Appratus, system and method for an automated stock ledger
An inventory stock ledger system, apparatus and method including a process by which one can track inventory efficiently, but can also utilize to perform inventory analysis on a dynamic level. The method includes recording inventory snapshots across various dimensions of a retail business and tracking the inventory levels for select products in to provide real time reports. Central to the apparatus is the idea that inventory can be viewed from a central starting point, and then examined among various dimensions. Inventory management is readily modified and dynamic. The method includes a build capability for examining the inventory levels and snapshots of inventory for a retail market franchise.
1. An apparatus having a computer readable storage medium on which is embedded one or more computer programs, the one or more computer programs implementing a method of maintaining an electronic stock ledger for a grocery store having a legacy computer system, the legacy computer system having multiple distant operational databases, the one or more computer programs comprising a set of instructions for:
creating an electronic interface using the legacy computer system;
creating an electronic data model using the legacy computer system;
creating at least one process rule using the legacy computer system;
selecting a product type and a type of product information regarding the selected product type to extract from the operational databases having at least one of sales information, inventory information and margin information;
extracting product information regarding the selected product type and the selected type of product information from at least one of the operational databases;
determining an original location within the at least one of the operational databases from which the extracted product information was extracted;
determining a destination location within the central database which the extracted product information will be loaded;
loading the extracted product information into the central database at the destination data location, using the electronic interface created at the legacy computer system;
recording a new data set with the extracted product information using the data model and the at least one process rule created at the legacy computer system; and
enhancing the new data set with the extracted product information in a master file set of data in the central database.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , where the one or more computer programs further comprises a set of instructions for creating a report of product inventory based upon the selected product type over a selected time period.
3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , where the one or more computer programs further comprises a set of instructions for creating a report of product inventory based on a location of the product.
4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , where the one or more computer programs further comprises a set of instructions for providing multiple reports of the selected product type over multiple product locations and time frames.
5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , where the one or more computer programs further comprises a set of instructions for collecting data from at least one POS data location and one known format source data location.
6. The apparatus according to claim 5 , where the one or more computer programs further comprises a set of instructions for performing a multicast process to aggregate job summary information.
7. The apparatus according to claim 6 , where the one or more computer programs further comprises a set of instructions for performing a bad data step to store discrepancies in the POS data and the known formatted source data as compared to the master file set of data.
8. The apparatus according to claim 7 , where the one or more computer programs further comprises a set of instructions for performing a conditional split process on the collected data.