Optimized purchase order generation

• US 20060089885A1
• Filed: 01/03/2005
• Published: 04/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Bagheri, Ramin, Rothley, Martina, Finke, Sabine, Kohlmaier, Klaus
• Granted Patent: US 7,475,029 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method for optimizing a purchase order. While generating a purchase order, a purchasing agent may aggregate a company'"'"'s purchasing requirements into a single purchase order, receive notification of a supplier'"'"'s offers for discounts to determine whether it would be advantageous to modify a purchase request, or view evaluations of a supplier'"'"'s past performance. Upon receipt of a purchase request, potential suppliers are identified to fulfill the request. A purchasing agent may then see whether a purchase request may be aggregated with other purchase requests or whether conditions are present that may trigger other opportunities to optimize the purchase order. As a result, a purchase order is generated that has been optimized to reduce costs as well as take advantage of other benefits that the purchaser may be interested in.

Claims

1. A method for optimizing a purchase order that is generated comprising:

upon receipt of requests for purchases, identifying one or more suppliers to supply the purchases using a description received in each of the purchase requests;

aggregating some of the purchase requests into a purchase order using the description received in each of the purchase requests;

comparing purchase order line items against a rule set including conditions and proposals;

if a match occurs for the respective line item, querying an operator with a proposal corresponding to the match; and

upon receipt of a response from the operator, modifying the respective line item according to an optimization rule triggered by the proposal selected by the operator.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the conditions is whether a quantity of goods is within a range of a bulk quantity that is offered at a discounted cost.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the optimization rule when triggered sets a quantity of goods included in at least one of the purchase order line items to a bulk quantity that is offered at a discounted rate.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the proposal comprises a bulk quantity of goods that is offered at a discounted cost and storage costs associated with storing the goods.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying supplier evaluation information to an operator.

6. A system for optimizing a purchase order, comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to said processor; and

a purchase order generator residing in said memory and executed by said processor, said purchase order generator comprising;

an extractor to extract data from term fields and description fields of a purchase request to generate a purchase order;

a supplier search engine to search for suppliers using data extracted from the purchase request; and

an optimizer to compare data extracted from the purchase request to conditions and, upon identification of a match, display a proposal to an operator that when selected triggers an optimization rule modifying the purchase order in accordance with the rule.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein at least one of the conditions is whether a quantity of goods is within a range of a bulk quantity that is offered at a discounted cost.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the optimization rule when triggered sets a quantity of goods included in at least one of the purchase order line items to a bulk quantity that is offered at a discounted rate.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the proposal comprises storage costs associated with storing goods.

10. The system of claim 6, further comprising an aggregator for aggregating one or more purchase requests to generate the purchase order.

11. A method for optimizing a purchase order that is generated comprising:

generating a purchase order from one or more requests for purchases;

comparing purchase order line items against a rule set including conditions and proposals;

if a match occurs for the respective line item, querying an operator with a proposal corresponding to the match; and

upon receipt of a response from the operator, modifying the respective line item according to an optimization rule triggered by the proposal selected by the operator.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

displaying suppliers to an operator for assignment of one of said suppliers to the purchase order.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the display comprises supplier evaluation information.

14. A computer readable medium storing thereon program instructions that, when executed, cause an executing device to:

upon receipt of requests for purchases, identify one or more suppliers to supply the purchases using a description received in each of the purchase requests;

aggregate some of the purchase requests into a purchase order using the description received in each of the purchase requests;

compare purchase order line items against a rule set including conditions and proposals;

if a match occurs for the respective line item, query an operator with a proposal corresponding to the match; and

upon receipt of a response from the operator, modify the respective line item according to an optimization rule triggered by the proposal selected by the operator.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein at least one of the conditions is whether a quantity of goods is within a range of a bulk quantity that is offered at a discounted cost.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the optimization rule when triggered sets a quantity of goods included in at least one of the purchase order line items to a bulk quantity that is offered at a discounted rate.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the proposal comprises a bulk quantity of goods that is offered at a discounted cost and storage costs associated with storing the goods.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 14 further comprising instructions that cause the executing device to display supplier evaluation information to an operator.

19. A computer readable medium storing thereon program instructions that, when executed, cause an executing device to:

generate a purchase order from one or more requests for purchases;

compare purchase order line items against a rule set including conditions and proposals;

if a match occurs for the respective line item, query an operator with a proposal corresponding to the match; and

upon receipt of a response from the operator, modify the respective line item according to an optimization rule triggered by the proposal selected by the operator.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, further comprising instructions that cause the executing device to display suppliers to an operator for assignment of one of said suppliers to the purchase order.