Integrated inventory management system

Abstract

A method is provided for inventory management which includes an initial step of receiving a customer request for an inventory item and then generating a table or menu of one or more inventory items that most closely correspond to the customer request using a price forecasting system. Based on negotiations concerning price, timing and other typical concerns, an item is selected from the table and a price quotation associated with the selected inventory item is generated using the price forecasting system, which price quotation has been predetermined by a yield management system using a pricing strategy. The customer information associated with the customer request is input into a traffic billing system. Information needed for price recalculation associated with the customer request is input into the yield management system. The yield management system recalculates pricing data with in a manner consistent with a pricing strategy implemented by the yield management system, so that price changes caused by a reduction in available inventory due to the customer request are taken into account, and the pricing data accessed by the price forecasting system when a price quotation is generated is updated prior to repeating the process for a subsequent customer request. This method provides more accurate pricing than known systems where order information must be entered manually before a price recalculation can take place, and the yield management system overestimates the amount of available inventory. If the customer request comprises a reservation having an associated probability of later becoming an order, the reservation is taken into account when recalculating prices based on available inventory. Such a process may be integrated for an enterprise made up of a number of member stations each having associated inventory for sale.

1 . A method of inventory management for a number of media property stations using an computer-implemented inventory management system, each station having a geographic location and an associated geographic area in which it delivers media programming to consumers, which programming has associated advertising time segments, and each station having advertising inventory for sale, wherein the inventory comprises advertising time segments associated with future time periods, comprising: 
 accessing inventory information of multiple stations in response to a customer request for advertising time meeting specified customer request criteria;    determining one or more advertising time segments from the inventory of multiple stations that meet the customer request criteria;    generating advertising time segment inventory pricing information with yield management program logic in accordance with a pricing strategy;    entering order information for the customer request into the computer-implemented inventory management system; and    maintaining billing information for such order in one or more data files using traffic billing program logic.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of accessing inventory information of multiple stations in response to a customer request further comprises generating a table of available time slots and dates.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the table is in the form of a visually viewable display.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the table includes a price quotation for each time slot on each date.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the table includes a price quotation for each time slot on each date.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the stations include radio stations.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the stations include television stations.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising providing access at each station to inventory data for other stations.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the stations are members of a common business enterprise.