Patent ID: 7640191
Filing Date: 2009-12-29
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A computer-implemented method of determining a vendor to supply to an enterprise clustered supply requirements of the enterprise, the method comprising: receiving, by a central purchasing hub computing system, a definition, for an enterprise, of a hierarchy comprising multiple different item categories of items of product or service that are purchased by the enterprise from vendors, and assigning to each of the different item categories a different item category identifier, wherein multiple different items of product or service are assignable to the same one of the multiple different item categories; receiving, by the central purchasing hub computing system for the enterprise and from one or more enterprise buyer computing systems within the enterprise, a plurality of electronic purchasing requests, each electronic purchasing request including at least one supply requirement, each such supply requirement identifying an item of product or service that is requested to be supplied by a vendor to the enterprise, and further identifying a particular one item category identifier of a category defined in the hierarchy into which the item identified for the requirement has been assigned; by the central purchasing hub computing system, identifying, from the received plurality of electronic purchasing requests, a plurality of the supply requirements that each identify the same particular one item category identifier for the item of product or service identified in the supply requirement, and clustering the identified plurality of the supply requirements having the same particular one item category identifier into a bidding cluster; and conducting, by the central purchasing hub computing system, an electronic bidding process using a bid invitation that includes the bidding cluster, making the bid invitation available over a network to at least one vendor, and determining from at least one bid received from the at least one vendor a winning bid that determines a particular vendor to fulfill all of the supply requirements of the bidding cluster.