Methods and systems for consolidating purchase orders

• US 7,979,310 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2005
• Issued: 07/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Omnicell Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Omnicell Incorporated
• Inventors: Pujar, Aparna, Rao, Chalapathi
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender; F. Ryan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Champagne; Luna
• Application Number:
  US11/195,221
• Publication Number:
  US 20060036507A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,171 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/28, 705/30, 705/37, 345/810
• US Class Current: 705/26.8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0637 Approvals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A method is provided for electronically ordering items. The method includes receiving consolidation information at a server computer. The consolidation information includes at least one consolidation criterion for determining how to consolidate purchase requests. The method further includes receiving a plurality of requests to purchase one or more items at the server computer and evaluating the requests, using the consolidation criterion. A purchase order, containing the items meeting the consolidation criteria, is transmitted from the server computer to a supplier a purchase order containing the items meeting the consolidation criterion.

Claims

1. A customer computer system for electronically ordering items from a plurality of suppliers, the customer computer system comprising a memory, a processor, a non-transitory computer readable medium and a network interface, wherein the network interface is coupled to a plurality of requester computers and a supervisor computer, the customer computer system is configured to:

receive a first independent consolidation criterion and a second independent consolidation criterion from the supervisor computer, wherein;

the first independent consolidation criterion defines consolidation criteria for a first supplier;

the second independent consolidation criterion defines consolidation criteria for a second supplier;

the first independent consolidation criterion is different from the second consolidation criterion; and

the supervisor computer and the customer computer system are operated on behalf of a customer that orders supplies from the plurality of suppliers;

receive a first request from a first requester computer to purchase a first plurality of items;

receive a second request from a second requester computer to purchase a second plurality of items;

trigger consolidation of the first request from the first requester computer to purchase the first plurality of items with the second request from the second requester computer to purchase the second plurality of items when the first triggering consolidation criterion is met, wherein the first triggering consolidation criterion is one of the one or more independent consolidation criteria;

group qualifying items from the first plurality of items requested by the first requester computer and the second plurality of items requested by the second requester computer into a first qualified group and a second qualified group, wherein the qualifying items satisfy the triggering consolidation criterion;

generate a first consolidated purchase order containing the first qualified group supplied by a first supplier of the plurality of suppliers;

transmit the first consolidated purchase order to the first supplier;

generate a second consolidated purchase order containing the second qualified group supplied by a second supplier of the plurality of suppliers; and

transmit the second consolidated purchase order to the second supplier.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the computer system comprises a server computer and an associated database, the database containing the independent consolidation criteria, the plurality of requests, and a list of suppliers.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the triggering consolidation criterion is an hourly consolidation.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the triggering consolidation criterion is a daily consolidation.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the triggering consolidation criterion is consolidation on a specified date or day of the week.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the triggering consolidation criterion is consolidation at a specified time.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the triggering consolidation criterion is attainment of a specified minimum or maximum number of items.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the triggering consolidation criterion is a cost center consolidation.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the triggering consolidation criterion is attainment of a specified monetary threshold.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the supervisor computer and the user computer are the same computer.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first request from the first requester computer and the second request from the second requester computer must be approved by a supervisor via the supervisor computer.

3. A computer program product residing on a non-transitory processor-readable medium, the computer readable medium comprises processor readable instructions configured to cause a processor to:

receive multiple independent consolidation criteria from a supervisor computer, wherein;

the supervisor computer is separate from the plurality of requester computers;

a first consolidation criterion of the multiple independent consolidation criteria for a first supplier is different from a second consolidation criterion of the multiple independent consolidation criteria for a second supplier; and

the supervisor computer is operated on behalf of a customer that orders supplies from the plurality of suppliers;

receive a first request from a first requester computer to purchase a first plurality of items;

receive a second request from a second requester computer to purchase a second plurality of items;

trigger consolidation of the plurality of requests when a triggering consolidation criterion is met, wherein the triggering consolidation criterion is one of the one or more independent consolidation criteria and the independent consolidation criteria are selected from a group consisting of hourly consolidation, daily consolidation, consolidation at a specified time, consolidation on specified days of the week, consolidation on specified dates, consolidation upon attainment of a specified monetary threshold, consolidation upon attainment of a specified minimum number of items, cost center consolidation, and consolidation upon attainment of a specified maximum number of items;

group qualifying items from the one or more items, wherein the qualifying items satisfy the triggering consolidation criterion;

generate a first consolidated purchase order containing the qualifying items supplied by a first supplier of the plurality of suppliers;

transmit the first consolidated purchase order to the first supplier;

generate a second consolidated purchase order containing the qualifying items supplied by a second supplier of the plurality of suppliers; and

transmit the second consolidated purchase order to the second supplier.

4. A customer computer system for electronically ordering items from a plurality of suppliers, the customer computer system comprising a memory, a processor, a non-transitory computer readable medium and a network interface, wherein the network interface is coupled with a plurality of requester computers and a supervisor computer, the customer computer system is configured to:

receive one or more independent consolidation criteria from the supervisor computer, wherein;

the independent consolidation criteria are independent of supply commitments from the plurality of suppliers;

the supervisor computer is separate from the requester computers;

a first consolidation criterion of the independent consolidation criteria for a first supplier is different from a second consolidation criterion of the independent consolidation criteria for a second supplier; and

the supervisor computer and the customer computer system are operated on behalf of a customer that orders supplies from the plurality of suppliers;

receive a plurality of requests to purchase one or more items, wherein the requests are received from the plurality of requester computers;

trigger consolidation of the plurality of requests when a triggering consolidation criterion is met, wherein the triggering consolidation criterion is one of the one or more independent consolidation criteria;

group qualifying items from the one or more items, wherein the qualifying items satisfy the triggering consolidation criteria;

generate a first consolidated purchase order containing the qualifying items supplied by a first supplier of the plurality of suppliers;

generate a second consolidated purchase order containing the qualifying items supplied by a second supplier of the plurality of suppliers;

transmit the first consolidated purchase order to the first supplier if the received approval information is affirmative; and

transmit the second consolidated purchase order to the second supplier if the received approval information is affirmative.

5. A customer computer system for electronically ordering items from a plurality of suppliers, the customer computer system comprising a memory, a processor, a network interface, and a non-transitory computer readable medium, wherein the network interface is coupled to a plurality of requester computers, and a supervisor computer the customer computer system configured to:

transmit to the supervisor computer a form having data fields for entering consolidation information;

receive independent consolidation criteria from the supervisor computer, wherein;

the supervisor computer is separate from the plurality of requester computers;

a first consolidation criterion of the independent consolidation criteria for a first supplier is different from a second consolidation criterion of the independent consolidation criteria for a second supplier; and

the supervisor computer and customer computer system are operated on behalf of a customer that orders supplies from the plurality of suppliers;

receive a plurality of requests to purchase one or more items, wherein the requests are received from the plurality of requester computers;

transmit a request for approval of at least a subset of the plurality of requests to the supervisor computer;

receive approval for at least a subset of the plurality of requests from the supervisor computer;

trigger consolidation of the subset of plurality of requests when a triggering consolidation criterion is met, wherein the triggering consolidation criterion is one of the one or more independent consolidation criteria;

group qualifying items from the one or more items, wherein the qualifying items satisfy the triggering consolidation criterion;

generate a first consolidated purchase order containing the qualifying items supplied by a first supplier of the plurality of suppliers;

transmit the first consolidated purchase order to the first supplier;

generate a second consolidated purchase order containing the qualifying items supplied by a second supplier of the plurality of suppliers; and

transmit the second consolidated purchase order to the second supplier.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the customer computer system comprises a server computer and an associated database.