WO2001045021A9

WO2001045021A9 - Method and apparatus for maintaining a computer-based inventory system

Info

Publication number: WO2001045021A9
Application number: PCT/US2000/041578
Authority: WO
Inventors: Donald W Park
Original assignee: Dpmedcom; DPMED COM
Current assignee: Dpmedcom; DPMED COM
Priority date: 1999-10-29
Filing date: 2000-10-25
Publication date: 2002-08-01
Anticipated expiration: 2002-04-29
Also published as: WO2001045021A8; AU4705101A; WO2001045021A2

Abstract

A method and system for tracking inventories of items and for purchasing an item for one or more offices is disclosed. In various embodiments, inventory data is received at a central accounting server from each the offices. The central server may maintain an aggregate accounting of the total inventory of the item at each of the offices. Purchases for re-stocking the item may be made by comparing the aggregate accounting to a threshold level and generating a purchase request to a supplier the item when the aggregate accounting falls below a threshold level. In various embodiments, items are scanned in with a hand scanner when the items are received at an office and scanned out when used by the office. The central server may be located on the Internet or another data network to allow businesses to form collectives for purchasing items as a group, or to allow easy access to reports and other data.

Description

Method and Apparatus for Maintaining a Computer-Based Inventory System

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for tracking supply inventories at multiple locations. More particularly, the invention relates to systems for inputting, outputting and tracking inventory data relating to supplies consumed by various businesses.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Various offices (such as retail offices, medical offices, dental offices, law offices, warehouses and the like) have used computer systems to track supply inventories for several years. Although many of these systems effectively monitor the inflow and outflow of consumable and non-consumable supplies, they are typically cumbersome to use in practice. For example, typical computing systems used to track supply inventories generally require a data entry workstation for entering data as supplies are received from suppliers or as supplies are consumed. Such systems generally require substantial day-to-day effort to maintain an accurate logging, since a manual entry typically needs to be recorded in the database as each supply is re-stocked or consumed. This administrative overhead is often quite labor intensive, and thus the effort to maintain accurate data frequently prevents effective inventory tracking for many commonly used items.

A further disadvantage of conventional inventory tracking systems is that they are often poorly suited to multi-office environments. Although many inventory systems allow distributed access to a central database via local area networks (LANs) or wide area networks (WANs), they generally require expensive and complicated dedicated data connections that are often poorly suited to businesses such as small medical or dental practices that operate out of multiple locations. Moreover, such systems typically require expensive customized software that may be difficult to implement in a small business environment. A system of inventory tracking is thus needed that allows multiple offices to share or combine inventory data while improving the user interface for entering or removing inventory items from the system. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES The features and advantages of the present invention are hereinafter described in the following detailed description of illustrative exemplary embodiments to be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures, wherein like reference numerals are used to identify the same or similar parts in the similar views, and:

Figure 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary inventory/transaction control system;

Figure 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary client computer system; Figure 3 is a flowchart of an exemplary purchase order transaction; Figure 4 is a flowchart of an exemplary technique for entering data into the database;

Figure 5 is a flowchart of an exemplary technique for processing items such as inventory items; and

Figure 6 is a flowchart of an exemplary automated purchasing system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

The present invention may be described herein in terms of functional block components and various processing steps. It should be appreciated that such functional blocks may be realized by any number of hardware and/or software components configured to perform the specified functions. For example, the present invention may employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements, processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, and the like, which may carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or more microprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the software elements of the present invention may be implemented with any programming or scripting language such as C, C++, PASCAL,

Java, assembler, PERL, PHP, any database programming language or the like, with the various algorithms being implemented with any combination of data structures, objects, processes, routines or other programming elements. Similarly, the invention could be used in conjunction with any type of personal computer, network computer, workstation, minicomputer, mainframe, or other computer running any version of

Windows, MacOS, BeOS, Linux, UNIX, Solaris or any other operating system. Further, it should be noted that the present invention might employ any number of conventional techniques for data transmission, signaling, data processing, network control, and the like. For example, radio frequency (RF) or other wireless techniques could be used in place of any network technique described herein. Moreover, although the invention is frequently described herein as being implemented with TCP/IP communications protocols, it will be readily understood that the invention could also be implemented using IPX, Appletalk, IP-6, NetBIOS, OSI or any number of existing or future protocols. It should be appreciated that the particular implementations shown and described herein are illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way. Indeed, for the sake of brevity, conventional data networking, application development and other functional aspects of the systems (and components of the individual operating components of the systems) may not be described in detail herein. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown in the various figures contained herein are intended to represent exemplary functional relationships and/or physical couplings between the various elements. It should be noted that many alternative or additional functional relationships or physical connections may be present in a practical inventory tracking system. To simplify the description of the exemplary embodiments, the invention is frequently described as pertaining to a system of processing inventory data. It will be appreciated, however, that many applications of the present invention could be formulated. For example, the present invention could be used to administer, monitor, configure or control any type of information such as accounting information, process information, administrative information, supply information, or the like. Moreover, the system could be used to catalog or analyze any other type of information such as files, scientific projects, laboratory experiment data, books, products sold to customers, medical diagnoses, medical coding, medical records, company information and the like. Further, the present invention could be used to facilitate group purchases, volume discounts, incentive purchase programs, purchase transactions or the like for medical offices, dental offices, retail businesses, law offices or other offices providing services, or any other collective, business or collection of businesses.

With reference to Figure 1, an exemplary inventory control system 100 suitably includes a server computer 102 and one or more client computers 110, 112 connected via a network 116. An optional merchant computer 114 also communicates with server computer 102 and/or client computers 110,112 via network 116.

Network 116 is any data network that allows computers such as server computer 102, client computers 110, 112 and merchant computer 114 to exchange information. In various embodiments, network 116 is the Internet, the public switched telephone network (PSTN), an intranet or another form of data communications network. Alternatively, network 116 may be implemented as a combination of networks such as local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), the Internet, the PSTN, and the like. For example, server computer 102, client computers 110, 112 and merchant computer 114 may be coupled to the Internet or another public or private network by any type of data connection or combination of data connections including modem connections, digital subscriber line (DSL) connections, cable modem connections, wireless connections, network connections or the like. Network 116 is optionally a network or data transmission scheme that provides data transfer based upon, for example, TCP/IP, IPX, IP-3 or other data communications protocols.

Server computer 102 (also referred to as "server") is any computer or computer system that is capable of supporting a database 106, a management application 104 and a network interface 108 to network 116. In various embodiments, server computer 102 may be implemented with a personal computer, workstation, minicomputer, mainframe or the like running an operating system such as UNIX, LINUX, MacOS, BeOS, SunOS, any version of the Windows operating systems available from the Microsoft corporation of Redmond, Washington, or any other operating system. Server computer 102 also includes a network interface 108 that facilitates communications between server computer 102 and network 116. Network interface 108 may be any form of modem, network interface card (NIC), cable modem, DSL modem, wireless interface, software interface or other interface as appropriate. In various embodiments, network interface 108 includes a world wide web (WWW) server such as the Apache server available from the Inktomi corporation of Foster City, California, the Netscape Enterprise Server product available from the Netscape Corporation of Mountain View, California or the Microsoft BackOffice Server available from the Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Washington, or the like. In such embodiments, server computer 102 is accessible via the world wide web such that client computers 110, 112 or other clients may access database 106 from remote locations that may not necessarily have access to dedicated WAN, LAN or other connections. Management application 104 (also referred to as "server application") is a computer application that administers an inventory tracking or purchasing system. In various embodiments, management application 104 facilitates the exchange of data between database 106 and various client applications (discussed below). Management application 104 may also provide report generation capabilities, and may facilitate purchase transactions taking place across network 116. Management application 104 may also maintain the security of the database and/or server computer 102, as described more fully below. In various embodiments, management application 104 communicates with a merchant computer 114 to place orders for supplies as needed. More detail of the purchase process is presented below, for example in Figure 6 and accompanying discussion. Exemplary merchant computers include the Internet web sites maintained by manufacturers and distributors of supplies.

Database 106 suitably maintains data relating to inventory items, vendors, suppliers, and the like in an organized format. Although any database program cpuld be used to implement database 106, exemplary embodiments use MySQL database (available from the T.C.X. DataKonsult AB, Stockholm, Sweden), Microsoft SQL server (available from the Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Washington), DB2 database server (available from the IBM Corporation of Armonk, New York) or any of various database management products available from the Sybase Corporation or the Oracle Corporation.

In various embodiments, database 106 is a relational, hierarchical or object oriented database, and the functionality of database 106 may be suitably combined or isolated from application 104 as appropriate. An exemplary database may include the information shown in Table 1 for consumable products:

Table 1 : Exemplary Database for Consumable Products

Bar Units Est. Last Last Last

Prod. Code Prod. Manuf. on items/ Deplete CatePurch. Purch. Purch.

Type No. Descr. Name Cat. No. Hand Unit Date gory Units Price Date

Eyepa 314159 Oval, J&J 132-2353 3 25 9/3/99 ed. 12 $50.60 3/4/99

3 in. Supply

Tape 271828 Scotch 3M 34-7032 5 8/5/99 Office 12 $8.99 4/9/99

Tape Supply

The database maintains a listing of items that may be used in an office environment, for example, and may be organized alphabetically, reverse alphabetically, according to purchase date, according to cost, according to depletion criteria (such as estimated depletion date), or any other scheme. Depletion date may be calculated by application 104 or database 106, for example, by simply tracking the number of units consumed since the last purchase and extrapolating a date when the number of units remaining reaches zero. Of course other fields (such as a supplier name or last purchase supplier) could be added to the database, or the above fields could be modified or deleted. Examples of "Office Supplies" might include stationery, forms, food, office staff supplies, and the like. Examples of "Medical Supplies" might include medications, photography supplies, bandage supplies, gloves, sheets, preoperative supplies, intraoperative supplies, post-operative supplies, and the like. Of course other categories of supplies and other items associated with each category could be formulated for each particular application of the invention.

An exemplary database suitable for use with a durable item is shown in Table 2, with an exemplary entry for an intra-ocular scissors used by an opthamologic surgeon. Durable items are not typically "consumed", so the depletion date fields may be replaced with repair or maintenance information, for example, or other information as appropriate. A total cost over the life of the product may be easily calculated in various embodiments by adding the repair costs to the purchase price of the item. Other embodiments of the invention may amortize the capital costs of various items in accordance with tax regulations, the time value of money, or other valuation considerations.

Table 2: Exemplary Database for Durable Products

With continued reference to Figure 1 , server application 104 suitably receives information to populate database 106 from local data entry or from client computers 110, 112. Client computers 110, 112 suitably reside at a location (such as an office or warehouse) where inventory items to be tracked are located. Although two client computers 110, 112 are shown in Figure 1, it will be understood that any number of client computers could be used in various embodiments of the invention. In a multi- office environment, for example, each office may include one or more client computers communicating with server computer 102. With reference now to Figure 2, client computer 110/112 is any form of computer system 202 including any form of network computer, personal computer, workstation, minicomputer, mainframe, or the like running an operating system such as UNIX, Sun OS, LINUX, MacOS, BeOS, any version of the Windows operating systems available from the Microsoft Corporation, or any other operating system. An exemplary client computer 110/112 may also include a network interface 212 that facilitates data communications between computer system 202 and network 116. Network interface 212 may be any form of modem, network interface card (NIC), cable modem, DSL modem, wireless interface, software interface or other interface as appropriate. Client computer 110/112 also includes a client application 204 that suitably manages information that may be local to a particular office, department or the like. In various embodiments, client application 204 interfaces with a data collection module such as a scanner 220, which may physically or logically interface with computer system 202 through a port 206. Client application 204 receives information about items entering/leaving the inventory system (as described more fully below). In various embodiments, client application 204 maintains an optional local database (not shown) on computer system 202 for use by that particular office and to provide backup storage for local data. Client application 204 suitably interfaces with server application 104 (Figure 1 ) via network 116 to provide local data for database 106. In embodiments using the Internet as network 116, client application 204 may use conventional socket programming techniques, TCP/IP protocols or the like to communicate with server application 204, although of course any data communications or programming techniques could be used to maintain communications across network 116.

Scanner 220 is any device capable of optically or otherwise obtaining information about products to be tracked in inventory system 100. Scanner 220 may be implemented as any form of optical scanner, bar code scanner, infrared scanner or the like. In various embodiments, scanner 220 includes a personal digital assistant (PDA) 208 such as any of the Palm Pilot devices available from the Palm Computing Corporation of Mountain View, California. Such devices include a touchscreen (not shown) that accepts user input via a stylus or pen-like input device. Other PDAs 208 that could be used to implement scanner 220 include the Cassiopeia products available from the Casio Corporation of Dover, New Jersey, or any other PDA based upon the Windows CE operating system available from the Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Washington. An exemplary scanning interface 210 suitable for use with Palm Pilot devices is the Model SPT 1500 Scanner available from the Symbol Technologies, Inc., of Holtsville, New York. Alternatively, any of the PDA or scanning devices available from the Handspring Corporation of Mountain View, California, could be used in various embodiments of scanner 220. It will be understood that scanner 220 could alternatively be implemented as any form of scanner that is connected via wires or any wireless connection to computer system 202.

To operate a scanner 220 consisting of a PDA 208 and a scanning interface 210, a user may select a mode (such as a "scan in" mode or a "scan out" mode corresponding to items entering or leaving inventory system 100, respectively) on the touchscreen and then collect product data, for example by scanning a code (such as a barcode) on the product. One or more products may be scanned in this manner, and information about the item may be optically or otherwise retrieved from the product 220 and converted to digital information by the scanner. This digital information may be temporarily stored in PDA 208 before being transferred to computer system 202. Alternatively, several items may be scanned and information about each item may be maintained in PDA 208 until batches of data are transferred to computer 202.

Information about items scanned is transferred from scanner 220 to computer system 202 via port 206. Port 206 is any physical or logical connection between computer system 202 and scanner 220 such as a serial port, SCSI port, parallel port, universal serial bus (USB) port or any other port. In an exemplary embodiment, port 206 is a cradle that physically accepts PDA 208 and transfers data between PDA 208 and computer system 202. The cradle commonly provided with Palm Pilot PDAs, for example, could function as an interface for transferring data between a Palm PDA and a client application 204 running on computer system 202. Such cradles typically receive Palm enabled PDAs and transfer data via a serial port on computer system 202 in response to a "Hot Synch" button on the front of the cradle. Of course other cradles, ports or interfaces could be used with other embodiments of the invention.

With reference now to Figure 3, an exemplary technique 300 for entering data into database 106 suitably includes completing a purchase order (step 302), entering the purchase order into the database (step 304) and providing the completed purchase order form to a supplier (step 306). A purchase order may be generated manually or electronically. In manual embodiments, a human administrator completes a purchase order form and information is manually entered into database 106 via application 104, or by scanning the completed purchase order form. Alternatively, an electronic purchase order form is generated by application 104 and presented to a user at a remote office. The purchase order may be generated by a common gateway interface (CGI) script, for example, or by a Java applet or ActiveX control displayed within a browser program (such as Internet Explorer available from the Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Washington, or Netscape Communicator available from the Netscape Division of America Online Inc., Mountain View, California). In such embodiments, a user desiring to purchase a particular product opens a browser (which may be running on client computer 110, 112, or any other computer connected to network 116), displays the form, and enters purchase information as appropriate. In an alternate embodiment, client application 204 generates a purchase order form and suitably transmits relevant information to server application 104. In still another embodiment, client application 204 generates a purchase order form and processes the order form electronically or manually, as described below, without notifying the server application 104. Common information entered into a purchase order includes, without limitation, items such as those shown in Table 3. Of course the various data fields could be added, deleted or modified in various embodiments of the invention. Each of the various forms of data (buyer, supplier and product) may be optionally maintained in database 106 as separate objects or entities. In various embodiments, forms generated by client application 204 or server application 104 are partially completed with default information when the form is presented to the user. Alternatively, default information may be inserted into the various form fields during the data entry process.

Table 3: Exemplary Purchase Order Information

After the form is completed, data is entered into database 106 (step 304), as appropriate. In various embodiments, a human operator may scan or manually enter data into database 106 via server application 104 or client application 204. Alternatively, electronic purchase orders are completed and submitted to server application 104 through CGI scripting, email, or another network protocol or technique. In embodiments that maintain local databases with application 204, a copy of the information entered into the purchase order may be maintained locally. Database 106 and/or PDA 208 suitably maintain copies of some or all of the purchase order information (particularly the supplier and product information described above) until the items purchased are received. In such embodiments, the supplier and product information may be uploaded to PDA 208 during the synching process. The completed purchase order form is also provided to a vendor as appropriate. Purchase orders may be manually or electronically provided to merchants via network 116 (see Figure 6 and associated discussion below), facsimile, email, regular mail, or the like (step 306).

Referring now to Figure 4, an exemplary technique 400 for adding an item into database 116 suitably includes scanning the item (step 402), entering or updating information as required (steps 404, 406 and 408), and updating database 106 (step 412). Scanning (step 402) may be accomplished by using scanner 220 described above in connection with Figure 2. Items are scanned by placing scanner 220 proximate to a bar code or other code printed on the item to be scanned, as appropriate. Items that do not have bar codes for scanning may have codes specially printed by application 204 or 104, for example, and affixed to the item. Alternatively, data may be manually entered where necessary and appropriate. In embodiments that use an PDA-enabled scanner (such as the embodiment shown in Figure 2), scanned data may reside temporarily in PDA 208 before transfer to database 106 via client application 204. After data about the item received is scanned or otherwise processed, the data may be compared to information from purchase order forms or from database 106 (step 404 in Figure 4). If the item is not in inventory database 106, information (such as that information shown in Tables 1 or 2) is suitably entered into application 104 or 204 and recorded in database 106 as appropriate. Alternatively or in addition to the comparison against database 106, the scanned data may be matched to purchase order information in the PDA as items are received at a particular office. In various embodiments of the invention, purchase order data and/or scanned data may be edited in PDA 208, in client application 204, or in server application 104 to correct any inaccurate or incomplete information in database 106 or in the PDA record for the particular item.

Multiple products may be scanned, as shown by step 410 in Figure 4. In various embodiments, product information or supplier information in PDA 208 is updated as each item is scanned. Alternatively, multiple items may be scanned and updates may take place on a batched basis, with updates to the data associated with each item taking place after all items have been scanned. When the product and/or supplier data is complete and updated, PDA 208 is synched with database 106 via, for example, via cradle/port 206 and client application 204 (step 412 in Figure 4) such that database 106 remains updated with current information about products on hand.

With reference now to Figure 5, a process 500 for "checking out" an item for use suitably involves scanning the item (step 502) and updating database 106 (step 506) as appropriate. As with the "check in" process described above in conjunction with Figure 4, items are suitably scanned (for example with scanner 220) as they are removed from storage or otherwise consumed. In various embodiments using PDA 208, a "check out" or "consume" or similar icon may be selected on the PDA in conjunction with scanning to indicate that the particular item is to be debited from database 106. One or more items may be scanned at a time (step 504), and the database 106 is suitably updated (step 506) as scanner 220 is "synched" to client application 204. As with the check in process, database 106 may be adjusted in realtime or with any sort of batch processing scheme.

With reference again to Figure 1 , an inventory system 100 suitable for use with multiple offices is suitably provided via network 116. By providing server computer 102 via the Internet, for example, users at various remote offices or at other remote locations (e.g. travelers) have constant access to database 106 from virtually any location via a WWW browser. Database 106 maintains information such as inventories at each of the offices such that total inventories of various items may be tracked for each individual office as well as for the combination of the various offices. Supply/inventory sharing is therefore facilitated between the various offices, which may now determine whether other offices may have an excess inventory of a particular needed supply. If a first office has run out of syringes, for example, an administrator at that office can place a query to database 106 via network 116 to determine other offices that may have excess inventory of syringes. Similarly, shared database 106 allows the sharing of supplier information. If an office is looking for a particular product, for example, an administrator may readily determine if other offices have ordered similar products in the past and may have access to supplier data relating to that particular item.

Centralized database 106 provides further advantages in that various reports may be generated at server application 104 and presented to a user over network 116 via network interface 108. Reports created may be textual and/or graphical (e.g. bar charts, table charts, graphs, pie charts and the like), and may provide information relating to aggregate demand, aggregate demand for individual offices, aggregate demand for particular products or types of products, or individual demand for a particular product or type of product at a particular office, or any other type of information. Reports may be generated, for example, by formatting a query at management application 104 that may be submitted to database 106. Results from the query may then be suitably parsed by application 104 as appropriate and returned to the user requesting the report via network 116. Of course many types of reports could be formulated in the various embodiments of the invention. In various embodiments of the invention, application 104 suitably maintains the security of database 106. Security may be assigned at various levels (e.g. administrator/superuser, office administrator, organization administrator (which may access several offices that are affiliated with a single organization), etc.). Each security level may be permitted to access corresponding portions of database 106 or to execute reports on corresponding data. Security may be maintained through access control lists (ACLs), UNIX/LINUX file security, userid/password combinations, or any other hardware or software based security devices or techniques.

The various offices sharing database 106 may be separate locations of a single business, for example, or may be separate businesses altogether. In the latter case, the various businesses may combine their respective purchasing needs to negotiate bulk rate pricing or other discounts based upon the aggregate demand of the collective represented by database 106. With reference to Figure 6, an exemplary technique 600 for electronically purchasing products suitably includes the steps of identifying an item with a low supply (step 602), approving the purchase (step 604), preparing a purchase order (step 608) and submitting an order to a supplier (step 610). When the amount of product on hand (either at a particular office, or the aggregate amount maintained at multiple offices) drops below a threshold level (which may be configured by an administrator as appropriate), a message is present to an administrator by application 104. The message may be presented via email, for example, or via a message window or other information device in application 104. The administrator may be prompted to approve or reject a replenishing purchase (step 604). If the transaction is rejected, then the process suitably terminates. If the transaction is approved, an administrator may be prompted to repeat a previous transaction (i.e. purchase the item from the same source as the last purchase or the last supplier of that particular item) or to seek a new source for the product (step 606). If the latter choice is selected, application 104 may present a list of optional sources for the item. Alternatively, application 104 may perform a search (step 612, which may be a 'bot search or other search on the Internet) for the best price available for the particular item. Step 612 could be conducted prior to step 606 in alternative embodiments.

After the administrator selects a supplier for the particular item, server application 104 (or client application 204, as appropriate) suitably formats a purchase order as described above in conjunction with Figure 3. The relevant client application 204 may also provide purchase order information to a PDA 208. The purchase order is then sent to the relevant supplier through an appropriate medium (e.g. fax, email, regular mail, or Internet message) as selected by the administrator and supported by the supplier. In alternate embodiments, server application 204 may complete online purchase forms through an appropriate electronic wallet program such as the electronic wallet available from the Globeset Corporation of Austin, Texas, the electronic wallet available from the Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Washington, or any other wallet program.

As described herein, then, there is created an inventory/purchasing system that is suitable for use on the Internet or another network 116. Inventories at individual offices may be easily monitored by scanning various items in or out with a scanner such as a PDA 208 with a scanning interface 210. The scanner may easily synch with a client computer 202 that communicates with a central server 102 via network 116. Central server 102 maintains a database 106 of inventory or other data for each of the individual offices, and facilitates remote queries of the database for reports or other data. Purchases may be conducted based upon the demand of a single office, a subset of offices participating in database 106, or the entire collective represented by database 106. As described herein, such purchases based upon aggregate demand may provide opportunities for volume discounts or special prices on selected packages of goods. The corresponding structures, materials, acts and equivalents of all elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure, material or acts for performing the functions in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given above.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A method of purchasing an item for one of a plurality of offices, the method including the steps of: receiving inventory data at a central accounting server from each of said plurality of offices, said inventory data being related to the amount of said item being on-hand; maintaining an aggregate accounting of the total inventory of said item at said plurality of offices; comparing said aggregate accounting to a threshold level; and generating a purchase request to a supplier for said item when said aggregate accounting falls below said threshold level.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of tracking said inventory data for each of said plurality of offices, wherein said inventory data is maintained within a local database for each of said plurality of offices, and wherein said local database is incremented when a quantity of said supply is received and decremented when some of said supply is consumed.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said database is maintained within a handheld device, the handheld device comprising a scanner.

4 The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of determining a negotiated price of said item with said supplier based upon an aggregate demand of said plurality of offices.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising the step of tracking said inventory data for each of said plurality of offices, wherein said inventory data is maintained within a local database for each of said plurality of offices, and wherein said local database is incremented when a quantity of said item is received and decremented when some of said supply is consumed.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said database is maintained within a handheld device, the handheld device comprising a scanner.

7. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 1.

8. A method of maintaining an inventory of an item for a business, the method comprising the steps of: providing a server computer on a network, said server computer maintaining a database of inventory data; using a reader coupled to a client computer, obtaining identification data about said item when one or more of said items are received at said business and when one or more of said items are consumed by said business; and providing said identification data from said client computer to said server computer via said network to update said database of inventory data.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said reader is a scanner.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein said scanner is an optical scanner and said identification information comprises barcode information.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said network comprises a public, packet- switched network.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein said public, packet-switched network is the internet.

13. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 8.

14. A method of maintaining a computerized database server for an inventory system, the method comprising the steps of. providing an interface to a network; maintaining a database of inventory information for a plurality of items; receiving inventory update messages from a client computer via said network; updating said database of inventory information in response to said inventory update messages; and providing a report about said inventory information, the step of providing said report comprising the sub-steps of: receiving a report request via said network; placing a query to said inventory database; generating said report from the results of said query; and providing said report via said network.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising a plurality of client computers, each of said plurality of client computers being in communication with said computerized database server via said network.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein inventory information is maintained for each of said client computers.

17. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 14.

18. A computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 16.