Method and apparatus for monitoring an order status
First Claim
1. A method of monitoring a status of an order placed by a customer for a product produced by a supplier to be delivered to a retail location, the method comprising:
- collecting, using a computer system with access to a computer-readable medium accessible over a communication network, order information about the order from an order database included as part of an order routing system of the supplier and adding the order information to an electronic record relating to the order, wherein the order information includes information that identifies at least one of;
the product to be delivered, a quantity of the product desired to be delivered, and a requested ship date;
collecting, using the computer system, warehouse information from a computer-accessible warehouse database in communication with a warehouse management system and adding the warehouse information to the electronic record to establish a relationship between the order information collected and the warehouse information collected for the order, wherein the warehouse information comprises at least one of;
a scheduled load date, a scheduled date of departure of the product from the warehouse, and a scheduled date of delivery of the product to the retail location;
including in the electronic record relating to the order, a low-cost carrier offering a lowest shipping rate relative to shipping rates offered by a group of available carriers for transporting the quantity of the product to the retail location;
using the computer system, comparing the lowest shipping rate offered by the low-cost carrier to a predetermined cutoff rate that has been previously approved as a maximum acceptable shipping rate that is acceptable to at least one of the supplier and the warehouse as a standard shipping rate, above which supervisory approval of the lowest shipping rate as a premium shipping rate is required;
in response to a determination resulting from said comparing that the lowest shipping rate exceeds the cutoff rate, providing an alert for the order to indicate that the lowest shipping rate exceeds the cutoff rate;
generating a report that displays the order information, the warehouse information, the low-cost carrier, the alert and the lowest shipping rate associated with the order corresponding to a predetermined time; and
transmitting the report to be viewed in real-time by a supervisor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A computerized system and method for monitoring an order placed by a customer for a product produced by a supplier to be delivered to a retail location. The method includes presenting an order-entry interface to collect order information about the order to be transmitted to the supplier and store the order information in a computer-accessible order database. Warehouse information authorized by the supplier and transmitted to the warehouse is also stored. A carrier database stores a shipping rate of carriers for transporting the product ordered by the customer to the retail location, and a report generation subsystem collects at least a portion of the order information, the warehouse information and the shipping rate and generates a report displaying the collected information in a single display to be substantially simultaneously reviewed by a supervisor.
44 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A method of monitoring a status of an order placed by a customer for a product produced by a supplier to be delivered to a retail location, the method comprising:
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collecting, using a computer system with access to a computer-readable medium accessible over a communication network, order information about the order from an order database included as part of an order routing system of the supplier and adding the order information to an electronic record relating to the order, wherein the order information includes information that identifies at least one of;
the product to be delivered, a quantity of the product desired to be delivered, and a requested ship date;collecting, using the computer system, warehouse information from a computer-accessible warehouse database in communication with a warehouse management system and adding the warehouse information to the electronic record to establish a relationship between the order information collected and the warehouse information collected for the order, wherein the warehouse information comprises at least one of;
a scheduled load date, a scheduled date of departure of the product from the warehouse, and a scheduled date of delivery of the product to the retail location;including in the electronic record relating to the order, a low-cost carrier offering a lowest shipping rate relative to shipping rates offered by a group of available carriers for transporting the quantity of the product to the retail location; using the computer system, comparing the lowest shipping rate offered by the low-cost carrier to a predetermined cutoff rate that has been previously approved as a maximum acceptable shipping rate that is acceptable to at least one of the supplier and the warehouse as a standard shipping rate, above which supervisory approval of the lowest shipping rate as a premium shipping rate is required; in response to a determination resulting from said comparing that the lowest shipping rate exceeds the cutoff rate, providing an alert for the order to indicate that the lowest shipping rate exceeds the cutoff rate; generating a report that displays the order information, the warehouse information, the low-cost carrier, the alert and the lowest shipping rate associated with the order corresponding to a predetermined time; and transmitting the report to be viewed in real-time by a supervisor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A computerized system for fulfilling an order placed by a customer for a product produced by a supplier to be delivered to a retail location, the computerized system comprising:
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an order-routing subsystem for presenting an order-entry interface to collect order information about the order to be transmitted to the supplier and store the order information in a computer-accessible order database; a warehouse management subsystem comprising a computer-accessible warehouse database for storing warehouse information authorized by the supplier and transmitted to the warehouse storing a sufficient quantity of the product ordered by the customer, wherein the warehouse information comprises at least one of;
a scheduled load date, a scheduled date of departure of the product from the warehouse, and a scheduled date of delivery of the product to the retail location;a carrier subsystem comprising a carrier database storing a shipping rate of a plurality of carriers for transporting the product ordered by the customer to the retail location, wherein said carrier subsystem performs a comparison of a lowest available shipping rate offered by at least one of the carriers to a cutoff rate that has been previously approved as a maximum acceptable shipping rate; and a report generation subsystem for collecting at least a portion of the order information, the warehouse information and the shipping rate and generating a report displaying the portion of the order information, the warehouse information and the shipping rate collected in a single display to be substantially simultaneously reviewed by a supervisor, wherein, in response to a determination resulting from said comparison that the lowest available shipping rate exceeds the cutoff rate, the report generation subsystem generates an alert to request supervisory approval of the lowest available shipping rate by at least one of the supplier and the warehouse as a premium shipping rate before the order is to be shipped. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification