Patent ID: 6493678
Filing Date: 2002-12-10
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
A database software system operating on a computer system for creating and managing merchandising data for a plurality of product lines sold through a plurality of sales channels, the software system comprising:a product editor including means for accepting product data relating to a plurality of product characteristics and having a plurality of database tables representing a product characteristic hierarchy, the product characteristic hierarchy being updated by the product editor in response to new data relating to product characteristics; a channel editor including means for accepting channel data relating to brand and sales channel information and having a plurality of database tables representing a channel hierarchy, the channel hierarchy being updated by the product editor in response to a new data relating to brand and sales channel information; and a line editor for automatically building a product line list, the line editor including means for accepting input data representing relationships between product data and channel data, means for querying the database tables of the product editor and the channel editor, and a plurality of database tables representing the product line list, the product line list being automatically updated by the line editor in response to new data representing relationships between product data and channel data, new product data or new channel data; the product line list being linked to product and channel data to establish a data foundation for merchandising applications to plan and report on product lines sold across a plurality of channels. 2.The database system of claim 1, further comprising a horizon editor including means for accepting time horizon data relating to the time horizon for a product or brand.