Using Relationships Between Master Data and Transactional Data to Process Business Documents

1 . A computer-implemented method of using participant information in transaction processing, the method comprising:

receiving, for a specified participant, an indication of a predefined transaction participant role in which the specified participant serves in a specified computer-implemented transaction;

determining an association between the indicated predefined transaction participant role and a predefined master code;

retrieving previously stored master data that is associated with the specified 9 participant and with the associated predefined master code; and

using the retrieved master data during the specified computer-implemented transaction involving the specified participant.

2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein multiple transaction participant roles are defined for the specified transaction in a transaction processing module.

3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein multiple master codes are defined in a data module in which the master data is maintained and accessed by multiple different transaction processing modules.

4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the predefined master code is associated with two or more predefined transaction participant roles.

5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining the association between the indicated predefined transaction participant role and the predefined master code comprises accessing a system table of stored associations.

6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining the association between the indicated predefined transaction participant role and the predefined master code comprises using one or more rules to determine the association.

7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein using the retrieved master data during the specified computer-implemented transaction comprises displaying the retrieved master data in one or more fields or screens associated with the transaction.

8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein using the retrieved master data during the specified computer-implemented transaction comprises comparing the retrieved master data to entered data associated with the transaction.

9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein using the retrieved master data during the specified computer-implemented transaction comprises restricting a query using the retrieved master data.

10 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein using the retrieved master data during the specified computer-implemented transaction comprises automatically adding the retrieved master data to a transaction document.

11 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the predefined master code defines a role.

12 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the predefined master code defines a relationship.

13 . A computer program product tangibly embodied in an information carrier and comprising instructions that when executed by a processor perform a method for using participant information in transaction processing, the method comprising:

receive, for a specified participant, an indication of a predefined transaction participant role in which the specified participant serves in a specified computer-implemented transaction;

determine an association between the indicated predefined transaction participant role and a predefined master code;

retrieve previously stored master data that is associated with the specified participant and with the associated predefined master code; and

use the retrieved master data during the specified computer-implemented transaction involving the specified participant.

14 . The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein multiple transaction participant roles are defined for the specified transaction in a transaction processing module.

15 . The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein multiple master codes are defined in a data module in which the master data is maintained and accessed by multiple different transaction processing modules.

16 . The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein the predefined master code is associated with two or more predefined transaction participant roles.

17 . The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein determining the association between the indicated predefined transaction participant role and the predefined master code comprises accessing a system table of stored associations.

18 . The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein using the retrieved master data during the specified computer-implemented transaction comprises displaying the retrieved master data in one or more fields associated with the transaction.

19 . The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein using the retrieved master data during the specified computer-implemented transaction comprises comparing the retrieved master data to entered data associated with the transaction.

20 . A computer-implemented method of using master data in transaction processing, the method comprising:

defining a relationship between a predefined transactional role associated with a computer-implemented transaction and a predefined master code;

receiving an indication of the predefined transactional role and accessing the relationship using the received predefined transactional role to get the predefined master code; and

using the predefined master code to access previously stored master data associated with the predefined master code for processing the computer-implemented transaction.