Reconciling Conflicting Entity Identifiers in Contract Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional systems fail to reconcile conflicting identifiers used by different business entities in contract facilitation, leading to confusion and inefficiencies in contract management, particularly in group purchasing organizations (GPOs) and healthcare providers, where arbitrary identifiers are not standardized, making it difficult for suppliers to accurately identify healthcare provider addresses.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for reconciling conflicting identifiers by receiving and updating identifiers from both GPOs and suppliers in a database, allowing for the association of GPO-assigned healthcare provider identifiers with supplier-assigned account identifiers, enabling accurate identification and display of contract details through user interfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If arbitrary identifiers are used by different business entities (GPOs and suppliers) to refer to healthcare provider addresses, then each entity can maintain its own identifier system, but confusion and inability to accurately identify the same address across entities occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a central database as an intermediary that stores and manages the mapping between GPO-assigned identifiers and supplier-assigned identifiers. This intermediary component enables both entities to reference the same healthcare provider address using their respective identifier systems without direct confusion, as the database translates between the two identifier types during contract facilitation operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The central database serves multiple functions: it stores healthcare provider address information, maintains identifier mappings for both GPO and supplier systems, facilitates contract creation, and enables identifier translation. This multi-functional approach allows a single system to accommodate the identifier flexibility needs of both entities while ensuring accurate address identification.
2Measurement precision
If manual cross-referencing is performed to match identifiers between GPOs and suppliers, then accurate address identification can be achieved, but time and costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-establishing and storing the mapping relationships between GPO identifiers and supplier identifiers in the central database before contract facilitation occurs. This advance preparation eliminates the need for time-consuming manual cross-referencing during actual contract creation, as the identifier mappings are already available for immediate retrieval and translation.
Solution Approach 2:
The central database enables self-service by automatically performing identifier translation and matching operations. When a contract is being facilitated, the system automatically retrieves the appropriate identifier mappings from the database and translates between GPO and supplier identifiers without requiring manual intervention, thereby reducing both time and labor costs while maintaining high accuracy.
3Reliability
If a centralized system is implemented to store and manage identifiers from multiple entities, then identifier reconciliation and accurate address identification are improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the system into distinct functional components: a central database for storing identifier mappings and healthcare provider information, interface modules for GPO and supplier entities, and translation logic for identifier conversion. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function independently, making the overall complex system more manageable, maintainable, and reliable while still achieving comprehensive identifier reconciliation.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for reconciling conflicting identifiers from a first entity and a second entity is disclosed. The first entity and the second entity may be associated with a contract for goods to be delivered to an address of an organization. The system and method may include receiving, from the first entity via a first user interface or the second entity via a second user interface, respective files including respective identifiers. The system and method may include updating, in a database, an entry associated with the organization based on the received identifiers such that an organization address identifier assigned by the first entity is associated with an account identifier assigned by the second entity.