Method of and system for generating purchase orders using an auction process

• US 20050197949A1
• Filed: 11/04/2004
• Published: 09/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Welter, Markus, Wittmer, Holger
• Granted Patent: US 8,050,990 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A method of generating a purchase order includes receiving purchasing data for the item to be purchased in a computerized system and generating the purchase order based on received purchasing data for the item to be purchased, determining whether a sufficient amount of funds is available for the purchase order, submitting the purchase order for a remedial action to obtain the sufficient amount of funds if the sufficient amount of funds is not available, determining a supplier for the item to be purchased from a plurality of potential suppliers using an automated auction system if a sufficient amount of funds is available, and modifying the purchase order to include data from the automated auction regarding the supplier.

Claims

1. A method of generating a purchase order, the method comprising:

receiving purchasing data for the item to be purchased in a computerized system;

generating the purchase order based on received purchasing data for the item to be purchased;

determining whether a sufficient amount of funds is available or not available for the purchase order;

submitting the purchase order for a remedial action to obtain the sufficient amount of funds if the sufficient amount of funds is not available;

determining a supplier for the item to be purchased from a plurality of potential suppliers using an automated auction system if the sufficient amount of funds is available; and

modifying the purchase order to include data from the automated auction system regarding the supplier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein received purchasing data includes at least one of a quantity and a delivery date associated with the item to be purchased.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein received purchasing data includes data manually entered by a user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the supplier is determined by the automated auction system based on bids received from the plurality of suppliers, and wherein each bid includes a price quote for the item to be purchased.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining a price for the item to be purchased using the automated auction system.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the price is based on the price quote included in the bid received from the supplier.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising modifying the purchase order to include the price.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether a sufficient amount of funds is available for the purchase order includes applying a budget rule to the purchase order.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the item to be purchased is one of a retail product and a service.

10. A system for generating a purchase order, the system comprising:

means for receiving purchasing data for the item to be purchased in a computerized system;

means for generating the purchase order based on received purchasing data for the item to be purchased;

means for determining whether a sufficient amount of funds is available for the purchase order;

means for submitting the purchase order for a remedial action to obtain the sufficient amount of funds if the sufficient amount of funds is not available;

automated auction system means for determining a supplier for the item to be purchased from a plurality of potential suppliers if a sufficient amount of funds is available; and

means for modifying the purchase order to include data from the automated auction regarding the supplier.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein received purchasing data includes at least one of a quantity and a delivery date associated with the item to be purchased.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein received purchasing data includes data manually entered by a user.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the automated auction system is configured to determine the supplier based on bids received from the plurality of suppliers, and wherein each bid includes a price quote for the item to be purchased.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the automated auction system is further configured to determine a price for the item to be purchased.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the price is based on the price quote included in the bid received from the supplier.

16. The system of claim 14, further comprising means for modifying the purchase order to include the price.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the means for determining whether a sufficient amount of funds is available for the purchase order is configured to apply a budget rule to the purchase order in order to determine whether the sufficient amount of funds is available.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the item to be purchased is one of a retail product and a service.

19. A program product for generating a purchase order, the program product comprising machine-readable program code for causing, when executed, one or more machines to perform the following method steps:

receiving purchasing data for the item to be purchased in a computerized system;

generating the purchase order based on received purchasing data for the item to be purchased;

determining whether a sufficient amount of funds is available for the purchase order;

submitting the purchase order for a remedial action to obtain the sufficient amount of funds if the sufficient amount of funds is not available;

determining a supplier for the item to be purchased from a plurality of potential suppliers using an automated auction system if a sufficient amount of funds is available; and

modifying the purchase order to include data from the automated auction regarding the supplier.

20. The program product of claim 19, wherein received purchasing data includes at least one of a quantity and a delivery date associated with the item to be purchased.

21. The program product of claim 19, wherein received purchasing data includes data manually entered by a user.

22. The program product of claim 19, wherein the supplier is determined by the automated auction system based on bids received from the plurality of suppliers, and wherein each bid includes a price quote for the item to be purchased.

23. The program product of claim 22, further comprising machine-readable program code for causing, when executed, the one or more machines to perform the method step of determining a price for the item to be purchased using the automated auction system.

24. The program product of claim 23, wherein the price is based on the price quote included in the bid received from the supplier.

25. The program product of claim 23, further comprising machine-readable program code for causing, when executed, the one or more machines to perform the method step of modifying the purchase order to include the price.

26. The program product of claim 19, wherein the machine-readable program code is configured to determine whether a sufficient amount of funds is available for the purchase order by applying a budget rule to the purchase order.

27. The program product of claim 19, wherein the item to be purchased is one of a retail product and a service.