Procurement system and method over a network using a single instance multi-tenant architecture

• US 20090182592A1
• Filed: 01/15/2008
• Published: 07/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SciQuest Incorporated
• Original Assignee: SciQuest Incorporated
• Inventors: Lef, Alexey, Fleck, Lisa, Angerer, Ronald W., Sabino, Philip J., Ballaro, Charles A., Frink, David W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,930,244 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• 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 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/163 Real estate management

Abstract

A single instance, multi-tenant procurement system, includes an access module to provide access to a plurality of end users associated with an organization to their respective accounts, each account being customized by a super user of the organization, a search engine to execute searches for products offered by one or more suppliers, a transaction module to process and track one or more requisitions generated by the plurality of end users, a business rules module to apply business rules established between the organization and the one or more suppliers to process the requisitions, and a data repository to store data generated on the system.

Claims

1. A single instance, multi-tenant procurement system, comprising:

an access module to provide access to a plurality of end users associated with an organization to their respective accounts, each account being customized by a super user of the organization;

a search engine to execute searches for products offered by one or more suppliers;

a transaction module to process and track one or more requisitions generated by the plurality of end users;

a business rules module to apply business rules established between the organization and the one or more suppliers to process the requisitions; and

a data repository to store data generated on the system.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising super user, end user, and supplier user interfaces customized by the access module for each super user, end user, and supplier user.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a user management tool to configure at least one of user access, user registration, user role, organizational structure, organizational position, and organization and user relationship.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a requisition workflow tool to display at least one of add product, edit cart, review requisition, place order, purchase requisition approval, and purchase order preview.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the requisition workflow tool includes a purchase request approval tool to approve a purchase request reviewed by an approver.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the requisition workflow tool includes a purchase order preview tool to preview purchase orders before submission to the one or more suppliers.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the transaction module includes an auto purchase tool to automatically convert approved requisitions into purchase orders.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the search engine includes a punch-out module that generates one or more punch-out links to one or more punch-out catalogs hosted by the one or more suppliers.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more punch-out links are customized for each end user based on the business rules.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the transaction module includes a price management tool to manage pricing contracts between the organization and the one or more suppliers.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the business rules include custom business rules established between the organization and the one or more suppliers to process the requisitions.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the business rules include business rules of one or more contractual terms between the organization and the one or more suppliers to process the requisitions.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the business rules include custom business rules of one or more contractual terms between the organization and the one or more suppliers to process the requisitions.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the data repository stores user, index, product, and transaction data generated on the system.

15. A method, comprising the steps of:

accessing a single instance, multi-tenant procurement system through an access module;

customizing one or more end user accounts of an organization through the access module by a super user of the organization;

executing searches for products offered by one or more suppliers through a search engine;

processing one or more requisitions generated on the one or more end user accounts by applying business rules established between the organization and the one or more suppliers to process the requisitions; and

storing generated data in a data repository.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein one or more super users, end users, and supplier users access the single instance, multi-tenant procurement system through one of a super user, end user, and supplier user interface.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of customizing includes configuring at least one of user access, user registration, user role, organizational structure, organizational position, and organizational and user relationship.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising a step of displaying at least one of add product, edit cart, review requisition, place order, purchase requisition approval, and purchase order preview.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the review requisition is used by an approver to approve a purchase request.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the purchase order preview is used to preview purchase orders before submission to the one or more suppliers.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of processing includes automatically converting approved requisitions into purchase orders.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of executing searches includes generating one or more punch-out links to one or more punch-out catalogs hosted by the one or more suppliers.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the one or more punch-out links are customized for each end user based on the business rules.

24. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of managing pricing contracts between the organization and the one or more suppliers.

25. The method of claim 15, wherein the business rules applied are custom business rules established between the organization and the one or more suppliers to process the requisitions.

26. The method of claim 15, wherein the business rules include one or more contractual terms or relationships established between the organization and the one or more suppliers to process the requisitions.

27. The method of claim 15, wherein the business rules include custom business rules of one or more contractual terms or relationships established between the organization and the one or more suppliers to process the requisitions.

28. The method of claim 15, wherein the data repository stores user, index, product, and transaction data generated on the system.

29. A computer program product including a computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed on a computer, configures the computer to perform a method comprising the steps of:

accessing a single instance, multi-tenant procurement system through an access module;

customizing one or more end user accounts of an organization through the access module by a super user of the organization;

executing searches for products offered by one or more suppliers through a search engine;

processing one or more requisitions generated on the one or more end user accounts by applying business rules established between the organization and the one or more suppliers to process the requisitions; and

storing generated data in a data repository.

30. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein one or more super users, end users, and supplier users access the single instance, multi-tenant procurement system through one of a super user, end user, and supplier user interface.

31. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the step of customizing includes configuring at least one of user access, user registration, user role, organizational structure, organizational position, and organizational and user relationship.

32. The computer program product of claim 29, further comprising a step of displaying at least one of add product, edit cart, review requisition, place order, purchase requisition approval, and purchase order preview.

33. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein the review requisition is used by an approver to approve a purchase request.

34. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein the purchase order preview is used to preview purchase orders before submission to the one or more suppliers.

35. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the step of processing includes automatically converting approved requisitions into purchase orders.

36. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the step of executing searches includes generating one or more punch-out links to one or more punch-out catalogs hosted by the one or more suppliers.

37. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the one or more punch-out links are customized for each end user based on the business rules.

38. The computer program product of claim 29, further comprising the step of managing pricing contracts between the organization and the one or more suppliers.

39. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the business rules applied are custom business rules established between the organization and the one or more suppliers to process the requisitions.

40. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the business rules include one or more contractual terms or relationships established between the organization and the one or more suppliers to process the requisitions.

41. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the business rules include custom business rules of one or more contractual terms or relationships established between the organization and the one or more suppliers to process the requisitions.

42. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the data repository stores user, index, product, and transaction data generated on the system.