Method and system for buyer centric dispute resolution in electronic payment system

A method of facilitating resolution of a dispute between a buyer organization and a seller in an electronic payment system, the method comprising:

• receiving an electronic invoice from the seller, the electronic invoice being subject to invoice definition rules for accepting information into the invoice as defined by the invoice receive on of information for respective fields of the invoice, extraction of buyer organization, the in voice definition rules including rules for a format by which the invoice receives data, validation of information for respective fields of the invoice, extraction of information from the buyer's systems, and transformation of status information;
• electronically routing the invoice to individuals ii the buyer organization;
• receiving from a set of two or more of the individuals in the buyer organization indications that the invoice is disputed, corrections to disputed portions of the invoice, comments for the seller regarding the disputed portions of the invoice and comments for other individuals in the buyer organization regarding the invoice;
• forwarding to the seller an indication that the invoice is disputed, the corrections to the disputed portions of the invoice and the comments for the seller without forwarding the comments for other individuals in the buyer organization;
• receiving from the seller a response to the buyer organization's indication that the invoice is disputed, the response including an acceptance of changes suggested by the buyer organization or an indication that the seller disputes the changes suggested by the buyer organization;
• automatically forwarding information regarding the dispute to another individual in the same organization as a first individual responsible for responding to a notice regarding the dispute if the first individual has not responded within a particular time, the another individual being a manager of the first individual, the manager being determined according to an established hierarchy based on hierarchical data retained in an escalation level management scheme obtained from a human resource management system (HRMS);
• withholding payment for the invoice until an indication from the buyer organization has been received that the buyer organization has determined that the invoice may be paid;
• and
• displaying a history of the dispute to individuals in the buyer organization on request, the history including indication of users who entered dispute data, the indication of users who entered dispute data being made available only to the buyer organization.

A method including:

• receiving an electronic invoice from a seller, the electronic invoice being subject to invoice definition rules for accepting information into the invoice as defined by the buyer organization, the invoice definition rules including rules for a format by which the invoice receives data, validation of information for respective fields of the invoice, extraction of information from the buyer's systems, and transformation of status information;
• electronically routing the invoice to individuals in the buyer organization;
• receiving, electronically via a computer network, from a set of two or more of the individuals in the buyer organization indications that the invoice is disputed, corrections to the invoice, comments for the seller regarding the invoice and comments for other individuals in the buyer organization regarding the invoice;
• electronically forwarding to an electronic apparatus associated with the seller an indication that the invoice is disputed, the corrections to the invoice and the comments for the seller, without forwarding the comments for other individuals in the buyer organization;
• receiving a response from the seller including an acceptance of changes suggested by the buyer organization or an indication that the seller disputes the changes suggested by the buyer organization;
• automatically forwarding information regarding the dispute to another individual in the same organization as a first individual responsible for responding to a notice regarding the dispute if the first individual has not responded within a particular time, the another individual being a manger of the first individual, the manager being determined according to an established hierarchy based on hierarchical data retained in an escalation level management scheme obtained from a human resource management system (HRMS);
• withholding payment for the invoice until an indication from the buyer organization has been received that the buyer organization has determined that the invoice may be paid;
• and
• displaying a history of the dispute to individuals in the buyer organization on request, the history including indication of users who entered dispute data, the indication of users who entered dispute data being made available only to the buyer organization.