International Business Machines Corporation

Other

Francis L Fitzpatrick

James Richard Wason

James B Anderson

Charles B Harvey, Jr

Bharath Natarajan

Herman Mitchell

Adrienne Tin

William Edwin Bruner

Craig Alfred Bloszinsky

Robert L Berlin

Donald Roy Johnson

Joseph Edward Hein

William M Hans

Barry Edmund McCaa

A method and system are provided for automating validation and payment within a Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) system having a number of trading partners linked via an independent (or proprietary) communications network utilizing an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Planned orders for production items generated via a Materials Requirement Planning (MRP) system and/or orders for non-production items are utilized by a purchasing system to create a purchase order which is then transmitted to a supplier via Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). A planned receipt list of items is created based upon the purchase order and utilized to validate those items listed within an advanced ship notice. In response to such validation, or after correcting any discrepancy in accordance with listed tolerances, an authorization for payment is automatically generated and payment is issued. In one embodiment of the present invention, an electronic funds transfer request is automatically sent to a financial institution authorizing a fund transfer. Preferably, the terms of payment for each purchase are listed within an associated purchase order and an authorization for payment which is automatically issued will comply with such listed terms, ensuring that available discounts are utilized.

Method and system for automated payment within a computer integrated

A Complex Object class is provided for grouping hierarchically unrelated objects, i.e. objects which are unrelated to each other as parent and child objects, into Complex Objects in an object oriented computing environment. Each Complex Object includes a Complex Object Member frame, containing pointers to associated hierarchically unrelated objects, and Complex Object methods for performing actions on the hierarchically unrelated objects as a group. Accordingly, an object manager can send action messages to the Complex Objects to perform actions on the associated hierarchically unrelated objects using the associated Complex Object methods. As a result, customized programming for defining and utilizing Complex Objects is greatly reduced.

System and method for supporting complex objects in an object oriented

A system and method for controlling versions of selected objects in an object oriented computing system includes a common logical key attribute in each version of an object, which is used to identify all versions of an object. The object frame of each version also includes a unique combination of an insert sequence attribute and an extract sequence attribute. The unique combination of insert sequence attribute and extract sequence attribute allows the selection of a unique version of an object based on time. In order to select one or more versions of an identified object, a version time is converted into a selection sequence value. The selection sequence value is then compared to the insert sequence attributes and extract sequence attributes in order to select at least one of the versions of the selected objects. Each version may also include a perspective attribute for providing another selection criteria for selecting one or more versions of an object.

System and method for controlling versions of objects in an object

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Austin, TX, United States of America

Francis L Fitzpatrick