Order Fulfillment Method

• US 20110145095A1
• Filed: 02/22/2011
• Published: 06/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Supply Chain Connect LLC (Proactis Holdings Plc)
• Original Assignee: Supply Chain Connect LLC (Proactis Holdings Plc)
• Inventors: Chvala, Richard J., Giesler, Michael F., Moore, Mason A.
• Application Number:
  US13/032,601
• Publication Number:
  US 20110145095A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.81
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/023 the neutral party being a clearing house
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/845 Inventory and reporting systems for greenhouse gases [GHG]

Abstract

A business-to-business transaction clearinghouse integrates the traditional point-to-point business supply chain at the clearinghouse. The clearinghouse provides cost effective access to a wide variety of members and includes value-added services. Members of the clearinghouse can include trading members, members that help the trading members ship their products, and banking members. The clearinghouse facilitates business among the trading members by providing a single point of contact for all transactions. The clearinghouse can be specific to an industry, such as the chemical industry. Multiple industry specific clearinghouses may form a network clearinghouses to effectively create one larger and more general business-to-business electronic commerce community.

Claims

1-30. -30. (canceled)

31. A method comprising:

generating messages relating to business-to-business commerce transactions at an enterprise resource planning computer system, including generating messages corresponding to the management of supply chain activities of a company, the messages corresponding to communications in a business-to-business transaction;

converting the messages generated by the enterprise resource planning computer system into extensible markup language (XML) messages;

transmitting the converted messages over the internet to a clearing house that processes the converted messages and provides services related to order fulfillment for the transaction.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the services related to order fulfillment include receiving shipment proposals from shipping companies for the transaction.

33. The method of claim 67, wherein the services related to payment processing include the generation of a summary invoice of multiple transactions.

34. The method of claim 67, wherein the services related to payment processing include the purchase of account receivables.

67. The method of claim 31, wherein the clearinghouse further provides services related to payment processing for the transaction.

68. The method of claim 31, wherein the services related to order fulfillment include relaying shipment tracking information related to the order.

69. The method of claim 68, wherein the clearinghouse automatically sends the shipment tracking information related to the order.

70. The method of claim 68, wherein the clearinghouse receives updated shipment tracking information related to the order and automatically relays the updated shipment tracking information to a customer if the shipment falls behind schedule.

71. The method of claim 68, wherein the clearinghouse receives updated shipment tracking information related to the order and automatically relays the updated shipment tracking information to a customer in response to a request.

35-51. -51. (canceled)

52. A method comprising:

providing purchase order information to an enterprise resource planning computer system (ERP) of a purchaser to generate a purchase order directed to a supplier;

converting the purchase order into an extensible markup language (XML) message;

transmitting the purchase order to a business-to-business transaction clearinghouse linked to a plurality of supplier and customer trading members including the supplier for the transaction, wherein the clearinghouse relays XML messages related to order fulfillment for transactions between the supplier and purchasing trading members, wherein the relayed messages comprise purchase orders, order acknowledgements, shipment notices, invoices, and certificates of analysis.

53. An order fulfillment method comprising:

receiving a purchase order over the internet from a customer through a business-to-business transaction clearinghouse linked to a plurality of supplier and purchasing trading members including the customer originating the purchase order and the supplier receiving the purchase order, wherein the clearinghouse automatically relays messages related to order fulfillment for transactions between the supplier trading members and the purchasing trading members;

automatically providing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) computer system with information from the purchase order;

generating messages relating to the purchase order at the ERP computer system;

transmitting the generated messages over the internet to the clearinghouse for automatic relay to the customer.

54. The order fulfillment method of claim 53, comprising accepting the order and sending an order acknowledgement message through the clearinghouse to the customer.

55. The order fulfillment method of claim 54, comprising sending a material safety data sheet through the clearinghouse to the customer.

56. The order fulfillment method of claim 53, comprising shipping the order and sending a shipping notice through the clearinghouse to the customer.

57. The order fulfillment method of claim 56, wherein the shipping notice is automatically generated by the ERP computer system upon receipt of input indicating shipment of the order.

58. The order fulfillment method of claim 56, comprising sending a certificate of analysis through the clearinghouse to the customer.

59. The order fulfillment method of claim 58, wherein the certificate of analysis is sent with the shipping notice.

60. The order fulfillment method of claim 53, comprising shipping the order and sending an invoice through the clearinghouse to the customer.

61. The order fulfillment method of claim 53, comprising converting the messages generated by the ERP computer system into extensible markup language (XML) messages prior to the transmission thereof.

62. The order fulfillment method of claim 53, wherein the purchase order is received in an extensible markup language (XML) message, and further comprising converting the XML message into an EDI message and forwarding the EDI message to an EDI system.

63. The order fulfillment method of claim 53, further comprising providing the clearinghouse with shipment tracking information related to the order.

64. The order fulfillment method of claim 63, wherein the clearinghouse automatically sends the shipment tracking information to the customer.

65. The order fulfillment method of claim 63, further comprising updating the shipment tracking information provided to the clearinghouse, wherein the clearinghouse automatically sends the updated shipment tracking information to the customer if the shipment of the product associated with the shipping notice falls behind schedule.

66. The order fulfillment method of claim 63, further comprising updating the shipment tracking information provided to the clearinghouse, wherein the clearinghouse automatically sends the updated shipment tracking information to the customer in response to a request.