Patent ID: 7949578

Claim:
A sales force automation system for a price information update in a sales proposal process, the sales force automation system comprising: a salesperson support system configured to support a sales personnel with a particular task related to respective phases of the sales proposal process; and a back office system configured to exchange sales information with the salesperson support system to provide support for the salesperson support system, wherein the salesperson support system and the back office system each comprises: one or more processors; a data component in communication with the one or more processors and configured to store price data; a communication component configured to support remote access communications to allow for an exchange of the sales information; and a management module configured to detect the price information update, update the price data stored in the data component, and mark old information as invalid in a configuration database of the data component, and wherein: the communication component of the salesperson support system and the communication component of the back office system are communicatively coupled to each other, the salesperson support system further comprises a proposal module configured to generate a customized proposal by retrieving data from the data component, and the management module of the salesperson support system is configured to operate even when disconnected from the back office system such that the price information update is received and automatically processed at a next connected session with the back office system, and to detect generation of the customized proposal and notify the back office system to update to reflect same.