Automated invoice receipt and management system

1. An automated invoice management system for operation with a plurality of client systems including a plurality of vendor client systems and at least one payer client system, the automated invoice management system comprising:

a network circuit for communicating invoice management data with the plurality of client systems;

a session management engine coupled to the network circuit for establishing a secure session with each client system, receiving a first vendor invoice transaction from a first vendor client system and providing an export invoice transaction to a payer client system;

the first vendor invoice transaction being compliant with a first vendor client transaction definition and including vendor recognized business values, including a vendor recognized payer ID code and a vendor recognized vendor ID code, and an amount due from a customer associated with the payer client system;

the export invoice transaction being compliant with a payer client transaction definition and including payer recognized business values, including a payer recognized payer ID code and a payer recognized vendor ID code, and the amount due from the customer; and

a translation engine for:

performing data mapping translation to translate the first vendor invoice transaction from the vendor invoice transaction definition to a normalized invoice transaction definition and for performing business value translation to translate vendor recognized business values to normalized business values; and

performing data mapping translation to translate the normalized invoice transaction from the normalized invoice transaction definition to the paver client transaction definition and performing business value translation to translate normalized business values to payer recognized business values.

2. The automated invoice management system of claim 1 , wherein:

performing business value translation to translate vendor recognized business values to normalized business values comprises:

translating the vendor recognized vendor ID code to a global client code of the vendor by looking up the global client ID code of the vendor associated with the vendor recognized vendor ID code in a customer control table;

translating the vendor recognized payer ID code to a global client code of the payer by looking up the global client ID code of the payer associated with the vendor recognized payer ID code in a customer control table; and

performing business value translation to translate normalized business values to payer recognized business values comprises:

translating the global client code of the vendor to a payer recognized ID code of the vendor by looking up the payer ID code of the vendor associated with the global client code of the vendor and the global client ID code of the payer in a vendor control table; and

translating the global client ID code of the payer to a payer recognized ID code of the payer by looking up the payer ID code of the payer associated with the global client code of the payer in the vendor control table.

3. The automated invoice management system of claim 1 , wherein:

performing business value translation to translate vendor recognized business values to normalized business values comprises:

translating the vendor recognized vendor ID code to a global client code of the vendor by mapping the vendor recognized vendor ID to the global client ID code which corresponds to the vendor recognized ID code in a look up table;

translating the vendor recognized paver ID code to a global client code of the payer by mapping vendor recognized payer ID code to the global client ID code of the payer which corresponds to the vendor recognized ID code in the look up table; and

performing business value translation to translate normalized business values to payer recognized business values comprises:

translating the global client code of the vendor to a payer recognized ID code of the vendor by mapping the global client code of the vendor to the payer ID code of the vendor that corresponds to both the global client ID code of the payer and the global client ID code of the vendor in the look up table; and

translating the global client ID code of the payer to a payer recognized ID code of the payer by mapping the global client code of the payer to the payer ID code of the payer that corresponds to the global client ID code of the payer in the look up table.

4. The automated invoice management system of claim 1 :

wherein the session management engine further receives a payer remittance transaction from the payer client system, and providing a vendor remittance transaction to the vendor client system;

the payer remittance transaction being compliant with a payer remittance transaction definition and including payer recognized business values associated with the export invoice transaction including the payer recognized payer ID code and the payer recognized vendor ID code;

the vendor remittance transaction being complaint with a vendor remittance transaction definition and including vendor recognized business value associated with the export invoice transaction including the vendor recognized payer ID code and the vendor recognized vendor ID code; and

wherein the translation engine further:

performing data mapping translation to translate the payer remittance transaction from the payer remittance transaction definition to a normalized remittance transaction definition and for performing business value translation to translate the payer recognized business values to normalized business values;

performing data mapping translation to translate the normalized remittance transaction from the normalized remittance transaction definition to the vendor remittance transaction definition and for performing business value translation to translate the normalized business values to vendor recognize business values.

5 .The automated invoice management system of claim 1 , wherein:

the session management engine further receives a second vendor invoice transaction from a second vendor client system, the second vendor invoice transaction being compliant with a second vendor client transaction definition and including vendor recognized business values, including a vendor recognized payer ID code and a vendor recognized vendor ID code, and amounts due form the payer client; and

the translation engine further provides for:

performing data mapping translation to translate the second vendor invoice transaction form the vendor invoice transaction definition to a second normalized invoice transaction compliant with the normalized invoice transaction definition and performing business value translation to translate vendor recognized business values to normalized business values; and

performing data mapping translation to translate the second normalized invoice transaction from the normalized invoice transaction definition to the payer client transaction definition and performing business value translation to translate normalized business values to the payer recognized business values.

6. A method of providing automated invoice management services to a plurality of client systems including a plurality of vendor client systems and at least one payer client system, the method comprising:

establishing a secure session with at least a first vendor client system and with at least one payer client system through a network circuit;

receiving a first vendor invoice transaction from the first vendor client system, the first vendor invoice transaction compliant with a first vendor client transaction definition and including vendor recognized business values, including a vendor recognized payer ID code and a vendor recognized vendor ID code, and an amount due from a customer associated with the payer client system;

translating the first vendor invoice transaction to a normalized invoice transaction by performing data mapping translation to translate the first vendor invoice transaction from the vendor invoice transaction definition to a normalized invoice transaction definition and for performing business value translation to translate vendor recognized business values to normalized business valued; and

translating the normalized invoice transaction to an export invoice transactions by performing data mapping transaction to translate the normalized invoice transaction from the normalized invoice transaction definition to the payer client transaction definition and performing business value translation to translate normalized business values to payer recognized business values and

providing the export invoice transaction to the payer client system.

7. The method of providing automated invoice management services of claim 9 , wherein:

performing business value translation to translate vendor recognized business values to normalized business values comprises:

translating the vendor recognized vendor ID code to a global client code of the vendor by looking up the global client ID code of the vendor associated with the vendor recognized vendor ID code in a customer control table;

translating the vendor recognized payer ID code to a global client code of the payer by looking up the global client ID code of the payer associated with the vendor recognized payer ID code in a customer control table; and

performing business value translation to translate normalized business values to payer recognized business values comprises:

translating the global client code of the vendor to a payer recognized ID code of the vendor by looking up the payer ID code of the vendor associated with the global client code of the vendor and the global client ID code of the payer in a vendor control table; and

translating the global client ID code of the payer to a payer recognized ID code of the payer by looking up the payer ID code of the payer associated with the global client code of the payer in the vendor control table.

8. The method of providing automated invoice management services of claim 6 , wherein:

performing business value translation to translate vendor recognized business values to normalized business values comprises:

translating the vendor recognized vendor ID code to a global client code of the vendor by mapping the vendor recognized vendor ID to the global client ID code which corresponds to the vendor recognized ID code in a look up table;

translating the vendor recognized payer ID code to a global client code of the payer by mapping vendor recognized payer ID code to the global client ID code of the payer which corresponds to the vendor recognized ID code in the look up table; and

performing business value translation to translate normalized business values to payer recognized business values comprises:

translating the global client code of the vendor to a payer recognized ID code of the vendor by mapping the global client code of the vendor to the payer ID code of the vendor that corresponds to both the global client ID code of the payer and the global client ID code of the vendor in the look up table; and

translating the global client ID code of the payer to a payer recognized ID code of the payer by mapping the global client code of the payer to the payer ID code of the payer that corresponds to the global client ID code of the payer in the look up table.

9 .The method of providing automated invoice management service of claim 6 , further comprising:

receiving a second vendor invoice transaction from a second vendor client system, the second vendor invoice transaction being compliant with a second vendor client transaction definition and including vendor recognized business values, including a vendor recognized payer ID code and a vendor recognized vendor ID code, and amounts due from the payer client;

performing data mapping translation to translate the second vendor invoice transaction from the vendor invoice transaction definition to a second normalized invoice transaction compliant with the normalized invoice transaction definition and performing business value translation to translate vendor recognized business values to normalized business values; and

performing data mapping translation to translate the second normalized invoice transaction from the normalized invoice transaction definition to an export invoice transaction complying with the payer client transaction definition and performing business value translation to translate normalized business values to payer recognized business values; and

providing both the export invoice transaction and the second export invoice transaction to the payer client in a single file through the network circuit.

10. An automated invoice management system for operation with a plurality of client systems including a plurality of vendor client systems and at least one payer client system, the automated invoice management system comprising:

a network circuit for communicating invoice management data with the plurality of client systems;

a translation database comprising at least one look up table associating normalized business values with each of vendor recognized business values and payer recognized business values;

a session management engine coupled to the network circuit and the translation database for establishing a secure session with each client system, receiving a first vendor invoice transaction from a first vendor client system and providing an export invoice transaction to a payer client system;

the first vendor invoice transaction being complicate with a first vendor client transaction definition and including vendor recognized business values, including a vendor recognized payer ID code and a vendor recognized vendor ID code, and an amount due from a customer associated with the payer client system;

the export invoice transaction being complaint with a payer client transaction definition and including payer recognized business values, including a payer recognized payer ID code and a payer recognized vendor ID code, and the amount due from the customer; and

a translation engine for:

performing data mapping translation to translate the first vendor invoice transaction from the vendor invoice transaction definition to a normalized invoice transaction definition and for performing business value translation to translate vendor recognized business values to normalized business values by looking up the normalized business value that corresponds to each vendor recognized business value in the look up table; and

performing data mapping translation to translate the normalized invoice transaction from the normalized invoice transaction definition to the payer client transaction definition and performing business value translation to translate normalized business values to payer recognized business values by looking up the payer recognized business value that corresponds to each normalized business value in the look up table.

11. The automated invoice management system of claim 10 , wherein:

performing business value translation to translate vendor recognized business values to normalized business values comprises:

translating the vendor recognized vendor ID code to a global client code of the vendor by mapping the vendor recognized vendor ID to the global client ID code which corresponds to the vendor recognized ID code in a look up table;

translating the vendor recognized payer ID code to a global client code of the payer by mapping vendor recognized payer ID code to the global client ID code of the payer which corresponds to the vendor recognized ID code in the look up table; and

performing business value translation to translate normalized business values to payer recognized business values comprises:

translating the global client code of the vendor to a payer recognized ID code of the vendor by mapping the global client code of the vendor to the payer ID code of the vendor that corresponds to both the global client ID code of the payer and the global client ID code of the vendor in the look up table; and

translating the global client ID code of the payer to a payer recognized ID code of the payer by mapping the global client code of the payer to the payer ID code of the payer that corresponds to the global client ID code of the payer in the look up table.

12. The automated invoice management system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one look up table comprises:

a vendor control table comprising a plurality of records, each record associating a payer recognized vendor ID code with a normalized vendor ID code of one of the plurality of vendor client systems and a normalized ID code of the payer client system; and

a customer control table comprising a plurality of records, each record associating a vendor recognized payer ID code with the normalized ID code of payer client system and a normalized ID code of one of the plurality of vendor client systems.

13. The automated invoice management system of claim 12, wherein:

performing business value translation to translate vendor recognized business values to normalized business values comprises:

translating the vendor recognized vendor ID code to a global client code of the vendor by looking up the global client ID code of the vendor associated with the vendor recognized vendor ID code in a customer control table;

translating the vendor recognized payer ID code to a global client code of the payer by looking up the global client ID code of the payer associated with the vendor recognized payer ID code in a customer control table; and

performing business value translation to translate normalized business values to payer recognized business values comprises:

translating the global client code of the vendor to a payer recognized ID code of the vendor by looking up the payer ID code of the vendor associated with the global client code of the vendor and the global client ID code of the payer in a vendor control table; and

translating the global client ID code of the payer to a payer recognized ID code of the payer by looking up the payer ID code of the payer associated with the global client code of the payer in the vendor control table.