Collection and analysis of trading data in an electronic marketplace

• US 20040107123A1
• Filed: 03/26/2003
• Published: 06/03/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Schwarz, Peter, Rey, Michael, Brandenburger, Markus, Schumann, Rolf, Piller, Gunther, Haffner, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 7,603,300 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

Systems and techniques to generate statistical reports on transactions conducted via an electronic marketplace are based on data extracted from the transaction documents. In general, in one implementation, the technique includes receiving documents sent through an electronic marketplace, with each document including multiple data fields. Data is extracted from predetermined document data fields. The extracted data relates to a predetermined statistical category of transactions conducted through the electronic marketplace. The extracted data is stored, and a report corresponding to the predetermined statistical category is provided. The report includes an aggregation of the stored extracted data associated with the predetermined statistical category. In some implementations, a report may be generated that relates to information regarding global spending according to the buyer, seller, time period, product type, contract, and/or other parameters.

Claims

1. A method for processing data in an electronic marketplace, the method comprising:

receiving documents sent through the electronic marketplace, wherein each document includes a plurality of data fields;

extracting data from predetermined document data fields, wherein the extracted data relates to a predetermined statistical category of transactions conducted through the electronic marketplace;

storing the extracted data; and

providing a report corresponding to the predetermined statistical category, wherein the report includes an aggregation of the stored extracted data associated with the predetermined statistical category.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

aggregating the extracted data according to the predetermined statistical category; and

storing the aggregated data.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising filtering the documents to identify relevant documents prior to extracting data from the documents.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising transforming each document from a format used by the electronic marketplace into a predefined format used for extracting data.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising retrieving data from a master database, wherein the retrieved data is selected based on information contained in each document, and storing the retrieved data in association with the extracted data for the document.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein storing the extracted data for each document comprises:

identifying a transaction with which each document is associated; and

linking data from documents that are associated with the same transaction.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the extracted data for each document includes information identifying spending data associated with the document.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the spending data includes at least one of spending data corresponding to orders placed via the electronic marketplace and spending data corresponding to invoices transmitted via the electronic marketplace.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the predetermined statistical category is defined by at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of a time period, a trading partner, a pair of trading partners, a document type, a material group identifier, and a contract identifier.

10. A system for processing data in an electronic marketplace, the system comprising:

an electronic marketplace;

a data warehouse for storing statistical data relating to documents sent via the electronic marketplace, wherein data from predetermined data fields within each document is extracted from the documents sent via the electronic marketplace to generate the statistical data, wherein the data warehouse includes;

an operational data storage repository for storing the extracted data from each document; and

an aggregated data repository for storing extracted data that is aggregated according to predetermined statistical categories.

11. The system of claim 10 further comprising a plurality of operational data storage repositories, with each operational data storage repository corresponding to a different document type.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein one of the plurality of operational data storage repository links extracted data from documents of different document types that relate to the same transaction.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the plurality of operational data storage repositories include an order status operational data storage repository and an invoice operational data storage repository, and data from the invoice operational data storage repository is used to update the order status operational data storage repository for invoices that relate to an order identified in the order status operational data storage repository.

14. The system of claim 10 further comprising an application to generate statistical reports based on the information stored in the data warehouse.

15. The system of claim 10 further comprising a master database, wherein the data warehouse is operable to retrieve information from the master database based on data extracted from each document and to store the retrieved information in the operational data storage repository.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein the statistical data stored in the data warehouse comprises spending data extracted from the documents.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the extracted data from each document includes at least one of an order value and an invoice value.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the predetermined statistical categories are defined by at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of a trading partner, a contract identifier, a material group identifier, a document type and a time period.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the aggregated data repository stores at least one of committed spending data and actual spending data for each predetermined statistical category.

20. An article comprising a machine-readable medium storing instructions operable to cause one or more machines to perform operations comprising:

receiving documents sent through an electronic marketplace, wherein each document includes a plurality of data fields;

extracting data from predetermined document data fields, wherein the extracted data relates to a predetermined statistical category of transactions conducted through the electronic marketplace;

storing the extracted data; and

providing a report corresponding to the predetermined statistical category, wherein the report includes an aggregation of the stored extracted data associated with the predetermined statistical category.

21. The article of claim 20 wherein the machine-readable medium stores instructions operable to cause one or more machines to perform further operations comprising:

aggregating the extracted data according to the predetermined statistical category; and

storing the aggregated data, wherein providing the report is based on the stored aggregated data.

22. The article of claim 20 wherein the machine-readable medium stores instructions operable to cause one or more machines to perform further operations comprising transforming each document into a format used for extracting data.

23. The article of claim 20 wherein transforming each document into a format used for extracting data comprises:

identifying master data that corresponds to extracted data for each document; and

storing the master data in association with the extracted data for each document.

24. The article of claim 20 wherein the machine-readable medium stores instructions operable to cause one or more machines to perform further operations comprising identifying a document type for each document, wherein storing the extracted data comprises storing the extracted data in a repository associated with the identified document type.

25. The article of claim 20 wherein the machine-readable medium stores instructions operable to cause one or more machines to perform further operations comprising linking extracted data from different documents that relate to the same transaction.

26. The article of claim 20 wherein at least one of the predetermined document data fields are selected from the group consisting of a trading partner data field, a material group data field, a contract identifier data field, a date field, an order value field, and an invoice value field.

27. The article of claim 26 wherein the predetermined statistical category is defined by at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of a trading partner, a pair of trading partners, a contract identifier, a material group identifier, and a time period.

28. The article of claim 20 wherein the report identifies at least one of a total order value of orders transmitted via the electronic marketplace for the predetermined statistical category and a total value of invoices transmitted via the electronic marketplace for the predetermined statistical category.