Patent ID: 7249143

Claim:
A method for managing fulfillment data associated with a fulfillment system using a fulfillment engine that is stored and executed using local data storage within a database management system operating on a computer with memory, the fulfillment engine providing a first interface for communicating fulfillment data with one or more remote application-specific systems stored and executed using remote data storage external to the database management system supporting the fulfillment engine, each remote application-specific system associated with a corresponding fulfillment type, the fulfillment engine providing a second interface for communicating fulfillment data with the fulfillment system, the method comprising performing the following operations in establishing a plurality of fulfillment interfaces for a plurality of fulfillment types, each fulfillment type having a corresponding fulfillment interface that is accessible by a user to access or modify a plurality of target data using the fulfillment data: creating within the local data storage a single local parent multi-definition table appropriate for the plurality of fulfillment types; for each fulfillment type, creating a name and definition for a local parent view of the single local parent multi-definition table; for each fulfillment type, mapping the definition for the local parent view to the single local parent multi-definition table to create the local parent view within the local data storage, the local parent view comprising a view of the single local parent multi-definition table operable to access only fulfillment data that has been stored in the single local parent multi-definition table using the local parent view; and for each fulfillment type, using the name and mapped definition for the local parent view to create within the remote data storage a remote actual child view of a corresponding remote actual child multi-definition table and a remote staged child view of a corresponding remote staged child multi-definition table, each remote child view comprising a copy of the local parent view, each remote actual child view operable to access only fulfillment data that has been stored in the corresponding remote actual child multi-definition table using the remote actual child view.