System and method for facilitating bilateral and multilateral decision-making

An apparatus for facilitating evaluation, in connection with the procurement or delivery of products or services, in a context of at least one of (i) a financial transaction and (ii) operation of an enterprise, such context involving a member of a first class of parties in a first role and a member of a second class of counterparties in a second role, the apparatus comprising:

• a. a first computer process, in communication with a first digital storage medium, for obtaining for each of the parties in the first class and storing in the first digital storage medium responses from at least one of the party and a party co-evaluator to a first set of forced choice questions designed to permit analysis of the responses in terms of a first plurality of attributes that are essentially orthogonal to one another so as to reveal underlying party preferences that can be used to estimate the closeness of such party's fit with a counterparty in such context;
• b. a second computer process, in communication with a second digital storage medium, for obtaining for each of the counterparties in the second class and storing in the second digital storage medium responses from at least one of the counterparty and a counterparty co-evaluator to a second set of forced choice questions designed to permit analysis of the responses in terms of a second plurality of attributes that are essentially orthogonal to one another and complementary to said first plurality of attributes so as to reveal underlying counterparty preferences that can be used to estimate the closeness of such counterparty's fit with a party such context;
• c. third computer process for deriving from the responses to the first set of questions for each such party a first preference profile for each such party through conjoint analysis of the responses;
• d. a fourth computer process for deriving from the responses to the second set of questions for each such counterparty a second preference profile for each such counterparty through conjoint analysis of the responses;
• and
• e. a fifth computer process for analyzing the preference profile of each party in relation to the preference profiles of the counterparties to derive a list of counterparties for which the preferences of the party closely match the preferences of the counterparty and the preferences of the counterparty closely match the preferences of the party in connection with the procurement or delivery of such products or services in such context of at least one of a financial transaction and operation of an enterprise, and communicating the list to such party.

An apparatus for facilitating evaluation, in connection with the procurement or delivery of products or services in a context of at least one of (i) a financial transaction and (ii) operation of an enterprise, such context involving a member of a first class of parties in a first role and a member of a second class of counterparties in a second role, the apparatus comprising:

• a. a first question and response module, in communication with a first digital storage medium, for obtaining for each of the parties in the first class and storing in the first digital storage medium responses from at least one of the party and a party co-evaluator to a first set of forced choice questions designed to permit analysis of the responses in terms of a first plurality of attributes that are essentially orthogonal to one another so as to reveal underlying party preferences that can be used to estimate the closeness of such party's fit with a counterparty in such context;
• b. a second question and response module, in communication with a second digital storage medium, for obtaining for each of the counterparties in the second class and storing in the second digital storage medium responses from at least one of the counterparty and a counterparty co-evaluator to a second set of forced choice questions designed to permit analysis of the responses in terms of a second plurality of attributes that are essentially orthogonal to one another and complementary to said first plurality of attributes so as to reveal underlying counterparty preferences that can be used to estimate the closeness of such counterparty's fit with a party in such context;
• c. a first profile processor for deriving from the responses to the first set of questions for each such party a first preference profile for each such party through conjoint analysts of the responses;
• d. a second profile processor for deriving from the responses to the second set of questions for each such counterparty a second preference profile for each such counterparts through conjoint analysis of the responses;
• and
• e. a closeness-of-fit analyzer for analyzing the preference profile of each party in relation to the preference profiles of the counterparties to derive a list of counterparties for which the preferences of the party closely match the preferences of the counterparty and the preferences of the counterparty closely match the preferences of the party in connection with the procurement or delivery of such products or services in such context of at least one of a financial transaction and operation of an enterprise and communicating the list to such party.

A method of structuring a database to facilitate evaluation, in connection with the procurement or delivery of products or services, in a context of at least one of (i) a financial transaction and (ii) operation of an enterprise, such context involving a member of a first class of parties in a first role and a member of a second class of counterparties in a second role, the method comprising:

• a. obtaining for each of the parties in the first class and storing in a first data record in a first digital storage medium responses from at least one of the party and a party co-evaluator to a first set of forced choice questions designed to permit analysis of the responses in terms of a first plurality of attributes that are essentially orthogonal to one another so as to reveal underlying party preferences that can be used to estimate the closeness of such party's fit with a counterparty in such context;
• b. obtaining for each of the counterparties in the second class and storing in a second data record in a second digital storage medium responses from at least one of the counterparty and a counterparty co-evaluator to a second set of forced choice questions designed to permit analysis of the responses in terms of a second plurality of attributes that are essentially orthogonal to one another and comply to said first plurality of attributes so as to reveal underlying counterparty preferences that can be used to estimate the closeness of such counterparty's fit with a party in such context;
• c. deriving, in a first computer process, from the responses to the first set of questions for each such party a first preference profile for each such party through conjoint analysis of the responses, and storing the first preference profile in a third data record in a third digital storage medium;
• d. deriving, in a second computer process, from the responses to the second set of questions for each such counterparty a second preference profile for each such counterparty through conjoint analysis of the responses, and storing the second preference profile in a fourth data record in a fourth digital storage medium;
• e. for each party, analyzing, in a third computer process, the preference profile of such party in relation to the preference profiles of the counterparties to derive a first list of counterparties for which the preferences of the party closely match the preferences of the counterparty and the preferences of the counterparty closely match the preferences of the party in connection with the procurement or delivery of such products or services in such context of at least one of a financial transaction and operation of an enterprise and storing the first list in a fifth data record in a fifth digital storage medium.

An apparatus for structuring a database, in connection with the procurement or delivery of products or services, in a context of at least one of (i) a financial transaction and (ii) operation of an enterprise, such context involving a member of a first class of parties in a first role and a member of a second class of counterparties in a second role, the apparatus comprising:

• a. a first question and response module, in communication with a first digital storage medium, for obtaining for each of the parties in the first class and storing in a first data record in the first digital storage medium responses from at least one of the party and a party co-evaluator to a first set of forced choice questions designed to permit analysis of the responses in terms of a first plurality of attributes that are essentially orthogonal to one another so as to reveal underlying party preferences that can be used to estimate the closeness of such party's fit with a counterparty in such context;
• b. a second question and response module, in communication with a second digital storage medium, for obtaining for each of the counterparties in the second class and storing in a second data record in the second digital storage medium responses from at least one of the counterparty and a counterparty co-evaluator to a second set of forced choice questions designed to permit analysis of the responses in terms of a second plurality of attributes that are essentially orthogonal to one another and complementary to said first plurality of attributes so as to reveal underlying counterparty preferences that can be used to estimate the closeness of such counterparty's fit with a party in such context;
• c. a first profile processor for deriving from the responses to the first set of questions for each such party a first preference profile for each such party through conjoint analysis of the responses, and storing the first preference profile in a third data record in a third digital storage medium;
• d. a second profile processor for deriving from the responses to the second set of questions for each such counterparty a second preference profile for each such counterparty through conjoint analysis of the responses, and storing the second preference profile in a fourth data record in a fourth digital storage medium;
• and
• e. a closeness-of-fit analyzer for analyzing the preference profile of each party in relation to the preference profiles of the counterparties to derive a list of counterparties for which the preferences of the party closely match the preferences of the counterparty and the preferences of the counterparty closely match the preferences of the party in connection with the procurement or delivery of such products or services in such context of at least one of a financial transaction and operation of an enterprise, and storing the list in a fifth data record in a fifth digital storage medium.