Patent ID: 7496519

Claim:
A method comprising: retrieving and storing data for subsequent processing by an integrated, electronic supply chain processing computer engine, including retrieving and storing respective sets of first data, including business rules, corresponding to disparate and separately-operating entity participants, including buyers and sellers, and respective sets of second data corresponding to contract terms for executing multiple transactions involving the disparate and separately-operating entity participants, and a plurality of algorithms, each of the plurality of algorithms using first data, from the sets of the first data, corresponding to at least two of the disparate and separately-operating entity participants, and second data, from the sets of the second data, including previously-negotiated parameters corresponding to prospective transactions, each prospective transaction involving said at least two of the disparate and separately-operating entity participants, and variable parameters that impact prices for the multiple transactions; and in a computer-based data processor, performing the following steps for each of the prospective transactions, selecting one of the plurality of algorithms, and selecting previously-negotiated parameters for execution by the selected one of the plurality of algorithms, retrieving current transaction data that corresponds to a parameter in the set of variable parameters on which the selected one of the plurality of algorithms operates, executing the selected one of the plurality of algorithms with the selected previously-negotiated parameters and with retrieved current transaction data to automatically derive a new term, assessing for validation said one of the prospective transactions for an actual transaction with the new term at least partly defining a price for the actual transaction and, in the event that said one of the prospective transactions is validated for an actual transaction, generating payment data based on the price, and in the event that said one of the prospective transactions is not validated for an actual transaction, generating exception data that identifies a reason said one of the prospective transactions is not to be validated.