Enterprise structure configurator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9704162-B2
Application number	US-19241808-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 15, 2008
Priority date	Aug 20, 2007
Publication date	Jul 11, 2017
Grant date	Jul 11, 2017

Abstract

Tools for configuring an enterprise applications. In one aspect, the tools provide a user interface to allow an implementer describe, based on an interview with executives of the organization, an enterprise structure of an organization, and a data structure generator to configure the enterprise application to reflect this enterprise structure. In one aspect, these tools can allow a general case to guide the default assignment of intersections of legal and managerial reporting structures to a business unit, allowing the minimum number of business units to fulfill both the external and managerial responsibilities. The tools may implement a pivot table approach to provide an interface for the user to provide such input.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for configuring an enterprise software application for an organization, the method comprising:
receiving, with one or more processors associated with one or more computer systems, first input specifying a structural hierarchy of the organization using a first software application, the structural hierarchy including a first dimension that corresponds to a first sub-hierarchy and a second dimension that corresponds to a second sub-hierarchy, the first sub-hierarchy being associated with a first part of the organization and the second sub-hierarchy being associated to with a second part of the organization;
generating, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, a spreadsheet file having a multidimensional pivot table using the structural hierarchy of the organization, the first software application being configured to facilitate an interaction with a second software application to enable the first software application to detect modifications made to the spreadsheet file and made using the second software application, the second software application operating independently of the first software application;
receiving, using the first software application at the one or more computer systems, a modified version of the spreadsheet file that includes added text at a position of the multidimensional pivot table, the added text having been received by the second software application in response to a second input;
determining, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems and using the first software application, a relationship between a first business unit represented in the first sub-hierarchy in the organization and one or more dimensions of the multidimensional pivot table representing a part of the second sub-hierarchy of the structural hierarchy of the organization, the determination being based on the added text having been received by the second software application; and
customizing, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, the enterprise software application using the first software application to account for the relationship determined between the first business unit represented in the first sub-hierarchy and the one or more dimensions representing the part of the second sub-hierarchy of the structural hierarchy of the organization;
wherein customizing the enterprise software application comprises:
defining a data structure;
wherein the data structure is configured to be used during execution of the enterprise software application.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein defining the data structure comprises creating one or more tables in a database used by the enterprise software application.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein defining the data structure comprises adding data to one or more tables in a database used by the enterprise software application, a table of the one or more tables corresponding to at least part of the first sub-hierarchy or at least part of the second sub-hierarchy.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the data represents the relationship between the first business unit and a second business unit associated with the one or more dimensions.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data structure used by the enterprise software application comprises one or more database tables, and wherein the method further comprises storing the one or more database tables on a computer readable storage medium.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the relationship between the first business unit in the organization and the one or more dimensions of the multidimensional pivot table comprises determining that the first business unit is associated with one or more business units represented in the second sub-hierarchy.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a default structural hierarchy for the organization, and
wherein determining the relationship between the first business unit in the organization and the one or more dimensions of the multidimensional pivot table comprises determining the relationship using default values, the default values reflecting information about the default structural hierarchy for the organization.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
generating the spreadsheet file using the default values of the default structural hierarchy.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the added text includes text modifying previous text at the position of the multidimensional pivot table.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the added text includes an identification of the first business unit.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein a first axis of the multidimensional pivot table is configured to be displayed horizontally on a display screen for a user, and wherein a second axis of the multidimensional pivot table is configured to be displayed vertically on the display screen.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the spreadsheet file having the multidimensional pivot table comprises:
configuring a first axis to display rows categorized by the first sub-hierarchy in one or more sets of rows, each of the one or more sets of rows representing at least one entity of the first sub-hierarchy;
configuring the second axis to display columns categorized by the second sub-hierarchy in one or more first sets of columns, each of the one or more first sets of columns representing at least one entity of the second sub-hierarchy; and
within each set of the one or more first sets of columns, configuring columns categorized by a third sub-hierarchy in one or more second sets of columns, each of the one or more second sets of columns representing at least one entity of the third sub-hierarchy.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating spreadsheet file having the multidimensional pivot table comprises:
configuring a first axis to display rows categorized by a legal structure of the organization in one or more sets of rows, each of the one or more sets of rows representing at least one of one or more legal entities of the legal structure;
configuring a second axis to display columns categorized by a functional structure of the organization in one or more sets of columns, each of the one or more sets of columns representing at least one of one or more functional entities of the functional structure; and
configuring the second axis to display, within each set of the one or more sets of columns, one or more columns, each of the one or more columns representing at least one of one or more business entities of a business structure of the organization,
wherein the first sub-hierarchy corresponds to one of the legal structure, functional structure and the business structure and the second sub-hierarchy corresponds to another of the legal structure, functional structure and the business structure.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
receiving, via the user interface, a command to reorganize the second axis according to a third structure in the structural hierarchy of the organization; and
in response to the command, configuring the second axis of the multidimensional pivot table to display columns categorized by the third structure of the organization.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
receiving a selection of a subset of legal entities to be displayed by the multidimensional pivot table, a selection of a subset of business units to be displayed by the multidimensional pivot table, and a selection of a subset of functional units to be displayed by the multidimensional pivot table; and
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Assignees

• Bhatia Akash
• King Nigel
• Dubois Timothy
• Ramsay Neil
• Oracle Int Corp

Inventors

• Bhatia Akash
• King Nigel
• Dubois Timothy
• Ramsay Neil

Classifications

• G06Q30/00 Primary

  Commerce · CPC title