System And Method For Integrating Trading Operations Including The Generation, Processing And Tracking of Trade Documents

Abstract

First and second components of the present invention, in combination, provide a customer interface for initiating a trade transaction and provides for the secure viewing of the status of the transaction. A third component assists in the automatic generation and verification of the voluminous and detailed documents required to support a trade transaction. The third component additionally tracks and assists in the management of the seller's manufacturing and shipment of the goods that form the basis of the trade transaction. A fourth component automatically generates a Letter of Credit from a Purchase Order and performs a reconciliation function on payments made pursuant to Letters of Credit or open Accounts.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is based on and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Applications Nos. 60 / 113,561, filed Dec. 23, 1998; 60 / 113,643, filed Dec. 23, 1998; and PCT Application No. PCT / US99 / 26672, filed Dec. 11, 1999, the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for managing trading operations and more particularly to a system and method for generating, processing and tracking documents and processes associated with import / export trading operations.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Presently, the process of documenting a trading operation between a buyer and a seller is manually intensive and error prone. Typically, a trading operation begins with a buyer wanting to purchase goods from a seller and requesting a price quote for the goods. The buyer and seller negotiate the terms of the trade resulting in the price quote as well as the other te...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0015]Once the PO and / or L / C is verified against the customer's profile, it is mapped into a database in the Financial System which in turn feeds a database maintained by Trade Manager. The database can either be relational, object oriented or a combination of both. From this point forward in the entire trade process, all of the parties to the trade transaction are able to log onto Trade Manager and quickly determine the status of any particular trade operation. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, users employ a standard browser and the Internet to communicate with Trade Manager. Standard security techniques such as encryption and authentication and non-repudiation are used to provide confidential communications and to ensure proper identification of the parties over the Internet an other electronic communication media. The use of the Internet is an incredible advantage of the present invention since most trading operations involve parties which are distributed worldwide. For example, the buyer might be in Texas, the seller might be in Singapore, the buyer's bank might be in New York and the seller's bank might be in London. Using the present invention. Any of the parties can access Trade Manager 150 through the Internet and instantly find out the status of the trade operation. Additionally, TradeEDI can exchange the information (e.g., push the information) via an electronic message through the Internet or other communication media to the buyer seller or their respective trading partners as the trade transaction is being processed in the Financial System or TradeDoc.

[0016]The other significant part of the present invention is TradeDoc. As described above, in the traditional prior art approach, all of the documentation related to the trade transaction was generated manually from paper files. This manual generation is significantly labor intensive and error prone. As often said, the devil is in the details. Unfortunately, an error in the details with respect to a trade operation can extremely costly both in terms of delayed or lost revenues, but more importantly from a relationship point of view between a buyer and a seller. Even if a seller has significantly better products, buyers are not willing to deal with the seller if the seller cannot manage the administrative details of the documentation a deliver the requested goods on time. The present invention solves all of these problems of the prior art by automatically generating a verifying all of the documentation at each step of the seller process.

[0017]TradeDoc is a facility that can generate trade documents in accordance with the terms and conditions of an L / C or PO (in an Open Account transaction). TradeDoc's facilitates trade document processing for global supply chain customers where the buyer is customer of the bank and the seller may or may not be a customer of the bank. Trade Doc also generates the proper trade documents in a trade transaction for the seller when the seller is a customer of the bank and the buyer may or may not be a bank customer. TradeDoc maintains a comparable database to that maintained by Trade Manager and is therefore capable of generating a Sales Order for seller using the details contained in the L / C and / or PO. Alternatively, if the seller generates the sales order itself, TradeDoc compares the Sales Order to the L / C or PO to verify its accuracy. In a similar fashion, TradeDoc is capable of either generating or verifying manufacturing specification sheets, invoices, shipping instructions, insurance instructions, drafts, beneficiary certificates and Bills of Lading and virtually any other trade documents required for the seller to satisfy the L / C or PO. As the generation and verification operations performed by TradeDoc are all executed from the initiated purchase information of the L / C and / or PO in the same common database, all of the opportunity for error in the documentation is eliminated. Once the manufacturing has been completed and the goods are ready for shipment, TradeDoc generates all of the final export documents required to complete the transaction. TradeDoc can remotely print the completed documents at a location closest to the buyer or the buyer's bank to facilitate the collection process. In an alternative embodiment, all of the trade documents are transmitted to the receiving partner electronically. This embodiment is becoming more and more prevalent in electronic commerce transactions (e.g., electronic marketplace).

[0018]Each of TradeDoc, TradeEDI and Trade Manager are integrated systems that allow the customers of the bank to permit their trading partners to view the trade documents. Trade Manager provides viewing of trade documents generated by TradeDoc on a browser via the Internet. Based on the customer's profile, some trading partners are provided with the authorization to print documents. TradeEDI can receive or send electronic documents to trading partners based on the agreement of the customer which s reflected in the customer's profile.

[0019]The present invention further provides reconciliation functions for both the buyer and the seller. When the trade documents are presented for negotiation, the system informs the buyer's accounts payable systems of the payment and correlates the invoice from the seller to the L / C or PO issued by the buyer. Similarly, when a payment is received from they buyer, the present invention is capable of performing a reconciliation process by which the payment is reconciled against the seller's accounts receivables (e.g., invoiced items). In this manner the present invention is able to assist in every aspect of the trading operation, from initiation to collection while solving all of the above described problems of the prior art.

Problems solved by technology

Presently, the process of documenting a trading operation between a buyer and a seller is manually intensive and error prone.

As is readily seen from the above description, the process required to document a trading operation involves many parties generating many documents from the same redundant purchase information from the buyer that is entered in the systems of the bank, the seller and other trading partners, and is therefore susceptible to error and gross inefficiencies.

These errors in the documentation lead to delays throughout the process including delays in the shipment of the goods.

Any such errors result in the delay of receipt of the goods by the buyer and delay of receipt of payment by the seller.

Furthermore, since there is a certain level of risk exposure in the letter of credit collection process, many customers are looking to banks to assist them in their letter of credit fund collection.

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