Patent ID: 7130807

Claim:
A method carried out by a computerized framework manager to supply collaborative planning comprising: (a) furnishing connections to a network for use by a plurality of business entities, wherein the plurality business entities comprise at least one of service providers, vendors, resellers, and manufacturers; (b) receiving information via the network from a first business entity of the plurality of business entities, including information relating to a demand of the first business entity for offerings; (c) receiving information via the network from a second business entity of the plurality of business entities, including information relating to a supply of offerings from the second business entity; (d) analyzing the supply and the demand for the offerings to plan future supply and demand for the offerings; (e) using the network to facilitate planning between the first business entity and the second business entity; (f) using the network to provide data access from multiple simultaneous data sources for demand and supply planning; (g) using the network to store capacity data wherein the step of storing capacity data using the network includes replication and synchronization capabilities; and (h) using the network to conduct reverse inventory management between the first business entity and the second business entity, comprising: using a network to collect data relating to usage and events occurring on at least one service provided by at least one service provider; analyzing the data to determine a status of the service; using the status of the service to predict future demand by the service provider for equipment offering supplied by a manufacturer; determining production capacity, inventory, costs and discounts of manufacturer offerings based on the status of the service; and using the network to suggest changes to the manufacturer offerings inventory of at least one manufacturer based on the status of the service in order to optimize supply and costs of the manufacturer offerings.