Patent ID: 7209887

Claim:
A method for the automatic allocation of product orders, comprising: (1) providing at least one Capacity Allocated (CA) record, comprising: (i) customer data; (ii) a quantity of product allocated to the customer for a given year month; and (iii) CA product description, including a source of creation of the product, further including product processing steps required prior to shipment of the product; (2) providing at least one Available To Promise (ATP) record, comprising: (i) a quantity of product available for commitment to a customer; and (ii) ATP product description, including a source of creation of the product, further including product processing steps required prior to shipment of the product; (3) providing at least one Customer Order (CO), comprising: (i) customer data; (ii) a quantity of product requested by the customer; and (iii) CO product description; (4) performing a rules driven search of the ATP record, selecting therefrom product meeting the quantity of product requested by the customer by selecting from the ATP record an ATP product description that at least meets CO product description requirements; (5) establishing a commitment date for the quantity of product requested by the customer; and (6) updating the at least one ATP record based on the quantity of product requested by the customer, deducting the quantity of product requested by the customer from the quantity of product available for commitment to a customer.