Flexible store fulfillment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9779375-B2
Application number	US-201313969989-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 19, 2013
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Oct 3, 2017
Grant date	Oct 3, 2017

Abstract

Aspects described herein relate to a flexible order fulfillment management system that utilizes predefined fulfillment workflows including common business processes. By utilizing predefined workflows including common business processes, the order fulfillment management system is able to drive store-based fulfillment programs efficiently as multiple fulfillment workflows may utilize the same common business processes and a single fulfillment management system may operate workflows in parallel. In addition, such an order fulfillment management system may also be more easily adapted for different retail store environments as the system allows a designer to easily create or modify a fulfillment workflow by selecting predefined common business processes or creating any additional custom business processes. Another aspect described herein relates to a tool that allows a designer of an order fulfillment program to select from a group of predefined common business processes to create workflows associated with an order fulfillment program.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An order fulfillment system comprising:
a fulfillment management and applications server including an order fulfillment management engine configured to be coupled to a retail store computer system, the order fulfillment management engine configured to receive orders forwarded by a central order management system;
a database coupled to the order fulfillment management engine, the database including storage for fulfillment operation information including a plurality of predefined fulfillment workflows stored within, each predefined fulfillment workflow including a plurality of predefined common business processes, each common business process including at least one task;
at least one device configured to communicate with a task management system and including software components that implement business processes of a selected predefined fulfillment workflow, wherein the at least one device is a portable device configured to display instructions to a user to drive the user to perform actions associated with the business processes of the selected predefined process workflow, and
the task management system coupled to the order fulfillment management engine and including an optimization agent that is configured to arrange tasks into an execution sequence based on route information, the route information identifying respective locations where the tasks are to be completed;
wherein the order fulfillment management engine is configured to select a predefined fulfillment workflow from the plurality of predefined fulfillment workflows for each received order,
wherein the task management system is further configured to:
drive the at least one device to instruct a user of the at least one device to perform a first task of a first group of tasks associated with the plurality of predefined common business processes of the first selected predefined fulfillment workflow,
determine that the user while performing the first task is at a location where a business process of a second predefined fulfillment workflow can be completed, wherein the location is a characteristic of the user using the at least one device,
interrupt a next subsequent instruction in the first selected predefined fulfillment workflow, and
subsequently drive the at least one device to instruct the user to perform a second task of a second group of tasks associated with the plurality of predefined common business process of the second predefined fulfillment workflow based on the location of the user while performing the first task.

2. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 ,
wherein the plurality of predefined fulfillment workflows includes a first fulfillment workflow including a first group of predefined common business processes and a second fulfillment workflow including a second group of predefined common business processes, and
wherein both the first and second group of predefined common business processes include at least one same common business process.

3. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , wherein at least one predefined fulfillment workflow includes at least one custom business process and wherein the task management system is further configured to drive the at least one device to instruct the user of the at least one device to perform tasks associated with the common and custom business processes of the at least one predefined fulfillment workflow.

4. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one device is a portable device configured to display instructions to the user to drive the user to perform tasks associated with the common business processes of the selected predefined fulfillment workflows.

5. The order fulfillment system of claim 4 , wherein the at least one device is a handheld device configured to display instructions to the user to drive the user to perform the at least one task associated with the common business processes of the selected predefined fulfillment workflows.

6. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , wherein the task management system is further configured to identify the user based, at least in part, on a characteristic of the user.

7. The order fulfillment system of claim 6 , wherein the characteristic of the user includes at least one of a qualification of the user and a location of the at least one associate.

8. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , wherein the task management system is further configured to identify the user based, at least in part, on a characteristic of a received order.

9. The order fulfillment system of claim 8 , wherein the characteristic of the received order includes at least one of a time characteristic, environmental characteristic, and temperature characteristic of the received order.

10. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , wherein the task management system is further configured to assign tasks to a user based, at least in part, on a characteristic of the user.

11. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , wherein the task management system is further configured to assign tasks to a user based, at least in part, on a time requirement of an order.

12. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , the system further comprising:
an input device; and
a process design system coupled to the database and the input device, the process design system configured to allow a user of the input device to define a plurality of fulfillment programs by arranging a group of the plurality of predefined common business processes as a sequence of steps, for at least a portion of each one of the plurality of fulfillment programs.

13. The order fulfillment system of claim 12 , wherein the process design system is further configured to be coupled to the order fulfillment management engine and to deploy the plurality of fulfillment programs to the order fulfillment management engine.

14. The order fulfillment system of claim 12 , wherein each one of the plurality of fulfillment programs is defined by the user as one of the plurality of predefined fulfillment workflows including the arranged group of the plurality of common predefined business processes.

15. The order fulfillment system of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of predefined common business processes includes a first predefined common business process including a first set of tasks,
wherein the plurality of fulfillment programs includes a first fulfillment program defined by a first fulfillment workflow including a first group of predefined common business processes and a second fulfillment program defined by a second fulfillment workflow including a second group of predefined common business processes, and
wherein both the first and second groups of predefined common business processes include the first predefined common business process.

16. The order fulfillment system of claim 14 , wherein the database further includes at least one custom business process.

17. The order fulfillment system of claim 16 , wherein the process design system is further configured to allow a user of the input device to define the fulfillment workflow of at least one of the plurality of fulfillment programs by selecting the at least one custom business process and at least one of the plurality of predefined common business processes.

18. A method for fulfilling customer orders, the method comprising acts of:
receiving, via an input device of a process design system within a distributed computer system, a selection of a first group of common predefined business processes from a plurality of common predefined business processes stored in a database coupled

Assignees

• Wal Mart Stores Inc

Inventors

• Grabovski Vadim
• Venable Larry Christopher
• Collier John Kevin

Classifications

• G06Q10/06316 Primary

  Sequencing of tasks or work · CPC title

• G06Q10/06311 Primary

  Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group · CPC title

• G06Q10/00

  Administration; Management · CPC title