Method and apparatus for processing of purchase orders
First Claim
1. A method for processing a purchase order from a buyer to a supplier, comprising the steps of:
- (a) selecting a line item in said purchase order for validation;
(b) comparing original information in said line item to a catalog containing items offered by said supplier to determine whether said line item is valid;
(c) in the event that said line item is not valid, (1) accessing a rule specific to a trading partner relationship including said supplier and said buyer;
(2) refining said original information in accordance with said rule to derive replacement information for inclusion in a replacement line item;
(d) validating said replacement line item by comparing said replacement information to said catalog to determine whether said replacement line item is valid;
(1) including said replacement line item in a final purchase order to said supplier if said replacement line item is valid;
(2) including said line item containing said original information in said final purchase order if said replacement line item is not valid;
wherein said final purchase order to said supplier is capable of containing line items from multiple divisions of said supplier.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for validating, correcting and reconciling purchase orders. In one embodiment, each line item of the purchase order is validated to ensure that it corresponds to an item offered by the supplier. Each line item can be compared to known errors and the erroneous part number replaced with a correct part number. Line items can be modified in accordance with a set of rules. The supplier can be notified of an invalid line item in a purchase order and can correct the invalid line item either before or after the purchase order is received by the supplier. Corrections performed by the supplier can be used to add to the set of rules to be used to process succeeding purchase orders. An electronic catalog of the buyer can be updated after buyer review to correct erroneous part numbers and other related information from various sources.
212 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method for processing a purchase order from a buyer to a supplier, comprising the steps of:
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(a) selecting a line item in said purchase order for validation;
(b) comparing original information in said line item to a catalog containing items offered by said supplier to determine whether said line item is valid;
(c) in the event that said line item is not valid, (1) accessing a rule specific to a trading partner relationship including said supplier and said buyer;
(2) refining said original information in accordance with said rule to derive replacement information for inclusion in a replacement line item;
(d) validating said replacement line item by comparing said replacement information to said catalog to determine whether said replacement line item is valid;
(1) including said replacement line item in a final purchase order to said supplier if said replacement line item is valid;
(2) including said line item containing said original information in said final purchase order if said replacement line item is not valid;
wherein said final purchase order to said supplier is capable of containing line items from multiple divisions of said supplier. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A computer-based system for processing a purchase order from a buyer to a supplier, comprising:
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means for selecting a line item in said purchase order for validation;
means for comparing original information in said line item to a catalog containing items offered by said supplier to determine whether said line item is valid;
means, responsive to a determination that said line item is not valid, for accessing a rule specific to a trading partner relationship including said supplier and said buyer;
refining said original information in accordance with said rule to derive replacement information for inclusion in a replacement line item;
means for validating said replacement line item by comparing said replacement information to said catalog to determine whether said replacement line item is valid;
(1) means, responsive to a determination that said replacement line item is valid, for including said replacement line item in a final purchase order to said supplier;
(2) means, responsive to a determination that said replacement line item is not valid, for including said line item containing said original information in said final purchase order;
wherein said final purchase order to said supplier is capable of containing line items from multiple divisions of said supplier. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for processing a purchase order from a buyer to a supplier, comprising the steps of:
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(a) selecting a line item in said purchase order for validation;
(b) comparing original information in said line item to a catalog containing items offered by said supplier to determine whether said line item is valid;
(c) in the event that said line item is not valid, (1) suspending said purchase order;
(2) notifying said supplier that said purchase order contains an invalid line item;
(3) allowing said supplier to access said purchase order to correct said invalid line item by replacing original information in said invalid line item with corresponding replacement information;
(d) validating said replacement information by comparing said replacement information with said catalog to determine whether said replacement information is valid;
(e) including a replacement line item containing said replacement information in a final purchase order to said supplier if said replacement information is valid;
(f) developing a rule for replacing said information with said replacement information;
(g) adding said rule to a list of known errors that is generic to a trading partner relationship including said supplier and said buyer;
wherein said final purchase order to said supplier is capable of containing line items from multiple divisions of said supplier. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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17. A computer-based system for processing a purchase order from a buyer to a supplier, comprising:
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means for selecting a line item in said purchase order for validation;
means for comparing original information in said line item to a catalog containing items offered by said supplier and for determining whether said line item is valid;
means, responsive to a determination that said line item is not valid, for suspending said purchase order;
notifying said supplier that said purchase order contains an invalid line item;
allowing said supplier to access said purchase order to correct said invalid line item by replacing original information in said invalid line item with corresponding replacement information;
means for validating said replacement information by comparing said replacement information to said catalog and for determining whether said replacement line item is valid;
means, responsive to a determination that said replacement line item is valid, for including a replacement line item containing said replacement information in a final purchase order to said supplier;
means for developing a rule for replacing said information with said replacement information;
means for adding said rule to a list of known errors that is generic to a trading partner relationship including said supplier and said buyer;
wherein said final purchase order to said supplier is capable of containing line items from multiple divisions of said supplier. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for processing a purchase order from a buyer to a supplier, comprising the steps of:
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(a) selecting a line item in said purchase order for validation;
(b) comparing original information in said line item to a catalog containing items offered by said supplier to determine whether said line item is valid;
(c) in the event that said line item is not valid, (1) accessing a rule specific to a trading partner relationship including said supplier and said buyer;
(2) refining said original information in accordance with said rule to derive replacement information for inclusion in a replacement line item;
(d) validating said replacement line item by comparing said replacement information to said catalog to determine whether said replacement line item is valid;
(1) including said replacement line item in a final purchase order to said supplier if said replacement line item is valid;
(2) including said line item containing said original information in said final purchase order if said replacement line item is not valid;
(e) transmitting said final purchase order to said supplier for processing;
(f) receiving a purchase order acknowledgement from said supplier;
(g) comparing said final purchase order to said purchase order acknowledgement to determine any changes to information in a line item of said purchase order made by said supplier, said changes including replacing said information with replacement information;
(h) correlating said changes to develop a rule for replacing said information with said replacement information; and
(i) adding said rule to a list of known errors that is specific to a trading partner relationship including said supplier and said buyer.
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22. A computer-based system for processing a purchase order from a buyer to a supplier, comprising:
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(a) means for selecting a line item in said purchase order for validation;
(b) means for comparing original information in said line item to a catalog containing items offered by said supplier and for determining whether said line item is valid;
(c) means, responsive to a determination that said line item is not valid, for accessing a rule specific to a trading partner relationship including said supplier and said buyer; and
refining said original information in accordance with said rule to derive replacement information and for including said replacement information in a replacement line item;
(d) means for comparing said replacement line item to said catalog and for determining whether said replacement line item is valid;
(1) means, responsive to a determination that said replacement line item is valid, for including said replacement line item in a final purchase order to said supplier;
(2) means, responsive to a determination that said replacement line item is not valid, for including said line item containing said original information in said final purchase order;
(e) means for transmitting said final purchase order to said supplier for processing;
(f) means for receiving a purchase order acknowledgement from said supplier;
(g) means for comparing said final purchase order to said purchase order acknowledgement and for determining any changes to information in a line item of said purchase order made by said supplier, said changes including replacing said information with replacement information;
(h) means for correlating information in said discrepancy report and for developing a rule for replacing said information with said replacement information; and
(i) means for adding said rule to a list of known errors that is specific to a trading partner relationship including said supplier and said buyer.
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23. A method for processing a purchase order from a buyer to a supplier, comprising the steps of:
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(a) selecting a line item in said purchase order for validation;
(b) comparing original information in said line item to a catalog containing items offered by said supplier to determine whether said line item is valid;
(c) in the event that said line item is not valid, (1) accessing a rule specific to a trading partner relationship including said supplier and said buyer;
(2) refining said original information in accordance with said rule to derive replacement information for inclusion in a replacement line item;
(d) validating said replacement line item by comparing said replacement information to said catalog to determine whether said replacement line item is valid;
(e) in the event that said replacement line item is not valid, (1) suspending said purchase order;
(2) notifying said supplier that said purchase order contains an invalid line item;
(3) allowing said supplier to access said purchase order to correct said invalid line item by replacing original information in said invalid line item with corresponding replacement information;
(4) including a replacement line item containing said replacement information in a final purchase order to said supplier;
(f) developing a rule for replacing said information with said replacement information;
(g) adding said rule to a list of known errors that is specific to a trading partner relationship including said supplier and said buyer;
(h) receiving, from said buyer, a selection of a source of information;
(i) receiving, from said buyer, a selection of product information from said source for inclusion in a file for updating said catalog, said selection of product information based on a review of items in said source of information;
(j) generating, based on said selected product information, a file correlating said selected product information with corresponding replacement information from said source of information;
(k) providing said file for updating said selected product information in said catalog with said corresponding replacement information.
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24. A computer-based system for processing a purchase order from a buyer to a supplier, comprising:
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(a) means for selecting a line item in said purchase order for validation;
(b) means for comparing original information in said line item to a catalog containing items offered by said supplier and for determining whether said line item is valid;
(c) means, responsive to a determination that said line item is not valid, for accessing a rule specific to a trading partner relationship including said supplier and said buyer; and
refining said original information in accordance with said rule to derive replacement information for inclusion in a replacement line item;
(d) means for comparing said replacement line item to said catalog and for determining whether said replacement line item is valid;
(e) means, responsive to a determination that said replacement line item is not valid, for;
suspending said purchase order;
notifying said supplier that said purchase order contains an invalid line item;
allowing said supplier to access said purchase order to correct said invalid line item by replacing original information in said invalid line item with corresponding replacement information; and
including a replacement line item containing said replacement information in a final purchase order to said supplier;
(f) means for developing a rule for replacing said information with said replacement information;
(g) means for adding said rule to a list of known errors that is specific to a trading partner relationship including said supplier and said buyer;
(h) means for receiving, from said buyer, a selection of a source of information;
(i) means for receiving, from said buyer, a selection of product information from said source for inclusion in a file for updating said catalog, said selection of product information based on a review of items in said source of information;
(j) means for generating, based on said selected product information, a file correlating said selected product information with corresponding replacement information from said source of information;
(k) means for providing said file to said buyer for updating said selected product information in said catalog with said corresponding replacement information.
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Specification