Patent ID: 8751276

Claim:
A blackout recovery system to capture and process interim business process (IBP) data generated during a blackout period of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, the blackout recovery system comprising: a data storage device to store software instructions; and a computer processor to execute the software instructions, wherein executing the software instructions causes the system to execute: a mapping module to, prior to the blackout period, map ERP tasks, performed by the ERP system for an entity prior to the blackout period, to interim business processes (IBPs) to be performed during the blackout period, identify, based on data relating to an organizational structure of the entity, responsibility centers having a responsibility for storing and communicating business data associated with the ERP tasks, and assign to each IBP at least one of the responsibility centers; and an implementation module to: create, prior to the blackout period, IBP data capture tools to capture IBP data during the blackout period, wherein the IBP data capture tools include executable forms and templates to capture transactions as the captured IBP data; associate each IBP with one of the created IBP data capture tools, wherein each IBP data capture tool includes an instruction set to be sent to the responsibility center assigned to the IBP associated with the IBP data capture tool, the instruction set to include procedures to be performed to capture IBP data associated with the responsibility center; provide each responsibility center with access to each IBP data capture tool corresponding to each IBP the responsibility center has been assigned; and send a notice to each responsibility center to begin capturing, at a predetermined time during the blackout period, the IBP data associated with each IBP assigned to the responsibility center; and a data management module to: receive the IBP data captured during the blackout period, using the IBP data capture tools; and upload the received IBP data to an IBP main coordinating tool, the IBP main coordinating tool to forward the received IBP data to an appropriate responsibility center to add the received IBP data to an ERP database.