Patent ID: 8494925

Claim:
A method for administrating an order comprising the steps, implemented by a computer, of: receiving, at a first participant, a customer order that specifies a predetermined quantity of products; generating, by a processor of the first participant, a first group of inventory data objects, the first group of inventory data objects representing inventory owned by the first participant; receiving, by an interface accessible to the first participant, a second group of inventory data objects from a second participant external to the first participant, the second group of inventory data objects: representing the inventory owned by the second participant, identifying an available portion of the inventory owned by the second participant; and identifying the second participant; searching, with the processor of the first participant, the first group of inventory data objects for the ordered products; searching, at the first participant, the first group of inventory data objects for replacement products if the ordered products are not located within the first group of inventory data objects; checking availability of the ordered quantity of products if the ordered products or replacement products are located within the first group of inventory data objects; searching, at the first participant, the second group of inventory data objects for the ordered products if the ordered products and replacement products are not located or are not available within the first group of inventory data objects, analyzing the first or second group of inventory data objects to estimate a demand forecast of the ordered products, maintaining the order as unconfirmed if the ordered products are not located within the second group of inventory data objects; checking availability of the ordered quantity of products if the ordered products are located within the second group of inventory data objects; wherein the first, or second group of inventory data objects are stored in a time series, and each of the first or second group of inventory data objects comprises at least an ID representative of the Inventory data object, an ID representative of the product location, an ID representative of the product or a number representative of the available quantity.