Patent ID: 7516088

Claim:
A sales force automation system for submitting a purchase order in a sales process, comprising: one or more computer processors; data component in communication with the one or more computer processors configured to store order requirements information, configuration information from proposals, and customer information; communication component configured to support electrically remote access communications with a back office system; order management software module in communication with the one or more computer processors that retrieves data from the data component, the module being programmed to (i) check purchase order requirements based on order requirements information from the data component, (ii) retrieve configuration information from a proposal, (iii) retrieve customer information, and (iv) create a work session file used to manage information related to the purchase order; and management module in communication with the one or more computer processors configured to detect a purchase order submittal process and instruct a module in a back office system to update a sales management forecast to reflect the purchase order submittal process, the management module being configured to operate even when disconnected from the back office system such that data to instruct the module in the back office system to update is placed in the communication component and automatically transmitted at a next connected session with the back office system.