto at least some of the at least partial runs during adjacent periods of relatively high variance according to a set of rules. | 07-28-2011 |
20110213635 | ADAPTIVE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SOLUTION DESIGN AND DEPLOYMENT - Information technology solution alternatives for an enterprise organization are evaluated within an automated architectural framework based upon one or more information technology evaluation metrics. An automated incremental solution deployment strategy is created based upon the evaluated plurality of information technology solution alternatives. An information technology solution is selected from the set of information technology solution alternatives for deployment based upon the automated incremental solution deployment strategy. | 09-01-2011 |
20110213636 | TERMINAL, PROGRAM AND INVENTORY MANAGEMENT METHOD - Disclosed is a technique whereby demand for parts can be forecasted more accurately and parts inventory can be managed appropriately. A sensor information acquisition unit ( | 09-01-2011 |
20110225016 | CONSTRAINED RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - Implementation of resource management services is provided. A method includes setting a price, per unit of a resource, for a defined time period and based upon a collective projected resource demand corresponding to resource consumption entities (RCEs). For the duration of the time period, the method includes iteratively performing: monitoring actual usage of the resource for each of the RCEs. If, in response to the monitoring, it is determined that a projected shortage exists for an RCE and a projected surplus exists for another RCE, the method includes re-allocating a number of projected surplus units of the resource from the RCE having the projected surplus to the other RCE having the projected shortage. If, in response to the monitoring, it is determined that a projected shortage exists for an RCE and no projected surplus exists for any of the other RCEs, the method includes acquiring additional units of the resource. | 09-15-2011 |
20110225017 | ANALYTIC-BASED SCALING OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES - Embodiments of the present invention provide a solution for service-supporting resources (e.g., IT resources such as processor, storage, network, etc.). Specifically, the present invention will first create a resource configuration data repository that includes resource scaling capabilities (e.g., dynamic scaling, automated aggregation, concurrent scaling needs of specific resources such as file system and database table space, storage zoning and input/output multi-pathing, etc.) of a set of IT resources. A unit of work data repository that includes details of jobs handled by the IT resources will also be included. Then, a profile will be created for the set of IT resources. In a typical embodiment, the profile includes information related to a service demand, a capacity, a utilization, and a performance of the set of IT resources. Resource utilization and performance data (e.g., historical and/or real-time data) will then be collected. Using the resource configuration data repository, the unit of work data repository, the profile, and the resource utilization and performance data, a scaling strategy will be generated/developed and implemented for the IT resources. | 09-15-2011 |
20110251868 | TECHNOLOGY SHARING DURING DEMAND AND SUPPLY PLANNING IN A NETWORK-BASED SUPPLY CHAIN ENVIRONMENT - A system, method, and article of manufacture are provided for technology sharing during demand and supply planning in a network-based supply chain environment. Steps included are providing locator and mapping capabilities utilizing the network. Technology that includes streaming audio, stereo audio and video data is also shared utilizing the network. Encryption capabilities for the technology are also included. Further, searching capabilities are provided utilizing the network in addition to logging events and passive user profiling. The event logging includes logging network operations. User profile data is automatically received and stored. User profile data includes user identity, state, preferences and interests. User profile data is also automatically exported to an active profile manager which automatically adds additional user profile data. Additional user profile data includes information related to whether the user is a service provider or a manufacturer and the location of user. | 10-13-2011 |
20110258015 | SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING WORKFORCE PLANNING SERVICES - A system is described for providing workforce planning services. The system may include a memory, an interface, and a processor. The memory may store a baseline dataset describing current employees of an organization. The processor may be operative to determine a projected workforce dataset based on the baseline dataset, the projected workforce dataset describing projected employees required by the organization. The processor may assess the baseline dataset and employee movement strategies to determine a forecasted available workforce dataset describing forecasted employees available to the organization. The processor may determine a gap between the projected workforce dataset and the forecasted available workforce dataset. The processor may generate a workforce service plan which describes strategies for eliminating the gap and may provide the plan to a user. The processor may receive updates to the baseline dataset and may assess the updates to determine whether the plan is being effectively implemented. | 10-20-2011 |
20110288904 | System, Method, and Software for Analyzing Maneuvers of an Application in a Distributed Computing Environment - In certain embodiments, an application maneuvering analysis tool accesses application characteristics information indicating one or more characteristics of an application for which a maneuver evaluation is desired. Using the accessed application characteristics information, the application maneuvering analysis tool determines a maneuverability index representing a maneuvering efficiency of the application and determines an implementation difficulty level according to the determined maneuverability index. | 11-24-2011 |
20110288905 | RESOURCE SUPPLY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD - This system is for efficient consumption of a consumable or resource such as electricity, gas or the like. Each consumer site, such as a household or business, has a consumer node. The consumer node gathers consumption data from one or more consumer devices consuming the consumable. A central node is in communication with the consumer nodes and determines a collective consumption of the consumable across the plurality of consumer sites. The central node participates in live markets in order to secure delivery of the consumable as required collectively across the plurality of consumer sites. The central node communicates market data conveying substantially live market effects to the consumer nodes, and the consumer nodes process the market data in a manner to influence consumption of the consumable, for example by deactivating devices during market peaks. | 11-24-2011 |
20110295644 | System And Method For Process Management In A Materials Handling Facility - Various embodiments of a system and method for process management in a materials handling facility are described. Embodiments may include a process control component configured to generate a model of multiple unit handling processes of a materials handling facility. For each process, the model may indicate a measured throughput rate. The process control component may be configured to, based on at least one target output rate that is a goal for the output rate of a given unit handling process, evaluate the model to generate a particular target throughput rate that is a goal for the respective throughput rate of a particular unit handling process that is performed prior to the given unit handling process. The process control component may be configured to, based on the particular target throughput rate, generate one or more instructions to control the respective throughput rate of units processed by the particular unit handling process. | 12-01-2011 |
20110307290 | PERSONALIZED CAPACITY PLANNING SCENARIOS USING REUSABLE CAPACITY PLANNING SCENARIO TEMPLATES - Systems and methods are described for creating a personalized capacity planning scenario using a reusable capacity planning scenario template. In accordance with one method, a system topology model can be maintained. The system topology model includes tags describing components and constraints on components within the system topology. The tags can be compared with a plurality of reusable capacity planning scenario templates. The capacities of the components can be identified based on at least one of topology and services executing on the components. At least a portion of the system topology model can be replaced with a reusable capacity planning scenario template based on the identified capacities. An impact of the replacement of the at least a portion of the system topology model can be evaluated. A scenario recommendation can be made to an administrator based on the impact. | 12-15-2011 |
20110307291 | CREATING A CAPACITY PLANNING SCENARIO - Systems and methods are described for creating a capacity planning scenario. In one example, a method includes maintaining a topology model of computing resources in a configuration management database. A workload model of workload constraints for workloads put on the computing resources is also maintained. The constraints include limits on at least one of how, when, and where the workload may be used with regards to the computing resources. A service model of business services for workloads put on the computing resources can also be maintained. The service model can include relationships between workloads and demand traces. Constraint tags can be assigned to computing resources within the topology model, workload model, and service model. The constraint tags can include information about topology relationships, workload constraints, and service model services. A capacity planning scenario can be generated for the business services, workloads, and resources based on the assigned constraint tags. | 12-15-2011 |
20110313811 | MOBILE RETAIL STORE STRUCTURE WITH INVENTORY SYSTEM - A mobile retail store structure transportable to a plurality of different locations includes a trailer construction configured both exteriorly and interiorly for housing a plurality of storage bins wherein products and/or parts can be stored. Each trailer is a self-sufficient module which includes doors at one end of the trailer unit for entry and exit thereto, portable stairs for providing access to the entry doors, opposed side doors and associated walkways for allowing coupling to additional similarly constructed trailers, extendable canopies for providing a secure passageway between the respective coupled trailers, and a generator/HVAC system for providing heating, cooling and electrical power to each trailer unit. In one embodiment, a terminal is provided to allow a user to either browse electronically various items for selection and/or sale, or access a self-service check-out station to complete a transaction. A plurality of terminals can be coupled to communicate with a master server terminal over a wired/wireless network. | 12-22-2011 |
20120004944 | METHOD AND COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR SETTNG INVENTORY CONTROL LEVELS FROM DEMAND INTER-ARRIVAL TIME, DEMAND SIZE STATISTICS - A method or a machine determines minimum (s) and maximum (S) inventory control levels (s, S) for inventory items based upon a demand history of the inventory items, such as demand inter-arrival times (IA) and demand requisition sizes (RS). An expected cost is computed including two or more inventory item cost components of expected cost of ordering, expected cost of carrying inventory, or expected cost of outstanding backorders for the inventory control levels (s, S), directly from frequency statistics of different demand IA and demand RS on an inventory item basis. An optimal inventory control level (s, S) of an inventory item is searched that minimizes the cost of ordering, carrying inventory, and/or backorders, based upon the generated expected cost. | 01-05-2012 |
20120010919 | NEW VISTAS IN INVENTORY OPTIMIZATION UNDER UNCERTAINTY - This invention relates to inventory optimization under uncertainty wherein uncertainty is represented in a constraint based framework derived from basic economic principles. This approach offers the ability to use information theoretic concepts to quantify the amount of information used in the optimization. The invention extends the state-of-art to include optimal inventory optimization when relevant supply chain variables are correlated. It can be used in other contexts also. | 01-12-2012 |
20120016711 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING FORECASTS AND ANALYSIS OF CONTACT CENTER BEHAVIOR FOR PLANNING PURPOSES - A method of predicting expected performance of a processing center system is provided. The method includes receiving performance information from a performance monitoring system associated with the processing center system. A computer model of the processing center system is developed based on the performance information. The method further includes generating predictions based on the computer model, and analyzing the predictions to generate performance scenarios for the processing center system. | 01-19-2012 |
20120016712 | System and Method for Generating Forecasts and Analysis of Contact Center Behavior for Planning Purposes - A method of predicting expected performance of a processing center system is provided. The method includes receiving performance information from a performance monitoring system associated with the processing center system. A computer model of the processing center system is developed based on the performance information. The method further includes generating predictions based on the computer model, and analyzing the predictions to generate performance scenarios for the processing center system. | 01-19-2012 |
20120029966 | MONITORING AND EVALUATING THE PRODUCTION OF A CONVERSION FACILITY - The disclosure provides a system and method for monitoring and evaluating a conversion facility. The method includes storing values for quantitative variables and/or cost variables associated with processes performed at the conversion facility. The method includes receives a syncing frame, wherein the syncing frame embraces values for the quantitative variables and/or the cost variables stored less than thirty days prior to receiving the syncing time frame. The method includes determining, from the stored values for at least one set of values for at least one of the variables that are within the syncing frame. The method also includes calculating a cost of processing a commodity processed at the conversion facility for the syncing frame using the first and second set of values. | 02-02-2012 |
20120029967 | ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING TOOL - An enterprise resource planning tool that accesses primary sales data tracked by an enterprise resource planning system operated by a company and describing primary sales of products offered by the company. The enterprise resource planning tool also accesses inventory level data that describes inventory levels for the products at one or more recipients of the primary sales of the products offered by the company. The enterprise resource planning tool further derives secondary sales data that describes secondary sales of the products offered by the company based on the accessed primary sales data and the accessed inventory level data. In addition, the enterprise resource planning tool stores the derived secondary sales data and uses the stored secondary sales data to perform operations related to enterprise resource planning. | 02-02-2012 |
20120046988 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING ACCURATE LOW SUPPLY LEVELS IN CONSUMABLES USED IN AN IMAGE PRODUCTION DEVICE - A method and apparatus for determining accurate low supply levels in consumables used in an image production device is disclosed. The method may include determining an average volume used per day of the consumable, determining an average delivery time for the consumable, determining an average installation time for the consumable, determining a low level threshold of the consumable based on average volume used per day of a consumable, average delivery time for the consumable, and average installation time for the consumable, determining if the fill level of the consumable is less than the determined low level threshold, wherein if it is determined that the fill level of the consumable is less than the determined low level threshold, ordering a replacement consumable. | 02-23-2012 |
20120072257 | Optimizing Facility Utilization For Service Delivery - A processor identifies a first demand type, which includes a first set of demand requirements, and also identifies a second demand type, which includes a second set of demand requirements. Next, the processor retrieves a demand compatibility rule, which specifies a compatibility between the first set of demand requirements and the second set of demand requirements. The processor uses the demand compatibility rule to compute a demand type overlap value between the first demand type and the second demand type. In turn, the processor computes a minimum facility requirement based upon the demand type overlap value and generates a facility report that includes the minimum facility requirement. | 03-22-2012 |
20120123820 | SUPPLY CHAIN DEMAND SATISFACTION - Systems and methods for supply chain management and identification of feasible plans. Identification of feasible plans includes collecting demands for one or more items having the same level code; and for each of the collected demands, determining a first demand shortage quantity, searching the data storage for available unallocated supply responsive to the first demand shortage quantity, determining a second demand shortage quantity, and creating supply, the creation of supply being responsive to the second demand shortage quantity and the creation of supply including satisfying a dependent demand at a higher level code. Satisfying a dependent demand at a higher level code may include using the system recursively. Using the system recursively may include incrementing a current level code. Satisfying a dependent demand at a higher level code may include performing a feasible plan search relating to items assigned the higher level code. | 05-17-2012 |
20120130768 | WORK FORCE PLANNING ANALYTICS SYSTEM - A system is disclosed which is configured to perform work force planning analytics for an organisation having an organisational structure and a work force. The system includes a processing module configured to receive input parameters for determining a work force demand, including a definition of the organisational structure and one or more of a productivity metric, a utilization metric, a determining factor metric and a desired span of control metric. The processing module is also configured to receive one or more input parameters for determining a work force supply, including an input of the work force. The system also includes an analytics module, executed by a processor, configured to determine a forecast work force gap utilizing the input parameters for determining a work force demand and supply. The system also includes a user interface configured to provide a view of the forecast work force gap. | 05-24-2012 |
20120143646 | Method and system for management of mobilization data - Disclosed is a system to provide for the accessing, organizing, and management of various sources of data pertinent to the mobilization of military forces. The system accesses data available from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joint Forces Command, Special Operations Command, Transportation Command, and Strategic Command and enters all current collected data into a common data management system entitled “COLOSSUS. The collected data is re-formatted and stored on commercially-available software, whereby it is made accessible to an end User, who must possess authorized security clearance. The information stored in the COLOSSUS system is used in conjunction with the mobilization, training, validation, deployment, and demobilization of military reserve component units of any numbered U.S. field army. COLOSSUS is also applicable to mobilization and/or deployment of forces of all other branches of the U.S. Military. | 06-07-2012 |
20120143647 | AIR CARGO YIELD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR UTILIZING BOOKING PROFILES AND UNCONSTRAINED DEMAND - A yield management method and system are provided for enhancing revenue obtained from a given cargo flight capacity; the capacity being defined by the weight and volume of freights that may be transported. A set of historical profiles of capacity reserved by each category is stored for previous instances of the flight. Corresponding potential profiles are estimated independently for the weight and volume. The estimation is carried out taking into consideration the corresponding capacity currently reserved by the category for a future instance of the flight; and this result is emphasised according to a corresponding unconstrained demand for the category. A series of historical scenarios of the demand at the departure of previous instances of the flight are obtained from the potential profiles, and a stochastic model is applied to the historical scenarios according to the corresponding probabilities for calculating the optimised weight and volume authorisations for each category. | 06-07-2012 |
20120158450 | METHOD FOR CREATING A MARKET GROWTH STRATEGY - A computer program product and business method is described for generating a market growth strategy. The computer program product in a computer-readable medium having instructions for directing a computer to focus on the core job that needs to be performed. A specific sequence is executed in several phases: market selection, target generation, business generation and portfolio generation strategies. Inputs are tailored to the outcomes that are desired for each phase and cover customer(s), company(-ies) and society. Three aspects (job, job executor and platform) are transformed by the instructions to generate six potential growth paths A market growth strategy is built around these potential growth paths. The business method and program product receives, stores, and manipulates this data using storage for input, desired outcomes and output data. | 06-21-2012 |
20120158451 | Dispatching Tasks in a Business Process Management System - A system and method for dispatching tasks in a business process management system are provided, whereby tasks are automatically dispatched to a queue for being processed by at least one out of multiple resources. The method includes generating a forecast of further tasks to be dispatched in the future and dispatching each task to the queue for being processed by at least one resource under consideration of the forecast of further tasks to be dispatched in the future. | 06-21-2012 |
20120179505 | Systems And Methods For Determining Pack Allocations - Systems and methods are provided for determining a plurality of pack configurations to make available for distribution to a plurality of stores, wherein a pack configuration contains a particular number of units of each of a plurality of variations of a product. An allowable pack size constraint, a maximum pack configuration constraint, mismatch cost data, and product demand data for the plurality of stores are received. A first pack and a second pack for the store are determined, wherein the first pack contains a particular number of each of the variations of the product, wherein the first pack meets the allowable pack size constraint and minimizes mismatch costs for the store. Stores are clustered based on similarity of their demand data until the total pack configuration amount across all clusters meets the maximum pack configuration constraint. | 07-12-2012 |
20120179506 | Systems And Methods For Determining Pack Allocations - Systems and methods are provided for determining a quantity of each of a plurality of inner pack configurations to purchase for a plurality of stores. Available inner pack configurations are received along with a particular number of each inner pack configuration contained in an outer pack and mismatch cost data. A first inner pack configuration is identified from the available inner pack configurations for a store, where the first inner pack configuration best matches the demand profile for the store. Quantities of the first inner pack configuration across purchase orders of the stores are summed to generate a first total to be included in the purchase order. Inner pack configurations are added or subtracted to the purchase order so that an adjusted first total is a multiple of the particular number of inner packs that the outer pack contains. | 07-12-2012 |
20120179507 | Systems And Methods For Determining Pack Allocations - Systems and methods are provided for determining a distribution of each of a plurality of inner packs to a plurality of stores. Mismatch cost data and product demand data are received for the plurality of stores. A first inner pack quantity for distribution is determined based on the product demand data. A supply difference amount is determined, where the supply difference amount is a difference between the first inner pack quantity and the number of first inner packs available for distribution. A determination is made that adjusting the first inner pack quantity for the particular store based on the supply difference amount would have less effect on mismatch costs than other stores, and the first inner pack quantity is adjusted for the particular store based on the supply difference. | 07-12-2012 |
20120197680 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR COMPUTING OPTIMAL PRODUCT USAGE - A computer implemented method of computing optimal product usage comprising storing corporate information as a floor plan containing a plurality of hierarchical levels of a corporate organization; storing benchmark data describing a current product usage for at least one application within the corporate organization; performing an analysis based on the corporate information and the benchmark data to determine an optimum usage of a plurality of products for the at least one application; and generating a product usage recommendation based on the determined optimum usage. | 08-02-2012 |
20120221371 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR ASSET MANAGEMENT OPTIMIZATION - The present invention provides a visual asset management system for optimizing inspection and allocation of capital renewal (repair/rehabilitation/replacement) resources among a plurality of assets wherein each asset has a different life cycle. Inspection is enabled by an inspection device that enables a user to access an inspection template for conducting an inspection of assets. The user can provide inspection data via the inspection device, including by providing images of particular assets to represent their life cycle performances. An optimization engine conducts a two stage optimization on the inspection data, first by optimizing inspection and allocation of renewal resources on an asset by asset basis, and then by optimizing inspection and allocation of renewal resources among all assets or a sub-set of the assets. | 08-30-2012 |
20120226517 | System and Methods for Communicating Mediated Knowledge - The present invention discloses a method of identification and problem solving in agriculture for holistic enhancement of agriculture productivity, sustainability and profitability on location specific in a real time basis. The method comprises the steps of: preparing a block profile by collecting field data, facilitating a District Level Resource Person (DLRP) in planning of location specific fanning system based education and communication activities including customized farmers training and on-farm demonstration, transferring real time data on crop growth and coverage to a central computer through a communication means, developing at least an advise by analyzing the data by the central computer, and delivering the advise to farmers. The present invention also discloses a Rational Unified Process of extension program management involving inter-sectoral, inter-organizational and interpersonal communications coupled with consensus-building, negotiation, networking and multidisciplinary capacity building in a multi-cultural settings at different levels. | 09-06-2012 |
20120239453 | RESOURCE COST OPTIMIZATION SYSTEM, METHOD, AND PROGRAM - Apparatus and method use a Markov decision process (MDP) to reduce the cost of variations in electric power usage. The user notifies a power company of a predicted value for a period. The period is divided into subsections. For each subsection, on the basis of a MDP including a state that depends on an electric power usage amount error, charge amount, and set target, the amount of charging and discharging of a storage battery as an action at any given time is optimally decided depending on the electric power usage amount error, charge amount, time, and set target at that time. A predetermined time in a subsection is a target setting time, at which a future target is further set as the action. The action includes deciding the charging and discharging amount in that subsection and deciding a future target in a subsection whose target should be set. | 09-20-2012 |
20120265578 | COMPLETING TASKS INVOLVING CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION BY DISTRIBUTED PEOPLE IN AN UNSECURE ENVIRONMENT - A system receives from a client a job comprising confidential information. The system then distorts the confidential information associated with the job. Next, the system divides the job into multiple discrete tasks such that the distorted confidential information is further divided and the confidential information cannot be deciphered from an individual task. The tasks are then delegated to respondents in different geographical locations with different social preferences. Because of these differences the respondents are unlikely to communicate information about their job with each other. The respondents receive the job securely through their electronic devices, perform the delegated tasks, and provide the system with responses to the tasks through the devices. The system receives the responses for individual tasks, deduces a unified job response from the received responses and transmits the unified response to the client. | 10-18-2012 |
20120278123 | Method And System For Determining The Capacity Required To Complete Work During Planned Start And Finished Times - In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a method for determining the capacity required to complete work during planned start and finished times. The first step entails providing a plurality of Resource Group Names, wherein each Resource Group Name (RGN) represents a particular Work Center (WC) having predetermined resources associated therewith. The predetermined resources include equipment, operators, set-up person(s), fixtures and tooling. The method further includes the steps of selecting a particular item that is in a predefined process flow, providing data that represents a planned movement of the selected item along the predefined process flow, identifying all process steps in the predefined process flow through which the selected item must pass, identifying each Reporting Point (RP) in each selected item's predefined process flow, retrieving data that represents the Required Work Content (RWC) of the selected item at each process step along the predefined process flow, determining the Required Work Content (RWC) to completely perform all process steps in the overall process, providing, for each step of the predefined process flow, an amount of Allocated Time Buffer (ATB) required to accommodate variability associated with completing the Required Work Content (RWC), establishing for each process step and Reporting Point (RP), using the designated Resource Group Name (RGN) representing the Work Center (WC), a Daily Work Calendar (DWC) which is used for assigning Required Work Content (RWC) and Allocated Time Buffer (ATB), retrieving a document start date-time and a document finish date-time for each selected item that enters the predefined process flow, utilizing the Resource Group Name (RGN) representing the Work Center (WC) and the corresponding Work Center (WC) Daily Work Calendar (DWC), Required Work Content (RWC), Allocated Time Buffers (ATB) and document start or finish date-time to establish the planned start date-time and planned finish date-time at each process step in each item's open document's, and utilizing the resources in the Resource Group Name (RGN) representing the Work Center (WC) and the corresponding Work Center (WC) Daily Work Calendar (DWC) to map resource loading at each process step within each open document in accordance with the established planned start date-time and planned finish date-time at each process step to identify any local Allocated Time Buffer (ATB) overloads corresponding to any of the Work Centers (WC) and the resources associated therewith to determine additional capacity requirements. | 11-01-2012 |
20120284079 | RETAIL PRE-PACK OPTIMIZER - A system determines an optimized pre-pack configuration with an optimized pre-pack allocation and an optimized pre-pack design. The system receives demand data and constraints and initializes a current pre-pack allocation and a current pre-pack design. For the current pre-pack allocation, the system determines a new pre-pack design by solving a multi-choice integer knapsack problem, and then determines if the new pre-pack design is different than the current pre-pack design. When the new pre-pack design is different than the current pre-pack design, the system determines a new pre-pack allocation and assigns the new pre-pack allocation as the current pre-pack allocation and the new pre-pack design as the current pre-pack design and repeats the determining the new pre-pack design and the determining if the new pre-pack design is different than the current pre-pack design until the new pre-pack design is the same as the current pre-pack design. | 11-08-2012 |
20120290354 | Pegging Resources to Shipments in a Pre-Existing Production Plan - In software systems for resource-constrained production planning (RCPP), it is often beneficial to determine a detailed association, or “pegging”, between the resources and the shipments that are enabled by those resources. The method implemented in the software systems is called “Pegging By Explosion” (PBE), for constructing a pegging of a production plan for an RCPP problem. The Pegging By Explosion technique takes a feasible production plan and reconstructs it, using its own specialized incremental allocation technique. A Pegging By Monitoring technique is applied to this reconstruction in order to produce the pegging. The reconstruction is accomplished by a specialized “explosion” technique related to the explosion technique of Material Requirements Planning (MRP). | 11-15-2012 |
20120316915 | APPARATUS FOR MONITORING FLUID LEVELS IN A REMOTELY LOCATED STORAGE TANK - An improved system for delivering propane or other consumable liquid to remotely located storage tanks including a novel combination of remote monitoring of customer tanks and an improved method of using the remote monitoring data to optimally schedule deliveries, improve safety, and more efficiently operate a propane dealership. More accurate and timely information concerning the status of customer tanks serves to improve operational efficiencies and increase safety. Data received from remote sensors can be collected and organized so that it is easily understood and utilized through the implementation of a user interface accessible via the Internet that allows the information to be presented in an efficient graphical and contextual fashion. Operational efficiencies can also be improved by taking historical propane usage for each tank, weather conditions, and projected fuel usage into account. | 12-13-2012 |
20120330712 | Graphical user interface for scheduling request - A graphical user interface (GUI) is displayed. The GUI indicates a start time when any of a number of particular resources is available for an entirety of a contiguous block of time. The contiguous block of time is specified by a scheduling request including a non-specific resource. Each particular resource individually satisfies the scheduling request. | 12-27-2012 |
20130013368 | Processor Implemented Systems and Methods for Winter Tire Pre-Ordering and Tire Storage - Systems and methods for preordering winter tires through a preordering system are described. Information related to winter tires available for preordering is received at the preordering system from a tire provider and is provided to a dealer. Information of preorders of winter tires is received from a dealer and provided to the tire provider. Updates on the status of the preorders of winter tires are received from the tire provider and transmitted to the dealer. | 01-10-2013 |
20130013369 | LABOR RESOURCE DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM - A labor resource decision support system, in which labor resource data is maintained across multiple units within an organization using a standardized data record format. A demand measurement for a first type of labor resource having a unique combination of values for fields of the standardized data record format is determined based on input describing forecasted demand for the first type of labor resource within the organization and a supply measurement for the first type of labor resource is determined based on input describing forecasted supply for the first type of labor resource within the organization and the labor resource data. A gap measurement is calculated based on the determined demand measurement and the determined supply measurement and an output is provided based on the calculated gap measurement. | 01-10-2013 |
20130018692 | APPARATUS, METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR SCENARIO-BASED IDENTIFICATION OF COMPLETE SAFETY-BASED REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATIONAANM Guo; ZhenshengAACI ErlangenAACO DEAAGP Guo; Zhensheng Erlangen DEAANM Liggesmeyer; PeterAACI KaiserslauternAACO DEAAGP Liggesmeyer; Peter Kaiserslautern DE - A method for defining a safety-oriented requirements specification for a technical system completely and concurrently, has: carrying out a safety based specification identification process, performing a sequence based qualitative risk analysis to identify a plurality of safety critical states, partially eliminating safety critical states from identified critical states, recording a plurality of safety critical requirements by a system state machine, creating a reduced state machine based on technical system functional requirements and the recorded requirements, finding a plurality of failure modes and first countermeasures, finding data deviations and second countermeasures, finding failure modes and corresponding corrective actions with respect to a technical system interface, displaying information regarding the identified plurality of failure modes, performing a quantitative safety analysis regarding the technical system, identifying a plurality of risk values, and prioritizing functions in the safety-oriented requirements specification for a technical system according to the identified plurality of risk values. | 01-17-2013 |
20130024237 | MANAGEMENT DECISION MAKING SUPPORT SYSTEM - A management decision making support system is provided. The management decision making support system analyzes an operational decision making problem for operational decision making and a strategic decision making problem for strategic decision making to evaluate individual business feasibility, generates a plurality of enterprise business portfolios combining individual businesses evaluated as feasible, and selects an optimal enterprise business portfolio by analyzing the generated enterprise business portfolios. Objective and standardized enterprise management consulting can be provided, reliability can be ensured, and rapidly changing management conditions can be effectively coped with. | 01-24-2013 |
20130046574 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRANSMISSION OF GOODS THROUGH A DISTRIBUTION NETWORK - A system and method for replenishing product in an inventory of a distribution network having a plurality of levels, wherein the system and method may include determining an independent quantity demanded of a product at a first-level entity of the distribution network associated with customer demand directly from the first-level entity; determining a dependent quantity demanded of the product at the first-level entity associated with overall demand from the distribution network apportioned to the first-level entity; summing the quantities demanded in the preceding steps to determine a total quantity demanded for the first-level entity; repeating the preceding actions for levels of the distribution network eligible for processing up to a highest-level entity of the distribution network, thereby generating a plurality of quantity-demanded sums for the respective entities; and calculating a total quantity demanded of the product for the distribution network by summing the quantity-demanded sums of the respective entities. | 02-21-2013 |
20130054297 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ORDERING ARTWORK - A method for producing an order for artwork, comprising: retrieving a list of producers, the list of producers including a producer identification and at least one style identification for each producer identification; retrieving availability data for the producers; receiving a request for artwork from a requester, the request including a requested style identifier and a performance condition; identifying an available skilled producer among the list of producers, by comparing the performance condition to the availability data and comparing the requested style identifier to the style identification, the at least one style identification of the available skilled producer including the requested style identifier and the availability data of the available skilled producer meeting the performance condition; generating an order request for artwork to the available skilled producer. | 02-28-2013 |
20130054298 | SELLING MECHANISM - The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for providing a selling mechanism, in particular for connectivity. A trading engine may receive a seller request for a connectivity leg from a seller wherein the seller request includes a seller criteria. A routing engine may identify if the connectivity leg falls within a connectivity path for a buyer. The routing engine may determine if relevant criteria of the seller criteria for the connectivity leg are fulfilled and a reservation component may reserve the connectivity leg for said buyer based if the relevant criteria of the seller criteria are fulfilled. | 02-28-2013 |
20130073333 | MULTI-PARTY, MULTI-TIER SYSTEM FOR MANAGING PAPER PURCHASE AND DISTRIBUTION - A system, including apparatuses and methods, for paper production and distribution in a communication network environment with multi-party and multi-level production and distribution relationships. The system receives, from one or more communicatively connected paper purchaser computers, parameters representative of the total surface area and physical characteristics of paper products required for printing tasks. The system determines an estimated quantity of the paper products to order based at least in part on the received parameters. Then, the system displays the estimated quantity of the paper to order and communicates orders to production facilities for obtaining such quantity. | 03-21-2013 |
20130080206 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LOGISTICS OPTIMIZATION CONSTRAINED BY INVENTORY REQUIREMENTS - A system and method is provided that optimizes order and routing patterns that considers inventory constraints, including days on hand and shelf life. The results of the optimization of order and routing patterns includes an impact on inventory carried and frequency of inventory turns, to enable Purchasing personnel to gauge the viability of the solutions with respect to capacity, carrying costs, and continuity of supply. | 03-28-2013 |
20130090974 | DETERMINING A POSSIBLE LOT SIZE - The invention provides methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for of determining a possible lot size of units with respect to a fixed date for a chain of at least two process steps, each process step requiring a respective assigned resource, and consuming a respective time per unit for being performed by the respective assigned resource, where the process steps are sequentially dependent on each other. This is achieved by the following: (a) determining, for each resource, a respective time interval of availability during which the respective resource is continuously available, each time interval being limited by the fixed date, (b) calculating, for each determined time interval of availability, a respective largest possible number of times the respective process step can be performed by the respective resource, and (c) selecting the lot size of units to the minimum of the largest possible numbers. | 04-11-2013 |
20130103452 | DYNAMIC RESTAURANT POSITIONING SYSTEM AND METHOD - Systems and methods for managing restaurant crew member staffing and positioning are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method comprises the steps of receiving at a computer processor from a database configuration data corresponding to a restaurant associated with a group of restaurants, receiving at the computer processor from the database first data corresponding to a projected consumer demand for items at the restaurant over a time increment, adjusting using the computer processor a transaction capability for a quantity of crew members required to fulfill the projected consumer demand while taking into account the configuration data, the adjustment accounting for differences between the projected consumer demand at the restaurant to a historical consumer demand associated with the group of restaurants, and dynamically determining using the computer processor the quantity of crew members needed over a predicted time increment based on the adjusted transaction capability. | 04-25-2013 |
20130103453 | REHABILITATION OF UNDERPERFORMING SERVICE CENTERS - This disclosure provides apparatus and methods for rehabilitating an underperforming service center operated by an entity. The service center may be included in a plurality of service centers. A service center may be characterized as underperforming based on a calculated health score. The health score may be based on a technology malfunction that occurred at the service center. The health score may be based on an intensity score. The health score may be based on an incident count. The health score may be based on a network count. The health score may be compared to a threshold. If the health score is below the threshold, the service center may be characterized as underperforming. A service center characterized as underperforming may be included in a chronic list. The chronic list may be mined for patterns characteristic of an underperforming service center. | 04-25-2013 |
20130110574 | GENERATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF DATA SHARING AMONG MULTIPLE DATA SOURCES AND CONSUMERS | 05-02-2013 |
20130110575 | FINDING OPTIMUM COMBINED PLANS AMONG MULTIPLE SHARING ARRANGEMENTS AND MULTIPLE DATA SOURCES AND CONSUMERS | 05-02-2013 |
20130117062 | ONLINE RESOURCE ALLOCATION ALGORITHMS - Various embodiments provide online algorithms for resource allocation. In one or more embodiments, requests for resources from a service provider are received stochastically. For each request, different options for satisfying the request are evaluated based in part upon shadow costs (e.g., unit costs) that are assigned to resources associated with the different options. One of the options may be selected by optimizing an objective function that accounts for the shadow costs. Resources for the selected option are allocated to the request and an adjustment is made to the shadow costs for remaining resources to reflect differences in rates for allocation and/or consumption of the resources. Thereafter, resources may be allocated to a subsequent request using the updated shadow costs and the costs are adjusted again. By updating shadow costs iteratively in this manner, an increasingly more accurate analysis of the objective function is achieved. | 05-09-2013 |
20130124252 | System and Method for Allocating Manufactured Products to Sellers Using Profitable Order Promising - A system and method is disclosed for allocating products to one or more sellers. The system includes a database operable to store data associated with one or more enterprises. The system further includes an order promising system coupled with the database and operable to model the flow of the products through the one or more enterprises and allocate resources to the one or more sellers based on the modeled flow of the products. | 05-16-2013 |
20130132147 | MANAGING FRESH-PRODUCT INVENTORY - Freshness inventory control problem may be formulated as a stochastic dynamic program. In one aspect, a stochastic dynamic programming formulation takes as input inventory status, stochastic demand forecast and cost information associated with on-hand inventory. The stochastic dynamic programming formulation is maximized to determine order quantity and depletion quantity of the product per period. | 05-23-2013 |
20130138469 | WEB-BASED DEMAND CHAIN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM & METHOD - A system for forecasting demand includes a store client, an application for running a demand forecasting algorithm, a database providing store-level data to the application for the demand forecasting algorithm, wherein the store client communicates with the application, and an external interface providing future event information to the application, wherein the application manages ordering based on the demand forecasting algorithm using the future event information. | 05-30-2013 |
20130151305 | Method and Apparatus for Business Drivers and Outcomes to Enable Scenario Planning and Simulation - A driver tree model represents relationships among different levers of a business and desired outcomes. The driver tree may be connected to actual data from operational systems in the business in order to capture a realistic current status of the business. Changes to the drivers in the tree may enable managers and other decision-makers to assess, analyze, and otherwise understand the impact of those changes to various aspects of the business. | 06-13-2013 |
20130159045 | ROBUST INVENTORY MANAGEMENT IN MULTI-STAGE INVENTORY NETWORKS WITH DEMAND SHOCKS - Robust inventory management for a supply chain network with multiple nodes may include generating a time-phased inventory deployment plan based on extreme samples and dynamic supply chain structure. The extreme samples of demand and supply chain scenarios, and dynamic supply chain structure including one or more resource constraints associated with one or more nodes in the supply chain network may be received from a user. | 06-20-2013 |
20130159046 | Distributing Consumer Demand Upstream in a Supply Chain - A system and method for distributing consumer demand upstream in a supply chain is disclosed. The system receives, at a current time, an indication of consumer demand for a product that a consumer, associated with a consumer order management system, may be willing to receive at a future date rather than the current date in exchange for an incentive. The system also determines a particular incentive based on an order lead time for the product and conveys the particular incentive to the consumer order management system to determine whether to receive the product at the particular future date rather than the current date in exchange for the particular incentive. The consumer order management system communicates an order for the product to an upstream supply chain entity, such that, the consumer receives the product at the particular future date rather than the current date in exchange for the particular incentive. | 06-20-2013 |
20130173329 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR THE SOLUTION TO THE JOINT PROBLEM OF PARTS ORDER SCHEDULING AND MAINTENANCE PLAN GENERATION FOR FIELD MAINTENANCE - Methods and apparatus are provided for selecting a maintenance plan such that the cost of the maintenance plan is the lowest or near the lowest. The method comprises receiving a set of maintenance actions, wherein one of the repair actions is likely to repair the failure mode. The set of maintenance actions is sequenced in the increasing order of their waiting times. Each maintenance action has an associated cost equal to a waiting time cost, an execution time cost and a material cost, wherein the waiting time of each maintenance action is the time required to requisition and receive material required to perform the maintenance action. The method also constructs a maintenance plan comprising a first requisition and a second requisition by assigning each of the sequence of maintenance actions to one of the first or the second requisition. | 07-04-2013 |
20130173330 | MULTI-FEATURE PRODUCT INVENTORY MANAGEMENT AND ALLOCATION SYSTEM AND METHOD - A data store includes, for a dealer of interest, a target inventory mix rate for an item having a feature. A computing device is configured to perform an optimization to obtain a recommended feature allocation of the item including the feature by minimizing a difference between a projected inventory mix rate for the feature and the target inventory mix rate for the feature. | 07-04-2013 |
20130173331 | Dispatching Mobile Energy Resources to Respond to Electric Power Grid Conditions - Systems and methods for responding to electric power grid conditions may include identifying a portion of the electric power grid for power response, identifying at least one mobile energy resource and at least one connection site, and dispatching the mobile energy resource to a connection site. | 07-04-2013 |
20130179212 | CAPITAL ASSET INVESTMENT PLANNING APPARATUS - Automated systems and methods for use in managing collections of capital assets determine optimal replacement dates for assets based on total cost curves. Replacement dates are adjusted within ranges that avoid unacceptable risk of unmonetizable failures to satisfy constraints. Priority in adjusting replacement dates is determined based on deferral cost metrics which may be based on the total cost curves. | 07-11-2013 |
20130179213 | CAPITAL ASSET INVESTMENT PLANNING METHODS - Automated systems and methods for use in managing collections of capital assets determine optimal replacement dates for assets based on total cost curves. Replacement dates are adjusted within ranges that avoid unacceptable risk of unmonetizable failures to satisfy constraints. Priority in adjusting replacement dates is determined based on deferral cost metrics which may be based on the total cost curves. | 07-11-2013 |
20130179214 | FITNESS FACILITY EQUIPMENT DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT - A system and method manage distribution of fitness equipment units based upon automatically collected usage information for the fitness equipment units. | 07-11-2013 |
20130197961 | Configurable System And Method For Managing Facilities - A system allowing a user to answer a series of questions to generate survey data, associating system data with the survey data to generate a highly accurate report. The user may, customize the survey by selecting categories corresponding to certain series of questions and be presented with a running total of costs associated with each selected action, a total cost for all selected actions, and an impact on the property FCI corresponding to the selected action. The report allows, for example, for targeted assessment of select facilities systems including a time frame within which work to be performed on select facilities systems and/or a cost associated with work to be performed. | 08-01-2013 |
20130197962 | MULTIPLE-LEVEL TREATMENT FOR OPTIMIZING ONE OR MORE FLUID SEPARATION UNITS - The invention relates to the optimized management of one or more fluid production units, especially those involving fluid separation treatment, comprising: a) a data collection step, the data being on one or more values of current parameters defining a current operating point of the production unit, on a future production demand and on at least one optimization criterion; and b) a computation step for computing one or more parameters defining a new operating point of the unit, at least in accordance with this demand. The computation step b) comprises at least: 1) an estimation of at least one optimum solution for defining the new operating point; and 2) a validity test carried out on this optimum solution, at least in accordance with an analysis of the transition of the production unit from the current operating point to the new operating point. | 08-01-2013 |
20130204654 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SUPPORTING COMPONENT DESIGN - With an object of improving system maintainability, a system which evaluates a maintenance man-hour cost of a component quantitatively is provided, and consequently when a system designer designs a component which is a unit of a subsystem obtained by putting a function of a business application and data together, it is made possible to design the component with a minimum maintenance man-hour cost by extracting a maintenance pattern obtained by patterning an influence extension place, an amendment man-hour cost, and the like at time of maintenance on the basis of maintenance history information and evaluating a maintenance man-hour cost of the component according to the maintenance pattern. | 08-08-2013 |
20130204655 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CUSTOMIZING AND MANUFACTURING TIRES NEAR POINT-OF-SALE - A method for producing customized tires includes providing, at a location near the point-of-sale, a set of tire casings manufactured without tire treads and a set of tire treads manufactured without tire casings. A tire that is customized to the customer is built upon demand at the location near the point-of-sale and installed at or near the time of building upon demand by the customer. | 08-08-2013 |
20130211870 | REAL-TIME TRACKING OF PRODUCT USING A CLOUD PLATFORM - A cloud-based product tracking system is provided. The product tracking system runs on a cloud platform and collects data from multiple devices throughout a supply chain, the data relating to production, transportation, storage, and sales of a product. Related subsets of the collected data are aggregated and correlated at the cloud platform based on contextual metadata associated with the data, a data model of the supply chain and systems therein, or other such factors. The cloud-based tracking system analyzes the correlated information to determine a status of a product within the supply chain. The tracking system also leverages the correlated data to analyze product flow, identify inefficiencies within the supply chain, and generate recommendations for modifying portions of the supply chain to mitigate the identified inefficiencies. | 08-15-2013 |
20130226649 | Methods for Assigning Items to Slots for Efficient Access of the Items for Storage and Delivery - Techniques are described for assigning an item to a slot in an item storage facility. A first sorting technique is applied according to a specified item ordering criteria to arrange a plurality of items in a prioritized list of items. A second sorting technique is applied according to a specified slot ordering criteria to arrange a plurality of slots in a prioritized list of slots. A value c | 08-29-2013 |
20130226650 | APPARATUS FOR VALIDATING PROCESSES FOR INFORMATION COMPLETENESS - Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for modeling and validating a user process. In an embodiment of the invention, a model validation method can include linking in memory of a computer a task of an activity modeled within a business process model to a defined role specifying information accessible to end users associated with the defined role and additionally linking in the memory of the computer the task of the activity to an object model specifying information required by an end user to complete a corresponding task. The method also can include generating a mapping from the linkings. Finally, the method an include validating the business process by determining from the mapping whether or not an end user associated with the role can access information necessary to perform the task. | 08-29-2013 |
20130238381 | STANDARD WORK TIME UPDATING METHOD AND SYSTEM - The purpose of the invention is to provide a standard work time updating method and system in which a work time is declared by a worker without requiring an observer or the like and the reliability of the updated data of standard work time can be prevented from being degraded due to a worker's false or erroneous declaration. To achieve this purpose, for example, the standard work time updating system is configured as follows. When a reliability determination unit ( | 09-12-2013 |
20130238382 | System and Method for Service Parts Planning - Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to a system and method for service parts planning in a network having one or more service parts. For at least a subset of the one or more service parts, a calculation is performed to determine a location within the network at which allocating the service part provides the greatest gain in system availability per item cost. In an embodiment, the calculations are based, at least in part on machine-specific information. In one embodiment, inventory position is determined based, at least in part, on a unique identifier associated with a service part. | 09-12-2013 |
20130246118 | METHOD, APPARATUS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR A MARKET PLATFORM - Some examples provide systems, methods, apparatus, and computer program products for providing a market platform. The market platform may operate to inform buyers and suppliers, to allow buyers and suppliers to select products and contracting parameters to meet their needs, to allow buyers and suppliers to commit to supply agreements, and to enforce those supply agreements. These examples may provide such an integrated system by receiving buyer spend data, receiving contract offers from one or more suppliers based on the spend data, allowing the buyer to select one or more of the contract offers, and monitoring spend data to ensure compliance with the selected contract offer. The system may include dynamic pricing models, altering the price of the purchased products based on compliance with the selected contract offer. The system may also allow for various contracting models for managing the pricing of products based on the contractual terms agreed to by the buyer and supplier. | 09-19-2013 |
20130253974 | System And Method For Inspecting And Assessing Risk of Mechanical Equipment And Facilities - A method for determining a risk of mechanical or electrical failure and for determining an inspection interval to mitigate said risk; the method including determining by a computer system an acceptable risk score based on computer readable instructions provided on a non-transitory computer readable medium, determining by said computer system an inspection interval based on said risk score, determining by said computer system a tolerance within said inspection interval based on said increased risk; and, specifying by said computer system an inspection interval and an inspection tolerance based on said determined schedule and said determined tolerance. | 09-26-2013 |
20130253975 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INSPECTING AND ASSESSING RISK OF MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES - A method for determining a risk of mechanical or electrical failure and for determining an inspection interval to mitigate said risk; the method including determining by a computer system an acceptable risk score based on computer readable instructions provided on a non-transitory computer readable medium, determining by said computer system an increase in risk score based on an elapsed time since a deficiency identified in a previous inspection has not yet been rectified, determining by said computer system an inspection interval based on said risk score, determining by said computer system a tolerance within said inspection interval based on said increased risk; and, specifying by said computer system an inspection interval and an inspection tolerance based on said determined schedule and said determined tolerance. | 09-26-2013 |
20130262174 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR STORE LEVEL LABOR DEMAND FORECASTING FOR LARGE RETAIL CHAIN STORES - A system and method for store level labor demand forecasting for large retail chain stores are disclosed. In one embodiment, a chain store level labor budget in labor hours for a future point-in-time is determined. Further, backend labor hours are obtained for each store using a backend regression equation that is based on forecasted independent variables. Furthermore, frontend labor hours are obtained for each store using a frontend regression equation that is based on customer service driven factors and using a what if scenario model to select best case values of the customer service driven factors. In addition, needed store level labor hours are obtained for each store by aggregating the obtained backend and frontend labor hours. Moreover, store peer groups are formed and a performance rank of each store within each store peer group is obtained. Also, allocated chain store level labor hours to each store are optimized. | 10-03-2013 |
20130262175 | RANKING OF JOBS AND JOB APPLICANTS - A ranking system ranks applicants for a job. Eligible applicants are selected from a pool of applicants and are ranked based on business rules applied to information about the eligible applicants and information about the job. Scores are calculated for the business rules based on how well the applicant information matches the job information in areas such job skills, educational background, availability and pay. Additional information such as whether an employer or applicant does not wish to work together, and staffing firm expenses associated with eligible applicants can also be considered in the ranking process. The business rules can be weighted to achieve various ranking objectives, such as increasing staffing firm revenue or awarding higher rankings to applicants whose skills and educational background better match an employer's needs. The ranking system can also be used to rank jobs for an applicant. | 10-03-2013 |
20130262176 | HYBRID BALANCING OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND - Certain embodiments include methods, systems, and non-transitory computer program products for fulfilling supply and demand. The method includes receiving a demand for a resource, and determining a plurality of relationships among related resources. The related resources can represent dependent resources needing to be fulfilled in order to fulfill the demand for the resource. The relationships can group the related resources into levels according to the dependencies. For each level, the method further includes processing dependent resources depth-first proceeding down levels, if an importance of the related resources indicates there are no more important related resources to process at the level, and interrupting the depth-first processing to process related resources breadth-first at the level, if the importance of the related resources indicates there are more important related resources at the level. | 10-03-2013 |
20130262177 | Determining an Inventory Target for a Node of a Supply Chain - Determining an inventory target for a node of a supply chain includes calculating a demand stock for satisfying a demand over supply lead time at the node of the supply chain, and calculating a demand variability stock for satisfying a demand variability of the demand over supply lead time at the node. A demand bias of the demand at the node is established. An inventory target for the node is determined based on the demand stock and the demand variability stock in accordance with the demand bias. | 10-03-2013 |
20130282423 | CROP CULTIVATION SUPPORT METHOD AND APPARATUS - A crop cultivation support method that is executed by a computer includes retrieving from among dispersed fields displayed on a map on a screen, a set of fields as cultivation candidates for a designated crop, based on properties of the fields; determining from among the set of fields and based on estimated yields of the designated crop for each of the fields in the set of fields, a field combination that satisfies a targeted yield of the designated crop; changing a display format of each of the fields in the field combination to a predetermined display format that differs from a display format of other fields excluded from the field combination, and displaying the fields in field combination in the predetermined display format on the map. | 10-24-2013 |
20130290063 | Optimizing Allocations In A Workforce Allocation Plan - A method for optimizing allocations in a workforce allocation plan begins when resource data is received. The resource data includes data that relates to employee resources and to demand for the employee resources. A first set of employee resource pairings is established using the user's resource preferences to assigning the employee resources to the demand for the employee resources. A second set of employee resource pairings is established using predetermined resource preferences to assign the employee resources to the demand for the employee resources. The second set of employee resource pairings includes all employee resource pairings that belong to an optimal solution. The first and second sets of employee resource pairings are compared to provide the workforce allocation plan having the optimal solution with the maximum number of the user's resource preferences to optimize allocations in the workforce allocation plan. | 10-31-2013 |
20130311228 | Service management method, product-in-circulation to which the same is applied, service management device, service management network system, service management program, and computer readable program product with the program stored thereon - According to a service management method to supply products-in-circulation to service receivers, a service management system is built that enables the service provider to manage whether the service receivers are using those products-in-circulation delivered from the service provider in an authorized manner. This provides a reasonable service whereby the service receiver is charged only for those products-in-circulation the service receiver has actually used. To this end, the service management device in accordance with the present invention includes: a memory section for registering data of products-in-circulation to be delivered to the service receivers; an input section for entering current status of the products-in-circulation; and an arithmetic processing section for calculating charges on the basis of the number of products-in-circulation that are regarded as having been actually used, not the total number of the delivered product-in-circulations. | 11-21-2013 |
20130325543 | LEDGER-BASED RESOURCE TRACKING - Disclosed are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for tracking and managing resource usage through a ledger feature that can trigger complex real-time reactions. The resource tracking can be managed through a ledger module and a ledger data structure. The ledger data structure can be updated each time a task requests a resource. Additionally, as part of the update, the ledger module can verify whether a resource has been over consumed. In response to the detection of an over consumption, the ledger module can set a flag. At some later pointer when the thread is in a stable, well-understood point, the ledger module can check if the flag has been set. If the flag has been set, the ledger module can call the appropriate callback function, which can react to the over consumption in a resource specific manner. | 12-05-2013 |
20130332222 | COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING A TACTICAL PLAN FOR RETAIL INVENTORY PLACEMENT WITH AUTOMATED FORECASTS - There is disclosed a computer-implemented system and method for generating a merchandising standard with automated sales volume forecasts. In an embodiment, there is provided a computer-implemented method for generating a tactical plan for placement of product inventory in a retail environment, comprising: (i) selecting a merchandising standard for a product in a given reseller location, channel, or retail format; (ii) in dependence upon the selected merchandising standard and historical sales data accessed from an historical sales database, automatically calculating channel a sales forecast; (iii) comparing the automatically calculated sales forecast with actual sales of the product for the selected merchandising standard; and (iv) in dependence upon the difference between the automatically calculated sales forecast and the actual sales, providing a feedback signal to modify the tactical plan for placement of the product inventory. In an embodiment, the method further comprises accessing the historic sales data from a plurality of historical sales databases relevant to the reseller location, channel, or retail format. | 12-12-2013 |
20130332223 | AUTOMATED SPECIFICATION, ESTIMATION, DISCOVERY OF CAUSAL DRIVERS AND MARKET RESPONSE ELASTICITIES OR LIFT FACTORS - In some embodiments, a software facility performs a method of automated specification of models, estimation of elasticities, and discovery of drivers using the framework(s) discussed elsewhere herein is provided. The facility first obtains the client, business, and/or brand goals in terms of profit optimization, volume or revenue goals, acquisition of new customers, retention of customers, share of wallet and upsell. In conjunction with these goals, the facility obtains cross-section meta-data related to the planning time horizon, markets, geographies, channels of trade and customer segments. In combination, the goals and meta-data define the structure of the data stack and the number of demand generation equations that are needed. | 12-12-2013 |
20130339079 | CONFIGURABLE RESOURCE POLICIES - A computer-implemented process for managing configurable resource policies executes a resource expression associated with a received user selection to extract information from an executing simulation. Responsive to a determination that there are no more user selections to process, a set of rules is selected using the user selections and resource expression to populate a resource template using extracted information and selected rules. A resource policy is generated using the populated template. The generated resource policy is applied to the executing simulation, wherein behavior of the executing simulation is modified. | 12-19-2013 |
20130339080 | BUILDING SYSTEM CONTROL AND EQUIPMENT FAULT AND DEGRADATION MONETIZATION AND PRIORITIZATION - An approach for monetizing performance of building system equipment such as HVAC equipment. Expected and actual performance curves may be obtained for the HVAC equipment. Differences between the curves may indicate energy consumption. The energy consumption may be monetized. The monetizing may be of degradation that occurs when the equipment deteriorates, incurs a fault or has a loss of performance as accrued over time. Monetizing may incorporate maintenance and capital risk exposure. The monetizing may be a conversion of analyses of the equipment to money in real time. Performance monitoring of the equipment may incorporate predictive trending which may lead to fault prognosis and preventative maintenance. Automation of the conversion may result in immediate information and feedback to customers. The information may be stored for historical purposes and future analyses. | 12-19-2013 |
20140006089 | Consistent Interface for Project and Sales Order | 01-02-2014 |
20140006090 | Method of and apparatus for forecasting cash demand and load schedules for money dispensers | 01-02-2014 |
20140012620 | CONSISTENT SET OF INTERFACES FOR BUSINESS OBJECTS ACROSS HETEROGENEOUS SYSTEMS - A business object model, which reflects data that is used during a given business transaction, is utilized to generate interfaces. This business object model facilitates commercial transactions by providing consistent interfaces that are suitable for use across industries, across businesses, and across different departments within a business during a business transaction. In some operations, software creates, updates, or otherwise processes information related to a budget availability control register, a financial accounting view of work order, a funds commitment document, an insurance contract, and/or a project cost estimate business object. | 01-09-2014 |
20140019188 | METHOD FOR REAL-TIME CONTROL OF ENERGY STORAGE UNITS TO REDUCE ELECTRICITY COST - A method for controlling an energy storage unit having a model which tracks each charging instances includes, for each charging event, capturing energy charged into the energy storage unit and an unit energy price of the charging source(s) at the time of charging; updating a unit price of total energy stored in the storage unit at each time-step; during a discharging event, updating the unit price of energy in the storage unit on a selected cost model; comparing the unit price of energy in the storage unit with other generation sources in the microgrid and a utility tariff; selecting a lowest cost combination from generation, storage, and grid and using the lowest cost combination to supply a load; and if a controller decides to use stored energy at any time, sending a discharge command to the energy storage unit. | 01-16-2014 |
20140019189 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING SUPPLY CHAIN PRICING - The present disclosure discloses a supply chain management system that can estimate manufactured item delivery times at a facility, manufactured item costs or prices, and dynamically control supply chain performance. | 01-16-2014 |
20140025422 | BUSINESS PARTNER COLLABORATION AND BUY ANALYSIS - The present invention provides a method, system and computer program product for implementing an automated inventory replenishment process between a manufacturer and a business partner. In one embodiment of the invention, a method is provided comprising the business partner purchasing and maintaining an inventory of goods from the manufacturer, and the manufacturer providing price protection to the business partner for the purchasing of the goods. This embodiment further comprises managing said inventory by using an automated process that takes into account said price protection for the purchasing of the goods. | 01-23-2014 |
20140025423 | VENDING MACHINE SERVICE SCHEDULING - Techniques are provided for calculating vending machines' service priorities and scheduling the vending machines for service taking into account a number of factors and thresholds ( | 01-23-2014 |
20140032257 | Method And System For Determining The Relative Priority Of In-Process Project Work Tasks And Focusing Improvements In Task Time Estimates - A method for determining the relative priority of assigned or available-to-be-assigned project tasks in a pre-defined project network and focusing improvements in task time estimates includes the steps of providing a computer system comprising a processor, a memory device and a user interface, utilizing the user interface to select a project that has a predefined project network, identifying all of the Critical Chain (CC) tasks, its corresponding Feeding Path tasks and any user defined Contractual Milestone path tasks of the selected project along the predefined project network, and identifying the amount of Allocated Time Buffer (ATB) assigned to each of the Critical Chain (CC) tasks, its corresponding Feeding Path tasks and any user defined Contractual Milestone Path tasks to account for variability in the time required to complete the Required Work Content (RWC) for each task of the selected project along the predefined project network. | 01-30-2014 |
20140039964 | ORDER MANAGEMENT IN LINER SHIPPING SERVICES - Method(s) and system(s) for managing orders in liner based services are described herein. The method includes receiving a request for booking a shipment order. The shipment order may include booking an empty liner slot and an empty container. The method includes determining, based on an operational plan, temporal and geographical availabilities of empty liner slots and empty containers to promise the request. The operational plan is generated by evaluating availabilities and reservations of the empty liner slots to optimize revenues. Further, the operational plan is generated by performing a configurable search over the multiple dimensions and optimal intra-regional repositioning of empty containers. The method also includes providing a response to the request, based on the determination. Further, the method includes executing the request, upon acceptance of the request and continuous gathering and updating of the status of orders, demands and supplies as well as business parameters. | 02-06-2014 |
20140039965 | Facilitating Revenue Generation From Data Shifting By Data Centers - The disclosure facilitates management data center utilization for generating energy-related revenue from energy markets. Operating schedules are generated, over a time period T, for operation of an energy management system of energy assets of data center sites. Since CPU utilization (or computing load) can be correlated to energy consumption, the operating schedules can cause the energy management system to modulate the CPU utilization (or computing load) of energy assets within a data center, or to indicate shifting of CPU utilization (or computing load) from one data center site in a certain energy market price region to another data center site in a different energy market price region. When implemented, the generated operating schedules facilitates derivation of the energy-related revenue, over a time period T, associated with operation of the energy assets according to the generated operating schedule. | 02-06-2014 |
20140039966 | METHOD AND APPARATUS TO ACCELERATE AND IMPROVE EFFICIENCY OF BUSINESS PROCESSES THROUGH RESOURCE ALLOCATION - The present invention is directed to a computer-implemented method, program storage device and system to enable data-driven communications to facilitate business processes. Real-time requests for information, services, or the like can be solicited in a way that those selected to provide responses have certain attributes, and the supplier is selected for the solicitation automatically and instantaneously notified of the request based on automatic selection of those attributes. The notification is instantaneously communicated using more than one channel of communication, potentially in a mode that the potential supplier has indicated is a more likely way of actually and instantly receiving the request. The system further provides at least one mechanism by which all of the selected suppliers can instantly respond to the request, which is then communicated to the requestor. | 02-06-2014 |
20140039967 | METHOD OF PREDICTING CROP YIELD LOSS DUE TO N-DEFICIENCY - A method for determining the yield loss of a crop using remote sensor data is described. The yield loss is determined using the reflectivity of green light by the crop canopy measured from remote sensor data such as an aerial photograph that is digitized and spatially referenced to the field's longitude and latitude. Green pixel values from the aerial photograph, expressed relative to green pixel values from well-fertilized areas of the field, are transformed to yield losses using a linear transformation that was developed using empirical data. A similar method is described to determine recommended nitrogen fertilization rates for the crop fields. The yield loss data is useful for nitrogen fertilization management, as it allows a producer of crops to weigh the expense of fertilization against the loss of revenue due to yield loss. | 02-06-2014 |
20140052491 | Incorporating A Repair Vendor Into Repair Planning For A Supply Chain - One embodiment includes a computer-implemented system for incorporating a repair vendor into repair planning for a supply chain. The system accesses a logical representation of the supply chain, access an inventory plan for the supply chain, and generates a replenishment plan for meeting the inventory plan for the supply chain that includes suggested repair orders. Unserviceable parts in the supply chain are moved from the supply chain to the repair vendor, repaired at the repair vendor, and moved from the repair vendor back to the supply chain to meet the requirements for serviceable parts at the locations in the supply chain according to the suggested repair orders. | 02-20-2014 |
20140052492 | SERVICE REQUESTS FOR MULTIPLE SERVICE LEVEL CHARACTERISTICS - A system, method, program product and service for processing a multiple service level bid in a resource management framework. A buyer's agent is provided to receive a multiple service level request from a business unit and query a resource unit broker for available resource types that can be utilized to provide at least some of the service level requirements of the multiple service level request. A mapping system is provided to map the available resource types to a list of resource sets (i.e., bidding options) and a prioritization system is provided to order the list. Once the list is ordered, a bidding system is provided to submit a bid for the highest priority resource set. | 02-20-2014 |
20140052493 | METHOD FOR CALCULATING ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EQUIPMENT - The present invention provides a METHOD TO CALCULATE AN ENERGY EFFICIENCY RATING for information technology equipment. This method specifically pertains to information technology equipment that doubles its capabilities in a predetermined timeframe according to Moore's Law. This method uses a formula to calculate an energy efficiency rating based on power consumption and transactions per second. It further calculates a normalized rating where the absolute rating is adjusted based on Moore's Law prediction of improvements. As a result the method invented is the first and only method to compare information technology from various generations of hardware, processor and component architecture with each other in terms of their energy efficiency. | 02-20-2014 |
20140058783 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING CATASTROPHE BASED RESOURCES - Provided are systems and methods for determining the number of persons necessary to process a projected number of insurance claims for a forecasted catastrophic event, based at least on the projected number of insurance claims, an insurance claim-reporting pattern corresponding to the type of forecasted catastrophic event, a series of work phases for processing the projected insurance claims, work distribution patterns for the work phases, estimated times for completing the work phases, and claim resolution rates for the work phases. | 02-27-2014 |
20140058784 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RECOMMENDING CROWDSOURCABILITY OF A BUSINESS PROCESS - A method and system for recommending suitability of crowdsourcing a business process is provided. The method includes generating a plurality of business requirements pertaining to the business processes, and receiving one or more attributes pertaining to one or more sets of crowdsourced workforce. The method further includes generating at least one of a comparison matrix or an optimization function based on the plurality of business requirements and the one or more attributes pertaining to one or more sets of crowdsourced workforce. Lastly, the method provides a recommendation on the suitability of crowdsourcing the business process based on at least one of the comparison matrix or the optimization function. | 02-27-2014 |
20140058785 | Method for Efficiently Allocating an Advertising Budget Between Web Advertising Entities - There are provided a computing system capable of allocating an advertisement budget of an advertisement campaign between a plurality of advertisement entities and a method of operating thereof. The method comprises: obtaining, for each of the plurality of advertisement entities, a respective optimal target frontier function representing for each given advertising cost an optimal value of return and configured to follow the law of diminishing return; receiving a budget constraint for the advertisement budget; generating a global target frontier function by summing each of the received optimal target frontier functions; processing the generated global target frontier function to determine for each of the plurality of advertisement entities an optimal, with respect of at least the received budget constrain, advertising cost value such that a sum of the optimal advertising cost values meets the budget constraint; and reporting the determined values. | 02-27-2014 |
20140067456 | COST MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, COST MANAGEMENT APPARATUS, AND COST MANAGEMENT METHOD - A cost management system includes a receiving part to receive, via a network, first data from which a cost related to utilization of an apparatus is computed, and second data indicating output information of the apparatus, a computing part to compute the cost based on the first data, and a judging part to judge a bearer of the cost computed by the computing part, based on whether the second data is received by the receiving part. | 03-06-2014 |
20140074539 | BUSINESS ATTRIBUTE DRIVEN SIZING ALGORITHMS - A cloud infrastructure system includes one or more computing devices and is configured to receive subscription order information related to one or more services subscribed to by a customer of the cloud infrastructure system, the service selected from one or more services provided by the cloud infrastructure system. The cloud infrastructure system receives a set of one or more mapping rules configured to map business attributes to resource provisioning information for one or more of the one or more services provided by the cloud infrastructure system. The cloud infrastructure system determines whether one or more business attributes in the subscription order information satisfy one or more mapping rules in the set of mapping rules and generates resource provisioning information for one or more resources associated with the one or more services based on resource provisioning information in the one or more mapping rules satisfied by the one or more business attributes in the subscription order information. | 03-13-2014 |
20140074540 | ROLE ASSIGNMENTS IN A CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE - Provisioning, managing and tracking of services provided by a cloud infrastructure system are described. A subscription order request from a customer for services provided by the cloud infrastructure system is received. A separation of roles performed by different customer entities in a customer's organization when the customer subscribes to services in the cloud infrastructure system is determined. The roles relate to providing information about different portions of the subscription order by the customer entities. Upon completion of the assigned roles by the relevant customer entities, the subscription order is provisioned to the customer. | 03-13-2014 |
20140074541 | STACK HANDLING OPERATION METHOD, SYSTEM, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM - A method for searching transition routes from an initial state of a plurality of stackable items to a target state by a computer at predetermined conditions includes connecting between transitionable states at an edge by a single handling operation transitioning from the initial state to the target state, to generate a state space graph; evaluating a lower bound of handling operation cost from a certain state to the target state, based on both the stacking sequence of the plurality of items in the certain state and the stacking sequence of the plurality of items in the target state; and searching a route from the initial state to the target state where the handling operation cost is minimal on the state space graph using a heuristic search algorithm based on the lower bound. | 03-13-2014 |
20140074542 | Systems and Methods for Forecasting HVAC Operation Cost - A method of projecting a cost of operating a heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning (HVAC) system includes providing weather forecast data to a system controller of the HVAC system, providing energy cost data to the system controller, providing an interface to the system controller, and generating a first projected cost of operating the HVAC system as a function of the weather forecast data and the energy cost data. | 03-13-2014 |
20140074543 | IMPLEMENTING AN END-OF-LIFE PURCHASE - A system and method of implementing an end-of-life purchase of an item used in manufacturing. A method includes comparing a supply of an article to a demand for the article. The method also includes securing an amount of the article when the supply does not exceed the demand by a predetermined threshold, and waiting a predetermined period of time before repeating the comparing when the supply exceeds the demand by the predetermined threshold. | 03-13-2014 |
20140095245 | SERVICE REQUEST ORCHESTRATOR - A system for orchestrating the process of fulfilling service requests for utility services receives a first service request for utility services. The first service request references a first service point. The system evaluates conditions at the first service point. The system issues an electronic command message to fulfill the first service request based on the evaluation of conditions at the first service point. The system receives a second service request for utility services. The second service request references a second service point. The system evaluates conditions at the second service point. The system initiates a field activity to fulfill the second service request based on the evaluation of conditions at the second service point. The receiving the first service request, the evaluating conditions at the first service point, the issuing the electronic command message, the receiving the second service request, the evaluating conditions at the second service point, and the initiating the field activity are performed by a centralized orchestration engine. | 04-03-2014 |
20140095246 | SUPPLY CHAIN FINANCIAL ORCHESTRATION SYSTEM THAT ORCHESTRATES SUPPLY CHAIN EVENTS - A system is provided that orchestrates a supply chain event. The system receives a supply chain event from an external source system. The system further retrieves a source document referenced by the supply chain event. The system further retrieves a supply chain financial orchestration flow assigned to the source document, where the supply chain financial orchestration flow defines a trade relationship between a first entity and a second entity. The system further selects one or more tasks defined for the supply chain financial orchestration flow. The system further initiates execution of the one or more tasks, where each task is executed at an external target system. | 04-03-2014 |
20140095247 | SUPPLY CHAIN FINANCIAL ORCHESTRATION SYSTEM WITH CONFIGURABLE EVENTS THAT TRIGGER TASKS - A system is provided that processes supply chain events. The system defines a supply chain event type. The system further configures a supply chain event of the supply chain event type as a task generating event, where the task generating event indicates that one or more tasks that are defined for a supply chain financial orchestration flow are to be executed, and where the supply chain financial orchestration flow defines a trade relationship between a first entity and a second entity. The system further receives a supply chain event associated with the supply chain financial orchestration flow. The system further determines whether the supply chain event is a task generating event. The system further executes the one or more tasks that are defined for the supply chain financial orchestration flow where the supply chain event is a task generating event. | 04-03-2014 |
20140095248 | SUPPLY CHAIN FINANCIAL ORCHESTRATION SYSTEM WITH TASK COMMUNICATION USING UNIVERSAL FORMAT - A system is provided that communicates tasks. The system generates a task including task payload data, where the task payload data is in a task payload format. The system further transforms the task payload data from the task payload format to a universal format. The system further sends the task payload data and a system parameter to an external interface layer, where the task payload data is sent in the universal format, and where the system parameter identifies an external target system. The system further identifies an external target system and connector service based on the system parameter. The system further sends the task payload data to the connector service, where the task payload data is sent in the universal format. | 04-03-2014 |
20140095249 | SUPPLY CHAIN ORCHESTRATION SYSTEM WITH ORCHESTRATION, CHANGE MANAGEMENT AND INTERNAL MATERIAL TRANSFER FLOW - A system is provided that orchestrate a supply chain orchestration process. The system receives a supply request and creates a supply order. The system further selects a supply chain orchestration process for the supply order, where the supply chain orchestration process includes one or more steps. The system further generates an executable supply chain orchestration process. The system further executes the executable supply chain orchestration process to generate one or more supply tasks that are defined by the one or more steps of the supply chain orchestration process. The system further sends the one or more supply tasks to one or more external supply execution systems. The system further receives one or more status values from the one or more external supply execution systems. The system further generates an overall status value for the supply chain orchestration process based on the one or more status values. | 04-03-2014 |
20140100908 | METHOD FOR MANAGEMENT OF A POST SALES SERVICES SUPPLY CHAIN - A method for enabling collaborative planning, learning, and service supply chain execution using collaborative distributed nodes (CDNs) to fulfill aftermarket service needs of a company in a hierarchical and dynamic environment where products are serviced in a multitude of geographies. The method allows accelerated decision and planning function in the supply chain sub chains, and post-sales services supply chain leading to dynamic, efficient and optimized planning and collaborative execution. | 04-10-2014 |
20140114719 | Allocating Service Consumers into Compatible Resource Pools - Techniques, a system and an article of manufacture for allocating accounts among resource pools. A method includes creating a set of customer account allocations by assigning customer account combinations from a set of customer accounts among a given set of resource pools, computing a compatibility score for each of the customer account allocations by comparing a profile of a resource pool and a profile of each customer account assigned to the resource pool in the customer account allocation based on a workload parameter, a demographics parameter, and/or an effort parameter, simulating execution of a pre-determined number of customer account allocations, wherein the pre-determined number is based on a compatibility score threshold, selecting one of the customer account allocations based on results of the simulated execution, and allocating the set of customer accounts among the set of resource pools in accordance with the selected customer account allocation. | 04-24-2014 |
20140122158 | License Meta-Model for Automatic License Reasoning - Techniques, a system and an article of manufacture for generating a license meta-model for automatic license reasoning. A method includes creating an object-oriented information model to describe a hardware infrastructure, a software deployment environment, and an organization structure corresponding to a software license deployment, creating a set of property functions to formulate one or more items of information related to the hardware infrastructure, one or more users, and the organization structure, creating a set of license metrics by defining license metric capacity unit and license metric capacity calculation logic that leverage at least one existing property function and/or at least one of the created property functions, and leveraging the license metrics to model the software license. | 05-01-2014 |
20140122159 | License Meta-Model for Automatic License Reasoning - Techniques, a system and an article of manufacture for generating a license meta-model for automatic license reasoning include creating an object-oriented information model to describe a hardware infrastructure, a software deployment environment, and an organization structure corresponding to a software license deployment, creating a set of property functions to formulate one or more items of information related to the hardware infrastructure, one or more users, and the organization structure, creating a set of license metrics by defining license metric capacity unit and license metric capacity calculation logic that leverage at least one existing property function and/or at least one of the created property functions, and leveraging the license metrics to model the software license. | 05-01-2014 |
20140122160 | Optimized License Procurement - Techniques, a system and an article of manufacture for automatically determining a license procurement decision include identifying one or more license types for a software product, identifying, for each license type, one or more types of hardware configuration and software usage information to collect for a product license procurement decision, collecting said identified one or more types of hardware configuration and software usage information, populating a license decision matrix with said collected one or more types of hardware configuration and software usage information, and automatically generating a license procurement decision for the product based on analysis of the license decision matrix. | 05-01-2014 |
20140129282 | Automatic License Entitlement Calculation - Techniques for automatic license entitlement calculation. A method includes decomposing a license metric definition into metric-generic and metric-specific logic, compiling the metric-specific logic to generate intermediate code, interpreting the metric-generic logic and dynamically loading the intermediate code to execute a license entitlement calculation. | 05-08-2014 |
20140129283 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF ORDER SPLIT FOR TRANSPORTATION PLANNING - A system and method of creating a transportation plan based on split orders. A received order is divided into split freight units that simulate a possible delivery for transportation. A delivery document is created and stored in persistent memory when the simulated split is planned and released. | 05-08-2014 |
20140136271 | ASSORTMENT PACK BUILDER - A first set of a plurality of assortment packs that include a plurality of different versions of an item to be sold at a plurality of retail stores is determined based at least in part on forecasted sales of the item at each of the plurality of retail stores. Each retail store is associated with an assortment pack based at least in part on the forecasted sales of the item at the retail store such that the plurality of retail stores is grouped into a plurality of clusters of retail stores. The distribution of the different versions of the item of at least one of the plurality of assortment packs is changed based at least in part on the forecasted sales of the item at each retail store of the cluster of retail stores with which the at least one of the plurality of assortment packs has been associated. | 05-15-2014 |
20140136272 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING GANTT-TREND CHART IN A SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT ENVIRONMENT - A system and method support a supply chain management platform for a supply chain management environment. The supply chain management platform can provide a graphical representation of one or more material inventory trends in the supply chain management environment. Additionally, the supply chain management platform can using one or more tokens to display one or more activities on the graphical representation of the one or more material inventory trends, wherein the one or more activities contribute to inventory change in the supply chain management environment. Furthermore, the supply chain management platform allows a user to perform one or more supply chain scheduling operations in the supply chain management environment based on the graphical representation. | 05-15-2014 |
20140136273 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT - Systems and methods are directed to supply chain management. In particular, the tracking, tracing, authenticating, and reporting of supply chain events for products, is disclosed. Various embodiments can store, analyze, and track supply chain events and help to coordinate and maintain trading partner connections. Various embodiments also help to enhance patient safety, secure the supply chains for pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and other healthcare products, and help users to follow regulatory requirements. | 05-15-2014 |
20140143006 | Systems and Methods to Enhance Product Yield for Semiconductor Manufacturing - A system for fabricating semiconductor products includes a list of products to be fabricated, a list of available semiconductor fabrication tools, a product and tool matrix database, and a product and tool selection engine. The product and tool matrix database is configured to include performance and manufacturing information for the products to be fabricated and the available tools. The product and tool selection engine is configured to generate an enhanced matching of the products to be fabricated and the available semiconductor fabrication tools. | 05-22-2014 |
20140143007 | FRONTLOADING PRODUCT INVENTORY - An example computing device may generate a plurality of snowfall categories for a region and a plurality of snowfall category combinations at the region for a time frame that includes a plurality of time segments. The device may calculate a forecast of unit sales of a weather-dependent product over the time frame for each snowfall category combination based on past weather data for the region and past sales data of the weather-dependent product. The device may calculate a probability that each snowfall category combination will occur in the time frame. The device may determine a quantity of the weather-dependent product to place in inventory prior to or at the beginning of the time frame configured to approximate demand for the product over the entire time frame based on forecasted unit sales and the probabilities that each snowfall category combination will occur in the time frame. | 05-22-2014 |
20140149170 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING STRATEGIC SOURCING AND VENDOR MANAGEMENT - A system and method for facilitating consistent management of a repeatable procurement process within an organization is disclosed. The system enables various members of the organization to follow a set of defined core processes to engage stakeholders by understanding the stakeholder's business and building a trusted advisor relationship. Further, the core processes define an analysis stage that includes an opportunity assessment, development of a strategic plan, development of a commodity profile, and finalizing a sourcing plan. Sourcing includes obtaining sponsorship, assembling a sourcing team, selecting suppliers for an RFP, and selecting a supplier based on a proposal. The core process for performing negotiations and contracting includes developing a negotiation strategy, performing the negotiation, selecting suppliers, and obtaining funding. | 05-29-2014 |
20140149171 | ROUTING SERVICE REQUESTS BASED ON LOWEST ACTUAL COST WITHIN A FEDERATED VIRTUAL SERVICE CLOUD - A method for providing a virtual cloud service at the lowest actual cost can begin with an optimal transaction handler of a federated virtual service cloud maintaining a virtual resource pool of transactional units. Each transactional unit can represent a service application deployed to a cloud service provided by a cloud service provider having a usage-based service cost model that allows transactional units to be placed in an inactive state to suspend its operating expense. Operational metrics data for the cloud service providers can be continuously captured. In response to a service request, the transactional unit that meets fulfillment requirements of the service request and incurs a lowest actual cost can be determined based upon cost factors derived from the operational metrics data, the usage-based service cost model, and a current usage state of the virtual resource pool. The received service request can be routed to the determined transactional unit. | 05-29-2014 |
20140156335 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REAL COST ANALYSIS OF A COOLING SYSTEM - A system and a method for calculating in real time, actual realized savings that a cooling system obtains from addition of a thermal storage capability to the cooling system, compared to a model of the system without the added thermal storage capability. | 06-05-2014 |
20140164046 | INTEGRATED FOOD AND BEVERAGE MANAGEMENT, INVENTORY AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM - A method and system for ordering a food or beverage from an on-site inventory local to a food and beverage customer via a graphical user interface and a network is provided. The on-site inventory is associated with at least one off-site inventory. The method includes providing a user interface to a purchaser, wherein the user interface is capable of displaying at least a portion of the on-site inventory to the purchaser. The method also includes receiving instructions from the purchaser via the interface relating to the selection of a first food and beverage from the on-site inventory, delivering the first food or beverage from the on-site inventory to the purchaser, accounting for the cost of the first food or beverage with the purchaser, and determining whether the on-site inventory quantity of food or beverages of the first food or beverages is below a pre-determined minimum quantity. The method also includes the automatic generation of a draft renewal order for transmittal to one or more pre-determined distributors of a sufficient quantity of the first food or beverage to replenish the on-site inventory quantity above the minimum. | 06-12-2014 |
20140172491 | ON-DEMAND CLOUD SERVICE MANAGEMENT - A plurality of traditional software applications are packaged as custom composite solutions, and are stored as custom composite solution deployable images. Customer input is obtained from a customer. At least one of the custom composite solution deployable images is deployed into a management cloud in response to the customer input. | 06-19-2014 |
20140172492 | METHOD, SYSTEM, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR PROVIDING CNG FILLING STATION OPTIMIZATIONS AND PROPOSALS - Systems, methods, computer programs, and user interfaces are provided to receive a traffic profile from a user, where the traffic profile includes a CNG vehicle profile and an associated filling frequency profile, calculate an overall fill rate based on the CNG vehicle profile and the associated filling frequency profile, and generate a filling station configuration having a station fill rate greater than the overall fill rate, where the filling station configuration includes a compressor component, a storage component, a piping component, and a dispenser component. | 06-19-2014 |
20140172493 | MANAGING AN INVENTORY OF SERVICE PARTS - An inventory of service parts may be managed by assessing a company's capability, optimizing the inventory and implementing a management program based on the assessment and optimization. Optimizing target stock levels for the inventory of parts may be accomplished by calculating an inventory baseline for understanding information about the currently held inventory; developing a service strategy for a set of segments; quantifying a service level for each of the segments; analyzing the segments and their service levels for identifying at least one logistically distinct business; assigning each of the segments to a “best-fit” planning model for indicating each segment's deployment, replenishment, forecasting and review characteristics; identifying a probability distribution function for estimating a demand process of each of the segments; and calculating a target stock level for each segment. | 06-19-2014 |
20140172494 | MULTI-BASE INVENTORY DEPLOYMENT COMPUTATION DEVICE - The invention displays multiple inventory period combinations, as multiple multi-base inventory deployment proposals having assessed values for items such as cash flow and inventory value, each of said assessed values being within a range entered by an inventory deployment decision-maker. For each product included in request information, the invention finds a minimum period (the total lead time from when a given item leaves the applicable warehouse until the item reaches the base that sells the applicable product) and a maximum period (the total lead time needed for all component parts configuring the item to reach the warehouse, added to the minimum period), for each item configuring said product and each warehouse base. The invention computes product-specific inventory period combination information for each warehouse base, and creates inventory period combination information by combining said product-specific inventory period combination information for each product type. The invention performs an inventory management calculation for the inventory period combination information, computes the value of an assessment index, and compares said value to the maximum value thereof. The invention selects an inventory period combination having an assessment index value within a permitted range, as a candidate display proposal. For the candidate display proposal, the invention computes a display evaluation value for each display proposal evaluation item by multiplying a display evaluation coefficient by an inventory value. | 06-19-2014 |
20140180750 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MODELING COSTED ENTITIES AND PERFORMING A VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS - Methods and systems are disclosed for modeling costed entities and performing a value chain analysis. In one implementation, methods and systems may implement a costing platform. The costing platform may be adapted for modeling any set of costed entities and processing value chains. Value chains may be modeled by a user via the costing platform, so that networks comprised of objects and edges, and costed entities located at the objects can be modeled and functions can be added to determine key figures. | 06-26-2014 |
20140188543 | Optimized Bioresources and Bioprocessing - Provided is a system of hardware, software, and business methods for developing a management plan to optimize biomass resources for biochemical production. In particular, the method uses programming and resource data and information input from one or more resource sites to allow a manager to determine optimal allocations of biomass resources for pretreatment industry plants. | 07-03-2014 |
20140200946 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR INVENTORY OPTIMIZATION - An inventory optimization system is disclosed. The system comprises of an inventory interface configured to receive inventory policy criteria representing possible conditions of a plurality of inventory policies by which an inventory could be managed. An optimization engine is provided to generate the plurality of inventory policies based on the inventory policy criteria with each inventory policy having an assumed future demand model. The optimization engine is also configured to use a simulation engine to simulate how each inventory policy would perform (i.e. a cost to run the inventory policy) under different estimated demand. The optimization engine is configured to rank the plurality of inventory policies based on their performance under the simulations. | 07-17-2014 |
20140207513 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PROCUREMENT - Systems and techniques for procurement of equipment and services are disclosed. Data is collected relating to operations of an organization and the information is made accessible to vendors who may supply goods and services for carrying out the operations. The collected data may include information relating to inputs of the operations, size, shape, and weight of objects handled in the operations, actual and desired throughput, energy use, waste, and other data. Data may be anonymized before being made accessible to vendors, and proposals made by vendors in response to data from a particular organization may be directed to the organization from which the data is collected. | 07-24-2014 |
20140214474 | AGGREGATION OF CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS - A method is disclosed for aggregating multiple customer quoting requirements and selecting appropriate production entities for product production and distribution. The method includes receiving data from a network of production entities, including at least production and distribution pricing grids; and receiving quoting requirements from a plurality of customers including at least product volumes, product specifications, and delivery time for producing and distributing a plurality of customer designated products. The method further includes using a processor and the multiple customer quoting requirements and at least the production and distribution pricing grids from the one or more production entities to produce one or more aggregations of customer orders that satisfy the customer quoting requirements and to concurrently select at least one production entity capable of fulfilling a selected aggregation based on at least one selection criterion and sending quotes to the multiple customers using the selected at least one production entity. | 07-31-2014 |
20140214475 | PARTITIONING JOB REQUIREMENTS FOR RESOURCE PLANNING - Partitioning job requirements for resource planning can include identifying resource capacity and matching scores of a resource pool for a resource planning horizon, partitioning a full-time equivalent (FTE) job requirement into a plurality of positions based on the resource capacity and matching scores of the resource pool for the resource planning horizon using a computing device, and performing resource planning by allocating the resource capacity to the plurality of positions | 07-31-2014 |
20140222491 | Systems and Methods for Determining Pack Allocations - Systems and methods are provided for determining a distribution of each of a plurality of inner packs to a plurality of stores. Mismatch cost data and product demand data are received for the plurality of stores. A first inner pack quantity for distribution is determined based on the product demand data. A supply difference amount is determined, where the supply difference amount is a difference between the first inner pack quantity and the number of first inner packs available for distribution. A determination is made that adjusting the first inner pack quantity for the particular store based on the supply difference amount would have less effect on mismatch costs than other stores, and the first inner pack quantity is adjusted for the particular store based on the supply difference. | 08-07-2014 |
20140244339 | ENTERPRISE CONTENT MANAGEMENT DEPLOYMENT, COLLABORATION, AND PROPOSAL TOOL - A method executed by a processor of a computing device provides enterprise content management (ECM) solution information. A set of ECM solutions is accessed from a data storage and transmitted through a network to an organization. Planning input comprising indications of selected ECM solutions is received through the network. Implementation information for implementing the indicated ECM solutions is determined based at least in part upon the planning input, and is transmitted to the organization through the network. When an organization is identified based on an ECM organization identifier, organization information associated with the identified organization is accessed from the data storage, and the planning data is modified based on the organization information. When implementing two or more ECM solutions together has a synergistic reduction in implementation requirements compared to implementing the solutions separately, the reduction is determined and included in the implementation information. | 08-28-2014 |
20140244340 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVICE CHAIN VISUALIZATION AND MONITORING OF REUSABLE COMMODITIES - A service chain visualization system graphically displays diverse supply chain information such as demand information, new buy information, defective returns information, out for repair information, good inventory information and bad inventory information. The display includes historical, present, and future supply chain information. In at least one embodiment, the system allows a user to change a supply chain attribute and observe the potential impact on other supply chain attributes. In at least one embodiment, the system graphically collectively displays results that are readily understandable by the user. | 08-28-2014 |
20140244341 | EVALUATING EXTENDED SUPPLY CHAINS - Techniques described herein generally relate to evaluating extended supply chains. In an embodiment, supply chains may be evaluated by efficiently linking current, past, and/or upcoming consumer demand signals to the supply chain. The evaluated supply chains may be extended supply chains, e.g., at select points along supply chains. Other embodiments are disclosed and claimed. | 08-28-2014 |
20140249883 | STORE INTELLIGENCE - IN-STORE ANALYTICS - Store intelligence—in-store analytics (“in-store analytics”) techniques are provided that, by combining analytics with experience, improve the shopping, managing, monitoring, etc., experience of an end user. In-store analytics can be integrated with workflow for optimizing and assisting prioritizing operations. | 09-04-2014 |
20140249884 | SYSTEM FOR DYNAMIC INVENTORY CONTROL - A production management system is configured to dynamically controlling inventory of a semiconductor product to prevent overstock and stockout. The production management system includes a production planning module including components containing data of demand forecast, and customer order. The production management system further includes a dynamic inventory control module including a dynamic inventory control simulation module and an inventory management system, wherein the dynamic inventory control simulation module is configured to adjust a target inventory if a current inventory is beyond a threshold multiplied by the target inventory for M number of review cycles. | 09-04-2014 |
20140257911 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO SCHEDULE REFUELING OF A WORK MACHINE - Methods and apparatus are disclosed for scheduling refueling of a work machine. An example method disclosed herein includes determining a plurality of potential costs of refueling a work machine at a plurality of locations based at least in part on a location of the work machine, a location of a refueling machine, an energy reserve of the work machine, and an energy consumption rate of the work machine to perform one or more tasks of a mission, the energy consumption rate being based at least in part on one or more task parameters, and selecting a refueling location from the plurality of locations based on the plurality of potential costs. | 09-11-2014 |
20140257912 | PRODUCT INVENTORY ALLOCATION - Sales transaction data of products sold at a store of a retailer is employed to identify opportunities to reallocate product inventory among the products based on characteristics of sales of the products. The sales transaction data is employed to determine characteristics of product sales, including, e.g., sales volume and sell-through. The number of units of products inventoried in a store can be reallocated based on sales volume and sell-through of the products indicated by the sales transaction data. After reallocation to determine new inventory levels for the products, an estimate of sales performance for the products can be determined at the new inventory levels and the estimated sales can be compared to past actual sales measurements to determine the potential effect of changing the number of units of products allocated to inventory in a store in a retail chain of a retailer. | 09-11-2014 |
20140257913 | STORM RESPONSE OPTIMIZATION - A method of predicting equipment failures is provided. Potentially-effected equipment located in a path projection for a weather event is identified based on a current characteristic data describing equipment supporting a service. A likelihood of failure for each equipment of the identified potentially-effected equipment is calculated by executing a failure prediction model with the current characteristic data and weather event data describing characteristics of the weather event. Equipment failures of the identified potentially-effected equipment are predicted by comparing the calculated likelihood of failure for each equipment of the identified potentially-effected equipment to a predefined threshold. Information identifying the predicted equipment failures is output. | 09-11-2014 |
20140278706 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR GENERATING SUPPLY CHAIN REPRESENTATIONS - A computer implemented method for mining supply chain information to produce supply chain graphs includes receiving by a computer a set of data; identifying a supplier, a commodity, and a customer from the set of data; generating a query comprising the identified data; determining the absence of any of the supplier, the commodity, or the customer from the set of data; if any items are determined to be absent from the set of data, substituting a placeholder for the missing item from the data set; sending the query; receiving a set of supply chain graph information; generating a supply chain graph signal based upon the set of supply chain graph information; and transmitting the supply chain graph signal. A computing device or system includes a processor an electronic memory; and a program for mining supply chain information to produce supply chain graphs stored in the electronic memory. | 09-18-2014 |
20140278707 | Commodity Procurement System - A system and method include generating an indication regarding a need for a commodity from a manufacturing and resource planning system, estimating future prices of the commodity via a simulation tool as a function of current, historical, and simulated commodity prices, correlating the estimated future prices with a lead time to identify an optimal time to purchase the needed commodities, and generating a list of purchase orders via a computer system as a function of the correlation. | 09-18-2014 |
20140278708 | Resource Allocation and Risk Modeling for Geographically Distributed Assets - A risk exposure model is developed for network or moveable assets not specific to a single, fixed address or location. An asset map using a plurality of geographic representation points is used to identify the physical locations of the asset portions (or possible physical locations in the case of a moveable asset). Baseline geographic, geologic, political, and demographic data is similarly represented using geographic representation points. Meta-data associated with each geographic representation point is used to identify details related to the asset or baseline feature at that geographic location. Risk exposure values are then calculated using the geographic representation points specific to the asset portions that are subject to risks associated with the location of the asset portion. | 09-18-2014 |
20140278709 | Intelligent CCHP System - Co-generating energy sources are controlled using a control system that monitors local and remote data. The local and remote data allow for energy management both in the short and long term by comparing the cost of using the co-generating energy source with other available energy sources. Individual co-generating energy sources can have their data aggregated and combined with remote data to allow for predictions of gross demand for energy. The gross demand can be used by an energy utility to plan for future energy needs and to negotiate with energy providers based upon those needs. The energy utility may control the individual co-generating energy sources so as to most cost-effectively meet the needs of the user of the individual co-generating energy source. | 09-18-2014 |
20140278710 | COST MODEL GENERATION FOR IT SERVICES - In various implementations, a cost activity model may be generated based at least partially on information received, such as costs, and a predetermined framework. The cost activity model may be utilized to predict costs due to changes, to determine demand utilization, and/or to reconcile estimated and actual costs, for example. | 09-18-2014 |
20140278711 | Systems Engineering Lifecycle Cost Estimation - An engineering lifecycle cost estimation system, or EDGE System. The engineering lifecycle cost estimation system allows users to make engineering decisions based on graded evaluations of lifecycle costs (“EDGE”). Embodiments of the EDGE System allow users to analyze major design options during initial system development, optimize system details during final system development and construction, and manage system operation and maintenance over the life of the system. Embodiments of the EDGE System allow users to define a system in terms of the components included in the system, define alternative systems, calculate lifecycle costs for a system or component, and visualize the lifecycle costs, timelines, and other information for systems and components. The visualizations allow users to easily analyze and compare alternative systems or components and make informed decisions. A limited access portal allows clients to manage systems and obtain current lifecycle cost estimates while preserving the integrity of the underlying data. | 09-18-2014 |
20140278712 | ASSET TRACKING IN ASSET INTENSIVE ENTERPRISES - A method, system, and computer program product for asset service and maintenance lifecycle management and supply chain planning. Some embodiments commence upon receiving a database record corresponding to an individually identified asset to be individually tracked through a corresponding asset lifecycle. A supply chain ordering module generates a candidate order database entry for a component or supply as may be demanded by an asset specific scheduled maintenance plan. Having the asset specific scheduled maintenance plan, a module accesses maintenance depot database records to retrieve the asset specific scheduled maintenance plan for the individually identified asset, and the maintenance depot records are assessed to determine if the component or supply is present at the repair depot, and if so, the candidate order can be adjusted to account for the presence of the component or supply at the repair depot. The adjusted amount is forwarded to a supply chain management business application. | 09-18-2014 |
20140278713 | ASSET FORECASTING IN ASSET INTENSIVE ENTERPRISES - A method, system, and computer program product for asset service and maintenance lifecycle management and supply chain planning. Some embodiments commence upon receiving a database record corresponding to an individually identified asset to be individually tracked through a corresponding asset lifecycle. Each individually identified asset has an asset-specific scheduled maintenance plan. During the performance of activities pertaining to the asset-specific scheduled maintenance plan, observations are made and events are recorded to generate a series of observations that are in turn collected into a learning model. The learning model and a predictor based on the learning model is used to predict a future demand or a forecast for items in quantities that are not given in the asset-specific scheduled maintenance plan. In exemplary cases, the forecast comprises items and/or quantities that are not given in the scheduled maintenance plan. | 09-18-2014 |
20140278714 | SYSTEM, APPARATUS, AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING PROVISIONING IN A MIXED ENVIRONMENT OF LOCALES - A system, a computer program product, and a method capable of dynamically and flexibly support a plurality of locales upon provisioning are provided. A management server connected via a network to a plurality of processing resources each set with a locale includes a storage unit to store processing, a locale, and a set of instructions corresponding to the processing and the locale, and a selection unit to select a set of instructions associated with required processing and a required locale by referring to the storage unit, and it further includes a determination unit to dynamically determine the required processing and the processing resource by way of provisioning, and the storage unit stores the plurality of processing resources and each locale. | 09-18-2014 |
20140288993 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ANALYSIS OF INFRASTRUCTURE - A method and a system for analyzing infrastructure are provided. In one embodiment, a system for analyzing infrastructure is provided. The system includes a grid intelligence quotient as a service (GIQAAS) system. The GIQAAS system includes an infrastructure data gathering system having a first input form configured to collect an economic data related to an infrastructure. The GIQAAS system further includes an economic modeling system configured to import the economic data and to derive an economic analysis based on the economic data. The GIQAAS system is configured to provide the infrastructure data gathering system to a first user for collection of the economic data, and to provide the economic modeling system to a second user for derivation of the economic analysis. | 09-25-2014 |
20140297352 | USER SEGMENTATION FOR COST-BASED DEPLOYMENT OF ENTERPRISE INFRASTRUCTURE - Described herein, is a method for user segmentation for cost-based deployment of enterprise infrastructure. According to an implementation, for each of the users, a user fingerprint (UFP) score set comprising rating scores that quantify levels of enterprise-level needs of the each user is determined. For each of deployment solutions of the enterprise, a deployment fingerprint (DFP) score set comprising rating scores that quantify levels of capabilities of the each deployment solution enabled to meet enterprise-level needs of the users is determined. The users are grouped into user segments based on the UFP score sets of the users. A definition of each of the user segments is determined. The definition is indicative of a user whose enterprise-level needs define characteristics of the corresponding user segment. A number of user segments is found based on a cost associated with the deployment solutions for the user segments. | 10-02-2014 |
20140304026 | PRODUCT LEVEL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - The invention relates to a product level management system, method and apparatus that enable the levels of product to be maintained through automated ordering once product levels fall below a preset level. Product usage is tracked by using a device to read a code associated with a product at the time the product is used. Product usage data is used to update product level data, which is used to determine whether more product is required. The invention also allows an audit of product levels to be conducted and the product level data to be updated as a result of the audit. | 10-09-2014 |
20140310050 | Methods And Apparatus For Project Portfolio Management - Systems and techniques for optimization of project portfolio. A set of original proposals, including at least one original proposal allowing for a choice between two or more equivalent sets of resource requirements, are translated into a set of equivalent substitute proposals ensured by translated logical dependencies among them. The set of substitute proposals is optimized and a solution provided by the optimization is translated into a solution in terms of the original proposals. | 10-16-2014 |
20140310051 | Methods and Apparatus for Project Portfolio Management - Systems and techniques for optimization of project portfolio. A set of original proposals, including at least one original proposal allowing for a choice between two or more equivalent sets of resource requirements, are translated into a set of equivalent substitute proposals ensured by translated logical dependencies among them. The set of substitute proposals is optimized and a solution provided by the optimization is translated into a solution in terms of the original proposals. | 10-16-2014 |
20140316840 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR EVALUATION OF ENGINEERING LEVEL - To provide a technology for assisting selection of a supplier that can guarantee appropriate quality with ease, provided is an engineering level evaluation apparatus, including: a storage unit which stores: device information in which information on a part and an apparatus relating to manufacturing of the part are associated with each other; and apparatus owning information in which information identifying a supply entity of the part and the apparatus used by the supply entity are associated with each other; a part information reception section which receives an input of the information on the part; an engineering level calculation section which identifies a degree to which the apparatus relating to the manufacturing of the part received by the part information reception section is usable, and uses the degree to calculate an engineering level of each supply entity; and an output unit which outputs the supply entities in order of the engineering level. | 10-23-2014 |
20140337081 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PERFORMING CAPACITY MANAGEMENT IN A PRINT PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT - A method of adjusting labor capacity in a print production environment may include receiving, by a computing device, a realized demand value for a print production environment and determining that the realized demand value exceeds a total labor capacity associated with one or more workers in the print production environment. The method may include, in response to determining that the realized demand value exceeds the total labor capacity associated with the print production environment, determining one or more updated compensation rates for the one or more workers, determining one or more production parameters corresponding to each of the updated compensation rates, presenting the determined updated compensation rates and corresponding production parameters to a user, receiving a selection of an updated compensation rate from the presented compensation rates, and communicating the selected updated compensation rate to the one or more workers. | 11-13-2014 |
20140337082 | ENERGY AUDIT TOOL - An energy audit tool is provided. The energy audit tool includes a server, a communication device in communication with the server, and an onsite and secure web-based application tool operable on the communication device. The onsite and secure web-based application tool comprises a plurality of modules for performing audit functions. The communication device includes a computing device, such as a mobile computing device. The plurality of modules may include a lighting module, an HVAC module, a Water Heating module, a PC Power Management module, an ES Refrigerators module, a VFD on Evap Fans module, a VFD on Kitchen Exhaust Fans module, a PLOS module, an Auto Door Closers module, an HE Cooking Equipment module, an HE Ice Maker module, and a Vending Misers module. | 11-13-2014 |
20140337083 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SUPPLY CHAIN OPTIMIZATION - Method and systems for supply chain optimization include receiving information relating to a plurality of independent process flows which make up a supply chain of a technology organization, comparing the plurality of independent process flows with an integrated supply chain process flow comprising a plurality of interconnected stages to identify gaps in the integrated supply chain process flow relative to the plurality of independent process flows, the plurality of interconnected stages corresponding to all of the processes in a supply chain, modifying the integrated supply chain process flow based at least in part on the identified gaps to generate a customized integrated supply chain process flow that is customized to the supply chain of the technology organization, receiving one or more configuration parameters corresponding to the supply chain of the technology organization, and updating the customized integrated supply chain process flow with the one or more configuration parameters. | 11-13-2014 |
20140344002 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ABNORMAL EVENT RESPONSE PLANNING - Systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer readable media are disclosed for providing an event response plan. A method is provided for providing an event response plan via a planning interface. The method may include receiving facility infrastructure data. The facility infrastructure data may define a set of facility logic for generating an event response plan for a particular facility. The method may also include receiving facility situational data. The facility situational data may indicate a status of at least one abnormal event occurring at the particular facility. The method may also include deriving, using a processor, an event response plan using at least the facility infrastructure data and the facility situational data, and providing the event response plan via a planning interface. | 11-20-2014 |
20140344003 | System and Method for Accelerating Information Technology Organization's Process Definition and Facilitating Process Deployment - Disclosed are a method and a system for accelerating process definition journey and request received pertaining to a project. The method comprises receiving a request from an employee of the plurality of employees. The method further comprises generating automatically a process layout based upon the request. The process layout comprises processes capable of enabling the employee to complete the project by availing step by step guidance covering entire lifecycle of the project complied with CMMI DEV version 1.3 and CMMI SVC version 1.2. Further, the method comprises displaying the processes to the employee on the I/O interface, upon following the processes and its associated enablers thereby ensuring comprehensive and successful completion of the project within budget, schedule, and with quality facilitating process deployment for an Information Technology (IT) organization. | 11-20-2014 |
20140350991 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR LOGISTICS NETWORK MANAGEMENT - A method for managing a logistics network is disclosed. The method may include receiving, by a processor, historical demand data representing historical demand for an item at each one of a plurality of facilities associated with the logistics network, the plurality of facilities including at least one manufacturing facility and at least one distributing facility; forecasting future demand data representing a forecasted future demand for the item at each one of the plurality of facilities based on the respective historical demand data and one or more respective business goals for each facility; adjusting the future demand data at each one of the facilities by compensating for a shipping time delay associated with shipping the item from a supplier to the facility; and combining the adjusted future demand data at each one of the facilities to generate combined future demand data representing demand for the item at the supplier. | 11-27-2014 |
20140350992 | INTEGRATED MAINTENANCE SCORING APPARATUS AND METHOD - Methods and apparatus for computational aggregation of information from an infrastructure system process by analytical programs tracking condition, maintenance, and scoring for both. An integrated score provides additional insights into actual real-life expectations for continued operation for an infrastructure asset. The system may be accessed over a presentation interface that permits “what if” testing, searching for similarly situated assets, incorporation of actual data of inspections and maintenance efforts, as well as data from similarly situated environments and systems. The information may be processed through numerical methods systems and statistical modules in order to obtain correlations, calculations, and predictions of useful life of assets and systems of assets. | 11-27-2014 |
20140350993 | INFORMATION MANAGEMENT DEVICE AND METHOD - An information management device collects from a plurality of equipment and retains operation information being information that indicates operation statuses of the plurality of equipment, and refers with an information utilizing device that provides a service that utilizes the operation information, including retaining information relating to a contract that has defined a service level provided in relation to the equipment, acquiring the contract information of the equipment, and creating based on the contract information management policy information being information that defines a management scheme of the operation information retained for each of the equipment, to include storage location information being information of a storage location of at least each of the storage information. | 11-27-2014 |
20140358619 | TIME-DEPENDENT REORDER POINTS IN SUPPLY CHAIN NETWORKS - According to an exemplary embodiment, a computer-implemented method for attempting to optimize a supply chain network (SCN) includes forecasting demand in the SCN based on a set of demand data. One or more time-dependent reorder points (ROPs) deemed to optimize the SCN are generated by a computer processor, based on the demand forecast, where each time-dependent ROP represents an ROP that changes over time. A simulation of operations of the SCN is performed, using the time-dependent ROPs. | 12-04-2014 |
20140358620 | Tenant Selection in Quota Enforcing Request Admission Mechanisms for Shared Applications - Methods, systems, and computer-readable storage media for selecting requests from a plurality of tenant queues in a multi-tenant system including actions of determining a plurality of weights, each weight being associated with a respective tenant in a set of tenants, each weight being dynamically adjusted based on a quota associated with the respective tenant for each iteration of a plurality of iterations within a period, selecting a tenant from the set of tenants based on the plurality of weights to provide a selected tenant, and transmitting a request from a request queue associated with the selected tenant for processing by a shared resource. | 12-04-2014 |
20140358621 | TIME-DEPENDENT REORDER POINTS IN SUPPLY CHAIN NETWORKS - According to an exemplary embodiment, a computer-implemented method for attempting to optimize a supply chain network (SCN) includes forecasting demand in the SCN based on a set of demand data. One or more time-dependent reorder points (ROPs) deemed to optimize the SCN are generated by a computer processor, based on the demand forecast, where each time-dependent ROP represents an ROP that changes over time. A simulation of operations of the SCN is performed, using the time-dependent ROPs. | 12-04-2014 |
20140358622 | WORK STATION ARRANGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD - A system for arranging work stations arranges a number of work stations of different types in a predetermined area, and calculates a number of each type of work station to ensure that a total production efficiency of each type of work station can reach a predetermined production efficiency. | 12-04-2014 |
20140365263 | ROLE TAILORED WORKSPACE - A workspace display includes a plurality of different groups, task, set of tasks or each group including a plurality of different components. Each group corresponds to a topic of information related to a user's role. The particular components included in each group are user interface display elements that are each related to an item of content within the corresponding group. The individual components are also selected and placed on the workspace display based on a user's role and activities or tasks performed by a user in that role. | 12-11-2014 |
20140365264 | CRITICALITY PROFILE FOR INDUSTRIAL ASSET - Among other things, one or more techniques and/or systems are provided for developing a criticality profile of an industrial asset. The criticality profile describes the importance of the industrial asset to a system in terms of one or more criticality metrics and/or one or more confidence profiles. Such metrics may include an operational metric indicative of the operation impact of the industrial asset on a system if the industrial asset remains unchanged or enters a degraded or improved state, a restoration metric indicative of a complexity of restoring the industrial asset to an operational state from the unchanged or degraded state and/or complexity of improving the industrial asset to an improved state, and/or an interdependency metric indicative of a relationship between the industrial asset and one or more other industrial assets and/or between the industrial asset and one or more structures in an environment associated with the industrial asset. | 12-11-2014 |
20140379411 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RESOURCE PLANNING - Methods and apparatus for information technology (IT) resource planning are disclosed. The method including storing in a memory device, a forecast of IT resource requirements, wherein the forecast includes a plurality of data entries associated with projected IT resource requests. The method further including receiving, by a receiver, a request for at least one additional IT resource and determining, by a processor, whether the requested at least on additional IT resource is associated one of the plurality of data entries. If the requested at least one additional IT resource is associated with one of the plurality of data entries, transmitting, by a transmitter, a request to order the at least one additional IT resource and notifying at least one predetermined user of the order. If the requested at least one additional IT resource is not associated with one of the plurality of data entries, sending a notification to at least one predetermined user requesting approval of the request. The method further including updating, by the processor, the forecast of IT resource requirements. | 12-25-2014 |
20140379412 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SUPPLIER SELECTION USING ROBUST OPTIMIZATION - The technique relates to a system and method for handling uncertainty in supplier selection using robust optimization. The technique involves receiving the historical data of one or more suppliers with respect to a plurality of factors from a database for selecting at least one of the one or more suppliers. After receiving the historical data, a convex hull is generated for each of the suppliers to determine a relationship between the pluralities of factors. Then adding equations which are more related to uncertainty values associated with at least one of the plurality of factors in the convex hull for each of the one or more suppliers. Thereafter, using robust optimization to determine an optimal performance level of each of the one or more suppliers with respect to the plurality of factors based on the fetched uncertainty value. Finally, selecting the suppliers based on the optimal performance level. | 12-25-2014 |
20150012328 | RECURSIVE PROCESSING OF OBJECT ALLOCATION RULES - Various embodiments are directed towards allocating costs for a plurality of cost objects. In at least one of the various embodiments, a source object and a target object in a data model may be determined such that an allocation rule is used to define one or more cost allocations where the costs flows from the source object to the target object. Allocation rules that are part of a recursive allocation rule may be executed on the source object and the target object until a terminal condition is met. The cost value that corresponds to the source object may be modified based on the allocation rule and the generated cost value. This process may continue until a terminal condition is met. After the terminal condition has been met final costs value corresponding to the target object and the source object may be generated and displayed. | 01-08-2015 |
20150019281 | Product transition for chain of stores with sales velocity based replenishment cutoff - This invention relates to the introduction of new products into a chain of stores in a manner that minimizes out of stock at store as well as cannibalization of sales by a previous product that the new product replaces. The new product could be a new model in the case of consumer electronics products like TVs, cameras and phones or a new packaging in the case of consumer packaged goods like food and beverage products. Typical store chains initiate or stop product purchases across the chain of stores when replacing an older product with a new product. Utilizing an approach of grouping stores by sales velocity and utilizing different cutoff dates for replenishing old products ahead of new product launch across the chain of stores, a retail chain can minimize lost sales at faster turning stores and minimize cannibalization of sales at slower turning stores. | 01-15-2015 |
20150019282 | Supply Chain Systems and Methods of Use - The present invention generally relates to the field of supply chain management, and more specifically, to methods and systems for improving product flow between parties such as manufacturers, distributors, and end users. In one embodiment, the present invention identifies, captures, and integrates future project business needs into the manufacturer's procurement/production processes. This may allow the manufacturer to meet supply chain needs regardless of the demand history or sales velocity of a product. | 01-15-2015 |
20150019283 | SYSTEM FOR DEMAND LIMITING - A demand management system incorporating a demand response interface connectable to a utility/ISO, a demand dispatch subsystem connected to the demand response interface and connected to a facility that is an energy customer of the utility/ISO, and a demand level optimization subsystem connected to the demand dispatch subsystem. The demand dispatch subsystem may monitor the energy demand of the facility. The demand dispatch subsystem and the demand level optimization subsystem may predict how many demand limiting events are needed over a billing period of the energy customer and a cost of issuing the demand limiting events to set an energy demand limit to optimize a balance between a number of events and the costs of issuing the events needed to maintain the energy demand limit versus a benefit of keeping the energy demand of the facility within the energy demand limit. | 01-15-2015 |
20150032496 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DIVIDING A SPIFF BUDGET - Systems, methods, and computer program products are provided for optimizing compensation allocations, and in particular, spiff allocations. With a limited budget, embodiments calculate optimized allocations or distributions of the budget to maximize employee productivity by analyzing input parameters associated with a productivity period, creating performance models for each employee or group of employees based on the analysis, and generating a budget allocation model so as to increase the sum output of the employee productivity. Approaches are data driven and modifiable to account for new data. | 01-29-2015 |
20150032497 | MANUFACTURING LINE SIMULATION DEVICE, DATA INPUT ASSISTANCE DEVICE, AND DATA INPUT ASSISTANCE METHOD - In a conventional manufacturing line simulation, there are a number of input items, and therefore, time is required for input. In addition, depending on the objective of the simulation, there are also parameters for which input is not required, and therefore, there is the problem of reducing the number of inputs according to the library. The present invention is configured to be provided with: a simulation library presentation unit which presents, to a user, a plurality of items of model libraries which are stored in a storage unit so as to receive specification of items of the model libraries from the user; a priority degree imparting unit which, with respect to the specified items of the model libraries, uses an input association table stored in the storage unit in order to calculate the priorities of the input items so as to present an input screen to the user on the basis of the calculated priorities; a simulation input receiving unit for receiving input of the input items on the user screen; and a duplicate data generation unit which, with respect to the duplicate items indicated in the input item association table, duplicates data that has been already received at the simulation input receiving unit. | 01-29-2015 |
20150032498 | GOODS YARD STRUCTURE CONTROL METHOD AND DEVICE - The present invention provides a goods yard structure control method and device capable of improving shelving efficiency of goods arrived and utilization of manual labor. The method comprises: determining busyness of staff based on a ratio of an amount of goods arrived to be shelved to a current number of the staff in a goods yard; if the busyness is above a first preset value, then outputting an instruction for controlling the goods to be shelved randomly; if the busyness is between the first preset value and a second preset value, determining a sale popularity level to which the goods belong and then outputting an instruction for controlling the goods to shelved to a shelf corresponding to the sale popularity level of the goods; and if the busyness is below the second preset value, determining a sale popularity level to which the goods belong and then judging whether a current remaining space of a shelf corresponding to pre-selected goods of a higher sale popularity level is enough to accommodate the arrived goods of the higher sale popularity level, if so, then outputting an instruction for controlling the goods to be shelved to the shelf corresponding to the sale popularity level of the goods, and otherwise adjusting the goods on the shelf. | 01-29-2015 |
20150039376 | Real Time Allocation Engine For Merchandise Distribution - A system includes an allocation table configured for use in a push-driven retail allocation business. The configuration for the push-driven retail allocation business includes a centrally organized headquarter office and a plurality of distribution points. The merchandise is procured by the centrally organized headquarter office and distributed under guidance of the centrally organized headquarter office to the plurality of distribution points. The system also includes an allocation engine processor logically coupled to the allocation table, and an in-memory database logically coupled to the allocation engine processor. The system procures the merchandise from a vendor and distributes the merchandise to the plurality of distribution points by identifying an article of merchandise, determining a current stock status of the article of merchandise, determining one or more distribution points for the article of merchandise, and determining an allocation strategy to the one or more distribution points for the article of merchandise. | 02-05-2015 |
20150039377 | INFORMATION OUTPUT APPARATUS, INFORMATION OUTPUT SYSTEM, AND INFORMATION OUTPUT METHOD - An information output apparatus includes a replacement information storage part storing first information and second information for each of replacements of a plurality of devices. The first information and the second information are associated with each other. The first information indicates a use condition of each of the devices before replacement. The second information indicates each of the devices after replacement. A use condition storage part stores third information indicating a use condition of each device. A selection part selects one of the replacements for which information is stored in the replacement information storage part based on the third information stored in the use condition storage part with respect to the one of the devices for which replacement is requested. The output part outputs the second information that indicates one of the devices after replacement and is stored in the replacement information storage part with respect to the selected replacement. | 02-05-2015 |
20150039378 | LICENSE MANAGEMENT SOLUTION FOR CENTRAL- MANAGEMENT PRODUCTS - A license manager running on a central-management server receives a license request for licensing a managed node as a client of a central-management product running on a central-management server. The license manager proposes a solution involving applying respective licenses for plural distinct central-management products. In response to a unified command, implementing said solution. | 02-05-2015 |
20150051940 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SUPPLY CHAIN DESIGN AND ANALYSIS - Systems and methods for supply chain design and analysis to optimize costs associated with a supply chain are described. According to an embodiment, the supply chain management system comprises a data extraction module, an analysis module, and a presentation module coupled to a processor. The data extraction module obtains supply chain data from one or more data sources. The analysis module analyzes a plurality of parameters and at least one future state map to ascertain at least one business scenario. Further, the analysis module identifies flow constraints in the at least one business scenario based on a flow analysis. Further, the analysis module selects decision parameters from amongst the plurality of parameters based on the flow constraints and a simulation feedback. Further, the analysis module simulates at least one experimental design based on the decision parameters. Furthermore, the presentation module generates, a plurality of maps based on visual analytics. | 02-19-2015 |
20150051941 | SHIPPER/RECEIVER FLEET OPTIMIZATION SYSTEM AND METHOD - Systems and methods for providing a graphical interface and application for managing assets and products in and between shipper/receiver facilities such as a plant, a port, a warehouse, or a lot. Embodiments of the invention provide a shipper/receiver management software application configured to manage assets and products pro-actively by maximizing visibility of the shipper/receiver facility and by providing selectable options to a user to improve operations across the shipper/receiver facility and between shipper/receiver facilities. Aspects can be directed toward fleet and individual asset optimization according to various constraints and values, including orders, availability, revenues, costs, and others. | 02-19-2015 |
20150051942 | SMART CLOUD WORKLOAD BALANCER - A method and system for dynamically optimizing workload of a cloud computing system. The cloud computing system is configured into an operative status by defining a virtual machine (VM) topology representing a respective virtual machine assignment for each physical server of the cloud computing system. An objects database (ODB) stores: business policies, a respective software cost per software application in one or more software license pools, and a power cost of the cloud computing system. It is determined that the cloud computing system does not perform optimally with respect to a total cost of the cloud computing system, which is a sum of the respective software cost and the power cost. The workload of the cloud computing system is distributed pursuant to a new VM topology that has a minimum total cost of the cloud computing system pursuant to the business policies stored in the ODB. | 02-19-2015 |
20150058065 | GENERATING WORK PLANS USING SUBSTITUTE CONSTITUENTS - A method comprises evaluating a first work plan comprising one or more constituents to determine a first set of work plan metrics, determining one or more constraints for constituents of the first work plan, selecting one or more substitute constituents to replace constituents of the first work plan based at least in part on the determined constraints and the determined work plan metrics and generating a second work plan using the substitute constituents, the second work plan having a second set of work plan metrics similar to the first set of work plan metrics. The evaluating, determining, selecting and generating are performed by at least one processing device. | 02-26-2015 |
20150058066 | Gas Delivery System - A distribution cost is reduced by a gas delivery system that delivers gas cylinders. The delivery system is configured to receives operation data including the number of delivered gas cylinders from the mobile terminals of a deliverymen; collect first delivery data and the operation data for all deliverymen, wherein the first delivery data includes the number of gas cylinders to be delivered by each deliveryman on a current day; calculate the number of cylinders in stock in a depository; collect second delivery data including the number of gas cylinders to be delivered by the deliveryman on a next day for the all deliverymen; subtract the number of gas cylinders in stock from the number of gas cylinders to be delivered on the next day; and generate depository delivery data that includes the number of gas cylinders to be transported to the depository by the next day. | 02-26-2015 |
20150058067 | SYSTEM, METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR MANUFACTURING ESTIMATION PRODUCTION ASSEMBLY AND INVENTORY MANAGEMENT - The present invention relates to novel systems and methods for manufacturing estimation, production assembly and inventory management. In an embodiment, a system is provided to create and respond to RFPs, perform capacity planning for an eventual production line, efficiently implement the production line in software, and track detailed warehouse data, including transaction data. Such tracking may allow process improvement, report generation, and market research analysis. In an embodiment, one or more systems may be used to implement one or more aspects of the present invention. | 02-26-2015 |
20150058068 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR MANAGING SUPPLIERS AND FLOW OF GOODS ON AN ECOMMERCE PLATFORM - A method and system for managing suppliers and flow of goods over an e-commerce platform are disclosed. An exemplary method may include receiving a supply flow change rule, the supply flow change rule includes a condition for change and a supply mode change; and monitoring feedback messages from a supplier regarding transactions associated with a first product. The method may further include determining whether the supplier meets the condition for change with regard to the transaction associated with the first product based on the feedback messages; and changing supply mode for the first product if the supplier meets the condition for change based on the supply mode change. The method and system consistent with the present disclosure may improve the quality of e-commerce services to the users and optimize the performance of the suppliers. | 02-26-2015 |
20150058069 | RESOURCE PLANNING FOR DATA PROTECTION VALIDATION - A solution for validating a set of data protection solutions is provided. A validation scenario can be defined, which can include data corresponding to a set of attributes for the validation scenario. The attributes can include a time frame for the validation scenario. The validation scenario also can include a set of backup images to be validated, each of which is generated using one of the set of data protection solutions. The set of backup images can be identified using the time frame. A set of resource requirements for implementing the validation scenario can be determined based on the set of backup images and the set of attributes for the validation scenario. | 02-26-2015 |
20150058070 | FARM WORK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, FARM WORK MANAGEMENT APPARATUS, AND FARMING MANAGEMENT METHOD - A farm work management system includes a communication apparatus for transmitting location information of a worker carrying out a farm work and a farm work management apparatus for managing a progress of the farm work based on the location information transmitted from the communication apparatus. The communication apparatus includes a notifying unit for notifying the farm work management apparatus to the effect that the farm work is started or the farm work is finished in a case where an operation unit receives the predetermined operation. The farm work management apparatus includes a work location identifying unit for identifying the work location based on the location information transmitted from the communication apparatus, a calculating unit for calculating an estimated work time from read information, and a transmitting unit for transmitting to the communication apparatus the information about the read work content and the estimated work time having been calculated. | 02-26-2015 |
20150066564 | MANAGING MEDIA REPLENISHMENT - A method of managing media replenishment for a media terminal is described. The method comprises: calculating an amount of media required for the media terminal; receiving from the media terminal an indication of media items deposited at that media terminal that have a condition fulfilling a condition criterion; and adjusting the calculated amount of media required based on the indication of media items that fulfill the condition criterion. | 03-05-2015 |
20150066565 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING AN INVENTORY OF COMPONENT PARTS - A method for managing a company's inventory of component parts used in a manufacturing process includes receiving a request for a recommended inventory level for a component part, accessing data corresponding to the component part, calculating a first recommended inventory level for the component part based on the data, providing, to a user, the first recommended inventory level for the component part and a predefined subset of the data comprising a usage pattern of the component part for a defined preceding period of time, receiving, from the user, a second recommended inventory level for the component part, and adjusting a current inventory level of the component part based on the second recommended inventory level. | 03-05-2015 |
20150066566 | BALANCING SUPPLY AND DEMAND USING DEMAND-SHAPING ACTIONS - A method for balancing supply and demand for a product using demand-shaping action includes identifying an imbalance between supply and demand for a given product. A customer choice model is generated based on collected historical sales data pertaining to the given product and at least one product similar to the given product. The customer choice model is configured to estimate, for a given customer or group of customers, a likelihood of effecting a substitution between each product pair of the given product and the at least one product similar to the given product, for each of one or more available demand shaping actions. One or more of the available demand shaping actions are automatically selected to minimize an estimate of revenue shortfall or inventory holding costs resulting from the identified imbalance between supply and demand. | 03-05-2015 |
20150066567 | NEWS MINING FOR ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING - A system may include a record generator to receive a plurality of documents associated with a plurality of suppliers and provide supplier-specific data records based thereon. The record generator may include an event classifier configured to execute a supplier-independent, event-based classification of each document, to thereby obtain event-classified documents. The record generator may include a supplier query generator configured to query the plurality of documents to obtain potential supplier matches from the plurality of suppliers, and a supplier match analyzer configured to analyze each potential supplier match of the potential supplier matches, to thereby obtain supplier matches. The record generator may include a supplier relevance analyzer configured to relate, for each event-classified document, any supplier identified therein to at least one event of the event-classified document, to thereby obtain supplier-event relationships. Thus, the record generator may provide supplier-specific data records, based on the supplier event relationship. | 03-05-2015 |
20150066568 | SERVICE AND LOCATION SELECTION IN THE CLOUD - Techniques are disclosed for selecting one or more services and locations for performing a user-requested operation on a file. A user interface can be used to search for files by name, date, content, location, and/or other parameters. The search results can be derived from information stored in a local cache and presented as a list from which the user can select files and perform operations on the selection. The cache can include historical information about each service and location, including a previously observed monetary cost to perform the operation and/or a previously observed amount of time used to perform the operation. A weighted value associated with any given service can be computed based on the historical information in the local cache, the age of the historical information and a cost criterion. The list of services can be ordered by the weighted value. | 03-05-2015 |
20150066569 | BALANCING SUPPLY AND DEMAND USING DEMAND-SHAPING ACTIONS - A method for balancing supply and demand for a product using demand-shaping action includes identifying an imbalance between supply and demand for a given product. A customer choice model is generated based on collected historical sales data pertaining to the given product and at least one product similar to the given product. The customer choice model is configured to estimate, for a given customer or group of customers, a likelihood of effecting a substitution between each product pair of the given product and the at least one product similar to the given product, for each of one or more available demand shaping actions. One or more of the available demand shaping actions are automatically selected to minimize an estimate of revenue shortfall or inventory holding costs resulting from the identified imbalance between supply and demand. | 03-05-2015 |
20150066570 | SYSTEM FOR SELF-MANAGED INVENTORY, SUPPLY CHAIN DYNAMIC SKU PERFORMANCE AND OPTIMIZATION - A self-managed inventory, supply chain dynamic SKU performance and optimization system may be provided. Service trigger generation may monitor the inventory status and direct when service should occur at a dealer location based on market demand. Demand based service may generate a service trigger when the dealer's inventory level reaches a service threshold. Enhanced SKU depth optimization may be employed to provide SKU depth recommendations based upon how product is moving in the market place to ensure that demand based service is reaching a service trigger at a desired service interval. Enhanced SKU depth optimization may be combined with at least one service trigger including a demand trigger to create demand based service, a route trigger to create enhanced route service, and an order trigger to create enhanced order service. | 03-05-2015 |
20150073853 | SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT ANOMALY DETECTION - An integrated supply chain management with anomaly detection. An order schedule has one or more orders, each of which has a production requirement and a due date. An asset schedule has asset commitments associating assets with orders. Each asset has equipment specifications, including an asset class and one or more operational thresholds. The computer system identifies an asset of a class corresponding to a production requirement of an order and modifies the asset schedule to commit the asset to the order prior to the due date of the order. The computer system receives sensor input for the asset and determines whether an anomaly exists. If so, the computer system commits a second asset to the order. | 03-12-2015 |
20150081374 | CLIENT-SELECTABLE POWER SOURCE OPTIONS FOR NETWORK-ACCESSIBLE SERVICE UNITS - Methods and apparatus for client-selectable power source options for network-accessible service units are described. A programmatic interface is implemented to enable clients of a service to select, from among a plurality of power source categories including a renewable category and a non-renewable category, a power source category to be used for a service unit. Based on inputs received via the interface, the respective amounts of power to be obtained from renewable and non-renewable categories during a time period may be estimated. A verification operation comparing the estimated amounts to the amount of power that is actually obtained from the different sources may be performed. | 03-19-2015 |
20150081375 | VISUAL SCHEDULING TOOL FOR OPTIMIZING CAPACITY UTILIZATION - One or more regions in a first element that is fixed correspond to indications of a likelihood of satisfying customer demand while optimizing capacity utilization. Customer requirements are stored in a second element that is movable, wherein the one or more regions in the first element are interpreted to determine the likelihood of satisfying customer demand while optimizing capacity utilization, based on the stored customer requirements. | 03-19-2015 |
20150088584 | ALLOCATING HERITAGE INFORMATION IN DATA MODELS - Various embodiments are directed towards including heritage information when allocating costs for a plurality of cost objects. A target object, a source object and heritage objects may be determined from a data model. At least one line item in the source object may be generated by allocating costs from the heritage objects with the generated source object line items corresponding to a line item from a heritage object. At least one line item in the target object may be generated based on allocating costs from the source object. And, at least one generated target object line item may be based on at least one source object line item and its corresponding heritage object line item. A final cost value for the target object may be generated based on a sum of each target object line item and displayed in the data model. | 03-26-2015 |
20150088585 | SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT USING PROBLEM AND REMEDIATION PROPAGATION MODELING - A system, and computer program product for problem remediation in supply chain management are provided in the illustrative embodiments. A determination is made whether a data in a data stream of a supply chain process is indicative of a problem in the supply chain. Responsive to determining that the data is indicative of the problem, a confidence level is assigned to a diagnosis of the problem. Using a historical data repository, a symptom of the problem is identified. The symptom identifies a point in the data stream where the problem is manifested. Using the historical database, a remedy for the problem is identified. The remedy is recorded in the historical data repository with the problem and the symptom at a previous time. The previous time is before receiving the data stream. The remedy is applied to the supply chain. | 03-26-2015 |
20150088586 | LIVE MIGRATION OF VIRTUALIZED SYSTEMS - Methods, apparatus, software, and system architectures for supporting virtualized system migrations and scaling. Under aspects of a method, data is automatically collected and aggregated at multiple levels by a plurality of agents for each of multiple data centers. The data includes data relating to virtual machine utilization, data relating to electrical utilization costs, data relating to data center utilization, and data relating to triggers events. The data is processed to determine whether to migrate virtual servers from a first data center to a second data center. The software architecture includes a plurality of modules including a controller, data center profile, transition triggers, power cost profile, and virtual machine package module. The agents are implemented in an agent hierarchy and configured to collect data themselves and/or aggregate data from other agents and provide an API to facilitate access to collected data and agent services. | 03-26-2015 |
20150088587 | METHOD FOR CHECKING THE AVAILABILITY OF THE COMPONENTS OF PRODUCTION AND/OR PACKAGING LINE - The present invention relates to a method for checking the availability of the components of a production and/or packaging line, wherein each component is connected to a computer means by a data transfer means. | 03-26-2015 |
20150095091 | Customer-Prioritized Inventory Allocation for Supply Chain | 04-02-2015 |
20150100367 | EXTRAPOLATING A TIME SERIES - Embodiments of the present invention provide a system, method and computer program product for extrapolating a time series. A method comprises receiving multiple sequences of data values over time. Each sequence of data values is partitioned into a corresponding plurality of segments comprising at least one rising segment that rises to a peak data value of the sequence of data values and at least one falling segment that falls to a trough data value of the sequence of data values. For each sequence of data values, a corresponding sequence of segments that rise and fall alternately is generated based on a corresponding plurality of segments for the sequence of data values. An aggregated sequence of segments is generated by aggregating each sequence of segments generated. The aggregated sequence of segments represents a typical model for the sequences of data values. | 04-09-2015 |
20150100368 | FORECASTING A TIME SERIES BASED ON ACTUALS AND A PLAN - Embodiments of the present invention provide a system, method and computer program product for forecasting a time series based on actuals and a plan. A method comprises generating a first and a second sequence of segments that rise and fall alternately based on a first and a second sequence of data values over time, respectively. The first and second sequence of data values represent actual data for an ongoing project and estimated data for a planned project, respectively. The method further comprises aligning at least one segment of the second sequence of segments with at least one segment of the first sequence of segments, and adjusting the estimated data by replacing at least one segment of the second sequence of segments with a scaled version of at least one corresponding aligned segment of the first sequence of segments. The scaled version maintains an estimated total for the planned project. | 04-09-2015 |
20150100369 | SELECTING REPRESENTATIVE MODELS - Embodiments of the present invention provide a system, method and computer program product for selecting representative models. A method comprises generating a first data model representing a first aggregation level, and generating multiple additional data models. Each additional data model represents a lower aggregation level than the first data model. For each additional data model, a corresponding score is determined. For each lower aggregation level, a corresponding combined score is determined based on two or more highest scoring additional data models representing the lower aggregation level. The method further comprises reporting a second aggregation level and a set of data models. The second aggregation level is a lower aggregation level having the highest combined score over all other lower aggregation levels. The set of data models comprises two, or more, highest scoring additional data models representing the second aggregation level. | 04-09-2015 |
20150100370 | Method and System for Generating Supplier Capacity Requirements - One or more embodiments include a computer-implemented method or system for generating part volumes necessary to assemble all vehicles of a vehicle product line for a predetermined time period. The method or system being configured to receive a product definition representing valid configurations for a product. The products may include feature families with mutually exclusive features. The method or system also receives a feature forecast rate or sales forecast rate that may be an aggregated demand. The method or system may further receive a bill of material for the product. The method or system may generate a forecasted order that is a quantity of each configuration by interacting the feature forecast rate and the product definition. The method or system may further generate a part volume necessary to assemble the product by interacting the quantity of each configuration with a product bill of material. | 04-09-2015 |
20150106151 | Systems and Methods for Creating a Maturity Model Based Roadmap and Business Information Framework for Managing Enterprise Business Information - Systems and Methods for creating a maturity model based roadmap and business information framework for managing Enterprise Business information in an enterprise is provided by transforming Enterprise business information, system design information, business drivers, and solution needs into a capability roadmap by utilizing maturity models. The method and system map the current state of the Enterprise business information and system design information to maturity models and determine capability roadmap based on business drivers and business needs and thereupon determine one or more solutions. The business information framework enables setting up program and data governance along with guidelines for managing the Enterprise business information. | 04-16-2015 |
20150112751 | ENERGY STORAGE - A method of controlling storage of electrical energy by charging and discharging an energy storage device in response to pricing data indicative of future prices of electrical energy over time and energy losses caused by charging and discharging the energy storage device comprises detecting alternating candidate charging and discharging occasions with respect to the pricing data by selecting a next occurrence of a locally minimum price in the pricing data as a candidate charging occasion or a next occurrence of a locally maximum price in the pricing data as a candidate discharging occasion; validating a candidate charging or discharging occasion if the price difference between that candidate charging or discharging occasion and another later price in the pricing data is at least sufficient to compensate for the energy losses caused by charging and discharging the energy storage device; and charging and discharging the energy storage device at the validated charging and discharging occasions, respectively. | 04-23-2015 |
20150120366 | Electronic Purchased Part Order Data Management System and Method - The computer-implemented purchased part order data management system employs a database management computer hosting a purchased part order database and an automated data collection and review computer communicating with the database management computer. The data collection and review computer has a purchased part order data (PPOD) repository and a messaging system that includes a message routing data structure. Through an interface, a user interacts with the data collection and review system to add PPOD information, which is then made available to other users for review. The data collection and review computer records the status of the PPOD as it undergoes the review process and mediates which party is next invited to review the PPOD information. Once finally reviewed, the automated data collection and review computer issues a prompt to the database management computer to ingest information based on the PPOD. | 04-30-2015 |
20150120367 | GEOSPATIALLY RELEVANT SUPPLY CHAIN OPTIMIZATION THROUGH A NETWORKED MOBILE DEVICE THAT LEVERAGES A DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT - Disclosed are methods and systems of geospatially relevant supply chain optimization through a networked mobile device that leverages a distributed computing environment. In one embodiment, a method of a mobile includes accessing an inventory database remotely stored in a distributed computing environment through a network in which the mobile device operates based on a present geospatial location of the mobile device, automatically submitting a query to the inventory database from the mobile device requesting a stock keeping unit information, an inventory count information, an inventory type information, and/or a min/max level of an item in a present geospatial vicinity of the mobile device using a processor and/or a memory of the mobile device, analyzing a response to the query through a massively parallel computing system accessed by the mobile device through the network, and presenting to a user of the mobile device an expected value of the stock keeping unit information, the inventory count information, the inventory type information, the inventory type information, and the min/max level of an item based on the analysis. | 04-30-2015 |
20150120368 | RETAIL AND DOWNSTREAM SUPPLY CHAIN OPTIMIZATION THROUGH MASSIVELY PARALLEL PROCESSING OF DATA USING A DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT - A method aggregates an advanced planning and forecasting raw data by multiple database management systems (DBMS) communicatively coupled to an extensible computation engine. Performing an advanced planning simulation a seasonality, a bundling structure, a reverse logistics chain, a logistical complexity, a replenishment demand of the retail goods, a downstream supply chain, an obsolesce risk of the retail goods and downstream supply chain by multiple processing nodes of the extensible computation engine. The method caches a result of the advanced planning simulation in an extensible memory cache communicatively coupled to the extensible computation engine and edge caching the same in an edge cache server near a geographical point of origin of the advanced planning and forecasting raw data. The extensible computing engine may employ a large number of processors to perform a set of coordinated computations in parallel through a distributed computing infrastructure for a specific advanced planning query. | 04-30-2015 |
20150120369 | CHEMICAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE SUPPLY CHAIN ADVANCED PLANNING AND FORECASTING THROUGH MASSIVELY PARALLEL PROCESSING OF DATA USING A DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT - A method aggregates an advanced planning and forecasting raw data by multiple database management systems (DBMS) communicatively coupled to an extensible computation engine. Performing an advanced planning simulation modeling a supply risk, a mining risk, a regulatory risk, a distribution risk, a hazardous waste risk, and an environmental impact in chemical industry supply chain multiple processing nodes of the extensible computation engine The method caches a result of the advanced planning simulation in an extensible memory cache communicatively coupled to the extensible computation engine and edge caching the same in an edge cache server near a geographical point of origin of the advanced planning and forecasting raw data. The extensible computing engine may employ a large number of processors (or separate computers) to perform a set of coordinated computations in parallel through a distributed computing infrastructure (e.g., cloud based infrastructure) for a specific advanced planning query. | 04-30-2015 |
20150120370 | ADVANCED PLANNING IN A RAPIDLY CHANGING HIGH TECHNOLOGY ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTER INDUSTRY THROUGH MASSIVELY PARALLEL PROCESSING OF DATA USING A DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT - A method aggregates an advanced planning and forecasting raw data by multiple database management systems (DBMS) communicatively coupled to an extensible computation engine. Performing an advanced planning simulation modeling a multi-level bill of materials, a periodic model revision, and an obsolesce risk of the computer and electronics industry supply chain by multiple processing nodes of the extensible computation engine. The method caches a result of the advanced planning simulation in an extensible memory cache communicatively coupled to the extensible computation engine and edge caching the result of the advanced planning simulation in an edge cache server near a geographical point of origin of the advanced planning and forecasting raw data. The extensible computing engine may employ a large number of processors (or separate computers) to perform a set of coordinated computations in parallel through a distributed computing infrastructure (e.g., cloud based infrastructure) for a specific advanced planning query. | 04-30-2015 |
20150120371 | AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURING OPTIMIZATION THROUGH ADVANCED PLANNING AND FORECASTING THROUGH MASSIVELY PARALLEL PROCESSING OF DATA USING A DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT - A method aggregates an advanced planning and forecasting raw data by one or more database management systems (DBMS) communicatively coupled to an extensible computation engine. Performing an advanced planning simulation modeling a supply risk, a subassembly risk, a regulatory risk, a distribution risk, a hazardous waste risk and an environmental impact in automotive industry supply chain by multiple processing nodes of the extensible computation engine. The method caches result of the advanced planning simulation in an extensible memory cache communicatively coupled to the extensible computation engine and edge caching the result of the advanced planning simulation in an edge cache server near a geographical point of origin of the advanced planning and forecasting raw data. The extensible computing engine may employ a large number of processors to perform a set of coordinated computations in parallel through a distributed computing infrastructure (e.g., cloud based infrastructure) for a specific advanced planning query. | 04-30-2015 |
20150120372 | ELECTRIC POWER CONTROL DEVICE, ELECTRIC POWER CONTROL METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM STORAGE MEDIUM - An electric power control device includes an electric power control policy storage unit which stores an electric power control policy in which the maximum electric power consumption of a charger is determined according to a customer rank indicating a degree of priority of a customer and an electric power unit price specified by a time zone, a customer identification information acquisition unit which acquires customer identification information of the customer which requests the use of the charging service, a customer rank determination unit which determines the customer rank based on customer information of the customer, and an electric power control unit which controls the maximum electric power consumption of the charger when providing the charging service to the customer based on the electric power unit price in a time zone in which the charging service is provided to the customer, the customer rank, and the electric power control policy. | 04-30-2015 |
20150120373 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR RISK PROCESSING AND VISUALIZATION OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM DATA - Apparatus, system and method for supply chain management (SCM) system processing. A SCM operating platform is operatively coupled to SCM modules for collecting, storing, distributing and processing SCM data to determine statistical opportunities and risk in a SCM hierarchy. SCM risk processing may be utilized to determine risk values that are dependent upon SCM attributes. Multiple SCM risk processing results may be produced for further drill-down by a user. SCM network nodes, their relation and status may further be produced for fast and efficient status determination. | 04-30-2015 |
20150127410 | POLICY-BASED SCALING OF COMPUTING RESOURCES IN A NETWORKED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT - Embodiments of the present invention provide an approach for policy-driven (e.g., price-sensitive) scaling of computing resources in a networked computing environment (e.g., a cloud computing environment). In a typical embodiment, a workload request for a customer will be received and a set of computing resources available to process the workload request will be identified. It will then be determined whether the set of computing resources are sufficient to process the workload request. If the set of computing resources are under-allocated (or are over-allocated), a resource scaling policy may be accessed. The set of computing resources may then be scaled based on the resource scaling policy, so that the workload request can be efficiently processed while maintaining compliance with the resource scaling policy. | 05-07-2015 |
20150134396 | CLOUD-COMPUTING INFRASTRUCTURE - Disclosed embodiment illustrated herein methods and systems for allocating one or more tasks to at least one computing device. The method includes, in a marketplace server, receiving a beacon message from the at least one computing device. The beacon message comprises information on availability of one or more computational resources associated with the at least one computing device. A service level agreement is defined for each of the one or more tasks based on the availability of the one or more computational resources. The one or more tasks are allocated to the at least one computing device based on the service level agreement and the availability of the one or more computational resources. | 05-14-2015 |
20150134397 | Determining an Inventory Target for a Node of a Supply Chain - Determining an inventory target for a node of a supply chain includes calculating a demand stock for satisfying a demand over supply lead time at the node of the supply chain, and calculating a demand variability stock for satisfying a demand variability of the demand over supply lead time at the node. A demand bias of the demand at the node is established. An inventory target for the node is determined based on the demand stock and the demand variability stock in accordance with the demand bias. | 05-14-2015 |
20150142500 | DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL INVENTORY TRANSSHIPMENT - A method for enabling enhanced decision-making when shipping parts between sites within an organization includes receiving a plurality of orders to deliver parts from a first site to a second site. The method determines a shipping option for shipping the parts from the first site to the second site and, for each of the orders, a transportation risk associated with the shipping option. The transportation risk varies in accordance with a probability that the shipping option will result in a delay, and an amount of revenue that will be affected as a result of the delay. The transportation risk for each of the orders is displayed in a matrix. The method further enables a user to modify the shipping option to adjust the position of each transportation risk within the matrix. A corresponding apparatus and computer program product are also disclosed. | 05-21-2015 |
20150149233 | SUPPLY CHAIN NETWORK STRATEGIC DESIGN SYSTEM - A system is provided that designs a supply chain network. The system identifies a service level agreement metric definition. The system further generates a grid including cells, where the grid is located over a representation of a geographical region. The system further computes a service level agreement metric for each cell of the grid using the service level agreement metric definition. The system further selects cells that have the largest service level agreement metrics and that have not been previously selected. The system further positions a supply chain network resource at a center of the selected cells. The system further computes a service level agreement based on the service level agreement metric of the selected cells. | 05-28-2015 |
20150149234 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AIRLINE FLEET RETIREMENT PREDICTION - Systems and methods for airline fleet retirement prediction are provided. One methods includes obtaining market information for the airline that defines at least one market for the airline, determining a plurality of aircraft types (priority groupings) for the airline within the at least one market to define an airline fleet model, and determining deployment priorities for the plurality of aircraft types within the at least market. The method further includes developing one or more operational models using at least one of airline operational data or airline fleet data for the plurality of aircraft types and determining aircraft retirement prediction data for the airline using the airline fleet model and the one or more operational models developed for the airline. | 05-28-2015 |
20150294252 | METHOD FOR STOCK-KEEPING AND/OR PRODUCTION OPTIMIZATION AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING A VEHICLE INTERIOR TRIM PART - A method for stock-keeping and/or production optimization for at least one product and components thereof, comprising the provision of a first computer means connected to at least one first database; at least one second computer means connected to at least one second database; wherein the second database is connected to the first computer and each second computer means is connected to the first database, wherein the first and/or second databases has/have data about current inventory of the product and/or its components and production planning therefor, and each first computer means identifies all components of the product and the associated databases; each first computer means ascertains the current inventory; each first computer means ascertains the production planning; each first computer means compares the current inventory and the production planning with at least one order for the product, which is present in the database and/or another system component. | 10-15-2015 |
20150294277 | INTEGRATED PART INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD - A method includes receiving, by an inventory management system (IMS) program executing on a computing device, a remaining useful life (RUL) formulation for a part of a machine that estimates an amount of time for which the part will continue to perform its intended function and a potential unscheduled maintenance event. The method also includes receiving, by the IMS program, replacement part order lead time data and anticipated replacement part inventory level data from a part inventory database. The method also includes determining, by the IMS program and based on the RUL formulation, the replacement part order lead time data, and the anticipated part replacement inventory level data, that an order for a replacement part should be initiated. | 10-15-2015 |
20150302333 | PROVIDING AIR TRANSPORTATION SERVICES USING INTEGRATED PLATFORM - Methods and systems for providing air transportation services using an integrated platform are described herein. The system comprises an irregular operations (IROPs) platform configured to manage operations associated with IROPs, an operations platform configured to manage operations associated with normal operations conditions, a planning platform configured to generate schedules, maintenance schedules, crew rosters, and financial models; a data and cloud services platform configured to provide market data, and a professional services platform configured to provide management and consulting services. All the platforms are integrated with each other and into an airline infrastructure. | 10-22-2015 |
20150310369 | MATERIAL MAANGEMENT AND CONTROL SYSTEM - An embodiment of the present invention discloses a material management and control system, which comprises: a code scanner, which performs code scanning operation on any material to be warehoused with respect to the material to be warehoused to obtain code scanning parameter information of the material to be warehoused, wherein the code scanning parameter information comprises at least a date when a life of the material to be warehoused is exhausted; and a processor, which determines whether a remaining life of the material to be warehoused is not less than a set life value or not according to the code scanning parameter information obtained by the code scanner, and if a result is yes, then perform warehousing operation on the material to be warehoused, and monitor whether the warehoused material arrives at its corresponding life exhausting date or not, and if the result is not, then perform subsequent material processing operation on the warehoused material according to a set operation procedure. The embodiment of the present invention can greatly avoid the problems of low management and control efficiency and relatively high error rate caused by manual material management, achieve computerization of material management and control during the ODF process, and improve the processing efficiency and accuracy of the material management and control. | 10-29-2015 |
20150317588 | PREDICTING RESOURCES REQUIRED BY A CUSTOMER AND THEIR COST - A method to manage a service provided to a customer includes: enabling, by a processor of a computer system, a user to manually select for a customer, one of a plurality of categories of contracted services stored in the system, determining, by the processor, whether the selected category is affected by an environmental event, and predicting, by the processor, dynamic resources required to provide the service based on the environmental event and the selected category when it is determined that the selected category is affected by the environmental event. | 11-05-2015 |
20150317589 | FORECASTING SYSTEM USING MACHINE LEARNING AND ENSEMBLE METHODS - Techniques for determining forecast information for a resource using learning algorithms are disclosed. The techniques can include an ensemble of machine learning algorithms. The techniques can also use latent states to generate training data. The techniques can identify actions for managing the resource based on the forecast information. The resource can include energy usage in buildings, distribution facilities, and resources such as Electric Delivery Vehicles. The resource can also include forecasting package volume for businesses. | 11-05-2015 |
20150324722 | METHOD FOR DETERMINING A SAFETY STOCK - A computer implemented method for determining a safety stock volume for a part is disclosed. The computer implemented method includes receiving a first input, via a Graphical User Interface (GUI). The first input is indicative of one or more production parameters associated with the part. The method includes displaying the production parameters on the GUI in an editable format. The method also includes receiving a second input, via the GUI. The second input is indicative of one or more processing parameters in order to determine the safety stock of the part. The method also includes determining the safety stock volume based on the first input, the second input, and a timescale associated with the production parameters. The method further includes generating an output, via the GUI. The output is indicative of the safety stock volume for the part based on the first input, the second input, and the time scale. | 11-12-2015 |
20150332193 | FLUID CONTAINER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - Fluid tanks in a hospital or similar environment include sensors to detect, e.g., state and location, which can be communicated to a central station where this data can be processed to permit predictions of resource usage and enable automated management of the fluid tanks | 11-19-2015 |
20150347946 | STORE OPENING COCKPIT FOR REAL-TIME PREPARATION, SIMULATION AND EXECUTION OF MERCHANDISE SUPPLY FOR GRAND OPENING EVENTS - A system and method including receiving a selection of one or more store parameters, receiving a selection of a merchandise template, the merchandise template specifying a product, displaying a retail space based on at least one selected store parameter and the selected merchandise template, determining a quantity of the product based on at least one store parameter, determining availability for the quantity of the product using an in-memory database, and displaying availability information. An advantage of such a system and method is to provide real-time analysis and results of “what-if” scenarios input by a user. | 12-03-2015 |
20150347947 | Methods and Apparatus for Processing Catalog Spot Buys - In one embodiment, a method comprises: receiving a procurement request for an item; determining whether the item is in a contracted catalog; processing the procurement request per a first set of procurement rules if the item is in the contract catalog; and processing the procurement request per a second set of procurement rules if the item is not in the contract catalog. The second set of procurement rules include procurement rules that are in the first set of procurement rules. In some embodiments, the method further comprises tracking the procurement requests for items not in the contract catalog. In some embodiments, the method further comprises analyzing the tracked procurement requests; and adding a tracked item to the contracted catalog based on the tracked procurement requests meeting a first set of criteria. | 12-03-2015 |
20150347948 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING GANTT-TREND CHART IN A SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT ENVIRONMENT - A system and method support a supply chain management platform for a supply chain management environment. The supply chain management platform can provide a graphical representation of one or more material inventory trends in the supply chain management environment. Additionally, the supply chain management platform can using one or more tokens to display one or more activities on the graphical representation of the one or more material inventory trends, wherein the one or more activities contribute to inventory change in the supply chain management environment. Furthermore, the supply chain management platform allows a user to perform one or more supply chain scheduling operations in the supply chain management environment based on the graphical representation. | 12-03-2015 |
20150356484 | METHODS, SYSTEMS, AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDBACK-DRIVEN ITEM AVAILABILITY - Methods, systems, and apparatus for controlling an inventory of an item for sale are described. A demand for the item and an inventory of the item are projected. A recommended future time period for listing the item for sale is determined based on the projected demand and the projected inventory and is provided to a user listing the item on an online marketplace. A user-selected listing time period is obtained and an item record generated comprising an item description, the item record being associated with the user-selected listing time period. | 12-10-2015 |
20150363730 | SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - An illustrative method for managing a supply chain is performed by a supply chain management server. The method comprises receiving information related to operations of a first supplier. The first supplier is responsible for providing a first product that satisfies criteria of a buyer. The method further includes determining a risk value that indicates a risk level of disruption of the operations of the first supplier and flagging the first supplier within a database of potential suppliers in response to determining that the determined risk value is greater than a risk tolerance threshold. The method also comprises notifying the buyer that the first supplier has been flagged and providing a list of recommended suppliers to the buyer. The recommended suppliers are each capable of providing a respective second product to the buyer. Each of the respective second products satisfies the criteria of the buyer. | 12-17-2015 |
20150363731 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ALLOCATING TIME AND USE USING AUTOMATICALLY AND MANUALLY GATHERED INFORMATION - A method for automatically determining allocations of time or use is disclosed. Such a method includes gathering, using at least one sensor, environmental information describing an environment around an entity. The entity includes at least one of a person and a physical asset. The method further determines what supplemental information is needed to supplement the environmental information in order to determine an allocation for the entity, wherein the allocation includes at least one of an allocation of time and an allocation of use. The method is configured to automatically request the supplemental information from an individual. The method is further configured to receive the supplemental information from the individual and use the environmental information and supplemental information to determine the allocation for the entity. A corresponding system and computer program product are also disclosed herein. | 12-17-2015 |
20150363732 | DEVICE FOR ASSISTING DETERMINATION OF SUPPLY GROUP AND PROGRAM FOR ASSISTING DETERMINATION OF SUPPLY GROUP - To perform overall supply group calculation for an entire supply chain that involves evaluating management cost based on the number of bases included in a supply group and allowing a supply group to receive a supply of a product from another group under a condition different from its own condition, provided is a supply group determination assisting device configured to group suppliers, factories, warehouses, and markets, which are bases and for which supply plans are formulated, into supply groups. The supply group determination assisting device includes: a storing unit configured to store supply information including a plurality of records each of which associates information about a shipment arrival base and information about a sender base with a transport lead time or transport cost of transportation between the shipment arrival base and the sender base; and a supply group determining unit configured to use, as an evaluation value, the transport lead time or transport cost of the supply information stored in the storing unit, and group the shipment arrival bases and the sender bases into a plurality of groups by grouping the shipment arrival bases and the sender bases in the plurality of records based on magnitude of the evaluation value. | 12-17-2015 |
20150371345 | System, Method and Computer Program Product for Predicting Well Production - A system and method that analyzes well property data and historical production data in order to predict future well production and/or to identify the productivity potential across a hydrocarbon play. The system determines a correlation between historical cumulative production and well properties across the hydrocarbon play. Through utilization of Total Organic Content and thermal maturity, this correlation results in the calculation of a producibility index which is ultimately utilized to predict the production in new wells. | 12-24-2015 |
20150379449 | USING CONSUMPTION DATA AND AN INVENTORY MODEL TO GENERATE A REPLENISHMENT PLAN - A method, system, and computer program product for generating forecasts and replenishment plans. Some embodiments commence upon receiving point-of-sale data, then receiving distribution-level order data in a second data format. The first point-of-sale data comprises an item identifier and a first date or first date range, and the distribution-level order data comprises the item identifier and a second date or second date range. The originators of the order data are determined using address identifiers (e.g., network location identifiers). The received data is combined wherein at least a portion of the point-of-sale data is combined with at least a portion of the distribution-level order data to generate a combined forecast for the item. Further processing includes receiving an inventory model parameter and combining at least a portion of the first point-of-sale consumption data with at least a portion of the distribution-level order data to generate a replenishment plan for the item. | 12-31-2015 |
20150379450 | SUPPLY RULE GENERATING DEVICE AND SUPPLY RULE GENERATING PROGRAM - Provided are a device and method for providing means for enabling companies or business entities to supply one another with a finished product, a partly finished product, or a part. A supply rule generating device includes a storing unit and a processing unit, and calculates a supply rule, which is a condition for enabling two or more companies or business entities that procure or supply the same part or same product to accommodate one another with a part, a partly finished product, or a finished product. The processing unit is configured to: calculate a production plan and a stock plan for each of the two or more companies or business entities so that a shipment quantity stored in a shipment plan storing unit is fulfilled, based on information stored in a stock and in-progress storing unit and information stored in a production information storing unit; calculate, from the calculated production plan and stock plan, a surplus stock quantity of the company or business entity at each of a plurality of points in future time, and a time point at which the company or business entity needs to re-stock when the surplus stock quantity is supplied to another company or business entity; and calculate an accommodation quantity and accommodation condition of a part, a partly finished product, or a finished product that is suppliable to another company or business entity. | 12-31-2015 |
20160004986 | System and Method for Vendor and Customer Management in a Supply Chain - A method of managing a supply chain comprises providing at a customer interface module a plurality of order fulfillment options to a customer, and receiving from the customer a selection of a particular order fulfillment option. The method also includes receiving a first order from the customer, and receiving a first inventory status from a first distribution center. A first distribution center sends a first product to the customer in response to determining that the particular order fulfillment option comprises a fill-partial order fulfillment option, and a duration between the time that the first product is directed to be sent and the time when the first product is actually sent is determined. An alert is generated if the duration is greater than a predetermined duration. | 01-07-2016 |
20160006618 | Geo-Spatial Mapping and Service Provision Analysis - A Geo-spatial Enterprise Mapping System (GEMS) application may be utilized for determining a cost associated with providing a service to a point of interest by utilizing data from a web-based mapping service application in conjunction with data from a service provider database. Maps may be utilized with polylines representing fiber and coax spans, and markers to display device, customer, and prospect information to provide a user with a quick overview of a potential profitability of a particular area or point of interest. A proximity of customers and groups of customers to a service provider network may be displayed and visible to a user in an intuitive manner. A serviceability and profitability of potential customers may be determined, as well as locating prospective customers. | 01-07-2016 |
20160012367 | Methods for Optimizing the Performance, Cost and Constellation Design of Satellites for Full and Partial Earth Coverage | 01-14-2016 |
20160019487 | METHOD FOR STOCK-KEEPING AND/OR THE ESTIMATION OF OBSOLESCENCE RISK - A method for stock-keeping and/or estimation of obsolescence risk for at least one product manufactured from at least two components, comprising the provision of a first computer means connected to at least one first database; at least one second computer means connected to at least one second database; wherein the second database is connected to the first computer means and each second computer means is connected to the first database, wherein the first and/or second databases have data about current inventory and production planning of the product and/or components thereof; and each first computer means identifies all components of the product and associated databases; each first computer means ascertains current inventory and production planning and compares current inventory and production planning with the inventory on at least one key date for the product; and each first computer means ascertains obsolescence costs and/or demands for payment for the product and/or components. | 01-21-2016 |
20160026955 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FACIILTY LINES FORECASTING - Systems and methods are disclosed for forecasting lines in a facility network. The computer system includes at least one processor configured with instructions to collect data associated with each facility, the collected data including historical inbound pieces from each upstream facility of each facility. The at least one processor forecasts, for each facility, total inbound pieces to be received by that facility. The at least one processor also forecasts, for each facility, inbound pieces to be received by that facility from each upstream facility of that facility based on the total inbound pieces received by that facility. The at least one processor further forecasts, for each facility, total inbound lines to be received by that facility, based on the historical and forecasted inbound pieces received by that facility from each upstream facility of that facility. | 01-28-2016 |
20160026956 | MATCHING RESOURCES TO AN OPPORTUNITY IN A CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM) SYSTEM - Matching resources to an opportunity in a customer relationship management (CRM) system includes obtaining, from a CRM system, an opportunity, the opportunity representing a complex record structure in the CRM system, in which the opportunity captures a number of fields of metadata, determining, from the metadata, a number of opportunity attributes associated with the opportunity, determining a number of resource attributes for a number of resources, ranking the resource attributes with the opportunity attributes to determine a score for each of the resources, and presenting, based on the score, a list of the resources that are recommended for the opportunity. | 01-28-2016 |
20160026957 | SUPPLIER DESIGN INTEGRITY ANALYTICS ENGINE AND METHODOLOGY - An apparatus includes a supplier ID module that identifies one or more suppliers that provide a component in a selection process that includes selecting suppliers to supply the component for use in a product made by a user. An existing product search module searches data sources available on the internet for the component or existing products that contain the component. A category module identifies one or more categories related to the component, where each category is related to risk assessment for the component and/or suppliers of the component. A component data search module searches data sources available on the internet for risk assessment information related to the component and/or existing products with the component. The information is relevant to the one or more categories and each item of risk assessment information identifies the supplier that provided the component. A categorization module categorizes the risk assessment information. | 01-28-2016 |
20160034837 | MANAGING WORKFLOWS - Systems and methods are disclosed that facilitate the selection of virtual machine instances to implement each action associated with a specified workflow. Workflows are configured and defined as a series of actions or processes that have various requirements. For each action in a specified workflow, a workflow management component can select virtual machine resources that are best suited to implement the specific action in accordance with the requirements of the action. | 02-04-2016 |
20160034858 | CENTRAL SERVER FOR MANAGING MAINTENANCE AND MATERIAL FOR FLEET OF AIRCRAFT USING OPERATIONAL DATA - Turnkey maintenance of a customer's aircraft fleet is managed by a single management service provider (MSP) controlling integrated maintenance and materials services from a central operations site. The MSP converts data received directly from on-board aircraft systems into information it uses to manage maintenance service providers and parts suppliers. The MSP contracts with and manages maintenance, repair and overhaul organizations (MROs) who perform the maintenance on the customers' aircraft at line and base stations. The MSP either remotely manages part inventories at the customer's site, or manages suppliers who deliver the parts to the MROs. Maintenance planning, scheduling and execution information is exchanged between the MSP, MROs, part suppliers and the customers through a shared data communication network controlled by the MSP. The MSP charges the customer for the maintenance services based on a flat rate per unit of aircraft flying time. | 02-04-2016 |
20160048788 | METHOD FOR DETERMINING AND PROVIDING DISPLAY ANALYZING OF IMPACT SEVERITY OF EVENT ON A NETWORK - The present disclosure discloses a communication device and server configured to provide to a user a relative event impact map display depicting a plurality of items impacted by an event or a portion of a network impacted by the event. The network can not only be a supply and/or logistics chain but also a computer network, a telecommunications network, transportation network, and power grid. | 02-18-2016 |
20160048789 | GRAPH DATABASE FOR DETERMINING AND ANALYZING IMPACT SEVERITY OF EVENT ON A NETWORK - The present disclosure discloses a communication device and server configured to provide to a user a display containing a networked structure comprising (a) a first set of nodes comprising plural members and (b) plural branches interconnecting at least some of the nodes in the first set of nodes, each node in the first set of nodes corresponding to a part, component, and/or product and each branch representing a type of relationship between the corresponding interconnected nodes, whereby the displayed networked structure shows, for a selected part, component, or product, upstream materials, parts, and/or components used to manufacture the selected part, component, or product and downstream parts, components, and/or products manufactured using the selected part, component, or product. | 02-18-2016 |
20160055438 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EMPTY CONTAINER REPOSITION RESISTANT TO DISRUPTIONS - A system for empty container repositioning includes a scenario module, a forecast engine, a network builder module and a multi-commodity flow solver. The scenario module is configured to define a plurality of scenarios related to a safe stock level of empty containers at each of multiple locations having one or more transport vessels. The forecast engine is configured to forecast values for each of the defined scenarios, where the forecasted values include a safe stock level of empty containers for each location. The network builder module is configured to use the forecasted values to build a multi-commodity flow network. The multi-commodity flow solver is configured to determine a number of empty containers to load on and load off of the transport vessels at each of the locations. | 02-25-2016 |
20160055439 | Inventory Mirroring - A method of determining an inventory mirroring plan for a set of distinct items in a fulfillment network. The fulfillment network can include a plurality of distribution centers. The method can include determining, for each distinct item of the set of distinct items and for each demand zone of a set of demand zones, a location-specific demand. The method also can include determining, for each of a number of clusters ranging from 1 to a predetermined maximum number of clusters, a k-cluster profile that partitions the plurality of distribution centers in the fulfillment network into k distribution center clusters. The method further can include determining, for each of the number of clusters and for each demand zone of the set of demand zones, a closest distribution center cluster of the k distribution center clusters that is nearest to the demand zone. The method also can include determining, for each of the number of clusters and for each demand zone of the set of demand zones, an average zone distance from the demand zone to the closest distribution center cluster. The method further can include determining a solution value of the number of clusters for each distinct item that minimizes a sum of a total shipping cost of each distinct item, subject to a total distinct item capacity of the plurality of distribution centers in the fulfillment network. | 02-25-2016 |
20160055440 | FLUCTUATION VALUE FORECASTING SYSTEM, STOCK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, AND FLUCTUATION VALUE FORECASTING METHOD - A fluctuation value forecasting system having a fluctuation value forecasting unit to output a future forecasting value from time series data of fluctuation values by using an ARIMA model, includes a first forecasting unit to have the fluctuation value forecasting unit calculate first forecasting values, by using multiple ARIMA models, respectively, the ARIMA models being determined by using the time series data; an index value calculation unit to calculate first and second index values, for each of the ARIMA models, by using the first forecasting values; a model selection unit to select an ARIMA model among the ARIMA models, based on the first and second index values; and a second forecasting unit to have the fluctuation value forecasting unit calculate a second forecasting value as the future forecasting value of the time series data, by using the selected ARIMA model. | 02-25-2016 |
20160055441 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO COORDINATE RESOURCE ALLOCATION IN PROCESSING AMONG A PLURALITY OF SEPARATE COMPUTING SYSTEMS - A processing system having a data store storing: a first set of identifications of first terminals, a second set of identifications of second terminals, and an allocated resource. Portions of resources used in the processing of tasks requested by the first terminals are allocated as part of the allocated resource prepared for tasks requested by the second terminals. In response to a request for a task from one of the first terminals, the processing system processes communicates with a resource controller of a resource identified by the request and allocates a portion of a resource used for processing the task as part of the allocated resource. In response to a request from one of the second terminals, the processing system indicates the allocated resource to the respective terminal and processes the request using both the allocated resource and a resource identified in the request and controlled by the resource controller. | 02-25-2016 |
20160063417 | LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT FOR AN ASSET - In a method for managing assets in a computing environment, one or more processors identifying a first memory page in a listing of memory pages in a server. The method further includes one or more processors identifying a set of information that is associated with a life span of an asset, wherein the asset is a hardware asset or a software asset. The method further includes one or more processors determining a weighted rating for the asset based on the identified set of information that is associated with the life span of the asset. The method further includes one or more processors determining a replacement age for the asset based on the determined weighted rating for the asset. The method further includes one or more processors determining whether to provide an alert indicating information associated with replacing the asset. | 03-03-2016 |
20160063418 | System and Method for Inferring Vehicle Health - A system and method for inferring vehicle health are disclosed. The computer-implemented method comprises identifying a plurality of candidate vehicles for consideration for use for a task, and receiving corresponding event data for at least one of the plurality of candidate vehicles. The event data may correspond to at least one occurrence of at least one suspected problem for the corresponding candidate vehicle. A corresponding health score can be generated for each one of the plurality of candidate vehicles. The corresponding health score for the at least one of the plurality of candidate vehicles can be generated based on the corresponding event data for the at least one of the plurality of candidate vehicles. The generated health scores can indicate a likelihood of failure for their corresponding candidate vehicles. | 03-03-2016 |
20160063419 | INVENTORY OPTIMIZATION TOOL - This disclosure generally relates to devices, systems, and computer-implemented methods for simulating one or more inventories in a distribution network. Specifically, methods are described that comprise the operations of receiving inventory data for one or more inventories to be simulated, wherein the inventory data includes lead time data and demand data; determining, based on the inventory data, probability distributions for each of lead time and demand for the one or more inventories to be simulated; determining a lead time demand probability distribution of the one or more inventories to be simulated based on the determined probability distributions for the lead time and the demand; determining a predictive state of the one or more inventories to be simulated based on the lead time demand probability distribution; and outputting one or more evaluation parameters associated with the predictive state of the one or more inventories to be simulated. | 03-03-2016 |
20160078381 | CAPACITY MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK - Embodiments of the present invention provide apparatuses and methods for a capacity management tool that provides an end-to-end view of where a business process has come from, where the business process currently stands, and where the business process is going on an overall basis and a function-by-function basis within the business process. The capacity management tool of the present invention may be useful in many processes, including but not limited to processing different request volumes within a business for determining staffing levels for each function within the process as the request volumes change based on seasonal adjustments, time of day adjustments, events, staffing level changes, technology implementations, or the like. The capacity management tool can be sent to clients for various purposes, such as determining staffing levels when starting a new process, bringing a third party process within the business, sending a process to a third-party, or the like. | 03-17-2016 |
20160078382 | Evaluating Communications Feature Utilization - Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for evaluating the utilization of communications features. In one aspect, a method includes identifying, for a particular organization, a set of communications features that are included in a communications service that is provided to the particular organization. Usage levels of communications features by members of the organization are determined. Based on the usage levels a determination is made that the at least one of the communications features is being underutilized. An updated set of communications features that removes the at least one of the communications features from the communications service that is provided to the particular organization is selected. Data that changes the set of communications features provided to the particular organization based, at least in part on the updated set of communications features are generated. | 03-17-2016 |
20160078383 | DATA VOLUME-BASED SERVER HARDWARE SIZING USING EDGE CASE ANALYSIS - Customer data volume of a database and estimated transaction throughput requirements for a multi-tiered transaction system are received at a server sizing computing device. The customer data volume is compared to the estimated transaction throughput requirements. Based upon the comparison of the customer data volume to the estimated transaction throughput requirements, a customer data volume edge case for which server hardware is improperly sized by transaction-based hardware sizing is detected. Using the customer data volume, a quantity of operational memory of a server sufficient to store the customer data volume generated under the detected customer data volume edge case during real-time transactional processing by the server is calculated. | 03-17-2016 |
20160078384 | Feature Bundles in Multistage Configuration Trees - A product line engineering (PLE) multistage configuration tree that supports the engineering, deployment and maintenance of complex product family trees is provided. Feature bundles which combine a group of feature decisions into a single bundled offering are inherited by the children of the node in the product family tree where they are defined. The children see only the smaller collection of bundled offerings rather than all the possible combinations of the multiple feature offerings that are encapsulated by the feature bundle. | 03-17-2016 |
20160078385 | Optimizing Inventory In Accordance With A Constrained Network - In one embodiment, optimizing inventory includes accessing service level band sets. Each service level band set is associated with a policy group, and includes service level bands. Each service level band of a service level band set has a service level priority with respect to any other service level bands of the same service level band set. An inventory band set is determined for each service level band set. Each inventory band set includes inventory bands, where each inventory band satisfies a corresponding service level band assuming an unconstrained network. Each inventory band of an inventory band set has an inventory priority with respect to any other inventory bands of the same inventory band set. A feasible supply chain plan that satisfies the inventory band sets is generated in order of the inventory priorities until a constrained network is depleted. | 03-17-2016 |
20160086118 | Direct To Store Supply Chain System And Method - A system and a method are provided for a direct to store supply chain to bring high volume, bulk space products directly from suppliers, manufacturers, and vendors to retail locations, thereby bypassing retailer distribution centers. The system comprises an order management and invoicing system configured to facilitate demand signals from retail locations to manufacturers and vendors of desired products. A routing optimization system is configured to continually optimize an aggregate of orders so as to produce lowest-cost shipping solutions. A tracking and notification system is configured to provide manufacturers with clear tracking visibility of en-route deliveries once they leave manufacturing facilities. | 03-24-2016 |
20160092816 | INTELLIGENT BUFFER REDUCTION AND BALANCING TO MORE EFFICIENTLY USE AVAILABLE RESOURCES AND PERCEIVE POTENTIAL SAVINGS - The present disclosure describes methods, systems, and computer program products for providing services for efficient use of existing resources. One computer-implemented method includes building a data model enhanced for efficient storage of a material, the enhancements permitting generation of optimization problem solutions related to storage of the material, wherein the enhancements include technical specifications and customizing data, enhancing one or more attributes of the enhanced data model with regulatory attributes or rules, performing, using the enhanced data model, demand planning related to the material, performing, using a dynamic optimization algorithm, material transfer planning to determine where to most effectively store the material, performing a simulation of various storage possibilities of the material, and balancing amounts of the material using results of the performed simulation by shifting quantities of the material to, from, or within a particular storage medium. | 03-31-2016 |
20160098660 | Sub-Problem Optimization of Supply Chain Planning Problems - A system and method is disclosed for optimizing supply chain planning problems associated with a supply chain network. The system includes a supply chain planner coupled with one or more supply chain entities. The supply chain planner determines a supply chain plan for managing the flow of one or more items through the supply chain network. | 04-07-2016 |
20160104088 | DEMAND-SUPPLY ADJUSTING DEVICE AND DEMAND-SUPPLY CONDITION CONSOLIDATING METHOD - A logistics network that is optimum under consolidated demand-supply conditions is obtained. A demand-supply information storing unit stores demand-supply information about demand and supply. A similarity degree calculating unit calculates a degree of similarity between items that are included in the demand-supply information. A grouping unit groups together the items included in the demand-supply information together, based on the degree of similarity. An impact degree calculating unit calculates, for items that are grouped by the grouping unit and for items that are not grouped by the grouping unit, the degrees of impact of the items on demand-supply conditions to be used in processing of searching for an optimum logistics network. A determining unit determines, based on the degrees of impact calculated by the impact degree calculating unit, whether or not the demand-supply conditions of the items are to be used in the logistics network search processing. | 04-14-2016 |
20160104089 | Handling data about a company specific supply chain network - An apparatus and method are provided for obtaining, for a particular company, data specifying entities, each of the entities being one of a supply chain node and a supply chain lane. The apparatus automatically supplements stored data about a company specific supply chain network based on the obtained data. | 04-14-2016 |
20160110669 | OPTIMIZING EVENTS - Systems, methods and non-transitory computer-readable media for providing easy-to-use, intuitive, effective and end-to-end event management, engagement, cross-interactivity, empowerment and optimization, in association with a network-based platform that includes a user intelligence engine and an auto-matchmaking and marketing engine, to optimize aspects of providing advice, suggestions etc. to event entities, e.g. to users organizing a new event or suppliers looking to advertise, and to optimize aspects of requirements based information exchange among users as and when needed, respectively. | 04-21-2016 |
20160125339 | DEMAND-SUPPLY PLANNING DEVICE, DEMAND-SUPPLY PLANNING METHOD, DEMAND-SUPPLY PLANNING PROGRAM, AND RECORDING MEDIUM - A demand-supply planning device includes: a power demand predicting unit that predicts power demand; an expected rebate value predicting unit that calculates an expected profit value per unit amount of reduced power based on an occurrence probability of a demand response and a rebate value to be acquired through the demand response; and an optimal operation plan creating unit that sets an addition result of a first cost for power purchase, a second cost for power generation in power generators and storage batteries, and a multiplication result of the expected profit value and reserve power, which is an amount of power capable of being further generated by the power generators and the storage batteries after an amount of power supplied satisfying the power demand is generated, as an evaluation function and determines an operation plan of the reserve power and the power generators and the storage batteries. | 05-05-2016 |
20160132808 | PORTFOLIOS AND PORTFOLIO SHARING IN A CATALOG SERVICE PLATFORM - A service provider system may implement an enterprise catalog service that manages catalogs and portfolios of software products (e.g., desktop applications and server products) on behalf of service provider customer organizations. Through the service, a customer organization administrator may create a portfolio (e.g., a container) and configure the portfolio for subsequent use by end users in the organization, which may include adding products, users, permissions, and constraints on the usage of the products (individually or collectively) to the portfolio for all authorized end users or particular end users. Portfolios may be shared with other administrators by publishing them or through direct notification of sharing. A recipient of a shared portfolio may, after importing it, further restrict access to the portfolio or the use of the products therein, but cannot modify the portfolio itself. Changes made by a portfolio owner may be propagated to authorized users and to portfolio importers automatically. | 05-12-2016 |
20160132908 | Methods And Apparatus For Transaction Prediction - A system, method, and computer-readable storage medium configured to enable transaction-related user behavior modeling of individuals based on their payment card purchases. The user behavior modeling can provide predictions on next transaction information. One or more recommendations can be determined based on the next transaction information. | 05-12-2016 |
20160132982 | HARDWARE SERVER AND TECHNICAL METHOD TO OPTIMIZE PRINTING LOCATION OF DISTRIBUTED BULK MAIL - Disclosed are a device and/or a method of a hardware server and technical method to optimize printing location of distributed bulk mail. In one aspect, a mail pre-process server includes a processor, communicatively coupled with a memory, and a set of instructions to determine that a set of bulk-mailing requests from multiple mailers are each associated with a digital pre-print mail file. The set of instructions, when executed, determines that a logistical node is associated with certain ones of the destination addresses and whether the certain ones of the destination addresses satisfies a minimum bulk mailing quantity policy of the logistical node. Further, the mail pre-process server selects a first printing company near to the logistical node when the minimum bulk mailing quantity policy is satisfied. The mail pre-process server selects a second printing company near to an aggregated logistical node when the minimum bulk mailing quantity policy is unsatisfied. | 05-12-2016 |
20160140470 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING LEAD-TIME OFFSET VALUES - Systems and methods are disclosed for optimizing inventory using lead-time offset values. According to certain embodiments, a master routing, master component inventory, and routing report are received. An earliest required lead-time offset value for each component in the master component inventory is determined, and the earliest required lead-time offset value for each component in the master component inventory is compared to the planned lead-time offset value for the component. Each component for which the earliest required lead-time offset value is greater than the planned lead-time offset value is identified, and the planned lead-time offset value for each identified component is set to the earliest required lead-time offset value for the component. | 05-19-2016 |
20160140471 | SHEDDING AMOUNT ASSIGNMENT METHOD AND DEVICE - A shedding assignment method executed in a shedding assignment device of an aggregator has steps as follows. According to multiple historical data of historical shedding events, one user with a highest participating probability among non-selected users is selected, and a probability model of the selected user is generated. According to the probability model of the selected user, an expected shedding amount of the selected user is calculated. A total expected shedding amount is added with the expected shedding amount of the selected user to update the total expected shedding amount. If the total expected shedding amount is larger than or equal to a demand amount, at least corresponding one shedding event is published to at least one of the users, wherein a shedding amount of the shedding event to the user is obtained according to the probability model of the user. | 05-19-2016 |
20160140515 | TASK-DIRECTING SYSTEM AND TASK-DIRECTING METHOD - A task-directing system that directs tasks for the purposes of repairing a device and including a storage unit, a processing unit, and an output unit wherein: the storage unit contains a diagnostic-information storage unit and a repair-probability storage unit; the diagnostic-information storage unit stores diagnostic information, said diagnostic information comprising a plurality of levels containing diagnostic tasks and action tasks for the purposes of repair, and the duration or cost of each task; for each action task, the repair-probability storage unit stores a repair probability indicating the probability that the device would be repaired by said action task; the processing unit has a repair-probability update unit and an optimal-task computation unit; on the basis of input diagnostic-task results, the repair-probability update unit updates the repair probabilities stored in the repair-probability storage unit. | 05-19-2016 |
20160148140 | LOAD-CONSTRAINED SERVICE FACILITY PLACEMENT - A framework for optimized service facility placement is provided. Load constraints of each service facility are factors of the overall optimization. In various implementations, one or more iterative algorithms are used in the optimization of efficient facility placement. | 05-26-2016 |
20160148141 | Revenue and Productivity Optimization System With Environmental Sensor-Connected Smart Bell - A revenue and productivity optimization system includes a service request device, also called a “smart bell,” an environmental sensor near or incased in the service request device, a service request reception device, and a cloud-computing server operating software components for the revenue and productivity optimization system. In one embodiment, one or more environmental variables, such as ambient temperature, humidity, noise levels, brightness, and ambient gas compositions, are measured by one or more environmental sensors, and relevant sensor data are transmitted to the cloud-computing server. The revenue and productivity optimization system correlates the sensor data to bell button press frequencies and intervals from the service request device, and analyzes and determines an optimal threshold or range for those environmental variables for higher revenue and/or productivity of an organization. The revenue and productivity optimization system then creates and transmits recommended actions to a supervising entity of the organization. | 05-26-2016 |
20160148142 | MINIMIZING GUEST OPERATING SYSTEM LICENSING COSTS IN A VOLUME BASED LICENSING MODEL IN A VIRTUAL DATACENTER - Techniques for minimizing guest OS licensing costs in a volume based licensing model in a virtual datacenter are described. In one example embodiment, a virtual machine (VM) that requires a license key for a type of guest OS installed in the VM is identified. A license key is then assigned to the VM by first attempting to reassign a license key from an inactive VM, and only if a license key is not available for reassignment, obtaining a new license key for the VM. | 05-26-2016 |
20160155074 | AGGREGATOR, MONITOR, AND MANAGER OF DISTRIBUTED MICRO-GENERATORS | 06-02-2016 |
20160155089 | COMPONENT SELECTION DEVICE AND COMPONENT SELECTION METHOD | 06-02-2016 |
20160162823 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR REGULATING SERVICE LAYER AGREEMENTS FOR MULTIPLE CLOUD SERVICE REQUESTS - Methods and systems are disclosed for providing cloud services to multiple customers in a cloud. One embodiment includes receiving a number of requests for the cloud services from the multiple customers simultaneously or substantially simultaneously; prioritizing the requests based on a probability distribution of actually deploying a service, a budget of the customers, and an expected demand of the requested service based on the probability distribution; generating a number of cloud configurations along with a number of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for the customers based on prioritization of the requests, a class & past behavior of the customers, and a current demand of the cloud services, the SLAs of the customers include differentiated price offering; recommending the cloud configurations and the SLAs to the customers; allowing the customers to negotiate terms of the SLAs; and providing the cloud services based on the negotiated SLAs to the customers. | 06-09-2016 |
20160171306 | RETRIEVING PRODUCT INFORMATION FROM EMBEDDED SENSORS VIA MOBILE DEVICE VIDEO ANALYSIS | 06-16-2016 |
20160171408 | INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR COMPLEX PACKS | 06-16-2016 |
20160171409 | SYSTEM HAVING INVENTORY ALLOCATION TOOL AND METHOD OF USING SAME | 06-16-2016 |
20160171410 | INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT PLANNING FOR BOTH SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM CAPACITY DEMANDS | 06-16-2016 |
20160171411 | TOTAL MANUFACTURING PLANNING MANAGEMENT CONTROL SYSTEM | 06-16-2016 |
20160171412 | Dynamic Scheduling of Water Filler | 06-16-2016 |
20160180273 | Take Rate Determination | 06-23-2016 |
20160180274 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MONITORING DELIVERIES | 06-23-2016 |
20160180473 | SYSTEMS TO PRESCRIBE AND DELIVER FERTILIZER OVER AGRICULTURAL FIELDS AND RELATED METHODS | 06-23-2016 |
20160189318 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR WELL ABANDONMENT - Systems and methods facilitate and automate well abandonment procedures. In an embodiment, well field data for a plurality of wells is categorized into well types. An inspection set of wells, including wells of each type, is determined from the entire plurality of wells. Inspection data is collected for each well type, including environmental, regulatory, and well condition data. The inspection data is extrapolated onto wells with similar types for the entire filed and analyzed. The analysis may include determining an optimal sequence of well abandonment activities, and an estimate of costs for abandoning each well, all wells of each type, and the entire well field. In an embodiment, a risk assessment analysis is performed and may include an analysis of factors that may change the cost of abandoning the well field or a sequence of well abandonment activities. | 06-30-2016 |
20160189319 | VIRTUAL NET METERING FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS - The present disclosure is related to community virtual net metering of photovoltaic systems. A method may include identifying at least two photovoltaic (PV) system customers in a single geographical area. The method may also include crediting power overproduction of a first PV system customer of the at least two PV system customers to a second, different PV system customer of the at least two PV system customers. | 06-30-2016 |
20160196521 | Delivery Day Determination System and Delivery Day Determination Method | 07-07-2016 |
20160196621 | POWER ADJUSTMENT SYSTEM, POWER ADJUSTMENT METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM | 07-07-2016 |
20160196622 | POWER ADJUSTMENT SYSTEM, POWER ADJUSTMENT METHOD, AND PROGRAM | 07-07-2016 |
20160203423 | ITERATIVE PATTERN GENERATION ALGORITHM FOR PLATE DESIGN PROBLEMS | 07-14-2016 |
20160203428 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ADAPTIVE AND DYNAMIC PRICING OF SELF-STORAGE STORAGE UNITS | 07-14-2016 |
20160203429 | RESTOCKING WORKFLOW PRIORITIZATION | 07-14-2016 |
20160203430 | SYSTEMS, METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMIC MANAGEMENT OF A CLOSED LOOP PRODUCTION SYSTEM AND PRODUCTION OF A FORMULATION-BASED PRODUCT | 07-14-2016 |
20160203431 | System and Method for Integrating Business Operations | 07-14-2016 |
20160253211 | SMART CLOUD WORKLOAD BALANCER | 09-01-2016 |
20170236082 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR REAL TIME DISPLAY OF SUPPLY CHAIN AND DATA PROCESSING OF RELATED TASKS AND EVENTS | 08-17-2017 |
20170236083 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR FULFILLING AN ORDER BY DETERMINING AN OPTIMAL SET OF SOURCES AND RESOURCES | 08-17-2017 |
20180025306 | AUTOMATED AGILE ROADMAP DECISION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM | 01-25-2018 |
20180025447 | MANAGEMENT METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR UNMANNED VEHICLES, DISPATCH CENTER PLATFORM, AND UNMANNED VEHICLE | 01-25-2018 |
20190147381 | METHODS FOR DYNAMICALLY IDENTIFYING LOADS FOR A TRUCKER | 05-16-2019 |
20190147399 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VEHICLE DISPATCH | 05-16-2019 |
20220138654 | OPERATING INDEX PRESENTING DEVICE, OPERATING INDEX PRESENTING METHOD, AND PROGRAM - A demand prediction unit predicts a time series of demand values related to a predetermined prediction period using a predictive model. The predictive model is a learned model learned to output a demand value of an energy source by inputting an operation plan value of a plant and a predicted value related to an environment of the plant. An optimizing unit specifies operating indices of a plant that satisfy a plurality of demand values and satisfy a desired condition for each time related to the predicted time series of demand values. A presentation unit presents information related to the time series of operating indices related to the prediction period. | 05-05-2022 |
20220138890 | AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE SERVICES - The technology relates to facilitating transportation services between a user and a vehicle having an autonomous driving mode. For instance, one or more server computing devices having one or more processors may information identifying the current location of the vehicle. The one or more server computing devices may determine that the user is likely to want to take a trip to a particular destination based on prior location history for the user. The one or more server computing devices may dispatch the vehicle to cause the vehicle to travel in the autonomous driving mode towards a location of the user. In addition, after dispatching, the one or more server computing devices sending a notification to a client computing device associated with the user indicating that the vehicle is currently available to take the passenger to the particular destination. | 05-05-2022 |