System and method for multi-source transaction processing

A system and method for multi-source transaction processing receives order requests from a client system operated by a user. The order requests may include order placements and order inquiries. For example, an order request may be a placement for a computer system and associated peripherals. The user may have particular fulfillment organization preferences, and different components of the computer system and associated peripherals may be fulfilled by different fulfillment partners. Accordingly, the orders order requests are processed by an order request servicing system to, for example, split the order request into multiple processed order requests and each of the processed order requests is associated with an order request management system and prepared for transmission to the associated order request management system. The order request management systems can utilize the processed order requests to fulfill the order request. The order request management systems transmit order request management system data which provides, for example, order status information, financial information, and other data. The order request servicing system may, for example, internally process the order request management system data associated with an order request, transmit the order request management system data to the client system, or transmit the order request management system data to another system depending upon the nature of the order request management system data. Thus, the order request servicing system can transparently link users to one or more order request management systems. Additionally, the order request management systems can be linked together over a network, such as the Internet, to provide a network of order request management systems.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application relates to application Ser. No. 09/519,049, filed on Mar. 3, 2000, entitled “Rules-Based Order Server System and Method” and naming Igor Postelnik, Jocelyn E. Goldfein, and Phil G. Gilbert as inventors, the application being incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to a multi-source order request servicing system and more particularly relates to a system and method for receiving, servicing, and fulfilling order requests which supports at least one order request management system sources. The multi-source order request servicing system obtains and provides a response to each order request by integrating information from one or more sources.

2. Description of the Related Art

In the stream of commerce, numerous commercial transactions occur between multiple parties to enable a manufacturer to provide an item to a customer. Historically many, if not all, of these commercial transactions were insular and discreet, with respect to the other commercial transactions in the stream of commerce. Each involved business traditions and customs uniquely tailored for the commercial transaction at hand. These traditions and customs between merchants in the ordinary course of business evolved over centuries of dealing. As a result, the traditions and customs for any given commercial transaction often differ markedly from those associated with other commercial transactions. So pervasive were these traditions and customs that the first successful attempt to bring uniformity to commercial transactions did not occur until the 1950s, with the creation of the Uniform Commercial Code. To this day, however, the Uniform Commercial Code has not been adopted by every state in the Union. Uniformity in commercial transactions is lacking.

The advent of the Internet has intensified the need to bring uniformity with respect to certain aspects of commercial transactions. The Internet typically includes a plurality of users employing client terminals to order request information from a remote server computer. The remote server computer may then collect information from a variety of other computer systems to fulfill the user's order request, and presents the information to the user. To facilitate the transfer, the client terminals have a web browser that presents a web page containing information obtained from a server, and web servers store information using a standard protocol. One popular collection of servers uses a standardized Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to provide information and is known as the “World Wide Web.”

The information is typically presented as web pages written as text with standardized formatting and control symbols known as Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML). HTML provides basic document formatting and allows a server to specify “links” to other servers and files. Use of an HTML-compliant browser involves specification of a link via a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). Upon such specification, the user's client terminal makes a TCP/IP order request to the server identified in the link and receives an HTML file that is interpreted by the browser. An electronic HTML document made up of one or more web pages may be displayed on the client's terminal.

A drawback with the available technology employed to take advantage of the Internet concerns the diversity of computing systems involved in any given commercial transaction. Commercial transactions do not have a standard protocol which every computer system involved in a commercial transaction can understand. Ensuring compatibility between the various computer systems of the parties involved in the commercial transaction has proven daunting. The compatibility problem is exacerbated when attempting to perform commercial transactions involving the myriad of contractual rights and obligations that may exist between the parties.

A merchant, such as a merchant using the Internet to sell its goods and services, faces substantial challenges in obtaining information from the various parties involved in a commercial transaction. For instance, the merchant may not be the manufacturer of the goods it sells, and fulfilling orders for goods may involve complex supply and distribution chains including many other business partners (“suppliers”). Furthermore, the merchant may purchase goods or services from a supplier that does not directly supply the goods or services, but that is an intermediary business having its own supply and distribution chain. Information from all businesses in the supply chain involved in fulfilling an order would enable the merchant to provide complete, timely, and accurate responses to order requests from customers.

Accurate order information is likely stored in the suppliers' “order request management systems”, which are order request management systems that deal with managing orders for goods and services. Each supplier's order request management system in a supply chain is a potential source of order information. However, these order request management systems may be incompatible with the order request management system used by the merchant. The merchant desires access to timely and accurate order information from its suppliers' order request management systems. What is needed is a multi-source order request servicing system that allows the merchant's systems to integrate information from other parties' order request management systems to obtain complete, timely, and accurate information. An “order request servicing system” is a type of multi-source order request servicing system that deals with integrating information about orders from multiple sources in the supply chain, including suppliers' order request management systems.

A merchant may also prefer that its complex supply and distribution chain be invisible to its customers, so that the merchant appears to be directly selling to its customers using a “virtual direct sales model.” To use a virtual direct sales model, the merchant desires timely and accurate information from the multiple sources in all levels of the supply chain. The multiple sources in all levels of the supply chain include the order request management systems of the lower-level suppliers that supply goods or services to an upper-level supplier or reseller in a multi-level supply chain.

In a virtual direct sales model, the merchant integrates the order status information from multiple sources in the supply chain to present a complete response to an order from its customers. With accurate and timely integrated information, the merchant can serve as the single point of contact with its customers, hiding the fact that the merchant uses a complex supply chain to fulfill customer orders.

Most order request management systems do not address the problems of dealing with a complex chain of suppliers and do not provide the capability to transmit and receive information from a variety of supplier computer systems even in a single-level supply chain. Support for obtaining information from suppliers in a multi-level supply chain is not generally available. Existing order request management systems do not provide complete, timely, and accurate information needed to enable a virtual direct sales model.

In addition, most order request management systems are custom-written or modified to deal with the commercial transactions and business relationships of a particular business. These systems are usually not capable of managing orders for more than one business. In particular, these order request management systems are usually not capable of respecting the business relationships of each of a plurality of businesses sharing an order request servicing system. Sharing multi-source order request servicing systems such as an order request servicing system is especially desirable in the Internet environment, where merchants may not have or wish to expend the resources to develop their own multi-source order request servicing systems.

What is needed is a multi-source order request servicing system that allows the merchant's systems to communicate with multiple sources, including other parties' order request management systems. The multi-source information integration and routing system to integrates complete, timely, and accurate information from the multiple sources in response to a order request such as an order from a customer. The multi-source order request servicing system should be capable of managing order requests involving multiple businesses in a complex supply chain, while respecting the business relationships of each business within the supply chain. Furthermore, the order request servicing system should be flexible enough to be used by an intermediary information integrating organization to integrate information for more than one merchant. The multi-source order request servicing system should enable a merchant to use a virtual direct sales model to its customers. Finally, the multi-source order request servicing system should be capable of being chained to other multi-source order request servicing systems to enable direct access to all suppliers' order request management systems in a multi-level supply chain.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One embodiment of the present invention includes a transaction processing method utilizing an order request servicing system for routing order requests to multiple order request management systems (“ORMSs”) of fulfillment partners and integrating respective ORMS data from ORMSs of each fulfillment partner. The method includes receiving an order request, processing the order request into multiple processed order requests, and selecting fulfillment partners for each of the processed order requests. For each of the processed order requests, transmitting the processed order request to the ORMS of the selected fulfillment partner. The method further includes receiving from each of the ORMSs of the selected fulfillment partners ORMS data associated with the processed order request transmitted to the ORMS of the fulfillment partners and integrating the received ORMS data from the ORMSs of the fulfillment partners.

Another embodiment of the present invention includes an order servicing organization system for routing order requests to multiple order request management systems (“ORMSs”) of fulfillment partners and integrating respective ORMS data from ORMSs of each fulfillment partner. The order servicing organization system includes a first order request servicing system having an interface to receive an order request, having a memory to store business relationship information relating a client and the fulfillment parties, and having a processing engine to:process the order request into multiple processed order requests;select fulfillment partners for each of the processed order requests using the business relationship information;for each of the processed order requests, transmit the processed order request to the ORMS of the selected fulfillment partner;receive from each of the ORMSs of the selected fulfillment partners ORMS data associated with the processed order request transmitted to the ORMS of the fulfillment partners; andintegrate the received ORMS data from the ORMSs of the fulfillment partners.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description of the invention is intended to be illustrative only and not limiting.

An information integrating network enables members of the network to share integrated information of interest to several parties involved in business relationships. An example of an information integrating network is a transaction processing system having an order requests servicing network, which enables parties involved in the supply chain for an order to share information about the order. One skilled in the art will recognize that the system and method described for servicing orders can be used for servicing other types of order requests. Note that any references to “transactions” transmitted to an order request management systems may also be referred to as a processed order request. Note also that any references to “transactions” from an order request management system may also be referred to as processed order request management system data or order request management system data.

FIG. 1shows an embodiment of a transaction processing system having an order requests servicing network, including order request servicing systems embodied as order request servicing systems and order request management systems embodied as order request management systems. In this embodiment, the components of each network communicate using the Internet108. An order requests servicing network130is used by merchants selling and distributing items to receive, manage, and fulfill orders. An “order” is an example of an order request from a buyer, hereinafter “customer,” to purchase at least one item from a seller. The term “item” is used herein to include both goods and services.

The order requests servicing network130can respond to a variety of order requests concerning orders. An order is a type of order request, and an order status (such as “item shipped” or “item on backorder”) is a type of response to an order request. The term “order request” also includes a request to view information related to orders, such as a catalog, where the response is to present the catalog to the customer. An order request may be a request to return an item previously ordered, where responses are to credit the customer's account for the returned item, notify the customer of the credit, and transmit the item back to inventory. Generally, other types of order requests include a change to a previous order request, the response being to change the order request and respond accordingly to the changed order request; a cancellation of a previous order request, the response being to cancel the order request and any work in progress to respond to the order request; and an order request for the status of a previous order request, where the response is an order request status. Many other types of order requests are included in the term “order request” as used herein, and the corresponding responses are included in the term “order request response” as used herein. One skilled in the art will recognize that the system and method described for servicing orders can be used for servicing other types of order requests.

In order to represent the complex relationships in a multi-level supply chain, four different types of parties are used herein. The parties which may be involved in transmitting, managing, and fulfilling an order request include a customer, a client, an order request servicing organization, and one or more fulfillment partners. An order servicing organization is a type of an order request servicing organization that deals with orders. The customer submits an order request to the client, which submits an order request to the order servicing organization, which in turn uses fulfillment partners to fulfill the order request.

Each business in a supply chain may fulfill one or more roles in a supply chain, and a single business may fulfill one or more roles. For instance, a client serves both buyer and seller roles, because the client buys from a fulfillment partner and sells to the customer. As an example of a business fulfilling multiple roles, the customer and the client may be the same business and will probably fulfill the buyer role. Similarly, the client and the order servicing organization may be the same business, serving as either a buyer, a seller, or both. When the order servicing organization and the client are not the same business entity, the order servicing organization may act as an intermediary to service orders for many different clients.

Fulfillment partners include suppliers, resellers, distributors, and manufacturers that have a contractual relationship to a client. As an example of the four-party scenario above, a fulfillment partner sells items to an order servicing organization, which in turn sells the items to the client, which ultimately sells the item to the customer. Fulfillment partners may also include the order servicing organization itself or its divisions when the order servicing organization uses its own resources to fill an order. In a multi-level supply chain, a fulfillment partner may have its own complex supply chain involving multiple fulfillment partners of its own.

The parties involved in an order servicing network130are associated through relationships. For example, a client, order servicing organization, and fulfillment partner may have the following type of relationships:An ordering relationship between the client and a fulfillment partner, indicating that the client has a business relationship with the fulfillment partner;A pricing relationship between the client and the fulfillment partner. When the client and the order servicing organization are not the same business, a pricing relationship may exist between the client and the order servicing organization, and between the order servicing organization and the fulfillment partner;An availability relationship between the fulfillment partner and the client;An order fulfillment relationship between the fulfillment partner and the client; andA catalog relationship between the fulfillment partner and the client.

A customer102, which may be a person or a business, transmits an order request, such as an order, to the client using a client interface104to a client system105. Examples of a client interface104include a kiosk, a web storefront, an Internet terminal, or any other user interface to a client system105. The client system105then transmits the customer102order request to the order servicing organization's order request servicing system110. An example of an order request servicing system110is the OrderServer™ product by pcOrder.com, Inc.

A fulfillment partner is selected by the order request servicing system110to fulfill a portion or all of the order (order request). A selected fulfillment partner is called a provider. An order request management system120is a fulfillment partner's computer system for receiving, processing, and fulfilling order requests. An order request management system120may include an order request servicing system110.

An order servicing network130includes an order request servicing system110and one or more order request management systems120. An order servicing network130preferably includes a plurality of order request management systems120from which to select to fulfill an order request.

While the Internet is used herein as an example of how the order servicing network130is connected, other information networks may also be used. For example, the components of an order servicing network130could be connected using direct links such as T1or ISDN lines, through satellite or cellular networks using wireless technology, or through a local data transport system such as Ethernet or token ring over a local area network. In addition, although the order servicing networks130shown inFIG. 1do not overlap, order servicing networks130may overlap geographically and by including common order request servicing systems110or order request management systems120.

The order request servicing system110analyzes an order request from the client system105, may create processed order requests to be completed by an order request management system120, may create processed order requests for other systems202, and, if processed order requests are created, transmits the processed order requests to the appropriate computer systems.

If the order request from the client is an order, the order request servicing system110analyzes the order to identify items ordered and selects at least one order request management system120from the business relationships of the client using the client's routing rules. If more than one order request management system120is selected, the order request servicing system110prepares a provider order containing at least one item for each selected order request management system120. The order request management system110receives the provider order, processes the order, and provides the at least one item to the customer. During the entire process, the order request servicing system110integrates all order information from the providers' order request management systems, providing a single integrated source of complete, accurate, and timely order status information. A single integrated source of order information is possible in an order servicing network despite the fact that a complex network of suppliers, each managing its own orders with its own order request management system120, is involved in actually filling the order.

FIG. 1shows several client systems105, which enable a customer to transmit an order request, such as an order, which the client system105communicates to the order request servicing system110. A client system105of an order request servicing system110may take any of the following forms:Any computer system with a client interface104that is used by customers102to transmit order requests, such as orders, to an order request servicing system110. Examples of a client interface104include a kiosk, a web storefront, an Internet terminal, or any other user interface to a client system105. The client system105transmits the order request over a network (via an EDI gateway or an XML gateway) to the order request servicing system110.an order request servicing system110recursively calling itself to transmit an order. In this case, a single order request servicing system110serves as both a client and a server; ora first order request servicing system110calling a provider's order request management system120, where the provider's order request management system includes a second order request servicing system110. The first order request servicing system110acts as a client system105of the second order request servicing system110. This architecture allows a client or order servicing organization to chain multiple fulfillment partners, each with its own complex supply chains, to form an integrated source of order information.

The client system105provides an order request from the customer, such as an order, to the order request servicing system110.

One of the strengths of the order request servicing system110is that it can communicate with a variety of provider order request management systems120. The order servicing organization provides the order request servicing system110with an implementation of an interface to each order request management system120, which enables the order request servicing system110to communicate with the order request management system120as if the two systems were one.

The term centralized is used to describe the order request servicing system110not because of its physical location, but because communications between client systems105and order request management systems120pass through the order request servicing system110. The centralized nature of the communications provides the client with a single integrated source of order information, the order request servicing system110. The order servicing network130of order servicing organizations and fulfillment partners is completely transparent to the customer. This transparency enables the client to present a virtual direct sales model to its customers. In this situation, the order request servicing system110serves as a hub of an order servicing network130.

An order servicing organization may use a single order request servicing system110to service the orders of multiple clients. The order request servicing system is designed to enable different business relationships and business rules to be followed for fulfilling orders of each client. This design enables complex supply chains to be modeled and provides the flexibility needed to enable the virtual direct sales model. Again in this situation, the order request servicing system110serves as a hub of the order servicing network130.

A provider's order request management system120may include, but is not required to include, an order request servicing system110. If the provider's order request management system120includes an order request servicing system110, then the provider's order request servicing system110is a spoke in the order servicing organization's order servicing network130. The flexibility of the design of the order request servicing system110allows the order request servicing system110to serve as either a hub or a spoke in an order servicing network130. The capability to chain multiple order request servicing systems110together allows very complex supply chains to be modeled and enables a virtual direct sales model.

FIG. 1Ais a block diagram of a computer system, such as client systems105, order request servicing systems110, and order request management systems120shown inFIG. 1.FIG. 1Adepicts several computer systems14. Computer systems14may communicate with one or more other computer systems14via a network12, such as the Internet. In one embodiment, each computer system14includes one or more system buses22placing various components of the system in data communication. For example, system bus22allows data communication between processor24and both a read only memory (ROM)26and random access memory (RAM)28.

The ROM26contains among other code, the Basic Input-Output system (BIOS) which controls basic hardware operation such as the interaction with peripheral components such as keyboard34. Applications resident with a computer system14are generally stored on and accessed via a computer readable medium32, such as a hard disk drive, optical drive, floppy disk drive, compact disk, or other storage medium. Additionally, applications may be in the form of electronic signals modulated in accordance with the application and data communication technology when accessed via network12.

The RAM28is the main memory into which the operating system and application programs are loaded and generally affords at least 32 megabytes of memory space. Through data communication on system bus22, memory management chip36controls direct memory access (DMA) operations. DMA operations include passing data between the RAM28and the mass storage memory32. Also in data communication with the system bus22are various I/O controllers: a keyboard controller38, a mouse controller40and a video controller42. The keyboard controller38provides a hardware interface for the keyboard34, the mouse controller40provides the hardware interface for a mouse46, or other point and click device, and the video controller42provides a hardware interface for a display48.

A modem50or network circuitry (not shown) enables networked computer systems14to communicate data over a network12via any of various data communication technologies such as digital subscriber lines (“DSL”), asynchronous DSL, ISDN, or ordinary telephone lines. The operating system52of the computer system14may be WINDOWS NT, UNIX, or any other known operating system. The RAM28also supports a number of Internet access tools, including, for example, an HTTP-compliant Web browser having a JavaScript interpreter, such as Netscape Navigator 3.0, Microsoft Explorer 3.0, and other similar browsers.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the computer system shown inFIG. 1Aencompasses all types of computer systems including, for example, mainframes, minicomputers, workstations, servers, personal computers, Internet terminals, network1A appliances, notebooks, palm tops, personal digital assistants, and embedded systems. Computer system14may include additional or fewer components than shown inFIG. 1Aand described herein.

FIG. 2shows an overview of the operation of an embodiment of a multi-source order request servicing system, the order request servicing system110. As shown inFIG. 2, an order request such as an order placement or order inquiry flows from a customer to a client system105through an order request servicing system110to an order request management system120. Order request management system data such as a response to the order request flows back from the order request management system120through the order request servicing system110and client system105to the customer102.

For example, a customer102uses a client system105to transmit an order request, such as an order, to the order request servicing system110. Upon receiving an order request from the client system105, the order request servicing system110analyzes the order request and may transmit a processed order request management system120. If the client transmits an order, the order request servicing system110transmits at least one processed order request in the form of a provider order to at least one order request management system120. When the order request servicing system110receives a response to an order request, such as a provider order status order request management system data, it analyzes the information to determine whether to transmit additional transactions to the order request management systems120. Order request servicing system110also determines whether to transmit additional processed order request management system data, such as notification transactions to other systems202and the client system105, as shown at the bottom ofFIG. 2. These notification transactions include, but are not limited to, confirmations of orders and shipment to the client system105, which in turn notifies the customer102. Notification transactions also include other system202notification transactions, such as administrative systems notification transactions and financial systems notification transactions. Examples of a financial system notification are notification of an order request to charge the order to a credit card and notification of an order request to issue an invoice.

A response to an order request flows from the provider order request management systems120through the order request servicing system110and the client system105to the customer102. Both responses to order requests in real-time (allowing for processing and communication delays) and responses to a batch order request for an order request responses are communicated through the order request servicing system110. An example of an order request management system data flow from an order request management system120to a customer is a change in an order status detected as a result of analyzing a periodic batch order request by the order request servicing system110for updated provider statuses. Each provider order status is communicated to and analyzed by the order request servicing system110to produce an integrated order status for the order from which the provider order originated. A notification of the change in the integrated order status is sent via the client system105to the customer102. The updated provider order status may result in additional processed order request sent to order request management systems120and additional processed order request management system data, such as notification transactions, sent to other systems202, as shown at the bottom ofFIG. 2.

FIG. 3shows an environment in which the order request servicing system110operates in responding to an order request in the form of an order. A user management system310that resides outside the order request servicing system110manages a user database312. The user database312contains information about authorized clients of the order request servicing system110, including each client's relationships to its fulfillment partners.

Order service320is the core of the order request servicing system110that serves as a central point for collecting data and processing orders. In the embodiment shown inFIG. 3, the order request servicing system110is an object-oriented system using routing objects324and Order Request Provider Objects326to process orders.

Order service320receives an order request in the form of an order from a client system105. Order Service320then requests the user management system310to retrieve business relationships from the user database312for the client of the order. Business relationships include an identification of associated business rules to be used in fulfilling the order for the client.

If the order request is an order, a routing object324determines whether the order should be split into portions, with one portion for each provider selected to provide an item included in the order. As noted above, the term “item” encompasses both goods and services. The term “item” is also used herein to include multiple quantities of the same good or service. As used herein, an order for one computer, one printer, and five monitors could be interpreted several ways depending on the business rules and relationships of the client. The order could be interpreted as containing seven items, the first item being the computer, the second item being the printer, and the third through seventh items each being one of the five monitors. According to the business rules of another organization, the same order could be interpreted as three items, the first item being the computer, the second item being the printer, and the third item being the five monitors. Still another interpretation might be that the order contains four items, the first item being the computer, the second item being the printer, the third item being a subset of the five computers, and the fourth item being the remaining subset of the five computers. Yet another interpretation might be that the order includes two items, the first item comprising a computer system including the computer, printer, and one of the monitors, and the second item being the remaining four monitors. Many other permutations are possible depending upon the business rules and relationships of the client.

Routing rules for selecting a fulfillment partner of a particular client are encapsulated in a routing object324. The routing object324uses routing rules to select from the client's business relationships a fulfillment partner to provide each item ordered. Each selected fulfillment partner is called a provider. Routing objects324communicate the selected providers for the order to order service320by producing a fulfillment plan which pairs each item in the order with a selected provider.

Based upon the fulfillment plan, order service320creates a provider order for each provider selected to fulfill the order. Each provider order includes at least one item to be provided by the provider. An integration interface330is used to ensure that each provider order440corresponds to the corresponding provider's order request management system120format.

An integration interface330consists of an interface, which specifies the types of transactions that are necessary to communicate with a type of multi-source order request servicing system such as order request management system120, and an implementation of the interface, which provides the procedures and data structures necessary for communicating with a particular order request management system120. An integration interface330provides the information necessary to reformat an order request such as an order from a format of the order request servicing system110to a format of the order request management system120. The term “format” is used herein to describe the structure of the data and the procedures used to transmit and receive data so that the data can be understood by the receiving system.

In the embodiment described above forFIGS. 3 and 4, the interface implementation includes integration objects that translate data from the order request servicing system110format to the order request management system120format. An integration object transmits a transaction to the order request management system120. Integration objects may be implemented as application program interfaces (APIs), including Java classes. An example of an integration interface330implementation is an Order Request Provider Object326, which is used to construct and transmit provider orders440that correspond to the selected provider's order request management system120format.

Order service320stores a copy of the provider order in order database322, including provider information and a provider order status. Other embodiments of a multi-source order request servicing system may include other types of databases to store order requests and order request responses. Each provider order record is linked to the at least one order record for the order from which the provider order originates. Routing object324routes the provider order to an Order request Provider Object326, which in turn transmits the provider order to the provider's order request management system120.

An Order Request Provider Object326is a type of integration object. Each Order Request Provider Object326represents a provider and defines procedures for transmitting order requests to the provider's order request management system120and receiving order request management system data such as order request responses from the provider's order request management system120. An Order Request Provider Object326, in one embodiment, must know how to validate an order from a client for a selected order request management system120, transmit a provider order to the provider's order request management system120, and obtain an provider order status from the provider's order request management system120.

FIG. 4shows an information flow resulting from receiving an order request in the form of an order through an embodiment of a multi-source order request servicing system, the order request servicing system110shown inFIG. 3. A client system105transmits an order410from a customer102to the order request servicing system110. The order request servicing system110receives the order410and uses a routing object324to determine whether to split the order into portions according to the different items ordered. The routing object324selects a provider for each item from the business relationships retrieved by the user management system310and associated routing rules. The routing object324produces a fulfillment plan430for the order indicating a selected provider for each item ordered. Provider orders440are created by the routing object324for each provider selected. Order Request Provider Objects326transmit the provider orders440to the providers' order request management systems120. Each provider order contains only the items that the corresponding provider is to supply.

FIG. 5is a detailed block diagram of one embodiment of a multi-source order request servicing system, the order request servicing system110. Customers102place an order request using a client system105, which provides a client interface104. Types of client interfaces104include but are not limited to kiosks, computer systems accessing a web storefront, and computer systems communicating with the order request servicing system110via a network interface. Order request servicing systems110transmit processed order requests to order request management systems120and other systems202. The order request servicing system110contains a number of modules, common to multi-source order request servicing systems, which will be discussed in further detail below.

The detailed diagram for order request servicing system1shows several information flows through the order request servicing system110. In the Receive Order request510module, the order request servicing system110receives an order request from a client system105. Components of order service320ofFIG. 3are included in the Receive Order request510module.

The order request servicing system110can receive data via a network interface such as an electronic data interchange (EDI) gateway or an extensible markup language (XML) gateway. The EDI gateway used by order request servicing system110can receive data by electronic data interchange, by file transfer protocol, by Internet protocol, and from value-added networks. The XML gateway can receive data by hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) from markup languages, including hypertext markup language (HTML) and extended markup languages such as XML.

If the order request is an order, at least one record of the order is created and stored in order database322.

In the Analyze Order Request/Response and Create Necessary Transactions module520, the order request servicing system110determines the source and type of order request, determines the necessary transactions to respond to the order request and to notify other systems202of the order request, and creates those transactions. The Analyze Order Request/Response and Create Necessary Transactions module520may use business rules522, business relationship data524, routing rules526, and routing data528to determine the necessary transactions and the appropriate systems to receive transactions (such as order requests and order request management system data) for the order request. In the object-oriented embodiment of the order request servicing system110shown inFIGS. 3 and 4, the order request servicing system110uses routing objects324and business relationship objects314to generate transactions. The Analyze Order Request/Response and Create Necessary Transactions module520also structures the transactions in a format corresponding to the receiving systems. In the object-oriented embodiment of the order request servicing system110shown inFIGS. 3 and 4, the order request servicing system110uses Order request Provider Objects326to ensure that the transactions correspond to the format of the order request management systems120.

Transactions created for an order by the Analyze Order Request/Response and Create Necessary Transactions module520are sent to the appropriate systems by the Transmit Transactions to Order request management systems module530and the Transmit Transactions to Other Systems module560. As noted on the diagram, each transaction directed to an order request management system120must pass through an integration interface330to ensure that the order request management system120can process the transaction. Similarly, each transaction of order request management system data sent to an other system must pass through an other systems interface565to ensure that the transaction corresponds to the receiving system. The Analyze Order Request/Response and Create Necessary Transactions module520ensures that each transaction corresponds to the receiving systems when the transaction is created. The Transmit Processed Order Request to Order request Management Systems module530uses the Order request Provider Objects326described above to transmit provider orders to the order request management systems120.

Information also flows from the order request management systems120through the order request servicing system110to the client system105to the customer. Receive order request management system data module540receives order request data, such as provider order statuses, from order request management systems120which may be responses to order requests such as order inquiries.

The Analyze Order Request/Response and Create Necessary Transactions module520analyzes the order request management system data from the order request management systems120. The order request management system data is analyzed in a manner similar to that described for analyzing order requests from client systems105. If the order request management system data is a provider order status, the order request servicing system110may integrate all provider order statuses for the order and provide an updated order status to the client system105to be communicated to the customer102. The Analyze Order Request/Response and Create Necessary Transactions module520also structures each transaction in a format corresponding to the system to receive the information.

FIG. 5also illustrates the flexibility of the order request servicing system110. As described above, the order request servicing system110communicates with a variety of diverse order request management systems120, which meets a long-felt need to communicate with multiple fulfillment partners' order request management systems120to obtain current and accurate order status information.

In addition, the order request servicing system110can recursively call itself to fill an order. For example, if a division of an order servicing organization fills the organization's own orders, one of the order request management systems120called by the order request servicing system110includes the order request servicing system110itself. The recursive call from order request servicing system1to itself is shown by arrow532inFIG. 5.

Finally, the order request servicing system110can interface with a provider's order request management system120that is also an order request servicing system110, as shown by the order request servicing system2and order request servicing system N modules inFIG. 5. The ability to chain multiple order request servicing systems110together enables a business to model its complex supply chains and to present a virtual direct sales model to its customers. In the embodiment shown inFIG. 5, each of order request servicing system2and order request servicing system N serves a spoke in the order servicing network130with order request servicing system1as a hub. In addition, each of order request servicing system2and order request servicing system N serves as a hub in its own order servicing network130.

FIG. 6shows a flowchart of the operation of the Analyze Order Request/Response and Create Necessary Transactions module520. The types of order requests and responses shown inFIG. 6are for illustrative purposes only, as the order request servicing system110can analyze many other types of order requests and responses.

Step610, Determine Source of Information, includes determining the source of information received by the Receive Order request510module and the Receive Response540module. In step612, the order request servicing system110determines whether the source of the information is the client system. If the source is not the client system, the information received may be a response and order request servicing system110proceeds to step614. If the source is the client system, the information received is an order request and order request servicing system110proceeds to step620.

In step620, order request servicing system110has received an order request. Order request servicing system110determines whether the order request is an order. If the order request is not an order, order request servicing system110proceeds to step630. If the order request is an order, order request servicing system110proceeds to step622.

In step622, order request servicing system110analyzes the order and creates the necessary transactions to fulfill the order. Step622will be discussed in further detail below. After completing step622, the order request servicing system110proceeds to step660.

Returning to step630, if the order request is not an order, the order request servicing system110determines in step630whether the order request is an order request for order status. If the information is not an order request for order status, the order request servicing system110proceeds to step635to determine whether the information represents another valid type of client order request. If so, the order processing system110proceeds to step637to process the information, and then proceeds to step660. If not, order request servicing system proceeds to step655to perform error handling and then proceeds to step660.

Returning to step630, if the order request is a valid order request for order status, the order request servicing system110proceeds to step632to analyze the order request and create necessary transactions to fulfill the order request. Step632will be discussed in more detail below. From step632, the order request servicing system110proceeds to step634to mark the order records stored in order database322with a notation that an order request for order status is outstanding. From step634, the order request servicing system110proceeds to step660. The order request servicing system110then waits to receive the provider order statuses from the provider order request management systems120.

Returning to step614, if the source of the information is not an order request management system120, the order request servicing system110proceeds to step616to determine whether the source is another valid source of information. Step616and step650illustrate that the order request servicing system110may process information from sources in addition to the client systems105and order request management systems120. From step650, order request servicing system110proceeds to step660. If the source is not valid, order request servicing system proceeds to step655to perform error handling and then proceeds to step660.

In step614, if the source of the information received is an order request management system120, the information received is order request management system data such as an order request response. Order request servicing system110proceeds to step640to determine whether the response is a provider order status. If the order request response is not a provider order status, the order request servicing system110proceeds to step645to analyze whether the response is another valid type of response and to step647to process the other response from the order request management system120. Step645and step647illustrate that the order request servicing system110may process other types of responses from order request management systems120in addition to provider order statuses. From step647, order request servicing system110proceeds to step660. If the information received is not a valid response, order request servicing system proceeds to step655to perform error handling and then proceeds to step660.

Returning to step640, if the response is a provider order status, in step642the order request servicing system110analyzes the provider order status and creates the necessary order request management system data transactions to correspond to the request response. For instance, the order request servicing system110may determine that it is desirable to order request provider order statuses for each provider order related to the order to provide an updated order status to the client system105. Step642will be discussed in more detail below. Upon completing step642, the order request servicing system110proceeds to step660.

In step655, order request servicing system110has received information that is not a valid order request or response. Order request servicing system110performs error handling and then proceeds to step660.

From steps634,637,642, and647, the order request servicing system110proceeds to step660. In step660, the order request servicing system110has completed processing of the Analyze Order Request/Response and Create Necessary Transactions module520and continues to module530ofFIG. 5to transmit the created processed order request transactions to the corresponding order request management systems120. Order request servicing system110may also continue to module560to transmit processed order request management system data transactions to other systems202.

FIG. 7shows a flowchart of the operation of the Analyze Order step622ofFIG. 6. In step710, the order request servicing system110verifies the client's credentials to ensure that the client has proper authority to order items using the order request servicing system110. In the embodiment of the order request servicing system110shown inFIGS. 3 and 4, order service320calls the user management system310to verify the client's credentials. In step712, the order service320creates one or more records to represent the order410in order database322. In step714, the order service320order requests relationship information for the client from user management system310. The relationship information is used to select the fulfillment partners to provide the items in the client's order. In step716, the routing object324selects providers for each item ordered by the client from the relationships for the client retrieved in step714.

In step718, the routing object324generates a fulfillment plan430for the order410, with each item of the order related to a provider fulfillment partner. In step720, order service320creates processed order request transactions in the form of a provider order440for each order request management system120to fulfill one or more items of the order. Each provider order440must correspond to the order format required by the corresponding provider's order request management system120. A routing object324uses an Order request Provider Object326to translate data from the order request servicing system110format to the selected order request management system120format. The Order request Provider Object326transmits the provider order410to the corresponding provider's order request management system120.

In step722, the order request servicing system110determines whether other system202notification transactions are needed in addition to the provider order. If other system202notification transactions are not needed in step722, the order request servicing system110proceeds to step730to continue processing. If other system202notification transactions are needed, order request servicing system110proceeds to step724to create order request management system data notification transactions for the corresponding other systems202. For example, billing information might be provided to a financial system for invoicing immediately upon generating the fulfillment plan. In the object-oriented embodiment described above, notification objects are created. Order request servicing system110then proceeds to step730, which completes processing of step622, Analyze Order and Create Necessary Transactions. The order request servicing system110has also completed module520, Analyze Order Request/Response and Create Necessary Transactions. Order request servicing system110may then use module550ofFIG. 5to transmit the created transactions to the client systems105. Order request servicing system may use module560to transmit the created transactions to the other systems202.

FIG. 8shows a flowchart of the operation of the Analyze Order Request/Response for Order Status632module. The order request servicing system110may request updated provider order status information from the order request management systems120in real-time (allowing for transmission and processing delays). For example, a real-time query might be issued in response to a customer order request for an order status. Each order request management system120will provide a provider order status in response to an order request for order status. The order request servicing system110determines an overall order status from the related provider order statuses, which it conveys to the order requesting client system105, which in turn conveys the order status to the customer.

The order request servicing system110may also receive provider order statuses from its own batch order request for order status. The order request servicing system110determines the effect of the updated provider order statuses on the related order statuses. The order request servicing system110notifies the client system105of changes in order status but may create no transactions if the order status has not changed. In response to a notification transaction, the client system105notifies the customer.

The customer provides an order number in the order request for order status. In step810, order service320verifies the order number supplied. In step820, the order service320retrieves the provider order440records from order database322that are associated with the order number. In step830, order service320prepares processed order request transaction in the form of an order request for provider order status to each provider's order request management system120.

In step840, the order request servicing system110determines whether other system202notification transactions are needed in addition to the order requests for provider order statuses. If other system202notification transactions are not needed in step840, the order request servicing system110proceeds to step860to exit the analysis of the order request for order status and return to module530ofFIG. 5, Transmit Transactions to Order request management systems. If other system202notification transactions are needed, order request servicing system110proceeds to step850to create the order request management system data notification transactions for the corresponding other systems202. Order request servicing system110then proceeds to step860, which completes step632, Analyze Order Request/Response for Order Status and Create Necessary Transactions. The order request servicing system110has also completed module520, the Analyze Order Request/Response and Create Necessary Transactions, and uses module550ofFIG. 5to transmit the created processed order request management system data transactions to the order request management systems120and other systems202. A response to the order request will be provided by the Analyze Provider Order Status642step.

FIG. 9shows a flowchart of the Analyze Provider Order Status642step. The order request servicing system110has received a response in the form of a provider order status from an order request management system120. A provider order status includes a response to the following types of order requests: an order request for order status from a customer, and a batch order request to update order status which is run periodically.

In step910, the order request servicing system110retrieves from order database322the provider orders for which a provider order status has been received, in addition to all other provider order records for the related order. Order request servicing system110then proceeds to step920to update the corresponding provider order records with the provider order status received. Order request servicing system110then proceeds to step930to determine the order status for the order from the provider order records associated with the order. The provider order statuses for the provider orders making up the order are integrated to provide an overall order status.

In step940, order request servicing system110determines whether the order has an outstanding order request for order status. If the order has an outstanding order request for order status, order request servicing system110proceeds to step950. If the order does not have an outstanding order request for an order status, order request servicing system110proceeds to step942.

In step942, no order request for an order status is outstanding. If there is no change in order status, order request servicing system110does not notify the client of the receipt of the updated provider order status because the overall order status is unaffected. Rather, order request servicing system110proceeds to step940to determine if other system202notification transactions are needed.

In step942, if there has been a change in order status, order request servicing system110proceeds to step960.

Returning to step940, if order request servicing system110has determined that an order request for order status is outstanding, order request servicing system110proceeds to step950. In step950, order request servicing system110determines whether all provider order statuses for the order have been received. If all provider order statuses for the order have not been received, the order request servicing system110proceeds to step970to wait for other provider order statuses to arrive. If all provider order statuses for the order have been received, the order request servicing system110proceeds to step960.

In step960, either an order request for order status was outstanding and all provider order status responses have been received, or an order request management system120has sent an updated provider order status that affects an overall order status. In step960, the order request servicing system110creates an order request management system data notification transaction containing the order status to be sent to the client system105.

In step970, the order request servicing system110determines whether other system202notification transactions are needed in addition to the notification of the client system105of a changed or updated order status. If other system202notification transactions are needed, order request servicing system110proceeds to step980to create the notification transactions for the corresponding other systems202. If other system202notification transactions are not needed in step970, the order request servicing system110proceeds to step990to complete the analysis of the order request for order status.

In step990, the order request servicing system110has completed step642, the Analyze Provider Order Status step. The order request servicing system110has also completed module520, the Analyze Order Request/Response and Create Necessary Transactions, and uses module550ofFIG. 5, Send Transactions to Client System, to transmit the order status to the client systems105.

While the invention has been described with respect to the embodiments and variations set forth above, these embodiments and variations are illustrative and the invention is not to be considered limited in scope to these embodiments and variations. For example, in another embodiment, the order request servicing system may be implemented in a software environment that does not use the object-oriented paradigm. Accordingly, various other embodiments and modifications and improvements not described herein may be within the spirit and scope of the present invention.