Patent Application
20070094136
The present invention relates generally to a system and method for allowing a user to create, view, and interact with an invoice in a computer system, where the invoice has one or more line items of different item kinds.
Invoicing is an important if not indispensable part of today's business transactions. Generally speaking, an invoice is a commercial document issued by one business partner to another, evidencing a transaction in which terms such as the products or services, their quantities, and agreed prices are indicated. The issuance of the invoice from one business partner to another signifies that payment is due from the partner receiving the invoice to the partner posting the invoice according to the agreed terms of the invoice. It is typical for the invoice to also include references to prior documents, such as purchase orders, goods receipt, and other documents that have been produced in connection with the business transaction.
Typically, an invoice may not be modified once it has been issued. However, it is entirely foreseeable that some changes may need to be made to the terms of an issued invoice, for example, due to mistakes made during issuance of the invoice, due to subsequent related business transactions, or due to any other suitable conditions. As an example, when a buyer returns products that it has purchased for a refund, the value in the issued invoice for the initial delivery of products is no longer current. Since the issued invoice is not to be modified, another document, which is often known as a credit memo is created to document and resolve the refund. The credit memo includes terms that are similar to the issued invoice, for example, it may refer to the same purchase order, and reflect the refund to the buyer. As another example, the price quoted in the initial invoice may differ from an actual price that is to be paid for some or all of the products in the invoice, for example, due to a mistake in pricing or a subsequent discount. In this situation, a new document such as a subsequent credit or subsequent debit may be created to reflect the changed price and value.
While documents such as credit memo, subsequent credit, subsequent debit, and any other such invoice-related documents, are essentially stand-alone documents evidencing debit or credit, they remain supplements to an existing invoice and thus, may not be created prior to the creation of the initial invoice. Some checks are generally performed on the subsequent documents against the initial invoice to ensure that no conflicts arise. For example, a general rule governing subsequent documents, such as subsequent credit/debit and credit memo, is that the quantities of the items listed in the subsequent documents may not exceed those of the corresponding items listed in the initial invoice.
In the traditional paper-based invoicing schemes, invoices and their related subsequent documents are individual documents kept in files. Verification of the subsequent documents against the invoice must be performed manually. This process is time-consuming and error-prone. Computer systems and software applications have been developed in an attempt to at least partially automate the invoicing process. However, the procedures for invoicing in these computer systems are generally designed based on the paper-based paradigm and thus, not fully realizing the advantages and capabilities of such systems and applications. For example, many computer systems and applications continue to provide one method of generating subsequent documents, which is to generate them independently of the invoice. Checks may be performed, for example, upon saving the subsequent document, to ensure that the terms of the subsequent document correspond to and do not conflict with those terms of the invoice according to the various rules for creating subsequent documents. This process includes a lot of redundancy and opportunities for error.
Thus, it would be advantageous to provide an improved method and system for creating a comprehensive invoice in a computer system that includes a plurality of line items, where the line items may include invoice items, as well as subsequent items, such as credit memo items, subsequent credit items, subsequent debit items, and any other suitable line items. It would also be advantageous to provide in such a computer system an interface in which the user may input the invoice, including the plurality of line items. The inputting of the line items may include allowing the user to select appropriate line item kinds, such as credit memo, subsequent credit/debit, etc. for the line items.
Consistent with the principles of the present invention, systems and methods are disclosed for allowing a user to create, view, and interact with an invoice having one or more line items, which are associated with different item kinds, in a computer system.
In accordance with a system consistent with the principles of the present invention, the computer system may provide an interface on a user display that enables the user to input, view and interact with an invoice. The invoice displayed on the interface may include a number of general invoice attributes as well as one or more line items. The general invoice attributes may include, for example, references to other related documents such as purchase orders, goods receipts, etc., information on vendors, invoicing parties, currencies, and any other suitable attributes associated with an invoice. Each of the one or more line items of the invoice may include its own set of line item attributes. These attributes may include descriptions of the line item, price of the line item, quantity of the line item, and any other suitable line item attribute.
In accordance with a system consistent with the principles of the present invention, a line item may additionally include an item kind attribute. Consistent with the principles of the present invention, the item kind attribute may indicate the line item as an invoice item, a subsequent credit item, a subsequent debit item, a credit memo item, or any other suitable type of item. In order to enable the user to enter or otherwise select such an item kind for a particular line item, the system may provide, for example, a mechanism on an interface that allows the user to select or otherwise input an item kind for a particular line item. As an example, the user may select the item kind from a plurality of item kinds displayed, for example, in a drop down menu or any other suitable mechanism.
The user may initiate saving of the invoice when satisfied with the invoice entry. In response to the user initiating saving of the invoice entry, the system may perform various checks, for example, in accordance with various rules governing appropriate invoice entry. Notably, if the invoice includes line items that are of different invoice item kinds, the system may check the various line items, for example, in combination and against each other to ensure that the totality of these line items accurately reflects the business transactions. As an example, the quantities of various subsequent items, such as subsequent credit/debit items, credit memo items, etc., may be checked to make sure that they do not exceed the quantity of any corresponding initial invoice items. If failure occurs during the checking process, the system may prevent saving of the invoice entry and may alert and/or require the user to fix the problem before proceeding. If no failure occurs during the checking process, the invoice entry may be posted and transferred to an appropriate backend processing system, such as SAP's R/3 Fl system for further processing.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention as claimed. The foregoing background and summary are not intended to provide any independent limitations on the claimed invention.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate various embodiments and aspects of the present invention. In the drawings:
The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the following description to refer to the same or similar parts. While several exemplary versions and features of the invention are described herein, modifications, adaptations and other implementations are possible, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, substitutions, additions or modifications may be made to the components illustrated in the drawings, and the exemplary methods described herein may be modified by substituting, reordering or adding stages to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, the following detailed description does not limit the invention. Instead, the proper scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims.
At stage 102, a user initiates the entry of a new invoice into a computer system, for example, in response to receiving a paper or electronic invoice, or in response to any other suitable invoicing event. Because an invoice is often issued in connection with one or more prior purchase orders, which may be previously saved and accessible by the computer system, the user may initiate, at stage 104, a search for such one or more purchase orders and/or other related documents. As an example, the user may search for a related purchase order using a purchase order number, a vendor name, or any other suitable search criterion or set of criteria. Consistent with the principles of the present invention, the search for purchase orders and/or other related documents may also be automatic, for example, in response to the user entering a purchase order number or in response to any other suitable events.
Once one or more related purchase orders and/or other related documents are found, the data associated with the purchase orders and/or documents may be automatically used to fill in at least some of the required fields of the invoice. The user may be allowed to later modify these automatically filed-in fields. If no purchase orders and/or other appropriate documents are found or if the user does not request search of such purchase orders or documents, the user may simply input all the invoice data. Some of the possible inputs and/or modifications are discussed in connection with the illustrative stages below.
For example, at stage 106, the user may input purchase orders in addition to those resulted from the search of stage 104. Data from a purchase order that became associated with the invoice entry at stage 104 and 106 may include various line items. The line item may be a specific product and its associated invoicing information, such as price and quantity, or any other suitable line item information. The user may also input, at stage 106, line items that are not, for example, derived from a purchase order. For example, line items that are of item kind subsequent credit/debit, credit memo, or any other suitable item kind, which may not be associated with a purchase order, may be added. Addition of these subsequent line items will be described in more details in connection with
If the invoicing is to be posted in a different currency from the currencies associated with, for example, the one or more purchase orders, the user may change the currency of the invoice at stage 108. If no currency was suggested by the system, for example, based on prior purchase orders, the user may simply enter the currency for the invoice at stage 108.
At stage 110, the invoicing party, from whom the invoice originated, may be changed or inputted. A change of invoicing party from the one suggested by the system may be due to the fact that the system suggested invoicing party is the vendor who had provided the products, while the invoicing party designated on the received invoice is a party assigned by the vendor specifically to perform its invoicing. Again, if no invoicing party was suggested by the system, the user may enter the invoicing party at stage 110. Similarly, at stage 112, the date for posting the invoice to an appropriate financial system may be modified or inputted.
Once all the appropriate information that is required in an invoice entry are entered, the invoice may be posted and transferred to a backend processing system at stage 114. Consistent with the principles of the present invention, the posting and transferring operation may include posting the invoice to a backend processing system, such as the SAP Resource Management System. Saving of the invoice may be performed, for example, in response to the user requesting that the invoice be posted from the invoice entry interface of the system. Various checks and verifications may be carried out by the system prior to saving and transferring of the invoice entry. As an example, the invoice may be checked for completeness. As another example, the various line items may be checked against each other to ensure that no conflict exists. This type of check is especially important when the invoice includes line items of different item kinds, including invoice item kind, subsequent credit/debit item kind, credit memo item kind, and any other suitable line item kinds. The checks performed in connection with such line item kinds will be described in more details below. Upon receiving the invoice entry at the backend processing system, an invoice appropriate for processing in the backend processing system may be created at stage 116.
As mentioned above, an existing invoice, specifically its various line items, may not be modified substantially subsequent to the issuance of the invoice. One way to make adjustments to the representation of an existing line item of an invoice may be to create one or more subsequent line item to supplement the initial line item. In this way, when all the line items of the invoice, both initial and subsequent, are considered and calculated as a whole, the combined value and status of the invoice would be an accurate reflection of the corresponding business transactions. Accordingly, consistent with the principles of the present invention, user initiation of an entry for a subsequent credit/debit, credit memo, or any other suitable subsequent line item is essentially entry of a new line item to an existing invoice.
As briefly mentioned above in connection with
In stage 204, any existing invoice, with its line items, for example, to which the new subsequent line item may correspond, may be identified. Stage 204 may also identify any purchase orders and/or other suitable reference documents. These documents may be substantially similar to those identified in stage 102 of
As mentioned above, the subsequent line item may be created, for example, as an additional line item entry to the list of invoice items in an appropriate existing invoice. An example of adding subsequent line item entries, such as subsequent credit/debit item, credit memo item, or any other suitable subsequent line item, is shown in
Once the user is satisfied with the addition of the one or more subsequent items to the invoice entry, the user may initiate saving the one or more subsequent items at stage 208. At this stage, the system may perform various checks, for example, in accordance with various rules governing the addition of subsequent items, prior to saving the one or more subsequent items. As an example, the system may check at stage 208 that the quantity of a subsequent item, regardless of it being a subsequent credit/debit, credit memo, or any other suitable subsequent item, does not exceed the quantity of any corresponding initial invoice item. As another example, the system may check that the combined value of all the line items, initial and subsequent, are within certain pre-set bounds. For example, the total value of all of the line items may be required to be non-negative. Any other suitable checks may be performed at this stage to ensure that the subsequent line items are appropriately entered and no conflicts arise among the various line items.
If failure occurs during the checking process, the system may prevent saving of the subsequent line items and may alert and/or require the user to fix the problem before proceeding. If no failure occurs during the checking process, the subsequent line item may be posted at stage 208. Saving of the subsequent line item may include transferring information on the subsequent line item and/or the invoice entry to an appropriate backend system, such as SAP's R/3 Fl system for further processing. Once the backend system receives the transferred subsequent line item and/or the invoice entry, it may update and existing invoice entry to which the subsequent line item is to be added, it may replace any corresponding existing invoice entry with the transferred invoice entry, or it may carry out any other suitable actions to ensure that the subsequent line item is properly associated with the appropriate corresponding invoice.
Some exemplary interface screens consistent with the principles of the present invention are shown in
In portion 302 of screen 300, an overview of the various line items included in the invoice may be displayed. Some attributes or specifics to each of the line item, such as, for example, a description, a net value, quantity, net price, tax, etc. may be displayed. The user may add or modify items manually using the provided input means (e.g., text boxes and drop down menus). Alternatively, the user may choose to add an item and its associated data from a stored catalog by, for example, selecting the item from catalog 312.
As a line item may include many more attributes than those displayed in the item overview, a system consistent with the principles of the present invention may enable the user to access additional and more detailed item data for some or all of the items displayed in item overview. The user may access such detailed data of a selected line item, for example, by selecting its corresponding item number, such as item number 311, or any other suitable item attribute displayed in item overview. In response to the user selecting a line item to view, a screen such as screen 400 of
The top portion of screen 400, in which general or summary invoice information are displayed, may be the same or substantially similar to that of screen 300. The bottom portion 401 of screen 400, approximately where the item overview 302 was displayed in screen 300, may now show specific line item data associated with the user-selected item. Item specific information, such as tax, product category, vendor product, and any other suitable line item attributes, which were not shown in the item overview, may now be displayed. The user may view, input, and modify these data in the appropriate spaces provided.
Consistent with the principles of the present invention, a line item kind attribute 402 may be specified by the user in window 401 of screen 400. The line item kind 402 may indicate the line item as an invoice item, a subsequent debit item, a credit memo item, a subsequent credit item, or any other suitable kind of line item. In this way, the user may include subsequent items in an existing invoice without reproducing the entire invoice. Also in this way, the various kinds of line items may be checked against each other and evaluated in combination in connection with a single invoice.
Consistent with the principles of the present invention, the line item kinds, for example, as inputted or selected in screen 400, may be made available in the item overview window, for example, item overview window 302 of
Consistent with the principles of the present invention, an invoice item may additionally include an item kind attribute. The item kind attribute may indicate a type for the line item. In some systems consistent with the principles of the present invention, the item kind attribute may indicate the line item as an invoice item, a subsequent credit item, a subsequent debit item, a credit memo item, or any other suitable type of line item. In order to enable the user to enter or otherwise select such an item kind for a particular line item, the system may provide, for example, a mechanism on the interface for inputting invoice that allows the user to select or otherwise input an item kind for a line item of the invoice at stage 604. The user may select the item kind from a plurality of item kinds displayed, for example, in a drop down menu or any other suitable mechanism.
A computer system may be used to install a software application implementing a system and method for enabling the user to input, view, and interact with an invoice having one or more line items in accordance with a system consistent with the principles of the present invention. The computer system may be a computer network, as shown in
As shown in
PC 704 may include a bus line 708 connecting a plurality of devices such as a processor 710, memory devices 712 for storage of information, diskette drives 714, a fixed disk drive 716, a monitor or display 718, other I/O devices 720, and a network interface card (NIC) 722. Processor 710 may be a microprocessor such as an Intel Pentium™ chip for processing applications. Memory devices 712 may include read-only memories (ROM) and/or random access memories (RAM). Diskette drives 714 may include a floppy drive and/or a compact disk (CD) drive. Fixed disk drive 716 may be a hard drive. I/O devices 720 may include a keyboard and/or a mouse for receiving input from a user of PC 704. Monitor or display 718 may display output from processor 710, and may also echo the input of the user. PC 704 may be connected to network path 706 through NIC 722.
A web application may be installed on server 702. An individual desiring to enter data into the application on server 702 may use a web browser loaded on PC 704, and may communicate with server 702 through NIC 722 and network path 706. In one aspect, software application for implementing a system consistent with the principles of the present invention may be stored in PC 704 and processor 710 of PC 704 may execute the software application locally within PC 704 and interface with a web application on server 702. Particularly, the software application may be stored on a floppy disk, a CD, or any other suitable readable media, which may be accessible by diskette drive 714, fixed disk drive 716, or any other suitable mechanism. In another aspect, the software application for implementing a system consistent with the principles of the present invention may be stored in server 702, which may execute the software application, and processor 710 of PC 704 may communicate with server 702 to send information to server 702 and retrieve the results of the execution of the software application from server 702.
Through the execution of the software application implementing a system consistent with the principles of the present invention, either locally within PC 704 or remotely within server 702, an interface may be provided on a user display, which enables the user to input, view, and interact with an invoice having one or more line items of different line item types.
Alternatively, as shown in
A software application implementing a system consistent with the principles of the present invention may be stored on a floppy disk or a CD accessible by diskette drive 808 or on fixed disk drive 810. Processor 804 may execute the software application stored in the floppy disk the CD or the fixed disk drive 810. An individual, through monitor or display 812 and I/O devices 814, may interact with processor 804, which may execute the software application. A software application implementing a system consistent with the principles of the present invention may be written in any number of programming languages, including but not limited to JavaScript, Visual Basic, Flash, ABAP coding, or any other suitable language. Similarly, the present invention is not limited to use with certain applications, Internet browsers or operating systems.
Furthermore, the invention may be practiced in an electrical circuit comprising discrete electronic elements, packaged or integrated electronic chips containing logic gates, a circuit utilizing a microprocessor, or on a single chip containing electronic elements or microprocessors. The invention may also be practiced using other technologies capable of performing logical operations such as, for example, AND, OR, and NOT, including but not limited to mechanical, optical, fluidic, and quantum technologies. In addition, the invention may be practiced within a general purpose computer or in any other circuits or systems.
While the present invention has been described in connection with various embodiments, many modifications will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. One skilled in the art will also appreciate that all or part of the systems and methods consistent with the present invention may be stored on or read from computer-readable media, such as secondary storage devices, like hard disks, floppy disks, and CD-ROM; a carrier wave received from a network such as the Internet; or other forms of ROM or RAM. Accordingly, embodiments of the invention are not limited to the above described embodiments and examples, but instead is defined by the appended claims in light of their full scope of equivalents.
