Patent ID: 7668762

Claim:
A method of processing orders related to a family of products in a supply chain management system, said family of products containing a plurality of member items, said plurality of member items having similarities in resource requirements, said method comprising: receiving in a computer system a time fence (TF) duration associated with each of said plurality of member items in pair with a first member item, wherein said first member item is also contained in said plurality of member items of said family, wherein said TF duration associated with a member item in pair with said first member item represents an amount of advance time duration after which the supply of that member item is available to satisfy the demand for said first member item; receiving in said computer system a first order specifying a first required quantity of said first member item and a first required date, wherein said first required date is after said TF duration from a time said first order is received, and wherein only Qavail units of said first member item are scheduled to be available as of said first required date, wherein Qavail is less than said first required quantity; determining in said computer system a first available quantity of all of said plurality of member items scheduled to be available after said TF duration and as of said first required date, and a second available quantity of said first member item scheduled to be available as of end of said TF duration; and indicating in said computer system that said first order be promised if said determining determines that said first available quantity and said second available quantity scheduled to be available as of said first required date is sufficient to fulfill said first required quantity.