System that provides procurement by a legal entity on behalf of another legal entity

Abstract

A system is provided that facilitates procurement by a first legal entity on behalf of a second legal entity. The system receives a request to generate an electronic financial document including an electronic financial document line that includes the second legal entity. The system further defines a sold-to legal entity as the first legal entity in response to a determination that a supply chain financial orchestration flow is not defined for the electronic financial document. The system further determines whether procurement by the first legal entity on behalf of the second legal entity is allowed for the electronic financial document. The system further generates the electronic financial document including the defined sold-to legal entity, the first electronic financial document line, and the second electronic financial document line when it is determined that procurement by the first legal entity on behalf of the second legal entity is allowed for the electronic financial document.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to facilitate procurement by a first legal entity on behalf of a second legal entity, the facilitating comprising:
 receiving a request to generate an electronic financial document comprising an electronic financial document line that comprises the second legal entity;   defining a sold-to legal entity as the first legal entity in response to a determination that a supply chain financial orchestration flow is not defined for the electronic financial document;   determining whether procurement by the first legal entity on behalf of the second legal entity is allowed for the electronic financial document; and   generating the electronic financial document comprising the defined sold-to legal entity, and the electronic financial document line when it is determined that procurement by the first legal entity on behalf of the second legal entity is allowed for the electronic financial document.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , the facilitating further comprising:
 displaying a warning message within a user interface when it is determined that a warning message should be displayed when the first legal entity is defined as procuring one or more items on behalf of the second legal entity within the electronic financial document; and   generating the electronic financial document comprising the defined sold-to legal entity, and the electronic financial document line in response to a user confirmation when it is determined that a warning message should be displayed when the first legal entity is defined as procuring one or more items on behalf of the second legal entity within the electronic financial document.   
     
     
         3 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , the facilitating further comprising:
 displaying an error message within a user interface when it is determined that an error message should be displayed when the first legal entity is defined as procuring one or more items on behalf of the second legal entity within the electronic financial document.   
     
     
         4 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the determining whether procurement by the first legal entity on behalf of the second legal entity is allowed for the electronic financial document comprises determining a value of a multiple legal entities flag; and   wherein the multiple legal entities flag comprises one of: a value indicating that procurement by the first legal entity on behalf of the second legal entity is allowed for the electronic financial document; a value indicating that a warning message should be displayed when the first legal entity is defined as procuring one or more items on behalf of the second legal entity within the electronic financial document; or a value indicating that an error message should be displayed when the first legal entity is defined as procuring one or more items on behalf of the second legal entity within the electronic financial document.   
     
     
         5 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , the facilitating further comprising:
 deriving a bill-to business unit from a supplier site associated with the electronic financial document, wherein the electronic financial document comprises a first business unit and a second business unit;   wherein the generated electronic financial document further comprises the derived bill-to business unit.   
     
     
         6 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the defining the sold-to legal entity further comprises:
 receiving a request to override the defined sold-to legal entity with a replacement sold-to legal entity;   determining whether a user associated with the request has an override privilege; and   overriding the defined sold-to legal entity with the replacement sold-to legal entity when the user associated with the request has the override privilege.   
     
     
         7 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , further comprising storing the electronic financial document on a computer system. 
     
     
         8 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 7 , further comprising sending the electronic financial document to an external computer system for approval. 
     
     
         9 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the electronic financial document comprises an electronic purchase order;   wherein the electronic financial document line comprises an electronic purchase order line.   
     
     
         10 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the receiving the request to generate the electronic financial document further comprises automatically receiving the request to generate the electronic financial document using a computer system;   wherein the defining the sold-to legal entity as the first legal entity further comprises automatically defining the sold-to legal entity as the first legal entity using the computer system;   wherein the determining whether procurement by the first legal entity on behalf of the second legal entity is allowed for the electronic financial document further comprises automatically determining whether procurement by the first legal entity on behalf of the second legal entity is allowed for the electronic financial document using the computer system; and   wherein the generating the electronic financial document further comprises automatically generating the electronic financial document using the computer system.   
     
     
         11 . A computer-implemented method for facilitating procurement by a first legal entity on behalf of a second legal entity, the computer-implemented method comprising:
 receiving a request to generate an electronic financial document comprising an electronic financial document line that comprises the second legal entity;   defining a sold-to legal entity as the first legal entity in response to a determination that a supply chain financial orchestration flow is not defined for the electronic financial document;   determining whether procurement by the first legal entity on behalf of the second legal entity is allowed for the electronic financial document; and   generating the electronic financial document comprising the defined sold-to legal entity, and the electronic financial document line when it is determined that procurement by the first legal entity on behalf of the second legal entity is allowed for the electronic financial document.   
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 displaying a warning message within a user interface when it is determined that a warning message should be displayed when the first legal entity is defined as procuring one or more items on behalf of the second legal entity within the electronic financial document; and   generating the electronic financial document comprising the defined sold-to legal entity, and the electronic financial document line in response to a user confirmation when it is determined that a warning message should be displayed when the first legal entity is defined as procuring one or more items on behalf of the second legal entity within the electronic financial document.   
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 displaying an error message within a user interface when it is determined that an error message should be displayed when the first legal entity is defined as procuring one or more items on behalf of the second legal entity within the electronic financial document.   
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 ,
 wherein the determining whether procurement by the first legal entity on behalf of the second legal entity is allowed for the electronic financial document comprises determining a value of a multiple legal entities flag; and   wherein the multiple legal entities flag comprises one of: a value indicating that procurement by the first legal entity on behalf of the second legal entity is allowed for the electronic financial document; a value indicating that a warning message should be displayed when the first legal entity is defined as procuring one or more items on behalf of the second legal entity within the electronic financial document; or a value indicating that an error message should be displayed when the first legal entity is defined as procuring one or more items on behalf of the second legal entity within the electronic financial document.   
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 deriving a bill-to business unit from a supplier site associated with the electronic financial document, wherein the electronic financial document comprises a first business unit and a second business unit;   wherein the generated electronic financial document further comprises the derived bill-to business unit.   
     
     
         16 . A system for facilitating procurement by a first legal entity on behalf of a second legal entity, the system comprising:
 a request receiving module configured to receive a request to generate an electronic financial document comprising an electronic financial document line that comprises the second legal entity;   a legal entity definition module configured to define a sold-to legal entity as the first legal entity in response to a determination that a supply chain financial orchestration flow is not defined for the electronic financial document;   a multiple legal entity determination module configured to determine whether procurement by the first legal entity on behalf of the second legal entity is allowed for the electronic financial document; and   an electronic document generation module configured to generate the electronic financial document comprising the defined sold-to legal entity, and the electronic financial document line when it is determined that procurement by the first legal entity on behalf of the second legal entity is allowed for the electronic financial document.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 a display module configured to display a warning message within a user interface when it is determined that a warning message should be displayed when the first legal entity is defined as procuring one or more items on behalf of the second legal entity within the electronic financial document;   wherein the electronic document generation module is further configured to generate the electronic financial document comprising the defined sold-to legal entity, and the electronic financial document line in response to a user confirmation when it is determined that a warning message should be displayed when the first legal entity is defined as procuring one or more items on behalf of the second legal entity within the electronic financial document.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 a display module configured to display an error message within a user interface when it is determined that an error message should be displayed when the first legal entity is defined as procuring one or more items on behalf of the second legal entity within the electronic financial document.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 16 ,
 wherein the multiple legal entity determination module is further configured to determine a value of a multiple legal entities flag; and   wherein the multiple legal entities flag comprises one of: a value indicating that procurement by the first legal entity on behalf of the second legal entity is allowed for the electronic financial document; a value indicating that a warning message should be displayed when the first legal entity is defined as procuring one or more items on behalf of the second legal entity within the electronic financial document; or a value indicating that an error message should be displayed when the first legal entity is defined as procuring one or more items on behalf of the second legal entity within the electronic financial document.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 a business unit derivation module configured to derive a bill-to business unit from a supplier site associated with the electronic financial document, wherein the electronic financial document comprises a first business unit and a second business unit;   wherein the generated electronic financial document further comprises the derived bill-to business unit.