Patent ID: 7813972

Claim:
A computer-based currency management method comprising: receiving by a computer information of currency inventory at one or more nodes in a financial network; receiving by the computer a forecast for currency demand for the one or more nodes, the forecast for currency demand being for a demand period that is a plurality of days, the forecast defining expected deposits and withdrawals of currency for each of the days in the demand period; and establishing by the computer a currency transportation plan for supplies of currency and collections of currency for the one or more nodes based on, for each node, the currency inventory, the forecast for currency demand, and a plurality of costs of handling currency, the plurality of costs of handling currency including a transportation cost and one or more other handling costs, and wherein establishing the currency transportation plan includes: calibrating by the computer the supplies of currency and the collections of currency for a plurality of overnight maximum limits for each node so that for each overnight maximum limit an opening balance for a following day is less than the overnight maximum limit and greater than a minimum reserve; for each node, selecting by the computer one of the plurality of overnight maximum limits for the node, the selection resulting in a minimization of a sum of the transportation cost and the one or more other handling costs for the node; and generating by the computer the currency transportation plan based on the calibrated supplies and collections of currency and the selected overnight maximum limits for each node for the demand period.