SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGEMENT OF PERPETUAL INVENTORY VALUES BASED UPON CONFIDENCE LEVEL

1 . A system that determines the application of perpetual inventory (PI) adjustment programs in retail stores, the system comprising:

an electronic communication network;

a retail store with a transmitter that is configured to transmit one or more inventory-related values obtained by the sensors from the retail store to the network;

a plurality of electronic sensors disposed at the retail store;

an interface coupled to the network and disposed at a central processing center, the interface having a transceiver circuit that receives the one or more inventory-related values from the retail store via the network, at least some of the inventory-related values having a time stamp;

a database that is configured to store the inventory-related values;

a control circuit that is coupled to the database, the control circuit is at the central processing center and is configured to:

receive the inventory-related values from the database;

dynamically assign a priority to each of the inventory-related values;

determine a confidence score based upon an evaluation of all of the prioritized inventory-related values, the score determined based at least in part upon an evaluation of time stamps of some of the inventory-related values;

based upon the confidence score, select and authorize utilization of one or more PI programs for the retail store, the PI program being chosen using a data structure in the database that maps dynamically changeable confidence scores to dynamically changeable suites of PI programs;

wherein selected ones of the PI programs perform a verification of whether the product is located in the retail store, the verification being performed by an automated vehicle that has a sensing device to determine whether the product is in the retail store;

wherein the number of inventory-related values used and the priorities for these values are dynamically changeable.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the inventory-related values are values selected from the group consisting of: shelf availability, back room binning activity, on-shelf customer availability, an inventory value, a forecast accuracy, a sales volume, a turnover amount, a store manager verification of under stock or overstock, a percentage of inventory in a back room, a store size, a store size class, and a store inventory accuracy.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the score is determined by the control circuit based upon a weighted sum of the prioritized inventory-related values.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the control circuit determines a scaled value for each of the prioritized inventory-related values.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the time stamp indicates when a process was used or when the inventory-related value was obtained.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the automated vehicle includes a camera.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the automated vehicle is an aerial drone or an automated ground vehicle.

8 . A method for determining the application of perpetual inventory (PI) adjustment programs in retail stores, the method comprising:

transmitting one or more inventory-related values from a retail store to a central processing center via a network;

receiving the one or more inventory-related values from the retail store at the central processing center, and storing the inventory-related values in a database, at least some of the inventory-related values having a time stamp;

dynamically assigning a priority to each of the inventory-related values;

determining a confidence score based upon an evaluation of all of the prioritized inventory-related values, the score determined based at least in part upon an evaluation of time stamps of some of the inventory-related values;

based upon the confidence score, selecting and authorizing utilization of one or more PI programs for the retail store, the PI program being chosen using a data structure in the database that maps dynamically changeable confidence scores to dynamically changeable suites of PI programs;

wherein selected ones of the PI programs perform a verification of whether the product is located in the retail store, the verification being performed by an automated vehicle that has a sensing device to determine whether the product is in the retail store;

wherein the number of inventory-related values used and the priorities for these values are dynamically changeable.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the inventory-related values are values selected from the group consisting of: shelf availability, back room binning activity, on-shelf customer availability, an inventory value, a forecast accuracy, a sales volume, a turnover amount, a store manager verification of under stock or overstock, a percentage of inventory in a back room, a store size, a store size class, and a store inventory accuracy.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the score is determined by the control circuit based upon a weighted sum of the prioritized inventory-related values.

11 . The method of claim 10 , comprising determining a scaled value for each of the prioritized inventory-related values.

12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the time stamp indicates when a process was used or when the inventory-related value was obtained.

13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the automated vehicle includes a camera.

14 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the automated vehicle is an aerial drone or an automated ground vehicle.