Patent ID: 7983958

Claim:
A method for managing a supplier for participation in a plurality of trading networks, comprising: implementing, via a computer, the steps of: receiving from each said trading network a volume commitment consolidating a plurality of trading network customer volume commitments for said offerings of commodities and services; negotiating an offering with each said trading network to supply to customer members of said trading network said commodity or service; building, in an electronic storage device for each of said plurality of trading networks, a trading network entity, said trading network entity including for said supplier a supplier entity with attributes including start date, end date, sets of services and products offered to said trading network, and payment flow for said commodities and services; offering at least one trading network package, said trading network package based on negotiations occurring prior to receiving purchase requests from said customer members; selectively defining each said trading network package as including: a trading network value-add service offering offered by said trading network to said customer members for a fee, and a managed package for which a customer member of said customer members provides a volume commitment against which actual purchases are tracked; and negotiating price discount levels for committed levels of demand from said trading networks.