Systems for procuring products in a distributed system

• US 20040128204A1
• Filed: 12/27/2002
• Published: 07/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Caterpillar Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Caterpillar Incorporated
• Inventors: Cihla, Virgil F., Koehl, Beth A.
• Application Number:
  US10/330,018
• Publication Number:
  US 20040128204A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

Methods and systems for facilitating a transaction between a procurement system associated with a customer and an order fullfillment system associated with a provider are provided. In one embodiment, the method may include receiving, from the procurement system, a purchase order for at least one product supplied by the provider. The purchase order may be processed to enable the order fulfillment system to interpret the purchase order and route the purchase order to a provider resource. Additionally, information associated with the transaction may be stored and provided to a requesting entity that performs at least one analysis process based on the stored information.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating a transaction between a procurement system associated with a customer and an order fulfillment system associated with a provider, comprising:

receiving, from the procurement system, a purchase order for at least one product supplied by the provider;

processing the purchase order to enable the order fulfillment system to interpret the purchase order and route the purchase order to a provider resource;

storing information associated with the transaction; and

providing the stored information to a requesting entity that performs at least one analysis process based on the stored information.

2. The method of claim 1, further including:

receiving a request to access an electronic catalogue associated with the provider, wherein the electronic catalogue includes information associated with the product; and

providing the customer with access to the electronic catalogue.

3. The method of claim 1, further including:

enabling the procurement system to periodically receive information associated with the at least one product from the order fulfillment system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the purchase order includes:

receiving the purchase order in a first data format and translating the purchase order to a second data format.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the order fulfillment system is unable to interpret the first data format and processing the purchase order includes translating the purchase order to the second format.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the purchase order includes:

receiving a data packet including at least one data field; and

modifying the data packet based on a customer profile maintained by the order fulfillment system.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein modifying includes adding a new data field to the data packet.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the purchase order includes resolving at least one discrepancy between product information available to the procurement system and product information maintained by the order fulfillment system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the requesting entity is the customer and providing the stored information includes:

receiving a query for a portion of the stored information from the customer; and

providing the customer with the portion of the stored information in response to the query.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the requesting entity is the provider and the at least one analysis process includes at least one of a trend analysis, a multi-dimensional analysis, and a cost benefit analysis.

11. The method of claim 1 further including:

receiving a confirmation message reflecting receipt of the purchase order by the order fulfillment system; and

routing the confirmation message to the procurement system.

12. A method for facilitating a transaction between a customer and a provider, comprising:

receiving, from a procurement system associated with the customer, a request to access an electronic catalogue maintained by the provider, said electronic catalogue including product information associated with at least one product;

providing the product information to the customer;

transmitting, to the procurement system, an order request reflecting an intention of the customer to purchase the at least one product;

receiving a purchase order for the at least one product from the procurement system based on an approval of the order request by the procurement system;

processing the purchase order to enable at least one order fulfillment system associated with the provider to interpret the purchase order;

providing the purchase order to the at least one order fulfillment system;

determining, by the at least one order fulfillment system, at least one resource associated with the provider based on the purchase order; and

transmitting a confirmation to the procurement system indicating receipt of the purchase order by said resource.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein determining at least one resource includes:

routing the purchase order to one of a plurality of dealerships supplying the at least one product.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein processing the purchase order includes:

receiving the purchase order in a first data format and translating the purchase order to a second data format.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one order fulfillment system is unable to interpret the first data format and processing the purchase order includes translating the purchase order to the second format.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein processing the purchase order includes:

receiving a data packet including at least one data field; and

modifying the data packet based on a customer profile maintained by the order fulfillment system.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein modifying includes adding a new data field to the data packet.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein processing the purchase order includes:

resolving at least one discrepancy between product information available to the procurement system and product information maintained by the order fulfillment system.

19. The method of claim 12, further including:

storing information associated with the transaction; and

providing the stored information to a requesting entity that performs at least one analysis process based on the stored information.

20. A system for facilitating a transaction between a customer and a provider that supplies a product, comprising:

a procurement application, associated with the customer, configured to enable the customer to procure a product from the provider;

a provider resource that provides the product supplied by the provider;

an integration module configured to provide the procurement application with access to information associated with the product, receive a purchase order for the product from the procurement application, and process the received purchase order; and

at least one order fulfillment system, associated with the provider, configured to interpret the processed purchase order and transmit the interpreted purchase order to the provider resource, wherein the provider resource provides the product to the customer based on the interpreted purchase order.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the procurement application is an e-procurement application residing on at least one data processing system associated with the customer.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the procurement application is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system residing on at least one data processing system associated with the customer.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the system includes a plurality of provider resources associated with the provider and the order fulfillment system is an information system distributed among the provider resources.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein the provider resource includes at least one of a dealership, warehouse, distributor, retailer, manufacturer, and supplier.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the order fulfillment system is software distributed among and executed by at least one data processing system coupled to the provider resource.

26. The system of claim 20, wherein the integration module resides on at least one data processing system associated with the provider.

27. The system of claim 20, wherein the integration module is further configured to:

store information associated with the transaction between the customer and the provider; and

providing the stored information to a requesting entity that performs at least one analysis process based on the stored information.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the integration module is configured to receive at least one query initiated by the provider for obtaining information associated with the transaction.

29. An apparatus for facilitating a transaction between a procurement system associated with a customer and an order fulfillment system associated with a provider, comprising:

means for receiving, from the procurement system, a purchase order for at least one product supplied by the provider;

means for processing the purchase order to enable the order fulfillment system to interpret the purchase order and route the purchase order to a provider;

means for storing information associated with the transaction; and

means for providing the stored information to a requesting entity that performs at least one analysis process based on the stored information.

30. An apparatus for facilitating a transaction between a procurement system associated with a customer and an order fulfillment system associated with a provider, comprising:

a communications interface for receiving, from the procurement system, a purchase order for at least one product supplied by the provider;

an integration module for translating the purchase order to enable at least one order fulfillment system associated with the provider to interpret the purchase order;

an order processing module for manipulating the purchase order to enable the at least one order fulfillment system to deliver said purchase order to at least one resource supplying the at least one product; and

a transaction module for organizing information associated with the transaction and enabling at least one business analysis to be performed using said organized information.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the integration module translates the purchase order by receiving the purchase order in a first data format and re-formatting the purchase order to a second data format compatible with the order fulfillment system.

32. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the order processing module is configured to:

receive a data packet including at least one data field associated with the transaction; and

use a customer profile maintained by the provider to add at least one additional data field to the data packet.

33. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the order processing module is configured to resolve at least one discrepancy between product information available to the procurement system and product information maintained by the order fulfillment system.

34. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the transaction module is configured to receive a query from the customer for information associated with the transaction and provide the customer with the information in response to the query.

35. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the transaction module is configured to receive a query from the provider for information associated with the transaction and provide the provider with the information associated with the transaction in response to the query.

36. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the transaction module is configured to provide the organized information to an analysis application that performs at least one of a trend analysis, multi-dimensional data analysis, and a cost benefit analysis based on the organized information.

37. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system coupled to a network to perform a method, the computer system having a processor for executing the instructions, the method comprising:

receiving, from the procurement system, a purchase order for at least one product supplied by the provider;

processing the purchase order to enable the order fulfillment system to interpret the purchase order and route the purchase order to a provider;

storing information associated with the transaction; and

providing the stored information to a requesting entity that performs at least one analysis process based on the stored information.