Systems and methods for administering customer purchasing processes
AssigneeW.W. Grainger, Inc.
InventorsAndre Luis Wilman Rego, Julie A. Dierwechter, Craig Millman, Arlen James Young, Ezio Enrico Magarotto, Bryan David Anderson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A customer purchasing workflow management functionality related to a customer account hosted by a vendor system is presented on a client computing device in a dashboard page. The system allows a customer to visualize purchasing workflows and processes by authorized purchasers and by authorized approvers, including the spending and approval limits associated with each, and the relationships therebetween. The system further provides for editing of the stored information comprising the purchasing workflows and processes.
Claims20
A non-transient, computer readable media having stored thereon instructions for providing access to manage customer purchasing workflow information within an electronic vendor system, the instructions performing steps comprising:
- storing in a data repository a listing of authorized purchasers for a customer, a listing of authorized approvers for the customer, and a listing of spending limits for the customer, wherein each of the authorized purchasers is selectively associated with one of the spending limits and is capable of being associated with one or more of the authorized approvers;
- causing a dashboard page to be displayed on a client computing device, the dashboard page comprising the listing of authorized purchasers, the spending limit respectively associated with each of the authorized purchasers, and an identifier of any one or more of the authorized approvers respectively associated with each of the authorized purchasers;
- causing a first plurality of user interface elements, each corresponding to one of the authorized purchasers, to be presented on the client computing device;
- in response to a selection of one of the first plurality of user interface elements associated with a selected one of the authorized purchasers, causing a second plurality of user interface elements to be presented on the client computing device, each of the second plurality of user interface elements respectively corresponding to one of the spending limit and any one or more of the authorized approvers for the selected one of the authorized purchasers;
- and
- in response to a selection of one of the second plurality of user interface elements, respectively accessing one of the listing of the spending limits and the listing of the authorized approvers, to enable the customer to selectively modify the association of the respective one of the spending limit and any one or more of the authorized approvers with the selected one of the authorized purchasers.
A system for administration of customer purchasing workflow information in a vendor database, the system comprising:
- a vendor data repository maintaining a listing of authorized purchasers for a customer, a listing of authorized approvers for the customer, and a listing of spending limits for the customer, wherein each of the authorized purchasers is selectively associated with one of the spending limits and is capable of being associated with one or more of the authorized approvers;
- a vendor server in communication with the vendor data repository;
- a client computing device in communication with the vendor server;
- a dashboard page selectively displayed on the client computing device, the dashboard page including the listing of authorized purchasers, the spending limit respectively associated with each of the authorized purchasers, and an identifier of any one or more of the authorized approvers respectively associated with each of the authorized purchasers;
- a first plurality of user interface elements presented on the client computing device, each corresponding to one of the authorized purchasers;
- and
- a second plurality of user interface elements selectively presented on the client computing device in response to a selection of one of the first plurality of user interface elements associated with a selected one of the authorized purchasers, each of the second plurality of user interface elements respectively corresponding to one of the spending limit and any one or more of the authorized approvers for the selected one of the authorized purchasers,
- wherein the vendor server respectively accesses and presents on the client computing device one of the listing of the spending limits and the listing of the authorized approvers in response to a selection of one of the second plurality of user interface elements, to enable the customer to selectively modify the association of the respective one of the spending limit and any one or more of the authorized approvers with the selected one of the authorized purchasers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.