Method and systems for analyzing stock differences in a supply chain
View Patent ↗A method and system to perform difference analysis. Differences from various business processes are collected. Those differences are displayed in a graphical user interface. Differences may be posted individually or in aggregate to a reporting system if a set of criteria are satisfied.
1. A method comprising:
collecting inventory quantity differences, in a computer, the inventory quantity differences identified in one or more business processes;
displaying the collected inventory quantity differences within a graphical user interface, the graphical user interface providing a link between a difference entry and a source document from which the difference was collected; and
posting at least one difference to a reporting system if at least one defined criterion is met.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein collecting comprises:
segregating internally identified differences into a first subset; and
segregating externally identified differences into a second subset.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying comprises:
aggregating differences having a common set of attributes as a single line entry in the display.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein posting comprises:
posting the aggregate difference to the reporting system.
5. The method of claim 3 wherein displaying further comprises:
displaying individual differences as well as the aggregate difference.
6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
filtering the differences collected; and
displaying only a filtered subset of the differences.
7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
identifying if the difference exceeds a threshold; and
automatically posting differences that do not exceed the threshold.
8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
locking a difference entry to prevent posting of the difference.
9. An apparatus comprising:
a difference identification module to identify a difference between inventory quantity on record and inventory quantity reflected in one or more business documents;
difference aggregation logic to collect differences identified, wherein the aggregation logic combines inventory differences having a common set of attributes; and
a graphical user interface (GUI) to provide a visualization of the differences, wherein the GUI includes a first display area to display an aggregation of differences having a common set of attributes, and a second display area to display individual differences.
10. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising:
a filter to filter the differences based on selected attributes.
11. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising:
locking logic to lock one or more entries in the GUI to prevent posting of the entry to an entity-wide reporting system.
12. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the GUI further comprises:
a plurality of soft buttons to permit manipulation of one or more entries in the first display area and the second display area.
13. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the GUI comprises:
drill down logic to permit access to a difference source document.
14. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the GUI permits a first user to initiate a workflow for a second user.
15. A non-transitory machine-accessible medium containing instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to:
collect inventory quantity differences, in a computer, the inventory quantity differences identified in one or more business processes;
display the collected inventory quantity differences within a graphical user interface, the graphical user interface providing a link between a difference entry and a source document from which the difference was collected; and
post at least one difference to a reporting system if at least one defined criterion is met.
16. The machine accessible medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions causing the machine to collect cause the machine to:
segregate internally identified differences into a first subset; and
segregate externally identified differences into a second subset.
17. The machine accessible medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions causing the machine to display cause the machine to:
aggregate differences having a common set of attributes as a single line entry in the display.
18. The machine accessible medium of claim 17 , wherein the instructions causing the machine to post cause the machine to:
post the aggregate difference to the reporting system.
19. The machine accessible medium of claim 17 , wherein the instructions causing the machine to display cause the machine to:
display individual differences as well as the aggregate difference.
20. The machine accessible medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions further comprise instruction to cause the machine to:
filter the differences collected; and
display only a filtered subset of the differences.
21. The machine accessible medium of claim 15 wherein the instructions further comprise instruction to:
initiate a workflow for a second user responsive to a comment from a first user.