Inventory sales system and method
View Patent ↗A computer system and method of facilitating a sale which permits inventory information to be used in connection with a technology enabled selling (TES) system to facilitate a sale. The inventory information may be used during configuration of an item to be sold to a customer in a manner which allows the sales representative to more easily sell items from inventory if desired.
1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a configuration engine of a computer system, a query regarding a product included in an inventory;
determining, by the configuration engine, (i) a plurality of customization options associated with the product, and (ii) which customization options of the plurality of customization options are included in the inventory;
preparing, by the configuration engine, a list of the customization options determined to be included in the inventory; and
providing, by the configuration engine, the list of customization options for presentation.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the list of customization options is presented by way of a user interface for the computer system.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the list of customization options is presented by way of communication to a remote computer system across a communication network.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the list of customization options is presented by way of communication from a server hosting the configuration engine to a client communicatively coupled to the server via the Internet.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing, by the configuration engine, information regarding a selling entity associated with the inventory.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuration engine further:
determines a configuration rule associated with at least one of the product and a customizable option associated with the product, and which customization options of the plurality included in the inventory are compatible with the configuration rule;
prepares a modified list of customization options determined to be compatible with the configuration rule; and
provides the modified list for presentation.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the modified list is presented by way of communication to a remote computer system across a communication network.
8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the modified list is presented by way of communication from a server hosting the configuration engine to a client communicatively coupled to the server via the Internet.
9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the configuration rule is an engineering relationship between at least one of the product and a particular customizable option and the customizable options to one another.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the list of customization options is presented by way of a user interface displayed at a remote computer system communicatively coupled to the computer system via a communication network.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the list of customization options is presented by way of a user interface displayed at a client communicatively coupled to the computer system via the Internet.
12. A computer system comprising a processing arrangement and a memory arrangement, the processing arrangement configured as a configuration engine for preparing and presenting, responsive to inquiries therefor, inventory-based product information and customization options available for products included in the inventory, wherein the customization options are constrained to the customization options available in the inventory; and the memory arrangement is communicatively coupled to the processing arrangement and stores the inventory and product data for use by the configuration engine.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the configuration engine is further configured to respond to an inquiry regarding a product included in the inventory by determining a plurality of customization options associated with the product, and which customization options of the plurality are included in the inventory, preparing a list of the customization options determined to be included in the inventory, and communicating the list of customization options to a source of the inquiry.
14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the processing arrangement and the memory arrangement are communicatively coupled to one another via a communication network.
15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the communication network is the Internet.
16. A computer system, comprising a processor and a memory, said memory storing instructions which when executed by the processor configure the computer system with (i) one or more sales tools for use in connection with selling a product, said sales tools including some or all of customer/account management tools, product information tools, financing tools, service tools, life cycle tools, proposal tools, and presentation tools; (ii) configuration tools which allow for interactive configuration of a particular product from a list of options for the particular product, said configuration tools being constrained by a number of different rules or configuration solvers so as to limit possible product configurations only those product configurations which are buildable; (iii) an inventory management tool communicatively coupled to the configuration tools for configuring products for sale from an inventory; and (iv) inventory tools for allowing examination of whether a particular selection may be purchased from the inventory.