Transaction allocation
Systems and methods of allocating transactions among business objects are described. Allocation is accomplished using a multi-phase process. In a first phase, allocation of the transactions among a set of business objects is attempted. In a subsequent phase, allocation of transactions that were either unallocated, under-allocated, or over-allocated in the first phase is determined. The second phase includes using a set of allocation rules to identify business objects configured to manually determine allocation of the unallocated, under-allocated, or over-allocated transactions. The invention is applicable to a variety of business objects including people, organizations, accounts, tasks, or the like.
1. A transaction allocation system, comprising:
a processor; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
access a first allocation rule associated with one of a plurality of business objects represented by a hierarchical data structure;
execute a first query on transaction data using a query engine, the first query being based on the first allocation rule, the transaction data characterizing one or more transactions;
access a second allocation rule associated with another of the plurality of business objects represented by the hierarchical data structure; and
execute a second query on a subset of the transaction data using the query engine, the second query being based on the second allocation rule and identifying a business object for determining allocation of at least one of the one or more transactions; and
generate transaction allocation output based on results of the first and second queries.
2. A transaction allocation system according to claim 1 , wherein the first query based on an allocation rule is generated using the hierarchical data structure and associated with a leaf node of the hierarchical data structure, the first query generating a first set of transactions, at least one transaction of the first set of transactions including a transaction value, a second set of transactions having an allocation determined by a business object identified using the second query, at least one transaction of the second set of transactions including a transaction value, the instructions when executed by the processor further causing the processor to:
generate a summation of the transaction values as part of the transaction allocation output.
3. A transaction allocation system according to claim 1 , wherein the transaction allocation output includes digital data transferred through a communications channel between a computing system and a client.
4. A transaction allocation system according to claim 1 , wherein the second query is generated using the hierarchical data structure.
5. A transaction allocation system according to claim 1 , wherein the generated allocation rule includes a predefined rule associated with a node of the hierarchical data structure.
6. A method of determining allocation of one or more transactions, the method comprising:
accessing a first allocation rule associated with one of a plurality of business objects represented by a hierarchical data structure;
executing a first query on transaction data using a query engine, the first query being based on the first allocation rule, the transaction data characterizing the one or more transactions;
accessing a second allocation rule associated with another of the plurality of business objects represented by the hierarchical data structure;
executing a second query on a subset of the transaction data using the query engine, the second query being based on the second allocation rule and identifying a business object for determining allocation of at least one of the one or more transactions; and
generating transaction allocation output based on results of the first and second queries.
7. A method according to claim 6 , wherein the business object determines allocation manually.
8. A method according to claim 6 , further including receiving the transaction data characterizing the one or more transactions from a transaction source.
9. A method according to claim 6 , further including allocating the one or more transactions responsive to the results of the queries.
10. A method according to claim 6 , wherein a subset of the transaction data is representative of a subset of the one or more transactions.
11. A method according to claim 6 , wherein a subset of the transaction data is representative of a subset of the one or more transactions, and the subset of the one or more transactions includes an under-allocated transaction.
12. A method according to claim 6 , wherein a subset of the transaction data is representative of a subset of the one or more transactions, and the subset of the one or more transactions includes an unallocated transaction.
13. A method according to claim 6 , wherein a subset of the transaction data is representative of a subset of the one or more transactions, and the subset of the one or more transactions includes an over-allocated transaction.
14. A method according to claim 6 , further comprising:
determining transaction allocation of any of the one or more transactions that are unallocated, under-allocated, or over-allocated;
parsing each of the one or more transactions to determine a value of each of the one or more transactions;
summing the values determined by parsing each of the one or more transactions; and
including the sum of the determined values in the transaction allocation output.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more transactions include at least one of a sales commission, a purchase cost, an inventory allocation, and a resource allocation.
16. The method of claim 14 , wherein determining transaction allocation of any of the one or more transactions that are unallocated, under-allocated, or over-allocated, is determining transaction allocation of an unallocated transaction.
17. The method of claim 14 , wherein determining transaction allocation of any of the one or more transactions that are unallocated, under-allocated, or over-allocated, is determining transaction allocation of an under-allocated transaction.
18. A system for determining allocation of a plurality of transactions, the system comprising:
means for accessing a first allocation rule associated with one of a plurality of business objects represented by a hierarchical data structure;
means for executing a first query on transaction data using a query engine, the first query being based on the first allocation rule, the transaction data characterizing the one or more transactions;
means for accessing a second allocation rule associated with another of the plurality of business objects represented by the hierarchical data structure;
means for executing a second query on a subset of the transaction data using the query engine, the second query being based on the second allocation rule and identifying a business object for determining allocation of at least one of the one or more transactions; and
means for generating transaction allocation output based on results of the first and second queries.
19. A computer readable medium storing processor-executable instructions for determining an allocation plan, comprising:
program code for accessing a first allocation rule associated with one of a plurality of business objects represented by a hierarchical data structure;
program code for executing a first query on transaction data using a query engine, the first query being based on the first allocation rule, the transaction data characterizing the one or more transactions;
program code for accessing a second allocation rule associated with another of the plurality of business objects represented by the hierarchical data structure;
program code for executing a second query on a subset of the transaction data using the query engine, the second query being based on the second allocation rule and identifying a business object for determining allocation of at least one of the one or more transactions; and
program code for generating transaction allocation output based on results of the first and second queries.