Shopping at e-commerce sites within a business procurement application

Abstract

In an embodiment, a method comprises sending, from a procurement computer to a client computer, a message indicating that a pre-authorization request for one or more requested items from an e-commerce website was approved; causing displaying a particular item as approved for purchase from the e-commerce website; causing launching a web browser and causing downloading a shopping cart webpage of the e-commerce website; sending, from the procurement computer to the shopping cart webpage, item information associated with the particular item, and causing displaying the item information on the shopping cart webpage as one of one or more ordered items; in response to determining that the user requested to proceed to a checkout webpage, causing downloading the checkout webpage and causing displaying the one or more ordered items on the checkout webpage; causing placing a purchase order for the one or more ordered items from the checkout webpage.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A data processing method, comprising:
 sending, from a procurement computer to a client computer, a message indicating that a pre-authorization request for one or more requested items from an e-commerce website was approved;   causing displaying a particular item, from the one or more requested items, as approved for purchase from the e-commerce website;   causing launching a web browser and causing downloading a shopping cart webpage of the e-commerce website;   sending, from the procurement computer to the shopping cart webpage of the e-commerce website, item information associated with the particular item, and causing displaying the item information on the shopping cart webpage as one of one or more ordered items;   in response to determining that the user requested to proceed to a checkout webpage of the e-commerce website, causing downloading the checkout webpage of the e-commerce website and causing displaying the one or more ordered items on the checkout webpage;   causing placing a purchase order for the one or more ordered items from the checkout webpage of the e-commerce website.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the message indicating that a pre-authorization request for one or more requested items from an e-commerce website was approved is sent by the procurement computer in response to receiving a pre-authorization request confirmation indicating that the purchase of the one or more requested items was reviewed and approved by authorized personnel. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the item information associated with the particular item comprises one or more of: a name of the particular item, a quantity of the particular item to be purchased, one or more specific attributes associated with the particular item, billing information for the particular item; shipping information for the particular item, and user login information. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising receiving an order confirmation once the purchase order for the one or more ordered items was successfully processed by the e-commerce website. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising collecting and storing, in storage, data about the pre-authorization request, an approval of the pre-authorization request, the one or more requested items, the purchase order, and the purchase order confirmation. 
     
     
         6 . A data processing apparatus, comprising:
 one or more processors:   a procurement unit configured to:
 send, from a procurement computer to a client computer, a message indicating that a pre-authorization request for one or more requested items from an e-commerce website was approved; 
 cause displaying a particular item, from the one or more requested items, as approved for purchase from the e-commerce website; 
   a web browser unit configured to:
 cause launching a web browser and causing downloading a shopping cart webpage of the e-commerce website; 
   a bookmarklet unit configured to:
 send, from the procurement computer to the shopping cart webpage of the e-commerce website, item information associated with the particular item, and causing displaying the item information on the shopping cart webpage as one of one or more ordered items; 
 in response to determining that the user requested to proceed to a checkout webpage of the e-commerce website, cause downloading the checkout webpage of the e-commerce website and causing displaying the one or more ordered items on the checkout webpage; 
 cause placing a purchase order for the one or more ordered items from the checkout webpage of the e-commerce website. 
   
     
     
         7 . The data processing apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the message indicating that a pre-authorization request for one or more requested items from an e-commerce website was approved is sent by the procurement computer in response to receiving a pre-authorization request confirmation indicating that the purchase of the one or more requested items was reviewed and approved by authorized personnel. 
     
     
         8 . The data processing apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the item information associated with the particular item comprises one or more of: a name of the particular item, a quantity of the particular item to be purchased, one or more specific attributes associated with the particular item, billing information for the particular item; shipping information for the particular item, and user login information. 
     
     
         9 . The data processing apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the procurement unit is further configured to receive an order confirmation once the purchase order for the one or more ordered items was successfully processed by the e-commerce website. 
     
     
         10 . The data processing apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the procurement unit is further configured to collect and store, in storage, data about the pre-authorization request, an approval of the pre-authorization request, the one or more requested items, the purchase order, and the purchase order confirmation. 
     
     
         11 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform:
 sending, from a procurement computer to a client computer, a message indicating that a pre-authorization request for one or more requested items from an e-commerce website was approved;   causing displaying a particular item, from the one or more requested items, as approved for purchase from the e-commerce website;   causing launching a web browser and causing downloading a shopping cart webpage of the e-commerce website;   sending, from the procurement computer to the shopping cart webpage of the e-commerce website, item information associated with the particular item, and causing displaying the item information on the shopping cart webpage as one of one or more ordered items;   in response to determining that the user requested to proceed to a checkout webpage of the e-commerce website, causing downloading the checkout webpage of the e-commerce website and causing displaying the one or more ordered items on the checkout webpage;   causing placing a purchase order for the one or more ordered items from the checkout webpage of the e-commerce website.   
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 11 , wherein the message indicating that a pre-authorization request for one or more requested items from an e-commerce website was approved is sent by the procurement computer in response to receiving a pre-authorization request confirmation indicating that the purchase of the one or more requested items was reviewed and approved by authorized personnel. 
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 12 , wherein the item information associated with the particular item comprises one or more of: a name of the particular item, a quantity of the particular item to be purchased, one or more specific attributes associated with the particular item, billing information for the particular item; shipping information for the particular item, and user login information. 
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 13 , further storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform: receiving an order confirmation once the purchase order for the one or more ordered items was successfully processed by the e-commerce website. 
     
     
         15 . The meth non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 14 , further storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform: collecting and storing, in storage, data about the pre-authorization request, an approval of the pre-authorization request, the one or more requested items, the purchase order, and the purchase order confirmation.