Line item approval processing in an electronic purchasing system and method
First Claim
1. An electronic purchasing system, comprising:
- a process manager system configured to automatically process electronic purchase requisitions over multiple back-end resource servers, wherein the process manager system is configured to access a plurality of catalogs containing descriptions of goods and services pertinent to a procurement environment;
a database configured to store data descriptors describing items contained in said catalogs, and configured to store data object and attributes pertinent to said electronic purchase requisitions; and
a line item approving system configured to, responsive to receiving a particular purchase requisition associated with a particular purchasing request, process approval of a plurality of items specified in said particular purchase requisition on a line-by-line basis, wherein one or more approvers are identified for each of the plurality of items, wherein to process approval the line item approving system is further configured to present to a particular approver only those items for which the particular approver is identified, and wherein the items for which the particular approver is identified are less than all of the plurality of items specified in said particular purchase requisition.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In an electronic purchasing system, a line item approval processing method and system. The line item approval system includes logic for approving a purchase requisition having a plurality of itemized goods and service and requiring approval by a plurality of authorized approvers on a line item by line item basis. In one embodiment of the present invention, an approval matrix defining identified authorized approver and conditions under which the authorized approvers must approve specified line items in a particular purchase requisition is generated by the line item approval system to enable approvers of the purchase requisition to monitor the status of the particular purchase requisition. The line item approval system allows a purchase order to be generated corresponding to a purchase requisition based on a partial approval of line items specified in a purchase requisition while some items are not approved.
66 Citations
31 Claims
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1. An electronic purchasing system, comprising:
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a process manager system configured to automatically process electronic purchase requisitions over multiple back-end resource servers, wherein the process manager system is configured to access a plurality of catalogs containing descriptions of goods and services pertinent to a procurement environment; a database configured to store data descriptors describing items contained in said catalogs, and configured to store data object and attributes pertinent to said electronic purchase requisitions; and a line item approving system configured to, responsive to receiving a particular purchase requisition associated with a particular purchasing request, process approval of a plurality of items specified in said particular purchase requisition on a line-by-line basis, wherein one or more approvers are identified for each of the plurality of items, wherein to process approval the line item approving system is further configured to present to a particular approver only those items for which the particular approver is identified, and wherein the items for which the particular approver is identified are less than all of the plurality of items specified in said particular purchase requisition. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An electronic purchasing approval system, comprising:
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a line item approval module configured to, in response to receiving a particular purchasing requisition associated with a particular purchasing request, process approval of a plurality of items specified in said particular purchasing requisition on a line-by-line basis, wherein one or more approvers are identified for each of the plurality of items, wherein to process approval the line item approval module is further configured to present to a particular approver only those items for which the particular approver is identified, wherein the items for which the particular approver is identified are less than all of the plurality of items specified in said particular purchasing requisition; and a process manager configured to manage the approval process in said line item approval module. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A line item approval method in an electronic purchasing system, comprising:
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receiving a purchase request cataloged in a plurality of documents by said electronic purchasing system, said purchasing request comprising goods, services and supplied information defining purchasing parameters specific and unique to a particular purchasing professional; generating an approval matrix defining a list of a plurality of approvers responsible for approving line items in said purchase request, wherein each line item is associated with a respective approver; distributing said purchase request to said plurality of approvers to approve said line items in said purchase request associated with each of said identified approvers on a line-by-line basis, said distributing comprises presenting to a particular approver only those line items for which the particular approver is identified, and wherein the items for which the particular approver is identified are less than all of the plurality of items specified in said particular purchasing request, wherein each approver approvers only their associated line items; and generating a purchase order in response to said purchase request, said purchase order being generated based on line items approved by said plurality of approvers. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31)
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Specification