Patent ID: 7383284

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for managing data items in an inventory management system, comprising: receiving a request to add a data item to the inventory management system, the data item having an associated set of attributes to be represented in the inventory management system; determining whether the inventory management system includes an index table in which the data item and the set of attributes can be represented; if no index table exists in which the data item und the set of attributes can be represented, automatically defining a new index table in which the data item and the set of attributes can be represented, the new index table being defined independently of existing index tables; adding a data item identifier and the set of attributes associated with the data item to the defined new index table; and adding a new data item node to a hierarchy that represents relations among data item nodes, the new data item node including the data item identifier, the hierarchy being separate from the existing index tables and the new index table, wherein the new data item node is added into the hierarchy according to rules that define valid relations in the hierarchy, the valid relations being defined in view of (1) a level in the hierarchy to which the new data item node is to be added, and (2) whether each of the new data item node and a corresponding ancestor node in the hierarchy is a stock unit, a handling unit of stock quantities, or a location of the stock unit.