Patent ID: 7792721

Claim:
A method for providing approval and allocation of costs associated with purchases from a supplier against a pre-existing electronic procurement contract between the supplier and an organization having a plurality of cost centers, the method comprising: receiving, at a computer-based electronic invoice processing system, an electronic invoice from the supplier; validating, by the invoice processing system, at least a portion of information in the electronic invoice; matching, by the invoice processing system, the electronic invoice with the pre-existing electronic procurement contract; validating, by the invoice processing system, rate information included in the electronic invoice information with a contract rate from the pre-existing electronic procurement contract; determining, by the invoice processing system, an allocation code associated with the electronic invoice, wherein the allocation code is determined based upon at least one of input received from a user interface, a line item of the electronic invoice and the procurement contract; determining an allocation rule based upon the allocation code and an effective date associated with the allocation rule; allocating, by the invoice processing system and based upon the allocation rule, costs associated with procurement to at least one of the plurality of cost centers using validated information from the electronic invoice; and wherein the pre-existing electronic procurement contract specifies a contractual obligation between the supplier and the organization regarding procurement costs.