GB2352848A

GB2352848A - Computer system for goods procurement including consolidating orders

Info

Publication number: GB2352848A
Application number: GB9917994A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Roy James Bunyan; Christopher John Stokes; Graham Tull
Original assignee: Fujitsu Services Ltd
Current assignee: Fujitsu Services Ltd
Priority date: 1999-07-31
Filing date: 1999-07-31
Publication date: 2001-02-07
Also published as: GB9917994D0

Abstract

A computer system (10) for procurement of goods from a plurality of suppliers (19) on behalf of a plurality of customers (11) comprises means (13) for receiving orders for goods from the customers, means (16) for consolidating the customer orders, and means (18) for placing the consolidated orders with the suppliers. The system may break down orders, e.g. for office stationary, into individual items, consolidate these individual item orders for a number of customers, on a daily basis identify which items to order, liaise with suppliers to find the best deals available, and place the orders, so that bulk purchasing discounts may be obtained by consolidating together many small orders.

Description

2352848 COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR PROCUFMONT OF WODS

Background to the invention

This invention relates to a computer system for procurement of goods from suppliers on behalf of customers.

Customers (such as small and medium sized enterprises) ordering small quantities of goods (e.g. office stationery) generally have to pay full retail prices for these goods and are not able to take advantage of bulk purchasing discounts.

One objective of this invention is to allow such customers to take advantage of bulk purchasing discounts that would not otherwise be available to them.

Summary of the Invention

According to the invention, a computer system for procurement of goods from a plurality of suppliers on behalf of a plurality of customers comprises: (a) means for receiving orders for goods from the customers; (b) means for consolidating the customer orders; and (c) means for placing the consolidated orders with the suppliers.

Preferably, the system also includes means for obtaining pricing information from the suppliers, and for using this pricing information to determine which suppliers to place the consolidated orders with. For example, this may allow the system to take advantage of special offers from the suppliers.

Preferably, each customer order has a required delivery date associated with it, and the system is arranged to delay placing consolidated orders until a date determined by the earliest required delivery date of the customer orders that have been consolidated into that consolidated order. By delaying the consolidated orders in this way, the opportunities for further consolidation are increased.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a computer system embodying the invention.

Figure 2 to 4 are flow diagrams showing the operation of various components the system., Description of an Embod:Lment of the InventIon

One embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The embodiment to be described relates to a service for business customers to order office stationery. Referring to Figure 1, the service is provided by a computer 10, which provides the service to a number of customers 11. Basic details of each customer are held on a customer details database 12. Customers can place orders using a customer order module 13, which has access to a full stationery catalogue 14 of items that can be ordered via the system. The customer orders are stored in a customer orders database 15.

A consolidation agent 16 processes the customer orders, by breaking them down into individual items, and then consolidating them. The consolidated orders are stored in a consolidated orders database 17.

Periodically, e.g. at a specified time each day, a procurement agent 18 runs; this determines from the consolidated orders database the items to be ordered, and then interfaces with a number of suppliers 19 to identify the best prices available.

The procurement agent then places orders with the appropriate suppliers, updating the consolidated orders database and the customer orders database. Subsequently, and outside the scope of this invention, the suppliers deliver the stationery to the customers, either directly or through a third party.

Referring to Figure 2, the operation of the customer order module 13 will now be described.

(step 21) The customer logs on to the system, e.g. over the Internet. Each customer has a unique identifier, e.g. a customer number, and a means of authentication, e.g. a password.

(step 22) The customer's details are retrieved from the database 12, based on the identifier entered. These will include the delivery address and invoicing details, as well as details of the customer's regular stationery order.

(step 23) The customer specifies whether this is a regular order, from a subset of the main catalogue which they have established, or an ad hoc order from the full catalogue.

(step 24) For regular orders, a subset of items from the main catalogue is presented to the customer, along with the usual order quantity of each item.

(step 25) For ad hoc orders, the full stationery catalogue is presented, with a variety of searching mechanisms.

(step 26) From either the regular order list or the full catalogue, the customer specifies required items, along with the quantity required and the required delivery date for the order (or individual items within it).

(step 27) When all items have been ordered, the customer will review and confirm an order summary.

(steps 28-29) The order is then written to the customer orders database 15, and submitted to the consolidation agent 16.

Referring to Figure 3, the operation of the consolidation agent will now be described. The consolidation agent maintains the consolidated orders database 17, which contains a set of records, each record representing a consolidated order for a particular item. Each record includes an item identifier, the quantity required, and an earliest required delivery date for the consolidated order.

(step 31) The consolidation agent receives a new order from the customer ordering module (from step 29 above).

(step 32) The consolidation agent goes through the order item by item, determining whether to consolidate each item into an existing consolidated order. Usually the item will be consolidated. However, there may be circumstances where it would be inappropriate to consolidate the item. For example, if there is an existing consolidated order for several hundred units of a particular item, for delivery in six weeks' time, and the new order is for one unit for delivery in one week's time, it may be preferable not to consolidate the new order with the existing order, since that would mean bringing forward the earliest required delivery date of the existing order. By leaving the existing order unchanged, other orders can still take advantage of its discount potential.

(step 33) If the item is to be consolidated, the consolidated orders database is updated by incrementing the quantity required in the existing consolidated order by the quantity of the new order.

(step 34) The consolidation agent determines whether the required delivery date of the new order precedes the earliest required delivery date of the consolidated order.

(step 35) If the required delivery date of the new order precedes the earliest required delivery date of the consolidated order, the latter date is updated to equal the former.

(step 36) If at step 32 the consolidation agent decides not to consolidate the new order item, a new record is created in the consolidated order database specifically for this order item. The new record includes the item identifier, the required quantity from the new order and the required delivery date from the new order.

(step 37) After the order item has been processed, the consolidation agent determines if there are any further items in the new order, branching back to step 32 if there are further items to be processed.

Referring to Figure 4, the operation of the procurement agent 18 will now be described.

(step 41) The procurement agent examines each record in the consolidated orders database 17 in turn.

(step 42) For each record, the procurement agent determines whether to order it today, or to leave it in the consolidated orders database for a subsequent day's processing. This determination may be carried out by adding the number of days lead time for the item concerned to the current date, and comparing this with the earliest required delivery date for that item, as indicated by the consolidated orders database.

(step 43) Any items to be ordered today are added to a daily order list, which will show the item identifier and the quantity required.

(step 44) Processing then continues with the next record in the consolidated orders database, branching back to step 41 until there are no further records to be processed.

(step 45) When the entire database has been processed, the daily order list produced is sent to the suppliers. This can be sent by electronic mail, by facsimile, by direct computer link or otherwise.

(step 46) Some time later, the suppliers respond to the daily order list with a set of prices. These are reviewed by the procurement agent.

(step 47) The procurement agent determines the best deals available. This may be simply identifying the cheapest price for each individual item, or may involve identifying savings to be made by combining together several items with the same supplier, e.g. to increase the total order value for a supplier above a discount threshold.

(step 48) Along with the prices returned by the suppliers, they have the opportunity to send details of any special offers available on items not in the daily order list. The procurement agent reviews any such special offers against the consolidated orders database to determine whether to take advantage of them.

(step 49) If the procurement agent determines that it should take advantage of a special offer, it will amend the daily order List accordingly and resubmit it to all of the suppliers. This will enable other suppliers with better special offers on the particular item to be considered.

(step 50) When there are no further special offers to be included, the procurement agent will place orders with the suppliers for the goods involved.

(step 51) The procurement agent will then update the consolidated orders database to show that the items have been ordered.

(step 52) The procurement agent will also update the customer orders database to show the items within the customer order which have been ordered with the suppliers, along with the expected delivery dates.

At any time, customers can check the status of their orders, for example by way of the Internet. Customers can see what items have been ordered, and when they will be delivered, if a delivery date is known.

It will be appreciated that many modifications may be made to the system described above without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, instead of being used to order stationery items, the system could be used for ordering other types of goods for which bulk discounts are available.

Claims

1. A computer system for procurement of goods from a plurality of suppliers on behalf of a plurality of customers, comprising: (a) means for receiving orders for goods from the customers; (b) means for consolidating the customer orders; and (c) means for placing the consolidated orders with the suppliers.

2. A computer system according to Claim 1, further including means for obtaining pricing information from the suppliers, and means for for using this pricing information to determine which suppliers to place the consolidated orders with.

3. A computer system according to Claim I or 2, wherein each customer order has a required delivery date associated with it, and the system includes means for delaying placing consolidated orders until a date determined by the earliest required delivery date of the customer orders that have been consolidated into that consolidated order.

4. A computer system according to any preceding claim, wherein each customer order may be for a number of different items, and the system includes means for breaking down each order into individual items and consolidating them into respective consolidated orders.

5. A computer system according to any preceding claim, further including means for allowing customers to check the status of orders.

6. A computer-automated method for procurement of goods from a plurality of suppliers on behalf of a plurality of customers, the method comprising: (a) receiving orders for goods from the customers; (b) consolidating the customer orders; and (c) placing the consolidated orders with the suppliers.

7. A method according to Claim 6, further including obtaining pricing information from the suppliers, and using this pricing information to determine which suppliers to place the consolidated orders with.

8. A method according to Claim 6 or 7, wherein each customer order has a required delivery date associated with it, and the method includes delaying placing consolidated orders until a date determined by the earliest required delivery date of the customer orders that have been consolidated into that consolidated order.

9. A method according to any one of Claims 6 to 8, wherein each customer order may be for a number of different items, and the method includes breaking down each order into individual items and consolidating them into respective consolidated orders.

10. A method according to any one of Claims 6 to 9, f urther including allowing customers to check the status of orders.

11. A system or method substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.