PROVIDING ACCESS TO FUTURE EXCEPTION INFORMATION IN A SUPPLY PLAN COLLABORATION SYSTEM

1 . A method comprising:

in a supply planning collaboration system, storing data regarding the status of a plurality of components in a supply plan being tracked by the system;

receiving a status of a first component of the plurality of components;

determining at least a possible exception arising due to the status of the first component, each exception identifying a supply state that results in a portion of the supply plan not meeting expectations unless corrected;

for each determined possible exception, identifying the exception as either a future exception that will arise at a future time only in the absence of a further status change that removes the exception, or as a present exception that exists at the time the status is received;

for each future exception, storing a time at which the future exception will occur; and

providing an indication of at least one existing future exception to a user.

2 . A method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:

for each stored future exception, no later than the stored time at which the future exception is to occur, determining whether the exception still exists; and

upon determining that a future exception still exists at the stored time, raising the future exception to a user.

3 . A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first component is a fulfillment rate supplied by a supplier.

4 . A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first component is a plan rate provided by a buyer.

5 . A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the step of providing the indication of the at least one future exception to the user is performed in response to a request received from the user.

6 . A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the step of providing the indication of the at least one future exception to the user further comprises:

providing a list of all existing future exceptions associated with a component in the supply plan to the user.

7 . A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the status of the first component is received from a supplier, and wherein the user is a buyer.

8 . A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the status of the first component is received from a buyer, and wherein the user is a supplier.

9 . A method comprising, within a supply planning collaboration system:

receiving, from a first user, status information for a component of a supply plan in the supply chain collaboration system;

based upon the status information , identifying each potential exception within a supply plan that includes the component;

for each potential exception, determining whether the exception will only occur in the future and only in the absence of a further status change to the supply plan and, upon so determining, identifying the exception as a future exception and storing a first time at which it will occur; and

for at least one future exception, raising the exception to a user of the supply chain collaboration system no later than the first time.

10 . A method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the component is a fulfillment rate supplied by a supplier.

11 . A method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the component is a plan rate provided by a buyer.

12 . A method as recited in claim 9 , further comprising the step of:

providing a list of all existing future exceptions associated with a component in the supply plan to a second user.

13 . A method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the second user is different than the first user.

14 . A method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the status information is received from a supplier, and wherein the user is a buyer.

15 . A method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the status information is received from a buyer, and wherein the user is a supplier.

16 . A system comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium storing data regarding the status of a plurality of components in a supply plan being tracked by the system;

a communication subsystem configured to receive a status of a first component of the plurality of components; and

a processor configured to:

determine at least a possible exception arising due to the status of the first component, each exception identifying a supply state that results in a portion of the supply plan not meeting expectations unless corrected;

for each determined possible exception, identify the exception as either a future exception that will arise at a future time only in the absence of a further status change that removes the exception, or as a present exception that exists at the time the status is received; and

for each future exception, store a time at which the future exception will occur; and

provide an indication of at least one existing future exception to a user.

17 . A system comprising:

a communication subsystem configured to communicate with one or more users of the system and to receiving, from a first user of the one or more users, status information for a component of a supply plan in the supply chain collaboration system; and

a processor configured to:

based upon the status information, identify each potential exception within a supply plan that includes the component;

for each potential exception, determine whether the exception will only occur in the future and only in the absence of a further status change to the supply plan and, upon so determining, identifying the exception as a future exception and storing a first time at which it will occur; and

for at least one future exception, raise the exception to a user of the supply chain collaboration system no later than the first time.