Patent ID: 8027860

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for planning demand for a configurable product in a managed supply chain, comprising: storing, using a processor, characteristic values relating to product-dependent characteristics and product-independent characteristics of configurable products, wherein the storing comprises storing product-dependent characteristic values and product-independent characteristic values dependently with respect to one another in a hierarchical manner; calculating, using the processor, possible characteristic value combinations of the product-dependent characteristics defining a configurable product, the number of possible characteristic value combinations being dependent on a stored product-independent characteristic value, wherein the calculating comprises: generating an identifier that indicates an object-related dependency between product-dependent characteristic values of the configurable product; storing the calculated characteristic value combinations of the product-dependent characteristics: generating, using the processor, a planning demand for the configurable product comprising at least one of the possible characteristic value combinations of product-dependent and product-independent characteristics defining the configurable product; and converting, using the processor, the planning demand for the configurable product into a planning demand for an actual characteristic value combination defining a configured product.