Internal material system for facilitating material and asset movement within organizational infrastructures

Abstract

Utilities that allow organizations to implement “best practices” life-cycle management, asset disposition and asset tracking with enhanced visibility and accountability. In one aspect, a utility for use with managing inventory within the infrastructure of a technology service provider includes receiving a first bill of materials (BOM) from a first physical location, accessing an asset inventory listing for the technology service provider, first allocating assets in the asset inventory listing associated with the first physical location to the quantity of the first requested part of the first line item, and second allocating assets in the asset inventory listing associated with one or more additional physical locations within the first market to the quantity of the first requested part responsive to the first using failing to result in fulfillment of the quantity of the first requested part of the first line item.

1 - 21 . (canceled) 
     
     
         22 . A method for use with managing inventory within the infrastructure of a technology service provider, the method comprising:
 providing a database comprising an asset inventory listing for the technology service provider, the asset inventory listing comprising a plurality of line items respectively representing a plurality of parts available for consumption by a respective plurality of physical locations within the infrastructure;   receiving, at a processing engine, a request to post a first quantity of parts of a first line item of a physical location of the asset inventory listing into a material available (MA) status, wherein the MA status indicates that the first quantity of parts is to be available for consumption by projects associated with other physical locations in the infrastructure;   assigning, using the processing engine, a second quantity of parts of the first line item into MA status in the database; and   sending, from the processing engine in response to expiration of a first predetermined period of time, a message requiring election of continued MA status of the second quantity of parts or a return to a non-MA status.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the second quantity of parts equals the first quantity of parts. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the second quantity of parts is different than the first quantity of parts. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the second quantity of parts is less than the first quantity of parts. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 22 , further comprising before the assigning:
 approving assignment of the second quantity of parts into the MA status.   
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 22 , further comprising:
 receiving, in response to the sending, an election to continue MA status of the second quantity of parts;   continuing MA status of the second quantity of parts; and   sending, from the processing engine in response to expiration of the first predetermined period of time, a message requiring election of continued MA status of the second quantity of parts or a return to a non-MA status.   
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 22 , further comprising:
 assigning the second quantity of parts into a non-MA status upon expiration of a second predetermined period of time in which the election has yet to be received at the processing engine.   
     
     
         29 . A method for use with managing inventory within the infrastructure of a technology service provider, the method comprising:
 receiving, at a processing engine, asset data corresponding to movement of assets from a first physical location to a second physical location within the infrastructure, wherein the asset data includes:
 shipped asset data corresponding to assets reported to have been shipped from the first physical location to the second physical location; 
 received asset data corresponding to assets reported to have been received at the second physical location from the first physical location; and 
 status data comprising a first status of the assets within the infrastructure; 
   determining, using the processing engine, whether any discrepancies exist between the shipped and received asset data; and   responsive to at least one discrepancy existing during the determining, disallowing modification of the status data from the first status to at least one second status until the at least one discrepancy is reconciled.   
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein the shipped asset data includes a quantity of the assets reported to have been shipped from the first physical location to the second physical location, wherein the received asset data includes a quantity of the assets reported to have been received at the second physical location from the first physical location, and wherein the at least one discrepancy comprises a difference between the shipped asset data quantity and the received asset data quantity. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein the shipped asset data includes at least one part number representing the assets reported to have been shipped from the first physical location to the second physical location, wherein the received asset data includes at least one part number representing the assets reported to have been received at the second physical location from the first physical location, and wherein the at least one discrepancy comprises a difference between the at least one shipped asset data part number and the at least one received asset data part number 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 29 , further comprising:
 receiving, at the processing engine, updated shipped and received asset data;   determining, using the processing engine, whether any discrepancies exist between the shipped and received asset data, the shipped and received asset data including the updated shipped and received asset data; and   responsive to the determining failing to detect the existence of any discrepancies between the shipped and received asset data, allowing modification of the status data from the first status to the at least one second status.   
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein the first status comprises an in-transit status, and wherein the at least one second status comprises a received status. 
     
     
         34 . A method for use with managing inventory within the infrastructure of a technology service provider, the method comprising:
 first receiving, at a processing engine as part of at least a first process, first asset data identifying at least one part to be used within the infrastructure, wherein the first asset data comprises at least one part identifier and at least one manufacturer identifier;   accessing a database that includes a plurality of part and manufacturer identifiers corresponding to parts used within the infrastructure;   locating the part and manufacturer identifiers of the first asset data in the database;   determining, using the processing engine, that at least one of the part and manufacturer identifiers is an alias part or manufacturer identifier of a first master part identifier or a first manufacturer identifier in the database; and   replacing, in the first process, the at least one alias part or manufacturer identifier with the first master part identifier or first master manufacturer identifier.   
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34 , further comprising:
 second receiving, at the processing engine as part of at least a second process, second asset data identifying at least one part to be used within the infrastructure, wherein the second asset data comprises at least one part identifier and at least one manufacturer identifier;   accessing the database;   locating the part and manufacturer identifiers of the second asset data in the database;   determining, using the processing engine, that at least one of the part and manufacturer identifiers is an alias part or manufacturer identifier of the first master part identifier or first master manufacturer identifier in the database; and   replacing, in the second process, the at least one alias part or manufacturer identifier with the first master part identifier or first master manufacturer identifier, wherein the first and second processes correspond to use of the same exact part within the infrastructure.   
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the part identifier comprises an internal code, and HECI code or a CLEI code. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the at least one first process comprises at least one of a movement of a quantity of the at least one part between first and second infrastructure locations, a movement of a quantity of the at least one part between an infrastructure location and a location outside of the infrastructure location, a movement of a quantity of the at least one part between first and second locations outside of the infrastructure, a search of a database of infrastructure assets for fulfilling BOM line items, and a loading of part and/or manufacturer identifiers into a database of customer part information. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the at least one part identifier corresponds to a kit of parts.