Sku based contract management in an electronic procurement system

• US 8,756,117 B1
• Filed: 09/29/2008
• Issued: 06/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SciQuest Incorporated
• Original Assignee: SciQuest Incorporated
• Inventors: Ballaro, Charles A., Hepner, Julie
• Primary Examiner(s): Zukanovich, Brandy A
• Application Number:
  US12/286,506
• Time in Patent Office: 2,087 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 705/26.4, 705/26.8
• 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 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers

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 computer-implemented method, comprising:

at a server system hosting an electronic procurement system, the server system including a processor and a memory storing programs for execution by the server system;

receiving a user request to access or create a contract between a user organization and a supplier or catalog;

receiving a user request to associate one or more item attributes with the contract, wherein an item attribute describes an item characteristic without specifying a particular catalog item;

associating the one or more item attributes with the contract;

sending a user notification of an association of the one or more item attributes with the contract; and

after associating the one or more item attributes with the contract;

identifying a plurality of catalog items that satisfy the one or more item attributes;

automatically selecting one catalog item from the plurality of identified catalog items without additional user interaction based on business rules; and

associating the identified particular catalog item with the contract.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more item attributes are from the group comprising:

a unit of measure (UOM), a color, a packaging, an origin, a manufacturer identification, a description, or other identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

receiving a search query comprising the one or more item attributes.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

receiving a search query comprising an item attribute.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

receiving a user request to remove an association of a particular catalog item with a contract.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

comparing item price data to the price of the particular catalog item associated with the contract.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the item price data is received from a supplier or catalog.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

receiving a user request to remove the association of the one or more item attributes with the contract, without also removing the particular catalog item with which the one or more item attributes are associated.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

sending a user notification of the association of a particular catalog item with the contract using the one or more item attributes.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

receiving a user request to manually determine a particular catalog item to associate with the contract using the one or more item attributes from among a plurality of catalog items.

11. A server system, comprising:

one or more processors;

memory;

one or more programs stored in the memory, the one or more programs comprising instructions to;

at a server system hosting an electronic procurement system, the server system including a processor and a memory storing programs for execution by the server system;

receive a user request to access or create a contract between a user organization and a supplier or catalog;

receive a user request to associate one or more item attributes with the contract, wherein an item attribute describes an item characteristic without specifying a particular catalog item;

associate the one or more item attributes with the contract;

send a user notification of an association of the one or more item attributes with the contract; and

after associating the one or more item attributes with the contract;

identify a plurality of catalog items that satisfy the one or more item attributes;

automatically select one catalog item from the plurality of identified catalog items without additional user interaction based on business rules; and

associate the identified particular catalog item with the contract.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more item attributes are from the group comprising:

a unit of measure (UOM), a color, a packaging, a origin, a manufacturer identification, a description, or other identifier.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising an instruction to:

receive a search query comprising the one or more item attribute.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising an instruction to:

receive a search query comprising an item attribute.

15. The system of claim 11, further comprising an instruction to:

receive a user request to remove an association of a particular catalog item with a contract.

16. The system of claim 11, further comprising an instruction to:

compare item price data to the price of the particular catalog item associated with the contract.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the item price data is received from a supplier or catalog.

18. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a computer, the one or more programs comprising instructions to:

at a server system hosting an electronic procurement system, the server system including a processor and a memory storing programs for execution by the server system;

receive a user request to access or create a contract between a user organization and a supplier or catalog;

receive a user request to associate one or more item attributes with the contract, wherein an item attribute describes art item characteristic without specifying a particular catalog item;

associate the one or more item attributes with the contract;

send a user notification of an association of the one or more item attributes with the contract, and

after associating one or more item attributes with the contract;

identify a plurality of catalog items that satisfy the one or more item attributes;

automatically select one catalog item from the plurality of identified catalog items without additional user interaction based on business rules; and

associate the identified, particular catalog item with the contract.