| 摘要 |
A transaction processing system facilitates the buying and selling of commodity products by bringing the parties together, establishing a single documentary record for the transaction, requiring approval of variables introduced into the transaction throughout each step of the transaction, providing information to the parties for supporting their internal business operations. The system is preferably implemented through a communication system such as the Internet with the software services provided by an application service provider. The parties register and agree to a standard contract of terms. For each transaction, the unique data for that transaction is entered by the parties and then must be affirmatively approved. Next, a schedule for delivery of the product is developed in conjunction with an overall schedule for all of the current transactions. The schedule data for the current transaction must be approved by the party before a product delivery schedule is supplied to a delivery asset, such as a pipeline company. Afte the product is delivered, a product delivery report is provided from the delivery asset specifying the volume of the product, its composition, and shipment. This information, in conjunction with the transaction contract, are utilized to produce invoicing data. The parties must affirmatively approve the invoicing data prior to the production of payment statements by the system. Payments between all the parties can be consolidated such that a minimum number of financial transactions must be executed to accomplish payment. A financial institution can have access to all of the data such that is can extend lines of credit to purchasers so that sellers can be ensured payment. The financial institution can monitor all of the transactions of a purchaser to ensure that the total amount of credit is not exceeded. Still further, the parties can maintain proprietary records in conjunction with each transaction contract and these records can be searched and processed in conjunction with the transaction contract information to provide important information to the party. |
