Patent ID: 7809613

Claim:
A computer-implemented method to maintain a plurality of dealer inventories in a supply chain management system having a plurality of participants, the method comprising: sharing a plurality of dealer inventory data objects that represent the plurality of dealer inventories within the supply chain management system, wherein the plurality of dealer inventory data objects, located with the supply chain management system of a second participant, are owned by a first participant; providing a plurality of interfaces, by a computer processor, to permit access to the plurality of dealer inventory data objects; granting the first participant read and write access through the plurality of interfaces to the plurality of dealer inventory data objects; granting the second participant read and write access to the plurality of dealer inventory data objects via the plurality of interfaces; granting additional participants read and write access to the plurality of dealer inventory data objects via the plurality of interfaces; and supporting online collaboration through the plurality of interfaces among the additional participants, the first participant, and the second participant.