Systems and Methods for Identifying Suspicious Orders

Abstract

Various embodiments of the present invention generally relate to systems and methods for identifying suspicious orders for controlled substances based on performing checks on a received order using historical information on previous orders. According to various embodiments, these checks may include: (1) comparing the order quantity for the received order with the order quantity history for the customer who placed the order for the controlled substance; (2) comparing the order quantity and the days since the last order was shipped to the customer for the same controlled substance with the order quantity history and the days between orders for the particular customer and controlled substance; (3) comparing the order quantity with order quantity history for orders received by customers of the same type for the controlled substance; and (4) comparing the order quantity with order quantity history for any customer for the particular controlled substance.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A distributor system comprising:
 memory; and   one or more processors collectively configured to:
 receive, by the one or more processors executing a check module, an order for a controlled substance via a computing device associated with a customer, the order comprising: an order quantity, an order date, and a customer identifier identifying the customer; 
 query, by the one or more processors executing the check module, historical orders from the memory, each historical order comprising: a ship date identifying a date the historical order was shipped, a historical customer identifier identifying a customer who placed the order, and a historical quantity, a first historical order including a historical customer identifier that matches the customer identifier; 
 derive a first threshold via a control chart based on the formula Q=D*N, where Q comprises a replenishment order quantity, D comprises an average daily ship quantity, N comprises a period of time since the first historical order with the historical customer identifier that matches the customer identifier was shipped, where a y-axis of the control chart comprises values corresponding to D, and an x-axis of the control chart comprises values corresponding to N; and 
   based at least in part on the control chart and the order quantity being greater than the first threshold, mark, by the one or more processors executing the check module, the order as suspicious.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the order further includes a customer type identifier identifying a type of customer, and a substance identifier identifying the controlled substance, and wherein each historical order further includes a historical customer type identifier identifying the type of customer. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the marking of the order as suspicious is further based on the order quantity being greater than a second threshold, wherein the second threshold is based on the historical quantities for a subset of the historical orders with the historical customer type identifier matching the customer type identifier. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the marking of the order as suspicious is further based on the order quantity being greater than a third threshold, wherein the third threshold is based on the historical quantities of the historical orders. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein:
 a. the order is marked suspicious based on a fourth threshold; and   b. the fourth threshold is derived from an exponentially-weighted moving average control chart based on the historical quantities for another subset of the historical orders sorted by the ship date, the fourth subset of the historical orders comprising the historical orders with the historical customer identifiers that match the customer identifier, wherein the exponentially-weighted moving average control chart is created based on an update parameter that indicates a first weight for a current value associated with an exponentially-weighted moving average and a second weight for a previous value associated with the exponentially-weighted moving average, and is created based on a sigma multiplier parameter for the fourth threshold that indicates a confidence level of the exponentially-weighted moving average control chart.   
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , in response to the order being marked as suspicious, transmit information associated with the order to a user interface associated with an investigating computing device for further investigation. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the transmitting of information associated with the order to a user interface associated with an investigating computing device for further investigation occurs to determine whether there is at least one of: a fine and a loss privilege to complete the order for the controlled substance. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the substance identifier, the customer identifier, and a customer type is a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) customer identifier. 
     
     
         9 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 receiving, by one or more processors executing a check module, an order for a controlled substance via a computing device associated with a customer, the order comprising an order quantity, an order date, and a customer identifier identifying the customer;   query, by the one or more processors executing the check module, historical orders from the memory, each historical order comprising a ship date identifying a date the historical order was shipped, a historical customer identifier identifying a customer who placed the order, and a historical quantity, a first historical order including a historical customer identifier that matches the customer identifier;   deriving a first threshold via a control chart based on the formula Q=D*N, where Q comprises a replenishment order quantity, D comprises an average daily ship quantity, N comprises a period of time since the first historical order with the historical customer identifier that matches the customer identifier was shipped, where a y-axis of the control chart comprises values corresponding to D, and an x-axis of the control chart comprises values corresponding to N; and   based at least in part on the control chart and the order quantity being greater than the first threshold, mark, by the one or more processors executing the check module, the order as suspicious.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the order further includes a customer type identifier identifying a type of customer, and a substance identifier identifying the controlled substance, and wherein each historical order further includes a historical customer type identifier identifying the type of customer. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the marking of the order as suspicious is further based on the order quantity being greater than a second threshold, wherein the second threshold is based on the historical quantities for a subset of the historical orders with the historical customer type identifier matching the customer type identifier. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the marking of the order as suspicious is further based on the order quantity being greater than a third threshold, wherein the third threshold is based on the historical quantities of the historical orders. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein:
 c. the order is marked suspicious based on a fourth threshold; and   d. the fourth threshold is derived from an exponentially-weighted moving average control chart based on the historical quantities for another subset of the historical orders sorted by the ship date, the fourth subset of the historical orders comprising the historical orders with the historical customer identifiers that match the customer identifier, wherein the exponentially-weighted moving average control chart is created based on an update parameter that indicates a first weight for a current value associated with an exponentially-weighted moving average and a second weight for a previous value associated with the exponentially-weighted moving average, and is created based on a sigma multiplier parameter for the fourth threshold that indicates a confidence level of the exponentially-weighted moving average control chart.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising in response to the order being marked as suspicious, transmitting information associated with the order to a user interface associated with an investigating computing device for further investigation. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the transmitting of information associated with the order to a user interface associated with an investigating computing device for further investigation occurs to determine whether there is at least one of: a fine and a loss privilege to complete the order for the controlled substance. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein at least one of the substance identifier, the customer identifier, and a customer type is a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) customer identifier. 
     
     
         17 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising code executable by one or more processors to:
 receive an order for a controlled substance via a computing device associated with a customer, the order comprising an order quantity, an order date, and a customer identifier identifying the customer;   query historical orders from the memory, each historical order comprising a ship date identifying a date the historical order was shipped, a historical customer identifier identifying a customer who placed the order, and a historical quantity, a first historical order including a historical customer identifier that matches the customer identifier;   derive a first threshold via a control chart based on the formula Q=D*N, where Q comprises a replenishment order quantity, D comprises an average daily ship quantity, N comprises a period of time since the first historical order with the historical customer identifier that matches the customer identifier was shipped, where a y-axis of the control chart comprises values corresponding to D, and an x-axis of the control chart comprises values corresponding to N; and   based at least in part on the control chart and the order quantity being greater than the first threshold, mark, by the one or more processors executing the check module, the order as suspicious.   
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the order further includes a customer type identifier identifying a type of customer, and a substance identifier identifying the controlled substance, and wherein each historical order further includes a historical customer type identifier identifying the type of customer. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the marking of the order as suspicious is further based on the order quantity being greater than a second threshold, wherein the second threshold is based on the historical quantities for a subset of the historical orders with the historical customer type identifier matching the customer type identifier. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 19 , wherein the marking of the order as suspicious is further based on the order quantity being greater than a third threshold, wherein the third threshold is based on the historical quantities of the historical orders.