Patent ID: 7398227
Filing Date: 2008-07-08
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A computer-implemented method for processing purchasing data, the method comprising: receiving purchasing data, from a purchasing entity that is a member of a purchasing group, wherein the purchasing data relates to accounting data associated with purchase transactions made by the purchasing entity; creating a data structure to store the received purchasing data, including creating a first data structure for entity-level purchasing data and creating a second data structure for group-level purchasing data related to the purchasing group; using a computer to identify, for each transaction, a product related to the transaction by comparing the received purchasing data with product information stored in a product index, wherein the product information in the product index associates at least a portion of the received purchasing data with a particular product; modifying the received purchasing data in the data structure to include data representing the identified product; and processing the modified purchasing data to reflect all purchase transactions concerning the identified product.