Patent ID: 7596543

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for processing an electronic document by one or more computer network components having network addresses in a computer network, the method comprising the steps performed by a computer of: identifying, by a processor included in the computer, a plurality of approval items requiring status manipulation operations within the electronic document; grouping together the approval items to form a plurality of approval objects based on the properties of the approval items, wherein at least one of the approval items is included in a first one of the plurality of approval objects and a second one of the plurality of approval objects; associating each approval object with at least one of a plurality of computer network components based on the properties of the approval object; routing each approval object to the network addresses of the associated computer network components for status manipulation processing, wherein the status manipulation processing of each approval object comprises processing the approval items included in each approval object; determining whether one of the processed approval items has been modified by at least one of the associated computer network components; re-grouping the modified approval item into a different one of the approval objects for routing to at least one of the associated computer network components for further status manipulation processing, when the determination is positive; correlating one of the processed approval items with a vendor node and including the processed approval item in a follow-on electronic document corresponding to the vendor node when single source procurement is appropriate; correlating each one of the processed approval items with multiple vendor nodes and including each one of the processed approval items in multiple follow-on electronic documents individually corresponding to the vendor nodes when competitive procurement is appropriate, wherein multiple processed approval items are included in one of the follow-on electronic documents; and transmitting the follow-on electronic documents to the vendor nodes.