Method for facilitating chemical supplier transactions
DCFirst Claim
1. A method for facilitating business-to-business transactions between a plurality of members in a trading network comprising:
- connecting a clearinghouse to an enterprise resource planning computer system (ERP) associated with a first trading member of the network, wherein the enterprise resource planning computer system is configured to manage resources of the first trading member;
receiving a purchase order for a product at the clearinghouse from the first trading member of the network and directed to a second member of the network;
forwarding the purchase order from the clearinghouse to the second trading member of the network;
receiving a shipping notice at the clearinghouse from the second trading member of the network directed to the first trading member for the product associated with the purchase order;
forwarding the shipping notice from the clearinghouse to the first trading member of the network;
receiving an invoice at the clearinghouse from the second trading member of the network for the product; and
forwarding the invoice to the first trading member of the network;
wherein the purchase order, the shipping notice, and the invoice are received at the clearinghouse in an extensible markup language (XML) formatted message.
5 Assignments
Litigations
0 Petitions
Reexaminations
Accused Products
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.
62 Citations
17 Claims
-
1. A method for facilitating business-to-business transactions between a plurality of members in a trading network comprising:
-
connecting a clearinghouse to an enterprise resource planning computer system (ERP) associated with a first trading member of the network, wherein the enterprise resource planning computer system is configured to manage resources of the first trading member; receiving a purchase order for a product at the clearinghouse from the first trading member of the network and directed to a second member of the network; forwarding the purchase order from the clearinghouse to the second trading member of the network; receiving a shipping notice at the clearinghouse from the second trading member of the network directed to the first trading member for the product associated with the purchase order; forwarding the shipping notice from the clearinghouse to the first trading member of the network; receiving an invoice at the clearinghouse from the second trading member of the network for the product; and forwarding the invoice to the first trading member of the network; wherein the purchase order, the shipping notice, and the invoice are received at the clearinghouse in an extensible markup language (XML) formatted message. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
10. A method for facilitating business-to-business transactions between members in a trading network comprising:
-
connecting a plurality of translation servers to a like plurality of enterprise resource planning computer systems associated with member companies, wherein each enterprise resource planning computer system is configured to manage resources of a respective said member company, including the management of supply chain activities of the company; connecting the plurality of translation servers to a clearinghouse computer server coupled to the members; each translation server converting messages from a said enterprise resource planning computer system into a format of the clearinghouse and forwarding the converted messages to the clearinghouse, the messages corresponding to communications in a business-to-business transaction that relate to initiation of the transaction, and at least one of order fulfillment for the transaction and payment processing for the transaction; operating the clearinghouse computer server to; receive a purchase order for a product at a clearinghouse from a first trading member of the network and directed to a second member of the network; forward the purchase order from the clearinghouse to the second trading member of the network; receive a shipping notice at the clearinghouse from a the second trading member of the network directed to the first trading member for the product associated with the purchase order; forward the shipping notice to the first trading member; receive an invoice at the clearinghouse from the second trading member for the product; and forward the invoice to the first trading member. - View Dependent Claims (11)
-
Specification