US Patent 7398227 Methods, systems, and computer for managing purchasing data

Systems and methods consistent with the present invention manage the purchasing data of purchasing entities. The systems and methods can efficiently and automatically analyze the purchasing activity of the entities to prepare information used to form and operate purchasing consortiums. The system receives purchasing data from a purchasing entity. The purchasing data relates to purchase transactions for a plurality of products purchased by the purchasing entity. After receiving the purchasing data, the system identifies, for each transaction, a product related to the transaction by comparing the received purchasing data with product information stored in a product index. The product information in the index associates at least a portion of the received purchasing data with a particular product. The system then modifies the received purchasing data to include data representing the identified product and processes the modified purchasing data to reflect all purchase transactions concerning the identified product. The processed information can then be used, for example, by a manager of a consortium.