Systems and Methods for Managing Supplier Information Between an Electronic Procurement System and Buyers' Supplier Management Systems

• US 20110258083A1
• Filed: 04/15/2011
• Published: 10/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SciQuest Incorporated
• Original Assignee: SciQuest Incorporated
• Inventors: Ren, Tom Yitao
• Granted Patent: US 8,635,123 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/27.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A system and method provide an efficient and simple procurement process that is easily customizable and allows the automatic mapping of supplier information and catalogs according to the buyer/purchasing organization'"'"'s internal data schema used for representing such data, and updates the buyer/purchasing organization'"'"'s hosted supplier information and catalogs automatically. In an exemplary embodiment, access to an electronic procurement system is requested, a supplier provides supplier data through a graphical user interface (GUI) for storage in one or more databases of an electronic procurement system, the supplier designates a subset of the supplier data as protected supplier data, and conveniently selects one or more buyer organization'"'"'s supplier management systems to receive the provided supplier data.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

at a supplier user system;

requesting access to an electronic procurement system;

accessing the electronic procurement system;

providing supplier data through a graphical user interface (GUI), the supplier data being provided for storage in one or more databases of the electronic procurement system;

designating a subset of the supplier data as protected supplier data; and

selecting one or more buyer organization'"'"'s supplier management systems to receive the provided supplier data.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the protected supplier data is at least one from a group consisting of:

annual sales data, profit data, employee data, or asset data.

3. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

at an electronic procurement system;

receiving a request for access from a supplier user;

granting access to the electronic procurement system;

receiving supplier data;

storing the received supplier data to one or more databases;

receiving a designation of a subset of the supplier data as protected supplier data;

receiving a supplier user'"'"'s selection of one or more buyer organization'"'"'s supplier management systems to receive the supplier data;

mapping the supplier data to one or more data schema of the one or more buyer organization'"'"'s supplier management system; and

transmitting the supplier data to the one or more supplier management systems.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein transmitting further comprises the step of:

simulating user interface events at the one or more supplier management systems.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising:

updating automatically the supplier management systems with additional supplier data.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving additional supplier data at the electronic procurement system; and

updating automatically the supplier management systems with the additional supplier data.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving additional supplier data at the electronic procurement system;

mapping the additional supplier data to the one or more data schema of the supplier management systems; and

updating automatically the supplier management systems with the additional mapped supplier data.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising:

mapping additional supplier data to the one or more data schema of the supplier management systems; and

updating automatically the supplier management systems with the additional mapped supplier data.

9. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

at a supplier management system;

requesting access to an electronic procurement system;

accessing the electronic procurement system;

requesting a subset of the supplier profile data from one or more databases of the electronic procurement system;

receiving the subset of the supplier profile data mapped to one or more data schema of the supplier management system; and

storing the mapped subset of the supplier profile data in one or more databases of the supplier management system.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising the step of:

searching the mapped subset of the supplier profile data.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein a subset of the stored supplier data is protected.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising the step of:

receiving, in response to the searching, a list of suppliers ranked according to one or more values of the subset of the supplier profile data, without receiving the values of the subset of the supplier profile data.

13. A system, comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

one or more memory connected to the one or more computer processors, wherein the one or more memory is configured with instructions to cause the one or more computer processors to;

at a supplier user system;

request access to an electronic procurement system;

access the electronic procurement system;

provide supplier data through a graphical user interface (GUI), the supplier data being provided for storage in one or more databases of the electronic procurement system;

designate a subset of the supplier data as protected supplier data; and

select one or more buyer organization'"'"'s supplier management systems to receive the provided supplier data.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the protected supplier data is at least one from a group consisting of:

annual sales data, profit data, employee data, or asset data.

15. A system, comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

one or more memory connected to the one or more computer processors, wherein the one or more memory is configured with instructions to cause the one or more computer processors to;

at an electronic procurement system;

receive a request for access from a supplier user;

grant access to the electronic procurement system;

receive supplier data;

store the received supplier data to one or more databases;

receive a designation of a subset of the supplier data as protected supplier data;

receive a supplier user'"'"'s selection of one or more buyer organization'"'"'s supplier management systems to receive the supplier data;

map the supplier data to one or more data schema of the one or more buyer organization'"'"'s supplier management system; and

transmit the supplier data to the one or more supplier management systems.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprises the instruction to simulate user interface events at the one or more supplier management systems.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising the instruction to:

update automatically the supplier management systems with additional supplier data.

18. The system of claim 15, further comprising the instructions to:

receive additional supplier data at the electronic procurement system; and

update automatically the supplier management systems with the additional supplier data.

19. The system of claim 15, further comprising the instructions to:

receive additional supplier data at the electronic procurement system;

map the additional supplier data to the one or more data schema of the supplier management systems; and

update automatically the supplier management systems with the additional mapped supplier data.

20. The system of claim 15, further comprising the instructions to:

map additional supplier data to the one or more data schema of the supplier management systems; and

update automatically the supplier management systems with the additional mapped supplier data.

21. A system, comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

one or more memory connected to the one or more computer processors, wherein the one or more memory is configured with instructions to cause the one or more computer processors to;

at a supplier management system;

request access to an electronic procurement system;

access the electronic procurement system;

request a subset of the supplier profile data from one or more databases of the electronic procurement system;

receive the subset of the supplier profile data mapped to one or more data schema of the supplier management system; and

store the mapped subset of the supplier profile data in one or more databases of the supplier management system.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising the instruction to:

search the mapped subset of the supplier profile data.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein a subset of the stored supplier data is protected.

24. The system of claim 22, further comprising the instruction to:

receive, in response to the searching, a list of suppliers ranked according to one or more values of the subset of the supplier profile data, without receiving the values of the subset of the supplier profile data.

25. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a computer, the one or more programs when executed cause the computer to perform the following steps:

at a supplier user system;

request access to a electronic procurement system;

access the electronic procurement system;

provide supplier data through a graphical user interface (GUI), the supplier data being provided for storage in one or more databases of the electronic procurement system;

designate a subset of the supplier data as protected supplier data; and

select one or more buyer organization'"'"'s supplier management systems to receive the provided supplier data.

26. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a computer, the one or more programs when executed cause the computer to perform the following steps:

at an electronic procurement system;

receive a request for access from a supplier user;

grant access to the electronic procurement system;

receive supplier data;

store the received supplier data to one or more databases;

receive a designation of a subset of the supplier data as protected supplier data;

receive a supplier user'"'"'s selection of one or more buyer organization'"'"'s supplier management systems to receive the supplier data;

map the supplier data to one or more data schema of the one or more buyer organization'"'"'s supplier management system; and

transmit the supplier data to the one or more supplier management systems.

27. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a computer, the one or more programs when executed cause the computer to perform the following steps:

at a supplier management system;

request access to an electronic procurement system;

access the electronic procurement system;

request a subset of supplier profile data from one or more databases of the electronic procurement system;

receive the subset of the supplier profile data mapped to one or more data schema of the supplier management system; and

store the mapped subset of the supplier profile data in one or more databases of the supplier management system.