Patent ID: 7856359
Filing Date: 2010-12-21
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A contract management method implemented by a travel procurement system having a yield management system and a processor, comprising: storing contract data and contract compliance data in said yield management system; querying, via said processor, for contract data from said yield management system, wherein said contract data includes at least one of a discount amount based on a yield agreement and a monthly travel spend quota, and wherein said contract compliance data comprises a comparison of said contract data and a fulfilled booking request; generating first selling instructions in accordance with said contract data and said contract compliance data, wherein said first selling instructions include a designation of a first travel provider based on priority status of said first travel provider and at least one of an aggressive potential and a non-aggressive potential, wherein said non-aggressive potential comprises a listing of comparable travel services and said aggressive potential comprises non-comparable travel services and a weighting factor; acquiring, via said processor, said first selling instructions from said yield management system based on said contract data; communicating, via said network, said first selling instructions to a booking system via said yield management system; receiving said fulfilled booking request, via said network, from a booking system, wherein said fulfilled booking request conforms to said first selling instructions and designates a reservations provider for said fulfilled booking request based on said first selling instruction; updating, via said processor, said contract compliance data of said yield management system with said booking request to produce updated contract compliance data, wherein said booking request includes said first travel provider corresponding to said yield agreement; retrieving, via said processor, said updated contract compliance data from said yield management system; comparing, via said processor, said updated contract compliance data to said contract data to identify compliance with said contract data, wherein identifying includes identification of a first monthly travel spend quota associated with said first travel provider; transmitting, via said network, said comparison to said yield management system; transforming, via said yield management system, said first selling instructions into second selling instructions based upon said comparison wherein said second selling instructions are configured to fulfill a second monthly travel spend quota with a second travel provider; storing said second selling instructions in said yield management system; communicating, using said network and said yield management system, said second selling instructions to said booking system; and verifying, by said yield management system, that said second selling instructions are fulfilled without modification so that said second monthly travel spend quota is at least partially achieved.