Patent ID: 7373326

Claim:
A system for developing and using a request for transaction framework comprising: a framework engine configured to enable a market maker to develop a request for transaction framework for a particular market, wherein the framework engine creates the request for transaction framework for the particular market based on attribute parameters selected and defined by the market maker; and a request for transaction engine to manage a request for transaction using the request for transaction framework, and configured to enable an organization within the particular market to prepare a request relating to a resource requirement and select a response relating to the resource requirement, including selecting a response relating to the resource requirement by sorting a set of received responses based on price when two or more prices in the received responses differ by more than a preset amount and when the prices in the received responses do not differ by more than the preset amount, sorting the set of received responses based on another predetermined attribute in the response, wherein the preset amount is set based on input to the request for transaction means from a user of the system, wherein the request for transaction engine comprises a request engine, a response engine, and an analysis engine; wherein the analysis engine enables an organization to perform an analysis framework on a plurality of responses based on an extensible number of attributes, the analysis framework available to the organization being determined by the market maker using the framework engine and the extensible number of attributes comprising a set of attributes from an existing set of attributes and at least one new attribute defined by a user of the system and not present in the existing set of attributes, wherein the at least one new attribute is defined by setting an attribute value constraint defining at least one of selectable default values for the at least one new attribute, value ranges for the at least one new attribute, and a mandatory or optional setting for the at least one new attribute; wherein the request comprises structured attribute information relating to the resource requirement, the structured attribute information being defined by the market maker using the framework engine.