System and Method for Producing Transaction Level Detail Based on a Card Spend Transaction

Abstract

A system is disclosed for providing charge transaction detail comprising financial account spend transactions. Through a mapping of a merchant's item codes with an issuer's item codes, the system provides clients with a more descriptive report based on any one or more transaction instruments associated with the financial account. The charge transaction detail can include anything related to charge or credit card transactions including hotel reservation detail, corporate card detail and corporate purchasing card detail. The transaction detail can be captured from many sources and can include third party data. The clients can use a web application and web page to access the account data and create report views of the information. The system can also includes a create a report capability, which allows users to add filters and data elements to an existing report format and create a report specific to their needs and data.

1 . A computer implemented method for providing a user with on-line financial account data based on folio data, said method including: 
 receiving, at said host computer, a folio file from an external source, wherein said folio file comprises folio data items; and,    processing, at said host computer, said folio data items to map one of said folio data items with an item code, wherein said item code includes a corresponding item code description.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further including receiving from a user, at said host computer, a request for financial account data.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said receiving step includes receiving said folio file from the multiple sources in disparate formats.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further including formatting, at said host computer, said folio data, wherein said formatting includes converting a plurality of said folio files from disparate formats into a single format.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further including filtering, at said host computer, said folio data, wherein said filtering includes analyzing said folio data to identify data errors.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further including scrubbing, at said host computer, wherein said scrubbing includes removing a subset of said folio data that is determined to be private.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further including conditioning, at said host computer, wherein said conditioning includes consolidating said folio data across properties within a hotel chain.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further including organizing said financial account data into at least one of a billing statement and a report.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 2 , further including: 
 receiving from said user a query associated with said request;    invoking said query to retrieve said financial account data in accordance with parameters of said query; and,    sending said retrieved financial account data on-line to said user.    
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further including issuing reward points based on at least one of: said folio data items and said item code.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , further including matching each of said folio data items to a corresponding spend transaction according to at least one of card number, transaction date, service establishment number, and transaction amount.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further including moving said folio data items from a first database to a second database when said item code matches one of said folio data items.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein said second database includes tables for storing at least one of: folio record, folio tax summary, folio item, and folio payment.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , further including analyzing said folio data to determine when a change is required to at least one of: said item code and said item code description.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said host computer includes database tables for storing at least one of: said folio file, folio record, folio tax summary, folio item, and folio payment  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein folio data includes at least one of: descriptors relating to hotel type, number of days in stay at hotel, room type, services provided by hotel, and applicable taxes.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said folio data includes accounting data comprising at least one of: item sequence number, item reference number, item code, internal item descriptor, item category code, item category descriptor, item descriptor, item amount, item date, taxable amount, and tax exempt indicator.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said folio data includes third-party data relating to reference data that is at least one of: obtained and purchased from a plurality of vendor sources.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein said request includes at least one of: said item code, said item code description, range of item codes, range of item code descriptions, merchant identifier, and market identifier.  
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said processing step includes mapping said one of said folio data items with an item code by using previously established database records.  
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said processing step includes mapping one of said folio data items with an item code by using previously established database records in a look-up table.  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said processing step includes matching by using previously established database records, wherein said previously established database records were created by. 
 receiving, at a host computer, a merchant item code from a merchant, wherein said merchant item code includes an item code description;    retrieving, at said host computer, an item code corresponding to said merchant, wherein said item code includes an item code description;    mapping, at said host computer, said merchant item code to said item code to create said database.    
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 1 , further including conditioning, at said host computer, said folio data, wherein said conditioning includes at least one of formatting, filtering, and scrubbing.  
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 1 , further including: 
 receiving, at said host computer, an on-line request from said user for financial account data, wherein said financial account data includes a subset of said folio data items;    conditioning, at said host computer, said financial account data to create said online financial account data for transmission to said client computer; and,    sending said online financial account data to said user.    
     
     
         25 . A computer implemented method for a user receiving on-line financial account data based on folio data, said method including: 
 requesting, by said user, said on-line financial account data based on said folio data;    causing said host computer to obtain a folio file from an external source, wherein said folio file comprises folio data items;    causing said host computer to process said folio data items to map one of said folio data items with an item code to obtain on-line financial account data, wherein said item code includes a corresponding item code description; and,    receiving, by said user, said on-line financial account data from said host computer.    
     
     
         26 . A computer readable storage medium containing a set of instructions for a general purpose computer for providing a user with on-line financial account data based on hotel folio, said instructions including: 
 receiving, at said host computer, a folio file from an external source, wherein said folio file comprises folio data items; and,    processing, at said host computer, said folio data items to map one of said folio data items with an item code, wherein said item code includes a corresponding item code description.