Patent ID: 7737857

Claim:
A computer readable medium encoded with a computer program product, the computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to perform operations comprising: accessing a two-tier world model structure shared by enterprises of a supply chain, the world model structure recording and maintaining a representation of relationships, states and histories of items being tracked by local and shared item tracking systems, and comprising: higher tier parent models comprising the shared item tracking system, each parent model tracking the items for one of the enterprises, and lower tier local models comprising the local item tracking systems, each local model being associated with a parent model and tracking the items located at a physical site within the one enterprise of the associated parent model; storing, at each parent and local model, a mapping table that maintains associations between each item and a designated responsible parent model for that item; receiving, at a parent model other than the designated responsible parent model or at a local model not associated with the designated responsible parent model, an identifier identifying an item and information about the item; consulting, at the parent model other than the designated responsible parent model or the local model not associated with the designated responsible parent model, a mapping table using the identifier; reporting the information to the designated responsible parent model, using the accessed world model structure, based on consulting the mapping table; and updating the representation based on the reported information.