Abstract:
A storage medium encoded with machine-readable computer program code for facilitating database management processes for an enterprise is provided. The storage medium includes instructions for causing a computer to implement a method. The method includes extracting part data relating to a part from a data storage device, retrieving activity data related to the part, which includes demand data, purchase data, and creation data. The method further includes evaluating the part data and the activity data, associating a status code with the part data based upon results of the evaluation, and storing the part data and the status code in the data storage device. The database management processes are accomplished by a parts database management software application.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application is a divisional of U.S. Ser. No. 09/882,094, filed Jun. 15, 2001, the contents of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 

   BACKGROUND 
   This invention relates generally to database management processes, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a method for determining active part numbers and maintaining a current data repository for active part numbers in a manufacturing environment. 
   The technology of e-commerce and the expanding global marketplace has placed new challenges on the electronics industry. With traditional geographic barriers relating to trade breaking down, manufacturers are now being faced with a barrage of business choices and purchasing options, ranging from selecting office suppliers to Internet service and applications providers. Many manufacturing enterprises are talking advantage of this global marketplace and measurably cutting costs by outsourcing their production processes to other manufacturers. By cutting costs, these businesses are able to become more competitive, selling finished products at lower prices. 
   Although e-commerce has offered many commercial advantages, its rapid and steady growth has created some difficulties for the manufacturing industry. For example, older proprietary and legacy computer systems were not equipped to transition well into the new age of Internet technology. These systems typically operated incompatible software and employed disparate hardware devices which were unable to communicate with one another. Costly upgrades and extensive customization were necessary before these older systems could be leveraged into the new economy. To add to the frustration, global manufacturers with multiple geographically dispersed manufacturing sites and disparate manufacturing systems created islands of automation among them. These decentralized business units operated independently of one another, often employing incompatible business schemes requiring substantial integration measures before the global enterprise could effectively operate as a single entity. 
   The supply chain management processes of the manufacturing industry were not immune from the challenges created by this globalized market. Manufacturers continue to struggle to ensure that their design, development, and procurement groups are in sync with respect to the demand, availability, and financial aspects of their core parts and components requirements. A typical manufacturing enterprise may store hundreds of thousands of parts in its databases. Some of them are actively used by the enterprise, while others may include older legacy parts, parts that have become obsolete, out of production, or are otherwise no longer used by the enterprise. Needless to say, the bulk of this ‘inactive’ information is not particularly useful to the enterprise, however, would require a tremendous amount of human capital to filter out the unwanted data from the desired data. Further, many fields of information relating to these parts data are time dependent in that their usefulness or value to the enterprise may change over time. This information would need to be continuously reviewed and updated as well. If no action were taken by the enterprise, on the other hand, this data would continue to accumulate in the system databases as new parts are entered and others become obsolete, resulting in clogged communications lines, slow searches, and almost certain retrieval of unwanted parts information. It is therefore desirable to identify active parts used by the enterprise so evaluation groups or councils for the enterprise can focus on the critical parts that require maintenance streamlining the database management processes related to parts data. 
   BRIEF SUMMARY 
   An exemplary embodiment relates to a storage medium encoded with machine-readable computer program code for facilitating database management processes for an enterprise. The storage medium includes instructions for causing a computer to implement a method. The method includes extracting part data relating to a part from a data storage device, retrieving activity data related to the part, which includes demand data, purchase data, and creation data. The method further includes evaluating the part data and the activity data, associating a status code with the part data based upon results of the evaluation, and storing the part data and the status code in the data storage device. The database management processes are accomplished by a parts database management software application. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Referring now to the drawings wherein like elements are numbered alike in the several FIGURES: 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an exemplary network system upon which the parts database management process is implemented; and 
       FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating how the parts database management tool is implemented. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   In an exemplary embodiment, the parts database management tool is implemented via a computer network environment such as that shown in  FIG. 1 . System  100  includes enterprise  102  which comprises client systems  114  representing a council for enterprise  102 . Client systems  114  are in communication with one another as well as with other entities of enterprise  102  via network  110 . Network  110  may be any suitable communications link known in the art such as a local or wide area network or internetwork. Enterprise  102  also includes client system  106  which is also connected to network  110  and represents a user or employee of enterprise  102 . Server  104  implements the parts database management tool of the present invention as well as web server and applications software for allowing authorized entities or client systems  106  and  114  of enterprise  102  to communicate via network  110 . Server  104  is also executing database management software for presenting queries and providing information retrieval services to entities of enterprise  102 . For purposes of illustration, server  104  is executing Lotus Domino™ and Lotus Notes™ as its communications and groupware tools and is also executing IBM&#39;s DB2™ software for facilitating its database management processes. It should be noted that server  104  may share some or all of these applications with entities or client systems  106  and  114  of enterprise  102  in order to achieve the advantages of the present invention. Thus, although system  100  describes a “thin” client/server architecture model, those skilled in the art will appreciate that client systems  106  and  114  may alternatively execute many of the applications services otherwise provided by server  104 . 
   Data storage device  120  may reside within enterprise  102  and houses databases  122 ,  124 ,  126 ,  127 ,  128 , and  130 , which are utilized by enterprise  102  and the parts database management tool. Demand database  122  stores part numbers which are designated as demand part numbers by enterprise  102 . Demand part numbers are part numbers of a machine or product projected to be sold by an enterprise. A product is made up of many parts for which associated part numbers comprise a bill of material for that product. When a marketing group of an enterprise forecasts how many products will be sold, the product is exploited to determine how many of the individual part numbers that male up the product will be needed. The same applies to actual orders placed for a product. Forecasted requirements are combined with actual requirements to create a demand statement. Demand statements show what part numbers may be used in the near future (assuming the forecast is accurate). For example, a product is made up of five part numbers for which an associated quantity is determined. 
   
     
       
             
             
             
           
             
             
             
           
         
             
                 
                 
             
             
                 
               Part Number 
               Quantity 
             
             
                 
                 
             
           
           
             
                 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               A 
               1 
             
             
                 
               B 
               10 
             
             
                 
               C 
               5 
             
             
                 
               D 
               6 
             
             
                 
               E 
               7 
             
             
                 
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   Suppose marketing forecasts sales of 1,000 products per month starting in January for a nine month period. Actual orders have been placed for 500 products in April and May. Demand for each part number is as follows: 
   
     
       
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
           
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
           
             
             
             
             
             
             
           
         
             
                 
             
             
                 
               FORE- 
                 
               TOTAL 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
             
             
               MTH 
               CAST 
               ORDERS 
               PRODUCT 
               A 
               B 
               C 
               D 
               E 
             
             
                 
             
           
           
             
                 
             
           
        
         
             
               JAN 
               1000 
               0 
               1000 
               1000 
               10000 
               5000 
               6000 
               7000 
             
             
               FEB 
               1000 
               0 
               1000 
               1000 
               10000 
               5000 
               6000 
               7000 
             
             
               MAR 
               1000 
               0 
               1000 
               1000 
               10000 
               5000 
               6000 
               7000 
             
             
               APR 
               1000 
               500 
               1500 
               1500 
               15000 
               7500 
               9000 
               10500 
             
             
               MAY 
               1000 
               500 
               1500 
               1500 
               15000 
               7500 
               9000 
               10500 
             
             
               JUN 
               1000 
               0 
               1000 
               1000 
               10000 
               5000 
               6000 
               7000 
             
             
               JUL 
               1000 
               0 
               1000 
               1000 
               10000 
               5000 
               6000 
               7000 
             
             
               AUG 
               1000 
               0 
               1000 
               1000 
               10000 
               5000 
               6000 
               7000 
             
             
               SEP 
               1000 
               0 
               1000 
               1000 
               10000 
               5000 
               6000 
               7000 
             
           
        
         
             
               TOTAL DEMAND 
               10000 
               100000 
               50000 
               60000 
               70000 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   Invoice database  124  stores data pertaining to purchased parts. Create database  128  stores the date that a part number was added into the general parts database  127 . General parts database  127  houses all part numbers and related data used or required by enterprise  102 . Active database  126  stores only those part numbers and associated data related to active parts as determined by council  112  and the parts database management tool. Archive database  130  stores part numbers and related data associated with inactive parts that were filtered out through the execution of the parts database management tool via general parts database  127 . These databases may alternatively be embodied in the form of a single database or may even be physically located externally to system  100  and retrievable by suitable networking solutions known in the art such as an Intranet or Extranet network as well as the Internet and wireless technologies. 
   The parts database management tool performs periodic extractions on data in general database  127 , retrieves relevant associated data from demand database  122 , invoice database  124 , and create database  128 , performs calculations on the cumulative data, filters out inactive parts for storage in archive database  130 , and stores the resulting active parts data in active database  126  for subsequent review by council  112 . Updating general parts database  127  in this manner enhances the parts data retrieval process, since the database is not overly burdened with inactive parts data. Users such as client system  106  and client systems of council  112  can access information in active database  126  more quickly and with substantial certainty that the information is current. 
   It should be noted that although the system databases described above for storing the active and inactive part numbers associated with the parts database management tool are represented as separate databases, these part numbers may alternatively reside on a single database with corresponding flags assigned for determining their status in order to achieve the advantages of the present invention. In this manner, a software front-end tool may be utilized as a filter to screen out inactive part numbers. Such filters are generally known and will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. 
   The process of implementing the parts database management tool is further described in  FIG. 2 . Server  104  initiates a part analysis via the parts database management tool at step  202  whereby parts data related to one or more parts records is extracted from general parts database  127 . Parts data may include information such as part number, part name, part description, as well as other desired information. The tool pulls related demand data from demand database  122  and assesses the demand status at step  204 . If no demand is indicated, flow proceeds to step  210 . If there is indicated a demand, the process continues to step  206  where the parts database management tool further examines the time status of the demand. If the demand activity is greater than one year, flow proceeds to step  210 . If the demand activity is recent (i.e., less than or equal to one year), the quantity of the demand is then evaluated at step  208 . If the quantity is less than or equal to ‘n’, ‘n’ being a variable number set by enterprise  102 , then the parts database management tool proceeds to step  210 . Thus, in steps  204 - 208  the parts database management tool assesses the demand activity related to the part whereby specified conditions that are met cause the tool designate the part to be ‘inactive’ unless further processing relating to purchase activity and/or other designated conditions dictate otherwise as will be described further herein. At step  210 , the parts database management tool examines the purchase history of the part number(s) being examined and determines whether it has been purchased by the enterprise. This information may be found in the invoice database  124  in which invoice records of enterprise  102  indicate that it has paid for a purchase of that part. If no purchase activity has been found, the process continues at step  216 . If purchase activity has occurred, the parts database management tool examines the time frame of the purchase activity at step  212 . If the activity is greater than one year old, flow proceeds to step  216 . If not, then the parts database management tool evaluates whether any refunds were given by enterprise  102  that would diminish the value of the purchase activity at step  214 . If substantial refund activity occurred (threshold activity levels may be flexibly set by enterprise  102 ), flow proceeds to step  216 , otherwise the process continues at step  230 . At step  216 , the parts database management tool examines the date in which the part was entered into general parts database  127 . If the date entered is greater than one year, the parts database management tool sets a status flag at step  217 . Otherwise, the parts database management tool examines the data to see if the part has become obsolete at step  218 . If obsolete, the flag is set at step  220 . If not, the parts database management tool checks to see if the part is end of life at step  222  and whether it has been designated ‘field use only’ at step  226 . The term, ‘field use’ is used here to describe situations in which a product requires continued maintenance despite the fact that it may have gone end of life or out of production (e.g., product upgrade, warranty service obligations, etc.). If field maintenance is required, a service group for the enterprise may forecast field requirements or ‘field use’. If any of these conditions are positive, an ‘inactive’ status flag is set by the tool at steps  217 ,  220 ,  224 , and  228  respectively, otherwise, process continues at step  230  whereby a preferred parts code associated with the part data is examined by the tool. Additionally, if responses at steps  208  or  214  are negative, the process flow continues at step  230 . Enterprise  102  may designate automatic inactive codes to parts which are required to be avoided. If the parts database management tool notes a positive response to the preferred part code query, then flow proceeds to step  232  where a status flag is set to inactive. If a negative response is received, flow proceeds to step  233  whereby the parts database management tool checks to see if a part number is owned by or reserved to certain divisions or groups of enterprise  102 . The term, ‘owned by’ refers to certain groups within a manufacturing environment of enterprise  102  which put part numbers into a database for which no management of those part numbers are required. For example, a ‘documents’ group may have a part number for a type of paper used which is used internally for that group. The parts database management tool ensures that these part numbers are ignored during the process based upon ownership determinations. If no ownership or reservation issues arise, the parts database management tool sets the status flag to active at step  234 , whereby the part number is transferred to active parts database  126  for storage at step  236 . Subsequently, council  112  reviews these critical parts at step  238  and performs periodic evaluations and maintenance on this data at step  240 . 
   The implementation of the parts database management tool enables an enterprise to significantly reduce the number of parts it needs to maintain by automating the critical parts evaluation processes and storing the filtered ‘active’ parts data in a centralized database for review and subsequent maintenance. 
   As described above, the present invention can be embodied in the form of computer-implemented processes and apparatuses for practicing those processes. The present invention can also be embodied in the form of computer program code containing instructions embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, or any other computer-readable storage medium, wherein, when the computer program code is loaded into and executed by a computer, the computer becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention. The present invention can also be embodied in the form of computer program code, for example, whether stored in a storage medium, loaded into and/or executed by a computer, or transmitted over some transmission medium, such as over electrical wiring or cabling, through fiber optics, or via electromagnetic radiation, wherein, when the computer program code is loaded into and executed by a computer, the computer becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention. When implemented on a general-purpose microprocessor, the computer program code segments configure the microprocessor to create specific logic circuits. 
   While preferred embodiments have been shown and described, various modifications and substitutions may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the present invention has been described by way of illustration and not limitation.