System for managing customer orders and methods of implementation
DCFirst Claim
1. A method for creating an electronic catalog and processing purchase requests comprising:
- requesting a vendor quotation;
creating a blanket vendor order;
entering the blanket vendor order in the electronic catalog, wherein the electronic catalog comprises a plurality of items, quantities, shipment charges delivery times and availabilities;
creating a pre-approved budget;
creating a purchase request;
requesting an item from the plurality of items electronic catalog using the purchase request;
communicating said order from the electronic catalog to a vendor;
receiving acknowledgment of the communicated order;
receiving the ordered item; and
recording receipt of said item.
2 Assignments
Litigations
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The system of this invention manages customer orders using vendor supplied software systems interfaced on a real time basis to touch the data in each system on a real time basis. In effect, there is horizontal communication between the various components of the system such as inventory, purchasing, order management and receipt, logistics and inventory to have continual data flow without using a vertical software interface. As a result, customer orders are received on a real-time basis using screens that are user friendly to promptly take orders, and to verify customer data and verify the ability to meet those orders. Transmission of documents within the system is minimized thereby making it more efficient, timely and cost efficient.
49 Citations
12 Claims
-
1. A method for creating an electronic catalog and processing purchase requests comprising:
-
requesting a vendor quotation;
creating a blanket vendor order;
entering the blanket vendor order in the electronic catalog, wherein the electronic catalog comprises a plurality of items, quantities, shipment charges delivery times and availabilities;
creating a pre-approved budget;
creating a purchase request;
requesting an item from the plurality of items electronic catalog using the purchase request;
communicating said order from the electronic catalog to a vendor;
receiving acknowledgment of the communicated order;
receiving the ordered item; and
recording receipt of said item. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
-
-
4. A system for creating an electronic catalog, comprising:
-
means for purchasing an item;
means for creating a graphical user interface for a customer service representative to input an order;
means for tendering a load to a carrier for shipment;
means for creating an automated warehousing ticket; and
means for creating an electronic catalog based on a blanket vendor agreement wherein said electronic catalog comprises a plurality of items, quantities, shipment charges, delivery times and availabilities. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A method for processing customer orders in a computer-based processing system having a plurality of data processing devices electrically connected to communicate with each other, comprising:
-
requesting a vendor quotation;
creating a blanket vendor agreement;
entering said blanket vendor agreement into an electronic catalog;
receiving a customer order from a customer order input terminal;
processing the customer order using an interface module accessed through the customer order input terminal, said interface module coordinating access to the electronic catalog and controlling interaction between a user and said electronic catalog;
generating the customer order in response to data inputs from the user through said customer order input terminal and data from said electronic catalog;
automatically checking an inventory for availability of an item corresponding to the customer order in response to the customer order by accessing an inventory data base;
retrieving the item from the inventory by accessing an inventory storage location data base;
building a load for shipment from the retrieved item; and
scheduling delivery of the load to the customer.
-
-
12. A method for a processing customer order using a networked computer-based data processing system, comprising:
-
requesting a vendor quotation;
creating a blanket vendor order;
entering said blanket vendor order into an electronic catalog;
receiving a customer order from a customer order input terminal;
processing the received customer order to generate a customer order in response to data inputs from a user;
automatically checking an inventory for availability of an item corresponding to the customer order by accessing the electronic catalog;
retrieving the item by accessing an inventory storage location data base;
building a load for shipment containing the retrieved item; and
scheduling the load for delivery to the customer.
-
Specification