System for managing a supplier for participation in a plurality of trading networks

• US 8,332,280 B2
• Filed: 07/18/2011
• Issued: 12/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Broden, Theresa W., Godoy, Glenn C., Murphy, Jane M., Musa, Mark A., Wilson, Sherry L.
• Primary Examiner(s): ALLEN, WILLIAM J
• Application Number:
  US13/184,682
• Publication Number:
  US 20110276458A1
• Time in Patent Office: 512 Days
• Field of Search: 705 261- 272
• US Class Current: 705/26.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/188 Electronic negotiation

Abstract

A system for performing a method for managing a supplier for participation in trading networks. The method includes: receiving from each trading network a volume commitment consolidating volume commitments for offerings of commodities and services; negotiating with each trading network to supply to customer members of the trading network the commodity or service; storing, for each trading network for each supplier, attributes including start date, end date, services and products offered to the trading network, and payment flow for the commodities and services; offing a trading network package based on negotiations occurring before receiving purchase requests from the customer members, the trading network package including: (i) a value-add service offering to the customer members for a fee, and (ii) a managed package for which a customer member provides a volume commitment and actual purchases are tracked; and negotiating price discount levels for committed levels of demand from the trading networks.

Claims

1. A system, comprising a computer that includes a physically tangible storage device readable by the computer, said storage device storing a program of instructions configured to be executed by the computer to perform a method for managing a supplier for participation in a plurality of trading networks, said method comprising:

receiving from each said trading network a volume commitment consolidating a plurality of trading network customer volume commitments for offerings of commodities and services;

negotiating an offering with each said trading network to supply to customer members of said trading network a commodity or service of said commodities and services;

building, in an electronic storage device for each trading network of said plurality of trading networks, a trading network entity, said trading network entity including for said supplier a supplier entity with attributes including start date, end date, sets of services and products offered to said trading network, and payment flow for said commodities and services;

offering at least one trading network package, said trading network package based on negotiations occurring prior to receiving purchase requests from said customer members;

selectively defining each said trading network package as including;

(i) a trading network value-add service offering offered by said trading network to said customer members for a fee, and (ii) a managed package for which a customer member of said customer members provides a volume commitment and for which actual purchases are tracked; and

negotiating price discount levels for committed levels of demand from said trading networks.

2. The system of claim 1, said method further comprising:

defining each said trading network package as a grouping of contracts and catalogs that have been negotiated with a trading network supplier prior to receiving purchase requests from said customer members by the trading network with said trading network supplier.

3. The system of claim 1, said method further comprising:

collecting into a benefit package of the at least one trading network package a plurality of supplier offerings assignable as a benefit to said customer members; and

defining said benefit package as a custom package or a standard package, said custom package being a package which can only be assigned as a customer benefit to a predefined set of customers of said customer members and said standard package being a package which can be assigned to any customer member of said customer members.

4. The system of claim 1, said method further comprising:

defining a first trading network package of a first trading network of the at least one trading network package as a plurality of portfolio items.

5. The system of claim 4, said method further comprising:

defining each said portfolio item as a purchase offering providing access selectively to a purchasing catalog or contract.

6. The system of claim 4, said method further comprising:

defining each said portfolio item as a technology offering allowing use of specific applications for a given business function and an Information Technology (IT) infrastructure.

7. The system of claim 4, said method further comprising:

defining each said portfolio item as procurement business offering, said procurement business offering being a value-add service of said first trading network that said first trading network offers for a fee.

8. The system of claim 4, said method further comprising:

defining each portfolio item as a trading network offered item or a supplier offering,

said trading network offered item being offered directly from the first trading network itself and not from suppliers in the first trading network; and

said supplier offering being a trading network portfolio item that is offered from one supplier of said suppliers in the first trading network as a line item within a supplier'"'"'s membership agreement.