Patent Abstract:
Enterprise management applications perform a “revenues increasing the budget” (RIB) operation on general ledger data and store elements of the general ledger data that have a RIB effect in another ledger, called the “RIB ledger”. RIB ledgers may include sets of RIB rules, storage for documents reflecting all relevant delta values together with the corresponding links to the underlying original transaction documents as well as storage for all relevant aggregated data. Accordingly, when audit operations are performed for RIB budget increases, relevant transaction data is readily available in the RIB ledger. Such copies of the data are more easily accessed than through a search of the larger set of general ledger data, thus facilitating and accelerating use of the RIB techniques in an online system.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    Embodiments of the present invention provide a “revenues increasing the budget” feature for financial management software modules that are commonly found in enterprise management applications. 
         [0002]    Enterprise management applications (“EMAs”), such as the R/3 application commercially available from SAP AG, permit computer systems to manage the business operations of some of the largest organizations in the world. EMAs include several integrated systems, including financial management systems, materials management systems, financial accounting systems, fund management systems, asset management systems, and the like. 
         [0003]    “Ledgers” are a well known component of financial management software. Generally, a ledger represents a view into general transaction data according to a predetermined filtering scheme. For example, a first ledger, typically a general ledger, may be established to distinguish different expense types such as materials, infrastructure, salary, etc., according to a predetermined chart of accounts. A second, different ledger may be established to distinguish (and thus track) different projects or funds managed by the organization according to perhaps different accounting principles. Other ledgers might be set up to reflect additional aspects of the transaction data. 
         [0004]    “RIB” techniques are known per se in financial management software. RIB is an acronym for “revenues increasing the budget.” In many financial applications, expenditure budgets of a predetermined business unit such as an organization or department are based upon revenues of that business unit. Financial management software having RIB management features track revenues and determine changes to expenditure budget based upon predetermined rules. 
         [0005]    A RIB rule represents a transform from revenue information to expenditure budget information. Within the RIB rule, there may be defined:
       source addresses, representing locations of revenues,   destination addresses, representing locations of expenditure budget,   transform calculation, defining how expenditure budget is derived. Commonly, the transform calculation may define a transform coefficient (e.g., $1 increase in expenditure budget for every $2 in revenue), certain thresholds that must be exceeded before any increase in expenditure budget occurs (e.g., expenditure budget increased only after revenues exceed $100,000), or certain filtering conditions that occur as part of the calculation (e.g., increased expenditure budget occurs only for realized incoming payments, as opposed to customer invoices that have not been paid yet).       
 
         [0009]    In known RIB systems, increases of the expenditure budget are calculated directly from general ledger data. Modern EMAs, however, may operate on transaction databases having many millions of transaction items located therein. Depending on the rule by operating on the raw data, it might be not possible to perform the RIB rule sufficiently fast to have near real time calculation of RIB increases to budgetary values. Also auditing possibilities are limited. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a RIB calculation feature that generates RIB budgetary values in near real time and tracks all the changes to allow for a complete auditing. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a functional block diagram of a RIB management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is a process flow illustrating RIB rule execution according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  illustrates exemplary RIB-generated budget items. 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  illustrates an exemplary budget data structure for use with embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 5  illustrates exemplary RIB rules for use with embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 6  illustrates a computing platform operable with embodiments of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0016]    Embodiments of the present invention provide a RIB management system that permits calculation of RIB budgetary increases in near real time. As an EMA accepts new transactions that reflect posted revenue, the RIB management system determines whether the posted revenue is relevant to any RIB rule. If so, the RIB management system executes the RIB rule on the new revenue item, generating an incremental increase in budget. A “RIB ledger,” which is separate from and provided in addition to a general budget ledger, may store an aggregation of relevant revenues, an aggregation of reference revenue budget and the overall budget increase resulting from the RIB process up to that point in time. Each change of the RIB ledger can be documented using a corresponding line item for reporting purposes. The line item itself can refer to the original document (either budget or revenue posting) that caused the RIB ledger change, thus allowing for a complete change history reporting which might be requested, for example, for auditing reasons. 
         [0017]      FIG. 1  is a functional block diagram of a budgeting component  100  of a computerized accounting system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system  100  may operate according to one or more “RIB rules” in which expenditure budget is generated from posted revenues realized by an organization. 
         [0018]    As shown, the system  100  may include a RIB ledger  110 , a transaction database  120 , a 
         [0019]    RIB rule manager  130  and a transaction system  140 . The RIB ledger  110  may include a RIB rule set  112 . The RIB rule set  112  typically is an object representing rules operable for the RIB ledger  110 . Each RIB rule  112 . 1 - 112 .N can include source addresses identifying locations of revenue items stored in the transaction database  120  that will potentially increase expenditure budget values. RIB rules also can include budget transforms, identifying how budget values are to be increased based upon new revenue (e.g., $1 of budget for every $2 of revenue, all revenue over $100M to be available as budget increase, etc.) and, of course, destination addresses in the transaction database  120 . These destination addresses identify locations in the transaction database  120  where new expenditure budget items generated pursuant to the RIB rules may be stored. 
         [0020]    The system  100  may be provided in communication with one or more terminals T via a communication network. During operation, the transaction system  140  receives transaction requests from one or more terminals and validates them. Typically, operators at the terminals T generate ‘documents’ representing one or more transactions. Modern ERP systems include multiple modules for processing and validating transactions of different types. Such functionality may be incorporated into the transaction system  140 . Documents for validated transactions may be stored in the transaction database  120  and values from different transactions may be stored in revenue entries therein. In this regard, the operation of a RIB rule system is well known. 
         [0021]    Embodiments of the present invention introduce a RIB database  114  into a RIB ledger. 
         [0022]    The RIB database  114  may include objects  114 . 1 - 114 .N for each RIB rule  112 . 1 - 112 .N in the RIB rule set  112 , which stores data relevant to the corresponding RIB rule. Thus, object  114 . 2  in the RIB database  114  may include an aggregation of all revenue values on which RIB rule  112 . 2  is based (ΣREVENUE). Objects  114 . 1 - 114 .N also may include an aggregation of all delta budget values calculated from earlier evaluations of the RIB rule (ΣΔBUDGET). If applicable to the corresponding RIB rule, an object  114 . 2  also may include an aggregation of reference revenue budget (ΣREV BUDGET); this may occur, for example, when RIB rules require a comparison to be made between actual revenue and reference revenue budget values before awarding a RIB increase to an expenditure budget. The structure of the RIB database, therefore, permits a fast calculation of additional delta budget values that may occur from a new transaction, which can lead to a near-real-time system. 
         [0023]    The RIB rule manager  130  may operate upon transaction data to determine if a new transaction is relevant to any RIB rule ( 112 . 1 - 112 .N). In so doing, the RIB rule manager  130  either may evaluate directly revenue items of a new transaction (or document) to be added to the transaction system  140  or may monitor changing aggregated revenue entries within the transaction database  120 . When a new document causes a change of an aggregated revenue entry in the transaction database  120  or if an aggregated revenue entry changes, without direct relation to a specific document added to the transaction system  140 , the RIB rule manager  130  may determine whether the entry is relevant to any RIB rule ( 112 . 1 - 112 .N). If so, the RIB rule manager  130  may cause the RIB rule (say, rule  112 .N) to be executed by accessing historical data stored in the corresponding object  114 .N of the RIB database  114 . As noted, an object  114 .N of the RIB database  114  may store: 1) aggregations of actual revenues that are relevant to the RIB rule  112 .N, 2) if appropriate to the corresponding RIB rule  112 .N, aggregations of reference revenue budget, and 3) overall expenditure budget increases from prior operation of the RIB rule  112 .N. Evaluation of the RIB rule  112 .N may generate a delta (expenditure) budget value (Δbudget), which may update budgetary values in the transaction database  120  and in the RIB database  114  of the RIB ledger. The RIB database object  114 .N also may have stored therein data referring to the posted transaction that caused the RIB change, such as updates to the aggregated values of the relevant actual revenues and of the reference revenue budget, and optionally single revenue items or reference revenue budget items, and even pointers to the original documents. 
         [0024]    As noted, RIB rules vary in type and content. In one embodiment, a RIB rule may require a comparison between actual revenue values and a reference revenue budget value. In the example provided above where expenditure budget is permitted to increase only after revenues exceed $100,000, the $100,000 value may be stored in the transaction database  120  as a reference revenue budget value. Within the RIB rule set  112 , the corresponding RIB rule (say, rule  112 . 1 ) may include a pointer to the reference revenue budget values in the transaction database  120 . The corresponding RIB database object  114 . 1  also may store a copy of the reference revenue budget value (ΣREV BUDGET). Of course, for RIB rules that do not involve such a comparison, there may be no need to store such pointers or reference values in the RIB rule or the RIB database object. 
         [0025]    Provision of a separate RIB database also permits filtering of transaction data based on predetermined criteria. This permits for fast access to the filtered data, which can facilitate use of the RIB techniques in an online system. During use, a general ledger database may store records for millions of transactions. An iterative search for transactions that match preselected attribute data (e.g., all transactions of a given type or all transactions entered for a given group of business partners), likely would be too slow to be performed as an online check. RIB rules may be defined, however, for preselected transaction attribute data. In so doing, the RIB database may store data responsive to the defined filtering conditions. The contents of the RIB ledger database (in particular aggregations of relevant revenue and of reference revenue budget) would be assembled as new transaction data is entered. Access to such filtered data is made much faster than an iterative search through the transaction database or even a general ledger database. 
         [0026]    According to an embodiment, the system  100  may include multiple RIB ledgers (e.g.,  110 ,  110 - 1 ,  110 - 2 ). In this embodiment, each RIB ledger may include its own RIB rule set  112  and RIB database  114 . The RIB ledgers each may operate independently from each other, so that execution of a RIB rule in one RIB ledger may but need not be accompanied by execution of a RIB rule in another RIB ledger. 
         [0027]    In one embodiment, multiple ledgers  110 - 1 ,  110 - 2  permit the EMA to operate under different, independent RIB scenarios. For example, an organization may define two expenditure budgets to represent its operations: an operating budget and a budget estimate that may be a more optimistic estimate of its operations. The organization may define separate RIB rules to apply to each of the budgets. Provision of multiple ledgers, each of which operates independently of the other, permits an EMA to accommodate such operations. 
         [0028]      FIG. 2  is a flow diagram that illustrates RIB operations that may be performed by the system of  FIG. 1 . According to an embodiment, when a new revenue item is posted, the system determines whether the revenue item is a source for any RIB rule (boxes  210 ,  220 ). If it is, the system executes the corresponding RIB rule(s). In doing so, the method may read historical data from a corresponding record object of the RIB database (box  230 ). The historical data represents, in combination with the data of the new revenue item, the ‘operands’ of the executing RIB rule. It may include, as noted, aggregations of relevant revenue values previously posted in the system, aggregations of all delta budget values posted after earlier evaluations of RIB rules and perhaps reference revenue data on which a threshold comparison is to be made. The system may calculate a Δbudget value as determined by the RIB rule (box  240 ) and update the corresponding object of the RIB database with values from the revenue item (box  250 ). For example, the revenue aggregation may be supplemented to reflect the new revenue admitted to the system. Additionally, copies of transaction documents or pointers thereto may be stored in the object as references to the transaction data or to the original documents on which the calculation of the new Δbudget value is based. 
         [0029]    If the system is configured to perform an immediate budget increase (box 260 ), the method also may cause the Δbudget value to be stored in the RIB database object and the transaction database (boxes  270 - 280 ). If not, the method may store the Δbudget item to a buffer (box  290 ; e.g. as preliminary nota) for later storage. Typically, such buffering is performed if the system is configured to perform background updates of system values on a periodic basis (e.g., hourly, daily or weekly). Instead of a background process, other processes may be used to store the calculated Δbudget values in the RIB database and the transaction database in a later step. Such processes may be started manually or automatically, after the revenue item has been posted. 
         [0030]      FIG. 3  provides an example of how a budget item may evolve in the transaction database  120  or in a RIB ledger database  114  over time. In case  1 , there have been N iterations of the method performed on the budget entry, each of which generates an incremental Δbudget value (Δbudget 1 -Δbudget N ). A total budget value is available, labeled TOTAL BUDGET N , which represents the sum of all Δbudget values and a base budget, which may have been defined for the budget entry through some other means. Case  2  represents the budget item following posting of an N+1 st  revenue item that has RIB ramifications for the budget item. When the Δbudget N+1  value becomes available, it may be stored in the database and a new TOTAL BUDGET value (TOTAL BUDGET N+1 ) may be obtained simply by adding the Δbudget N+1  value to the previous value, TOTAL BUDGET N . The new value, TOTAL BUDGET N+1 , may then be stored in the database, replacing the old value. 
         [0031]    Case  3  represents the budget items following posting of an L th  revenue item that has RIB ramifications for the budget item. When the Δbudget L  item becomes available, it may be stored in the database and a new TOTAL BUDGET value may be obtained simply by adding the Δbudget L  value with the previously available TOTAL BUDGET L−1  value to obtain a new value TOTAL BUDGET L . As can be seen, even as the number of Δbudget items increases to several tens of thousands of entries, which can be typical for EMAs, the TOTAL BUDGET value may be computed from a very small number of source operands, namely the new transaction data as well as the previous TOTAL BUDGET. This renders the computation process very fast and can lead to near real-time results for such information. 
         [0032]    In addition to the budget items illustrated in  FIG. 3 , a RIB database stores additional types of data. First, the RIB database stores aggregated values of relevant actual revenues and aggregated values of reference revenue budget. Second, it may store data representing the revenue items or the revenue budget items that caused an update of the aggregation values mentioned before. The RIB database also may store references to the original documents that generated the revenue items or revenue budget items or to the budget documents that may be created by the RIB process itself in order to increase the budget values of both databases. For example, common revenue documents include bills, sales orders, credit memos and the like. The electronic documents themselves are stored in the transaction database  120 . Additionally, other documents may be created in the RIB database  114  as desired to hold references to the original documents of the transaction database and to record all RIB relevant information online. 
         [0033]    In addition to simplifying the calculation of the incremental Δbudget values of the RIB process, the foregoing embodiments are convenient because they also provide a data structure that permits an operator to view a history of RIB relevant data values and the transactions that created them. Δbudget items, revenue items and supporting documents may be linked in the RIB database to permit easy access and review, for example for auditing purposes. 
         [0034]    As noted, the transaction database  120  of  FIG. 1  may store both revenue items and budget items. Conventionally, it is appropriate to consider revenue items to be stored in a revenue (budget) data structure and expenditure items (to which the Δbudget values belong) in a(n expenditure) budget data structure. These two (budget) data structures can have, in some embodiments, similar structures. 
         [0035]      FIG. 4  illustrates a simplified budget data structure that may find application with the foregoing embodiments. In this budget data structure, an organization is shown having three departments A, B and C. Budget and revenues for department A includes elements A 1  and A 2 . Element A 1  further includes sub-elements A 1 . 1 , A 1 . 2  and A 1 . 3 . Budget and revenues for department C is comprised of elements C 1 , C 2 , C 3 , C 4  and C 5 . This budget data structure may be used for expenditure budget items including the Δbudget values and for revenue items. 
         [0036]      FIG. 5  provides examples of RIB rules  510 ,  520 ,  530  that may be used with the budget data structure of  FIG. 4 . In one embodiment, each RIB rule  510 ,  520 ,  530  may include fields for source address(es)  540 , a budgetary transform  550  and destination address(es)  560 . Thus, as illustrated, RIB rule  510  uses revenue items related to nodes A 1 , A 1 . 1 , A 1 . 2 , and A 1 . 3  as operands and applies a transform that generates $0.50 for every $1 of revenue posted over a lower limit value calculated from a reference budget value. For such a rule, the budgetary transform field  550  may include a transform coefficient in field  551 . 1  (in this case it would be 0.50) and a reference revenue budget pointer  551 . 2 . A reference budget value (e.g., $100,000) may be stored in the transaction database  120  at a location specified by the pointer  551 . 2 . If the total revenue exceeds the reference budget value, a Δbudget value may be calculated by multiplying the surplus revenue value by the transform coefficient specified in field  551 . 1 , e.g. by the value of 0.50 following the example above. Budget items generated from this RIB rule  510  are stored in the expenditure budget at node A 1 , as defined in the destination field  560 . Exemplary RIB rules  520 ,  530  are shown for various other nodes. Some may include reference revenue budget pointers and transform coefficients; others may not. 
         [0037]    In another embodiment, a reference revenue budget pointer  552 . 2  may include a scaling coefficient ( 552 . 2 A) identifying a scaling of the reference revenue budget pointer to be performed before thresholding. If a RIB rule defined a scaling coefficient of 0.9 and an applicable reference revenue budget value were $100,000, then Δbudget values would be awarded as soon as recorded revenue exceeded $90,000 (0.9*$100,000). Again, some RIB rule may include scaling coefficients but others need not, depending on the RIB rules established by the organization. 
         [0038]    In one embodiment, the destination field  560  of a rule may identify several destination addresses to which Δbudget may be applied, for example, identifying percentages for a distribution of the resulting budget increase. Rule  520  illustrates an example of this embodiment. 
         [0039]    In another embodiment, where the revenue database and expenditure budget database have identical data structures, it is permissible to omit the destination address field from the RIB rule set. In this embodiment, a source address field  540  may identify locations of revenue items that are operands to the RIB rule. The highest node identified in the source address field  540  also may be used as the destination address. Thus, for RIB rule  510 , node A 1  would be considered the highest node identified in the source address field  540  and would be used as an address in the expenditure budget data structure for storage of the new budget item. 
         [0040]    As noted, the foregoing embodiments may provide a software implemented EMA system. As such, these embodiments may be represented by program instructions that are to be executed by a server or other common computing platform. One such platform  600  is illustrated in the simplified block diagram of  FIG. 6 . There, the platform  600  is shown as being populated by a processor  610 , a memory system  620  and an input/output (I/O) unit  630 . The processor  610  may be any of a plurality of conventional processing systems, including microprocessors, digital signal processors and field programmable logic arrays. In some applications, it may be advantageous to provide multiple processors (not shown) in the platform  600 . The processor(s)  610  execute program instructions stored in the memory system. The memory system  620  may include any combination of conventional memory circuits, including electrical, magnetic or optical memory systems. As shown in  FIG. 6 , the memory system may include read only memories  622 , random access memories  624  and bulk storage  626 . The memory system not only stores the program instructions representing the various methods described herein but also can store the data items on which these methods operate. The I/O unit  630  would permit communication with external devices, such as the communication network ( FIG. 1 ) and other components. 
         [0041]    Several embodiments of the present invention are specifically illustrated and described herein. However, it will be appreciated that modifications and variations of the present invention are covered by the above teachings and within the purview of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and intended scope of the invention.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6