Patent ID: 7844501

Claim:
A computer implemented method for interfacing an enterprise customer and a supplier, the method comprising: via first interface at a supplier connect component of the supplier that provides a service, receiving over the Internet a request for the service from an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system associated with the enterprise customer; mapping the request from a first format compatible with the first interface to a second format compatible with a second interface of the supplier connect component interfacing with a backend system of the supplier; invoking a method of the backend system of the supplier via the second interface to provide the requested service to the enterprise customer responsive to the mapped request; in response to a result of the invocation of the method of the backend system via the second interface, mapping the result of the invocation to a response compatible with the first format of the first interface, wherein the first format of the first interface is designed by a vendor of the ERP system and the second format of the second interface is designed and developed by the supplier, wherein functionality of mapping and the second interface are developed and maintained by the supplier; returning the response to the enterprise customer via the first interface over the Internet; implementing the first interface as a first public function member of a base class in an object-oriented programming environment and the second interface is implemented as a private function member of a derived class that is derived from the base class, wherein the derived class includes a second public function member that overloads the first public member to interface with the ERP system, and wherein the second public function is configured to invoke a mapping function for mapping between the first and second formats and to invoke the method by calling the private function member of the derived class.