Patent Application
20060149639
The present invention relates to a method and system for creating purchase suggestion lists, and more particularly, to a method and a system for creating purchase suggestion lists targeted at a supplier's retail customers.
Retailers often manually place an order for items when inventory is low in stock. This process of manually ordering not only wastes human resources in spent time checking the inventory and ordering items, but also results in ordering mistakes due to human error, thus delaying the delivery of new stock and leading to lost revenue due to stock insufficiency. If the ordering process could be automated according to how much inventory was on hand at a given time, then, whenever the inventory number fell below a predetermined number, the system could automatically place an order to the supplier, thus avoiding the expenditure of human resources and eliminating human error. However, this kind of automated system also has a weakness in that, since the ordering is not fixed to a certain time period, there is a possibility that the supplier may not have enough inventory in stock to fill the order in a timely fashion.
After an order is placed by a retailer, a supplier delivers the goods accordingly; however, since it is difficult for the supplier to actually estimate the time and how many products a retailer may order, it is difficult to keep track of the outgoing stock and therefore get a hold on how many products should be manufactured.
A primary objective of the present invention is to provide a method and a system for sending a purchase suggestion list to the retailers and this purchase suggestion list can then be modified and approved by each retailer to produce a final purchase list, allowing the supplier to effectively get control of the ordering time and knowledge of the numbers of products that will be ordered.
In order to achieve the foregoing objective, the system for creating a purchase suggestion list for retailers proposed by the present invention is established through a connection from a supplier enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to at least one retailer computer system through a computer network system such as the Internet for regularly offering each corresponding retailer a purchase suggestion list. Such lists are then modified and approved by each retailer to generate final purchase lists. The system of creating these purchase suggestion lists comprises: a computer network system, such as the Internet or on intranet; supplier enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for handling business activity such as issuing catalogs of goods to retailers, inventory management, and shipping; a retailer system for handling business activity such as purchasing, sales, and inventory management; an ordering database for storing data such as order numbers, retailer numbers, supplier numbers, catalog numbers of goods, quantities of products ordered, warehouse numbers, and so on; a purchasing suggestion list database for storing information such as purchasing suggestion list numbers, retailer numbers, supplier numbers, purchase time periods, safety margins, and suggesting the quantity of product that should be purchased, in which the suggested quantity for purchase is further classified into automatic suggestions generated by the system and manual suggestions input by the inventory staff; an inventory database for storing data such as warehouse numbers and catalog numbers; a data storing module for saving data such as in an order database, a purchasing suggestion database, and an inventory database; a data input module, for the inventory staff to input data related to the ordering time period, safety margins, and the suggested quantity of product to be purchased; a calculating module for calculating the quantity of each suggested product to be purchased for each retailer and automatically generating a purchasing suggestion list; and a data transferring module for transferring the purchasing suggestion list to each retailer as well as transferring the modified purchasing order back to the supplier.
The method for generating purchasing suggestion lists of the invention comprises the following steps: regularly transferring orders from each retailer into an ordering database through an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system; creating a purchasing suggestion list including the quantity of each product that is suggested for each retailer to purchase, calculated from input parameters such as safety margins, purchase time periods, purchasing history and inventory data, or manually input by the inventory staff; saving the purchasing suggestion list for each retailer into the purchasing suggestion database and sending the purchasing suggestion lists to corresponding retailers, which are then either approved or modified by the retailers and transferred back to the supplier enterprise resource planning (ERP) system; whereupon, if the supplier approves the modified purchasing suggestion list, a final purchasing list is generated according to each purchasing suggestion list and saved into the order database, but if the supplier makes some further modifications to the purchasing suggestion list, then the purchasing suggestion list is sent back to the corresponding retailer computer system for a second-round of confirmation until both sides have reached agreement.
In summary, the method and system for creating purchasing suggestion lists comprises: a supplier enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that regularly inputs data of past orders from each of its retail customers into the order database, a retailer computer system regularly that inputs the quantity of each inventory into the inventory database, a data input module for manually inputting the safety margin and purchasing time period, a data storage module to read the order and inventory information, a calculating module for calculating the suggested quantity of each product for purchase, which is also manually adjustable by the inventory management staff, to create a purchase suggesting list, and a data transfer module that transfers this purchase suggestion list to the retailer to make final modifications or grant approval so that a final order can be made under the mutual agreement based on the suggestion purchase list.
The present invention can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, with reference made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Supplier enterprise resource planning (ERP) 18 comprises complete information in regard to the assets of the supplier, manufacturing, finance, and sales of the supplier for handling business activities such as issuing catalogs of goods to the retailers, receiving orders, and sales.
Retailer computer system 19a comprises information about the purchases, finance and sales of the retailer, for handling business activities such as purchasing, sales, customer management, warehouse management, payment management and statistics.
Order database 11 comprises order data such as order number, retailer number, supplier number, catalog number, quantity of purchase, and warehouse number, which are input regularly from the retailer order into the order database through the enterprise resource planning system in order for the system to automatically suggest a purchasing quantity for each supplied product for the retailers, or manually input by the inventory management staff.
Inventory database 13 comprises inventory information such as warehouse number, catalog number, and quantity of the inventory, each of which is input regularly to the inventory database 13 through the retailer computer system in order for the system to automatically suggest a purchase quantity of each product supplied to the retailer.
Data storage module 14 is used to save relevant data from order database 11, purchasing suggestion database 12, and inventory database 13 for the system to automatically create a suggested purchase quantity for each product for each retailer, which is then saved into the purchasing suggestion database 12.
Data input module 15 allows the inventory management staff to set parameters, such as purchasing time periods and safety margins for the system to automatically create a suggested purchase quantity for each product for each retailer as well as allowing the inventory management staff to manually input the suggested quantity of each purchasing product for each retailer.
Calculating module 16 is used to read the past 3 months transaction history of the retailer including the quantity of each ordered product in the order database 11, purchase time period, and safety margin from the purchase suggesting database 12, and the quantity of inventory in stock (that is the total number of the inventory in all warehouses, if more than one warehouse), and using the following formula to calculate a suggested quantity for each product for the retailers. Quantity of suggested purchase=total quantity of purchase in a predetermined period/predetermine time period*purchasing time period*safety margin−quantity of the inventory. In general the predetermined time period is 3 months. For example, the quantity of suggested purchase for a product for a retailer can be obtained by adding up the total quantity of purchase by the retailer over the past 3 months, divided by the number of days in those 3 months, multiplied by the purchasing time period and safety margin, and followed by deducting the total quantity of existing inventory as indicated in the inventory database 13.
Data transfer module 17 is used to transfer purchase suggestion lists (automatically obtained through calculating module 16 or manually input by inventory management staff through data input module 15) to each retailer computer system for the retailers to either approve or modify and transfer the modified or approved purchase suggesting list back to the supplier enterprise resource planning (ERP) system until both sides have come to an agreement on the quantity of the purchase.
In step S2, inventory information, such as warehouse number, catalog number, and quantity of inventory in stock, is regularly input into the inventory database 13 via the retailer computer system 19a for the purchase suggesting system 10 to create a suggested quantity of each product for the retailers.
In step S3, data input module 15 is used to set parameters, such as a safety margin and purchasing time period for each product supplied to a retailer, and, using the data storage module 14, save the values of these parameters into the purchase suggestion database 12 to allow the purchase suggestion system 10 to automatically create a suggested quantity for each product for the retailers.
Then, in step S4, data storage module 14 reads the past transactions for the orders of each retailer stored in the order database 11 including the quantity of each product being purchased over the past 3 months, purchasing time period, and a safety margin stored in the purchasing suggestion database 12, and also reads the quantity of the inventory in stock stored in the inventory database 13 (total number of the inventory in all warehouses for each retailer) and, using the following formula, calculates a suggested quantity for each product-for the retailers: quantity suggested for purchase=total quantity of purchase in a predetermined period/predetermined time period*purchasing time period*safety margin−quantity of the inventory. In general the predetermined time period is 3 months. For example, the quantity of a product suggested for purchase for a retailer can be obtained by adding up the total quantity of purchase by the retailer over the past 3 months, divided by the number of days in the 3 months and multiplied by the desired purchasing time period and a safety margin, and then subtracting the quantity of each inventory in the inventory database to obtain the final suggested amount.
This suggested quantity for each product for the retailer then gives rise to a purchase suggestion list which can be also manually input by the inventory management staff.
In step S6, the data storage module 14 reads the information in the purchase suggestion list for each retailer, including retailer number, catalog number, suggesting and quantity of each product, stored in the purchase suggesting database 12, and then transfer the suggestion list to the retailer computer system 19a according to the retailer number, for each retailer to approve or modify the purchase suggestion list.
Next, in step S7, each retailer decides whether they want to make modifications to the purchase suggestion list, and, if the retailer approves the purchase suggestion list without making any modification, the method proceeds directly to step S8, but, if the retailer wishes to modify the details of the purchase suggestion list, a staff member from the retailer then re-enters the catalog number or/and quantity of the product they want to order using the data input module, before the method proceeds to step S9.
In the step S8, approval by the retailer already secured, the purchase suggestion list is input into the order database 11 of the supplier according to the supplier number written on the purchase suggestion list, and an automatic order is then generated.
In step S9, data storage module 14 reads the modified information of the purchase suggestion list, including supplier number, catalog number and the suggested quantity of purchase, and the data transfer module 17 then transfers the purchase suggestion list modified by the retailer to the supplier's ERP system 18 according to the supplier number for the supplier to further make modifications and approve the information on the purchase suggestion list.
Finally, in step S10, if the supplier approves the purchase suggestion list without making any modification, then the process goes to step S8. On the contrary, if the supplier wishes to modify the details of the purchase suggestion list, a staff member from the supplier then re-enters the catalog number or/and quantity of the products that they are prepared to sell using the data input module 15, and then the modified purchase suggestion list is then saved in the purchase suggestion database 12 using the data storage module 14, followed by the method returning to step S6 where the purchase suggesting list is transferred once again to the retailer computer system.
In summary, the method and system of creating a purchase suggestion list comprises: a supplier enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that regularly inputs data of past orders from each of its retail customers into the order database, a retailer computer system regularly that inputs the quantity of each inventory into the inventory database, a data input module for manually inputting the safety margin and purchasing time period, a data storage module to read the order and inventory information, a calculating module for calculating the suggested quantity of each product for purchase, which is also manually adjustable by the inventory management staff, to create a purchase suggesting list, and a data transfer module that transfers this purchase suggestion list to the retailer to make final modifications or grant approval so that a final order can be made under the mutual agreement based on the suggestion purchase list.
The invention has been described using exemplary preferred embodiments. However, it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements. The scope of the claims, therefore, should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 093141837 | Dec 2004 | TW | national |
