PRE-PROCESSOR FOR INBOUND SALES ORDER REQUESTS WITH LINK TO A THIRD PARTY AVAILABLE TO PROMISE (ATP) SYSTEM

• US 20020013731A1
• Filed: 04/30/1999
• Published: 01/31/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: JINDANI, RAHUL, GOPALAN, BALASUBRAMANIAN, CHANNIKERE, PUSHPALATHA, KANNOTH, VINOD, MICHEL, SYLVAIN, KRISHNAMURTHY, JAYAKUMAR, MCKEE, GREGORY LEE, SCOTT, JAMES DONALD, BRIGHT, MARION SCOTT, JOSHIPURA, JINRAJ DHRUVAKUMAR, PEACHEY-KOUNTZ, PENNY JEANNETTE
• Granted Patent: US 7,606,742 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted

Abstract

A method and apparatus for pre-processing electronic data requests within the EDI subsystem layer and within the order fulfillment application system. An order interceptor, third-party Available To Promise (ATP) interface, pseudo-sales order workbench, and the reject acknowledgment system processes are provided within the order fulfillment application system to accomplish the pre-processing. The order interceptor performs an asynchronous availability check before a sales order is posted. The result of the ATP check is stored in an ESO, and is applied during the posting process with unique user exits. The result of the ATP check is also used to determine key information about the sales order, such as the sales organization, and division and distribution channels. The pre-processor uses business rules to determine if the ESO should be split into multiple documents for requests satisfied across multiple sales areas. The Workbench provides a customer purchase order view of the ESO that looks, feels and behaves like actual order entry screens. The Workbench also displays messages generated from the pre-processor describing why the ESO was held for review. After the condition is corrected the Workbench re-executes the ESO pre-processor. This continues until all messages are corrected or marked reviewed. The supplier can decide to either accept the request, reject the request or accept individual line items.

Claims

1. A system for pre-processing orders before they are transmitted to an order processing system, comprising:

an order interceptor receiving and processing electronic sales order data;

an interface system receiving the electronic sales order data from the order interceptor and performing an availability check, wherein the availability check determines the portions of the electronic sales order data that can be satisfied; and

means for transmitting at least a portion of the electronic sales order data to the order processing system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the order interceptor translates the electronic sales order data to an internal format of the order interceptor, determines if an availability check is required, transmits at least a portion of the electronic sales order data, determines if there are any processing problems associated with the electronic sales order data, and processes the electronic sales order data in accordance with business rules.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the order interceptor comprises:

means for receiving the electronic sales order data;

means for translating the electronic sales order data to an internal format of the order interceptor;

means for determining if an availability check is required;

means for transmitting at least a portion of the electronic sales order data;

means for determining if there are any processing problems associated with the electronic sales order data; and

means for processing the electronic sales order data in accordance with business rules.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a workbench receiving electronic sales order data that contains errors or is incomplete.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the workbench receives and displays electronic sales order data that contains errors or is incomplete, displays error messages associated with the electronic sales order data, and enables a user to edit, correct, and update at least one database containing the electronic sales order data.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the workbench comprises:

a) means for receiving and displaying electronic sales order data that contains errors or is incomplete;

b) means for displaying error messages associated with the electronic sales order data of step a); and

c) means for correcting, editing, and updating the at least one database containing electronic sales order data.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the workbench further displays a status of the electronic sales order data, determines if configuration rules are satisfied, and provides an indication to the order interceptor that at least a portion of the electronic sales order data is rejected.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the workbench further comprises:

means for displaying the status of the electronic sales order data;

means for determining if the configuration rules are satisfied; and

means for indicating to the order interceptor that at least a portion of the electronic order data is rejected.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a reject acknowledgment system receiving an indication from the order interceptor that at least a portion of the electronic sales order data has been rejected.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the reject acknowledgment system updates at least one database to indicate the portions of the electronic order data that have been rejected.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the reject acknowledgment system comprises:

means for receiving an indication from the order interceptor that at least a portion of the electronic sales order data is rejected; and

means for updating the at least one database to indicate the portions of the electronic order data that have been rejected.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the reject acknowledgment system further determines if the electronic sales order data was received via a transmission from the World Wide Web, and updates the at least one database in either an ESO format or an SAP format.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the reject acknowledgment system further comprises:

means for determining if the electronic sales order data was received via a transmission from the World Wide Web; and

means for updating the at least one database in either an ESO format or an SAP format.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the order interceptor receives the electronic sales order data in a standard Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) format.

15. The order interceptor system of claim 1, wherein the system is an SAP system.

16. A computer implemented method of processing electronic sales order data before it is transmitted to an order processing system, comprising the steps of:

receiving electronic sales order data;

translating the electronic sales order data to an internal format;

transmitting the electronic sales order data to an interface system, wherein the interface system performs an availability check to determine what portion of the electronic sales order data that can be satisfied; and

if the availability check indication is to transmit, transmitting the designated portions of the internal format data to the order processing system.

17. The computer implemented method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

a) processing the electronic sales order data in accordance with business rules;

b) determining if there are any processing problems associated with the electronic sales order data; and

c) if there are processing problems in step b), transmitting an electronic message to at least one user indicating that the electronic sales order data contains errors or is incomplete.

18. The computer implemented method of claim 17, further comprising the steps of:

enabling a user to correct the electronic sales order data; and

transmitting the corrected electronic sales order data to the order processing system.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

rejecting the electronic sales order data that cannot be filled; and

updating at least one database to indicate the portions of the electronic order data that have been rejected.

20. The computer implemented method of claim 16, wherein the electronic sales order data is in Electronic Data Interchange format.

21. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied in the medium for pre-processing orders before they are transmitted to an order processing system, the computer program product having;

first computer program code for receiving electronic sales order data;

second computer program code for translating the electronic sales order data to an internal format;

third computer program code for transmitting the electronic sales order data to an interface system, wherein the interface system performs an availability check to determine the portions of the order interceptor data that can be satisfied; and

fourth computer program code for determining if the availability check indication is to transmit at least a portion of the order interceptor data to the order processing system, and, if so, transmitting the designated portions of the electronic sales order data to the order processing system.

22. A computer program product of claim 21, further having:

fifth computer program code for processing the electronic sales order data in accordance with business rules;

sixth computer program code for determining if there arc any processing problems associated with the electronic sales order data, and

seventh computer program code for providing an indication to at least one user that the electronic sales order data contains errors or is incomplete.

23. A computer program product of claim 22 further comprising:

eighth computer program code for enabling a user to correct the electronic sales order data; and

ninth computer program code for transmitting the corrected electronic sales order data to the order processing system.

24. A computer program product of claim 23 further comprising:

tenth computer program code rejecting the electronic sales order data that cannot be filled; and

eleventh computer program code for updating at least one database to indicate the portions of the electronic order data that have been rejected.