Order Fulfillment Method

Abstract

A business-to-business transaction clearinghouse integrates the traditional point-to-point business supply chain at the clearinghouse. The clearinghouse provides cost effective access to a wide variety of members and includes value-added services. Members of the clearinghouse can include trading members, members that help the trading members ship their products, and banking members. The clearinghouse facilitates business among the trading members by providing a single point of contact for all transactions. The clearinghouse can be specific to an industry, such as the chemical industry. Multiple industry specific clearinghouses may form a network clearinghouses to effectively create one larger and more general business-to-business electronic commerce community.

1 - 30 . (canceled) 
     
     
         31 . A method comprising:
 generating messages relating to business-to-business commerce transactions at an enterprise resource planning computer system, including generating messages corresponding to the management of supply chain activities of a company, the messages corresponding to communications in a business-to-business transaction;   converting the messages generated by the enterprise resource planning computer system into extensible markup language (XML) messages;   transmitting the converted messages over the internet to a clearing house that processes the converted messages and provides services related to order fulfillment for the transaction.   
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the services related to order fulfillment include receiving shipment proposals from shipping companies for the transaction. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 67 , wherein the services related to payment processing include the generation of a summary invoice of multiple transactions. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 67 , wherein the services related to payment processing include the purchase of account receivables. 
     
     
         35 - 51 . (canceled) 
     
     
         52 . A method comprising:
 providing purchase order information to an enterprise resource planning computer system (ERP) of a purchaser to generate a purchase order directed to a supplier;   converting the purchase order into an extensible markup language (XML) message;   transmitting the purchase order to a business-to-business transaction clearinghouse linked to a plurality of supplier and customer trading members including the supplier for the transaction, wherein the clearinghouse relays XML messages related to order fulfillment for transactions between the supplier and purchasing trading members, wherein the relayed messages comprise purchase orders, order acknowledgements, shipment notices, invoices, and certificates of analysis.   
     
     
         53 . An order fulfillment method comprising:
 receiving a purchase order over the internet from a customer through a business-to-business transaction clearinghouse linked to a plurality of supplier and purchasing trading members including the customer originating the purchase order and the supplier receiving the purchase order, wherein the clearinghouse automatically relays messages related to order fulfillment for transactions between the supplier trading members and the purchasing trading members;   automatically providing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) computer system with information from the purchase order;   generating messages relating to the purchase order at the ERP computer system;   transmitting the generated messages over the internet to the clearinghouse for automatic relay to the customer.   
     
     
         54 . The order fulfillment method of  claim 53 , comprising accepting the order and sending an order acknowledgement message through the clearinghouse to the customer. 
     
     
         55 . The order fulfillment method of  claim 54 , comprising sending a material safety data sheet through the clearinghouse to the customer. 
     
     
         56 . The order fulfillment method of  claim 53 , comprising shipping the order and sending a shipping notice through the clearinghouse to the customer. 
     
     
         57 . The order fulfillment method of  claim 56 , wherein the shipping notice is automatically generated by the ERP computer system upon receipt of input indicating shipment of the order. 
     
     
         58 . The order fulfillment method of  claim 56 , comprising sending a certificate of analysis through the clearinghouse to the customer. 
     
     
         59 . The order fulfillment method of  claim 58 , wherein the certificate of analysis is sent with the shipping notice. 
     
     
         60 . The order fulfillment method of  claim 53 , comprising shipping the order and sending an invoice through the clearinghouse to the customer. 
     
     
         61 . The order fulfillment method of  claim 53 , comprising converting the messages generated by the ERP computer system into extensible markup language (XML) messages prior to the transmission thereof. 
     
     
         62 . The order fulfillment method of  claim 53 , wherein the purchase order is received in an extensible markup language (XML) message, and further comprising converting the XML message into an EDI message and forwarding the EDI message to an EDI system. 
     
     
         63 . The order fulfillment method of  claim 53 , further comprising providing the clearinghouse with shipment tracking information related to the order. 
     
     
         64 . The order fulfillment method of  claim 63 , wherein the clearinghouse automatically sends the shipment tracking information to the customer. 
     
     
         65 . The order fulfillment method of  claim 63 , further comprising updating the shipment tracking information provided to the clearinghouse, wherein the clearinghouse automatically sends the updated shipment tracking information to the customer if the shipment of the product associated with the shipping notice falls behind schedule. 
     
     
         66 . The order fulfillment method of  claim 63 , further comprising updating the shipment tracking information provided to the clearinghouse, wherein the clearinghouse automatically sends the updated shipment tracking information to the customer in response to a request. 
     
     
         67 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the clearinghouse further provides services related to payment processing for the transaction. 
     
     
         68 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the services related to order fulfillment include relaying shipment tracking information related to the order. 
     
     
         69 . The method of  claim 68 , wherein the clearinghouse automatically sends the shipment tracking information related to the order. 
     
     
         70 . The method of  claim 68 , wherein the clearinghouse receives updated shipment tracking information related to the order and automatically relays the updated shipment tracking information to a customer if the shipment falls behind schedule. 
     
     
         71 . The method of  claim 68 , wherein the clearinghouse receives updated shipment tracking information related to the order and automatically relays the updated shipment tracking information to a customer in response to a request.