Patent ID: 7395228

Claim:
A system of managing a supply chain within a multi-enterprise environment via a computer network, said multi-enterprise environment including a manufacturing enterprise, the system comprising: a host system; a network link to at least one supply chain entity; and an a-source application stored on the host system wherein the a-source application comprises computer executable code which, when executed by the host system, causes the host system to perform the following steps of: receiving a bill of material file; processing said bill of material file including verifying demographic information, collecting data pertaining to pricing and items listed in external warehouse files, and mapping the items to a commodity; generating a bid request from said bill of material file resulting from the processing and transmitting said bid request to a web site of the manufacturing enterprise; receiving marketing data relating to the bill of material file including customer demand for components manufactured by the manufacturing enterprise; receiving at least one bid response by said at least one supply chain entity via the network link; analyzing said bid response in view of results of the processing of said bill of material file to determine which of the components manufactured by the manufacturing enterprise are in demand by customers at a given time; generating an award notice based at least in part on customer demand and availability of components produced internally compared to similar components offered by outside sources; transmitting said award notice to said at least one supply chain entity, based upon results of said analyzing; and tracking selected activities in a log.