A method of managing contracts with suppliers of products

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025307851-A1
Application number	US-202418622027-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 29, 2024
Priority date	Mar 29, 2024
Publication date	Oct 2, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods and systems for managing contracts are disclosed. To manage contracts with suppliers of products, an aggregated demand prediction may be obtained using a set of demand predictions generated by a first inference model. The aggregated demand prediction may then be compared to an aggregated supply prediction, the aggregated supply prediction being based on a set of supply predictions generated by a second inference model to obtain a difference. A determination may then be made using at least a portion of the difference and acceptability criteria regarding whether the difference is deemed to be acceptable based on the acceptability criteria. If it is determined the difference is not acceptable, the addition of an options clause to the contract may be recommended, and may indicate a quantity of products to be provided by the supplier when the options clause is exercised.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of managing contracts, the method comprising:
obtaining, using a set of demand predictions generated by a first inference model, an aggregated demand prediction, the aggregated demand prediction being intended to predict demand for products over a duration of time; comparing the aggregated demand prediction to an aggregated supply prediction, the aggregated supply prediction being based on a set of supply predictions generated by a second inference model and being intended to predict supply of the products over the duration of time to obtain a difference; making a determination, using at least a portion of the difference and acceptability criteria, regarding whether the difference is deemed to be acceptable based on the acceptability criteria; in a first instance of the determination in which the difference is not deemed to be acceptable based on the acceptability criteria:
recommending addition of an options clause to a contract of the contracts with a supplier of the products, the options clause indicating a quantity of the products to be provided by the supplier when the options clause is exercised; and
in a second instance of the determination in which the difference is deemed to be acceptable based on the acceptability criteria:
recommending completion of the contract without the addition of the options clause.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the aggregated demand prediction comprises:
obtaining demand data; obtaining, using the first inference model and the demand data, the set of demand predictions; and aggregating the set of demand predictions to obtain the aggregated demand prediction.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the set of demand predictions is stored as a list that specifies internal consumers and sub-demand for each of the internal consumers, and the aggregate demand prediction comprises:
a sum of the sub-demand for each of the internal consumers; and a level of uncertainty in the sum of the sub-demand for each of the internal consumers.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein obtaining the aggregated supply prediction comprises:
obtaining supply data; obtaining, using the second inference model and the supply data, the set of supply predictions; and aggregating the set of supply predictions to obtain the aggregated supply prediction.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the difference comprises:
a quantity of products needed for product supply to meet product demand over the duration of time; and a level of uncertainty in the quantity of products needed for the supply of the product to meet the demand for the product over the duration of time.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the options clause comprises:
a quantity of products, the quantity comprising:
the quantity of products needed to hedge against the uncertainty to reduce a likelihood of the quantity of products not meeting the product demand.

7 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
in the first instance of the determination in which the difference is deemed to be acceptable based on the acceptability criteria and prior to making the recommendation for addition of the options clause:
generating the options clause using a rule set for options clause generation.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the rule set for options clause generation comprises rules keyed to the level of the uncertainty in the quantity of the products needed for the supply of the product to meet the demand for the product over the duration of time.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first inference model is a neural network trained using first training data to predict product demand, and the second inference model is a neural network trained using second training data to predict product supply.

10 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the set of supply predictions is stored as a list that specifies suppliers and sub-supply for each of the suppliers, and the aggregated supply prediction comprises:
a sum of the sub-supply for each of the suppliers; and a level of uncertainty in the sum of the sub-supply for each of the suppliers.

11 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the demand data comprises at least one type of data selected from a group consisting of:
historical data regarding demand for the products; and historical data regarding consumer spending.

12 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the supply data comprises at least one type of data selected from a group consisting of:
historical data regarding market availability of the products; historical data regarding supply of the products from a supplier of the suppliers; and historical data regarding a likelihood of contract fulfillment by a supplier of the suppliers.

13 . The method of claim 5 , wherein an increase in the level of uncertainty in the quantity of products needed for the supply of the product to meet the demand for the product indicates an increase in a probability that a quantity of the products provided by the supplier according to the contract will not be sufficient to allow product supply to meet product demand.

14 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations for managing contracts, the operations comprising:
obtaining, using a set of demand predictions generated by a first inference model, an aggregated demand prediction, the aggregated demand prediction being intended to predict demand for products over a duration of time; comparing the aggregated demand prediction to an aggregated supply prediction, the aggregated supply prediction being based on a set of supply predictions generated by a second inference model and being intended to predict supply of the products over the duration of time to obtain a difference; making a determination, using at least a portion of the difference and acceptability criteria, regarding whether the difference is deemed to be acceptable based on the acceptability criteria; in a first instance of the determination in which the difference is not deemed to be acceptable based on the acceptability criteria:
recommending addition of an options clause to a contract of the contracts with a supplier of the products, the options clause indicating a quantity of the products to be provided by the supplier when the options clause is exercised; and
in a second instance of the determination in which the difference is deemed to be acceptable based on the acceptability criteria:
recommending completion of the contract without the addition of the options clause.

15 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein obtaining the aggregated demand prediction comprises:
obtaining demand data; obtaining, using the first inference model and the demand data, the set of demand predictions; and aggregating the set of demand predictions to obtain the aggregated demand prediction.

16 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the set of demand predictions is stored as a list that specifies internal consumers and sub-demand for each of the internal consumers, and the aggregate demand prediction comprises:
a sum of the sub-demand for each of the internal consumers; and a level of uncertainty in the sum of the sub-demand for each of the internal consumers.

17 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein obtaining the aggregated supply prediction comprises:
obtaining supply data; obtaining, using the second inference model and the supply

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Makler Lev
• Ezrielev Ofir
• Parush Tzur Anat
• Savir Amihai

Classifications

• G06Q10/06315

  Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis · CPC title

• G06Q50/188

  Electronic negotiation · CPC title

• G06Q30/0202 Primary

  Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities · CPC title