Taxonomy and data structure for an electronic procurement system
First Claim
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1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
- at a server hosting an electronic procurement system that facilitates transactions among a plurality of purchasing organizations and a plurality of suppliers over an electronic network, the server including one or more processors and a memory storing programs for execution by the processors;
receiving over the electronic network supplier catalog data from the plurality of respective suppliers, where the supplier catalog data is in a plurality of formats;
obtaining from a business rules database business rules associated with the plurality of respective suppliers;
in accordance with the business rules, automatically converting the supplier catalog data from the respective plurality of formats to respective common format catalog data;
storing in the memory of the server information linking respective common format catalog data to corresponding respective supplier catalog data;
adding the respective common format catalog data to a staging database;
enabling by the staging database a development environment in which the suppliers upload their respective data blocks into a supplier catalog and test its operation; and
in response to initiation of a syndication operation for syndicating data blocks into a supplier catalog;
transferring respective common format catalog data in the staging database to a live catalog database associated with the supplier catalog and accessible by purchaser users of the system;
activating at least part of the transferred common format catalog data as a live catalog; and
enabling a purchaser buyer from the purchasing organizations to select and purchase items provided by the plurality of suppliers from the live catalog, including presenting the live catalog via the electronic network to the purchaser buyer from the purchasing organizations.
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Abstract
A computer-implemented method is described, performed at a server hosting an electronic procurement system. Supplier catalog data is received at the server from a plurality of respective suppliers associated with the electronic procurement system. The supplier catalog data is in a plurality of formats. The supplier catalog data is converted from the respective plurality of formats to respective common format catalog data. The respective common format catalog data is added to a database.
159 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
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at a server hosting an electronic procurement system that facilitates transactions among a plurality of purchasing organizations and a plurality of suppliers over an electronic network, the server including one or more processors and a memory storing programs for execution by the processors; receiving over the electronic network supplier catalog data from the plurality of respective suppliers, where the supplier catalog data is in a plurality of formats; obtaining from a business rules database business rules associated with the plurality of respective suppliers; in accordance with the business rules, automatically converting the supplier catalog data from the respective plurality of formats to respective common format catalog data; storing in the memory of the server information linking respective common format catalog data to corresponding respective supplier catalog data; adding the respective common format catalog data to a staging database; enabling by the staging database a development environment in which the suppliers upload their respective data blocks into a supplier catalog and test its operation; and in response to initiation of a syndication operation for syndicating data blocks into a supplier catalog; transferring respective common format catalog data in the staging database to a live catalog database associated with the supplier catalog and accessible by purchaser users of the system; activating at least part of the transferred common format catalog data as a live catalog; and enabling a purchaser buyer from the purchasing organizations to select and purchase items provided by the plurality of suppliers from the live catalog, including presenting the live catalog via the electronic network to the purchaser buyer from the purchasing organizations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A non-transitive computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs for execution by one or more processors of a computer system, the one or more programs including instructions for:
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at a server hosting an electronic procurement system that facilitates transactions among a plurality of purchasing organizations and a plurality of suppliers over an electronic network; receiving over the electronic network supplier catalog data from the plurality of respective suppliers, where the supplier catalog data is in a plurality of formats; obtaining from a business rules database business rules associated with the plurality of respective suppliers; in accordance with the business rules, automatically converting the supplier catalog data from the respective plurality of formats to respective common format catalog data; storing in the memory of the server information linking respective common format catalog data to corresponding respective supplier catalog data; adding the respective common format catalog data to a staging database; enabling by the staging database a development environment in which the suppliers upload their respective data blocks into a supplier catalog and test its operation; and in response to initiation of a syndication operation for syndicating data blocks into a supplier catalog; transferring respective common format catalog data in the staging database to a live catalog database associated with the supplier catalog and accessible by purchaser users of the system; activating at least part of the transferred common format catalog data as a live catalog; and enabling a purchaser buyer from the purchasing organizations to select and purchase items provided by the plurality of suppliers from the live catalog, including presenting the live catalog via the electronic network to the purchaser buyer from the purchasing organizations.
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20. A server system, comprising:
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one or more processors; memory; and one or more programs stored in the memory, the one or more programs comprising instructions to; at a server hosting an electronic procurement system that facilitates transactions among a plurality of purchasing organizations and a plurality of suppliers over an electronic network; receiving over the electronic network supplier catalog data from the plurality of respective suppliers, where the supplier catalog data is in a plurality of formats; obtaining from a business rules database business rules associated with the plurality of respective suppliers; in accordance with the business rules, automatically converting the supplier catalog data from the respective plurality of formats to respective common format catalog data; storing in the memory of the server information linking respective common format catalog data to corresponding respective supplier catalog data; adding the respective common format catalog data to a staging database; enabling by the staging database a development environment in which the suppliers upload their respective data blocks into a supplier catalog and test its operation; and in response to initiation of a syndication operation for syndicating data blocks into a supplier catalog; transferring respective common format catalog data in the staging database to a live catalog database associated with the supplier catalog and accessible by purchaser users of the system; activating at least part of the transferred common format catalog data as a live catalog; and enabling a purchaser buyer from the purchasing organizations to select and purchase items provided by the plurality of suppliers from the live catalog, including presenting the live catalog via the electronic network to the purchaser buyer from the purchasing organizations.
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Specification