Using non-public shipper records to facilitate rating an entity based on public records of supply transactions

Abstract

A platform facilitates buyers, sellers, and third parties in obtaining information related to each other's transaction histories, such as a supplier's shipment history, the types of materials typically shipped, a supplier's customers, a supplier's expertise, what materials and how much a buyer purchases, buyer and shipper reliability, similarity between buyers, similarity between suppliers, and the like. The platform aggregates data from a variety of sources, including, without limitation, customs data associated with actual import/export transactions, non-public shipper records, and facilitates the generation of reports as to the quality of buyers and suppliers, the reports relating to a variety of parameters that are associated with buyer and supplier quality.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 using a computer implemented facility to collect and store a plurality of public transactional records;   inferring at least one entity identifier for each of a portion of the plurality of public transactional records;   processing with the computer implemented facility data from the plurality of public transactional records to determine an entity name that is representative of a plurality of different inferred entity identifiers based on similarity of data in the records associated with each of the inferred entity identifiers;   aggregating the public transactional records of the plurality of different entity identifiers for at least one representative entity name; and   rating an entity associated with the entity name based on an analysis of at least a portion of the plurality of public transactional records.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the entity name correlates to an inferred shipper entity identifier. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the entity name correlates to an inferred bank entity identifier. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the entity name correlates to an inferred customs agent entity identifier. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the entity name correlates to an inferred freight forwarding service entity identifier. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein inferring at least one entity identifier comprises inferring at least one of a buyer and a supplier entity identifier and inferring a bank entity identifier of a bank. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the bank is party to a transaction represented by at least one of the plurality of public transactional records 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the public transactional records are records of customs transactions. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein inferring at least one entity identifier comprises inferring an entity identifier of a bank that is party to a transaction represented by at least one of the plurality of public transactional records. 
     
     
         10 . A method comprising:
 using a computer implemented facility to collect and store a plurality of public transactional records;   inferring at least one entity identifier for each of a portion of the plurality of public transactional records;   processing with the computer implemented facility data from the plurality of public transactional records to determine an entity name that is representative of a plurality of different inferred entity identifiers based on similarity of data in the records associated with each of the inferred entity identifiers;   aggregating the public transactional records of the plurality of different entity identifiers for at least one representative entity name;   identifying with the computer implemented facility records that include a third-party entity identifier; and   rating at least one third-party entity based on an analysis of at least a portion of the plurality of public transactional records.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the third-party is a bank. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein rating at least one third-party entity comprises analyzing data in records that, based on similarity of data with the identified records, include transactions associated with the at least one third-party entity. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the third-party is a bank. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the third-party is a shipper. 
     
     
         15 . A method, comprising:
 using a computer implemented facility to access stored public transactional records of transactions among buyers and suppliers, the records being aggregated based on similarity of data in the records associated with inferred entity identifiers detected in the records;   identifying with the computer implemented facility records of the aggregated records that include an entity identifier for a third-party entity; and   rating at least one identified third-party entity based on an analysis of at least a portion of the plurality of public transactional records.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the third-party is a bank. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the third-party is a shipper. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the third-party is a freight forwarding service. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein rating at least one third-party entity comprises analyzing data in records that, based on similarity of data with the identified records, include transactions associated with the at least one third-party entity. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the identified records include an inferred entity identifier for at least one of a buyer and a supplier, and an entity identifier for a third-party entity.