WO2000016232A1

WO2000016232A1 - Techniques for trading commodities on a private trading system and not regulated by the government

Info

Publication number: WO2000016232A1
Application number: PCT/US1999/021008
Authority: WO
Inventors: David T. Adams; George Frankfort; Donald A. Maciver
Original assignee: Talpx, Inc.
Priority date: 1998-09-15
Filing date: 1999-09-15
Publication date: 2000-03-23
Also published as: CA2343901A1; AU6037699A; WO2000016232A9

Abstract

Techniques for assisted trading in a market for commodities include designating a non-trading central authority (110). The central authority screens entities to identify authorized traders (120). If agreement is subsequently indicated by input from each trader of at least two contracting traders among the authorized traders (132), then the central authority automatically constructs a standardized sales contract (136) for the commodity.

Description

TECHIQUES FOR TRADING COMMIDITIES ON A PRIVATE TRADING SYSTEM AND NOT REGULATED BY THE GOVERNMENT

CROSS REFERENCE TO PROVISIONAL APPLICATION This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application 60/100,407 entitled "TECHNIQUES FOR COMPUTER ASSISTED TRADING IN A CASH MARKET FOR COMMODITIES," filed September 15, 1998, which is incorporated 5 herein in its entirety by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to trading in a market, and in particular to techniques for expediting the completion and accurate tracking of sales in such a market.

10 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Trading in commodities is known. A supplier of a commodity, the seller, must be matched with a consumer of the commodity, the buyer. Buyers and sellers are trading parties, simply called traders here. Terms of sale have to be agreed upon between a buyer and a seller in the form of a sales contract, to which principles of

15 contract law apply. Terms are either explicit in the contract or by default found in the uniform commercial code (UCC) or implied by industry practice or by past dealings between the same two parties. Within time intervals provided by the contract, payment must be made by the buyer in cash and delivery of the commodity at a destination must be performed by the seller. 0 Trade publications are known which provide information about the market in a commodity and in which market participants may advertise.

Lists of traders assembled from some publications are useful in identifying potential trading partners. Some lists may even be distributed as data on computer readable storage media. 5 The information available is not uniformly groomed for quality and may take weeks or months to consolidate using conventional techniques.

The data on computer readable media may be in different formats that are not processed by the same computer system application program (i.e., application software). For a trader to use this information together requires tedious and error prone manual steps, or substantial software development efforts. Thus the information can not be combined easily using conventional systems.

Also because traders may be competitors, there are incentives not to select one to be the repository of such information. The trader with the repository would have a tempting advantage over other traders. Thus each trader may have a different system, compounding the problems of assembling and using market information coherently.

Lack of sufficient, accurate and timely information can impede buyers and sellers from economically obtaining better matches. Better matches are those that supply more of the buyer's needs at lower prices, or absorb more capacity of the sellers at higher profits, or both. For example, using trade publications which list sellers of a given commodity, a buyer must make extensive calls to all suppliers to find the current set of suppliers that ship the commodity to the buyers destination, or else rely on the set of past suppliers. The buyer may miss a new entrant to the market with cheaper labor or shipping costs to the buyer's destination.

Even if the buyer knows all relevant sellers and contacts them all, the costs of multiple negotiations may exceed the cost benefits of obtaining the best price rather than the next most favorable price. Also, costs of such negotiations are increased as each party must investigate the financial stability of the other party and its capacity to perform according to each sales contract or group of sales contracts in negotiation.

Not only are individual sales contracts benefited by more accurate and timely information, but marketing strategies developed by observing market trends are aided. The decision to buy now or wait a week may be affected by the perceived trends in the market. Such trends can not be computed and disseminated quickly if all the information upon which the trends are based are not already in some compatible form.

Some efforts have been undertaken to use computers to expedite trading and the formation of sales contracts. In one prior art system (herein referred to as the irrevocable-buy-sell system), a computer is used to match bids to purchase with offers to sell commodity futures contracts. While this system reduces some negotiation costs and multiple entering of the same data, it has some deficiencies. The irrevocable-buy-sell system does not allow the traders to review a bid submitted in response to their offers before completing the transaction. The irrevocable-buy-sell system automatically completes the transaction when a match occurs between offer price /quantity and bid price /quantity on a first- come, first served basis without review or further input by the traders. Also the trading model is inflexible, no other method for selecting offers and matching bids are allowed. Furthermore, because the exchange deals only in intangible futures contracts, no provision is made for shipping tangible goods. Access to the irrevocable-buy-sell system is granted to members of the commodities futures exchange, so membership issues are handled externally to the automated system.

In another prior art system (herein referred to as the irrevocable-buy system), a computer is used to match irrevocable, conditional offers to buy with a seller, and to automatically complete the transaction. This again reduces some negotiating costs and some error-prone, multiple entering of the same data. As with the irrevocable- buy-sell system, the irrevocable-buy system automatically completes the transaction and does not provide for the buyer (offeror) to review a single or multiple bids. However, the irrevocable-buy system does allow a seller to view multiple offers to purchase. The irrevocable-buy system is inflexible in that it provides for only one negotiating model in which the buyer inputs an irrevocable, conditional offer to purchase and the buyer must accept the single bid returned that satisfies the conditions of the offer. For example, the system does not support a negotiating model in which the offer is an offer to sell. As another example, the system does not provide a negotiating model in which there is an opportunity for the offeror, the buyer, to review more than one bid. As a consequence, the irrevocable-buy system does not allow a contract price that differs from the original offer price. Thus, the irrevocable-buy negotiating model is inflexible.

Another disadvantage of the prior art irrevocable-buy system is that it does not provide access to a database of transactions for computing and disseminating trends or statistics in the market. Furthermore, the irrevocable-buy system does not address negotiations required for the shipping of goods. This is understandable because the system is designed primarily for the purchase of services such as airline passage, hotel accommodations and banking services that do not involve transporting tangible goods.

There is still a need for a commodity trading system that provides timely and accurate information to traders, that constructs sales contracts efficiently and flexibly, that provides for the shipment of tangible goods, and that tracks the transaction until performance by both parties is completed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The foregoing needs and other needs and objects that will become apparent from the following description, are achieved by the present invention, which comprises, in one aspect, techniques for assisted trading in a market for commodities.

A non-trading central authority is designated. The central authority screens entities to identify authorized traders. If agreement is subsequently indicated by input from each trader of at least two contracting traders among the authorized traders, then the central authority automatically constructs a standardized sales contract for the commodity.

In another aspect of the invention, techniques for completing trades in a market for a commodity involve a network and at least one client configured for connecting to the network. At least one server is connected to the network. The server has a server memory medium storing information related to authorized traders. The server determines whether the client is a trader client belonging to one of the authorized traders. The server then accepts input from the trader client. If input from the trader client of each of at least two contracting traders indicates agreement, the server constructs a standardized sales contract for the commodity in response to the input. In another aspect of the invention, a method for using a computer to complete trades in a market for a commodity includes a user logging onto a server of a central authority. The server determines whether the user is a trader among a plurality of authorized traders. The user then enters input onto the server. If the input entered indicates agreement, then the server constructs a standardized sales contract for the commodity in response to the input of each of at least two contracting traders. In another aspect of the invention, techniques for supporting trades in a market for a commodity involve a client memory medium for storing contract information about a sales contract for the commodity. The contract information is received in a standard format from a server computer which constructed the sales contract. Then one or more client processors execute an accounting process that uses the contract information in the standard format.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which:

Figure 1 is a flow diagram showing progression in time of steps performed according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2A is a block diagram of a computer system capable of supporting an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2B is a block diagram of a computer network capable of supporting an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a block diagram of data files and processes running on a server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4A is a flow diagram showing progression in time of some steps performed in obtaining inputs from traders, as in block 132 of Figure 1, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4B is a flow diagram showing progression in time of additional steps performed in block 132 of Figure 1, according to the embodiment of Figure 4A.

Figure 5 is a flow diagram showing progression in time of steps performed during construction of a sales contract in block 135 of Figure 1, according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Figures 6A through 6Z are images displayed on a client screen according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Figures 7A through 7V are additional images displayed on the client screen according to the embodiment of Figure 6. Figures 8A through 8T are further additional images displayed on the client screen according to the embodiment of Figure 6.

Figures 9A through 9X are further additional images displayed on the client screen according to the embodiment of Figure 6. Figures 10A through 10O are further additional images displayed on the client screen according to the embodiment of Figure 6.

Figures 11 A through 1 IX are further additional images displayed on the client screen according to the embodiment of Figure 6.

Figures 12A through 12Y are further additional images displayed on the client screen according to the embodiment of Figure 6.

Figures 13A through 13X are further additional images displayed on the client screen according to the embodiment of Figure 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Techniques for completing trades of commodities in a cash market are described. In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention.

Functional Overview

According to the present invention, a sales contract appropriate for the sale of tangible commodities on a spot, cash market is constructed more flexibly, or with fewer negotiating and other transaction costs, or more automatically than in conventional systems, or with some combination of these advantages.

Figure 1 shows the steps according to one embodiment of the present invention that leads to reduced transaction costs. Negotiating costs are reduced by replacing a large number of bilateral negotiations between all possible trading partners, with fewer negotiations between a central authority, established in step 110, and fewer traders, who are screened in step 120 before trading commences in step 130. The screening step 120 determines the suitability of entities to trade in the market; for example, the financial resources to back up short term credit for making purchases, or the milling capacity to support multiple truck loads of lumber in a short time interval for selling. Certain contract terms are essentially settled ahead of time during this screening process 120 and become part of a standardized contract; for example, payment terms and destinations for buyers, or shipping rates (prices) to various destinations for sellers. Only time-critical terms that must be established during a limited interval of time are left for negotiating at the time of contract construction. The traders are prompted in step 132 for specific inputs that establish those time-critical terms, and in step 135 a sales contract is constructed based on those prompted inputs. Relevant information associated with the transaction is stored in a database in step 137.

The database (updated during step 137) itself reduces transaction costs. Transaction costs associated with uncertainty by traders are reduced by providing market trends and statistics immediately, in a trends analysis process 160, that relies on the database. Transaction costs associated with accounting and managing payments are reduced by exporting transaction information from the database to an accounting/payment system in step 140.

Contract flexibility is maintained by allowing a bidder to review multiple offers, and an offeror to review multiple bids before completing their inputs during step 132. The offeror may be either a buyer or seller of the commodity, and the bidder must be a complimentary trader, either a seller or buyer, respectively.

Herein "trader" is a general term indicating a member company registered for the services described herein, or the member's subsidiaries, employees or agents of any sort. In some embodiments, the various agents of the trader are organized into companies, accounts, and users, and a user authorized to buy or sell commodities is called a trader. This user is a trader in a narrow sense. Unless clear from the context to the contrary, trader is used herein with its general meaning.

The benefits proffered by this embodiment are funded by charging fees for initial and continuing registration and for the buy/sell operations in steps 130 and

140, and for the trends analysis in step 160. Thus, an important step of this embodiment is payment by an authorized trader to the central authority in step 122. More details on the steps performed during the steps of Figure 1 are described below.

Hardware Overview

Figure 2A is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system 200 upon which an embodiment of the invention may be implemented. Computer system 200 includes a bus 202 or other communication mechanism for communicating information, and a processor 204 coupled with bus 202 for processing information.

Computer system 200 also includes a main memory 206, such as a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, coupled to bus 202 for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor 204. Main memory 206 also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions to be executed by processor 204. Computer system 200 further includes a read only memory (ROM) 208 or other static storage device coupled to bus 202 for storing static information and instructions for processor 204. A storage device 210, such as a magnetic disk or optical disk, is provided and coupled to bus 202 for storing information and instructions.

Computer system 200 may be coupled via bus 202 to a display 212, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), for displaying information to a computer user. An input device 214, including alphanumeric and other keys, is coupled to bus 202 for communicating information and command selections to processor 204. Another type of user input device is cursor control 216, such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicating direction information and command selections to processor 204 and for controlling cursor movement on display 212. This input device typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis (e.g., x) and a second axis (e.g., y), that allows the device to specify positions in a plane.

The invention is related to the use of computer system 200 for trading in a cash market for commodities. According to one embodiment of the invention, a sales contract is constructed and transaction information is stored by computer system 200 in response to processor 204 executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in main memory 206. Such instructions may be read into main memory 206 from another computer-readable medium, such as storage device 210. Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in main memory 206 causes processor 204 to perform the process steps described herein. In alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement the invention. Thus, embodiments of the invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.

The term "computer-readable medium" as used herein refers to any medium that participates in providing instructions to processor 204 for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device 210. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory 206. Transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise bus 202. Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications.

Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD- ROM, any other optical medium, punchcards, papertape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computer can read.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to processor 204 for execution. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on a magnetic disk of a remote computer. The remote computer can load the instructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over a telephone line using a modem. A modem local to computer system 200 can receive the data on the telephone line and use an infra-red transmitter to convert the data to an infra-red signal. An infra-red detector can receive the data carried in the infra-red signal and appropriate circuitry can place the data on bus 202. Bus 202 carries the data to main memory 206, from which processor 204 retrieves and executes the instructions. The instructions received by main memory 206 may optionally be stored on storage device 210 either before or after execution by processor 204.

Computer system 200 also includes a communication interface 218 coupled to bus 202. Communication interface 218 provides a two-way data communication coupling to a network link 220 that is connected to a local network 222. For example, communication interface 218 may be an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card or a modem to provide a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. As another example, communication interface 218 may be a local area network (LAN) card to provide a data communication connection to a compatible LAN. Wireless links may also be implemented. In any such implementation, communication interface 218 sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information.

Network link 220 typically provides data communication through one or more networks to other data devices. For example, network link 220 may provide a connection through local network 222 to a host computer 224 or to data equipment operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) 226. ISP 226 in turn provides data communication services through the world wide packet data communication network now commonly referred to as the "Internet" 228. Local network 222 and Internet 228 both use electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. The signals through the various networks and the signals on network link 220 and through communication interface 218, which carry the digital data to and from computer system 200, are exemplary forms of carrier waves transporting the information.

Computer system 200 can send messages and receive data, including program code, through the network(s), network link 220 and communication interface 218. In the Internet example, a server 230 might transmit a requested code for an application program through Internet 228, ISP 226, local network 222 and communication interface 218. In accordance with the invention, one such downloaded application provides for transmitting data to the server from input by a user of computer system 200 through a web page as described herein.

The received code may be executed by processor 204 as it is received, and/or stored in storage device 210, or other non-volatile storage for later execution. In this manner, computer system 200 may obtain application code in the form of a carrier wave.

Figure 2B shows a network system 290 suitable for supporting multiple traders simultaneously trading according to the present invention. In this embodiment each client computer 260 is a personal computing device running a client application such as a world wide web (WWW) browser. For example, four traders run browsers at each client 261, 262, 263 and 264 and log on, through a network 270, to the server 250. The four clients can communicate substantially simultaneously with the server 250, entering or monitoring offers, bids, sales contracts, or other documents available from the server using the user interface on their own client 260. Other clients, not shown, can join the communications. When a trader is done trading, the trader can log off the server 250 from the trader's client computer, eg., client 261.

The Central Authority The central authority provides the benefit of reducing transaction costs to establish a sales contract between two traders. This benefit is realized for many embodiments of the central authority. In one embodiment, the central authority is an organization with one or more of its functions performed manually by one or more human agents of the organization. Alternatively, as in the preferred embodiment, the central authority can delegate almost all its functions to one or more computer servers on a network. Figure 3 shows a server 300 having one or more processors (not shown) configured to perform multiple processes associated with central authority functions. These processes run concurrently in a multi-tasking environment. In another embodiment, these processes are distributed over one or more different processors or one or more different servers (not shown) across the network. In the preferred embodiment, the processors of a central authority server are configured to perform a Screen applicant process 330, a Buy/Sell commodity process 310, a Manage payments/accounting process 340 and an Interface with public process 350. In the embodiment of Figure 3, a memory medium of the server stores a database 335 of authorized traders and a database 315 of trade transactions. These databases may be shared by the processes 310, 320, 330, 340 and 350. For example, in one preferred embodiment, a corporation serves as the central authority for a restricted membership system to facilitate cash market transactions for the sale and purchase and physical delivery of wood products using the internet and electronic technologies. This system is representative of the preferred embodiment of the current invention and is described in several documents. In particular, this preferred embodiment is partly described in an appended external design document, which provides many details on the effects of the processes running on a central authority server. This preferred embodiment is herein referred to as the Wood Products System. The effects of the Wood Products System described in the external design document accomplish most of the functions of the central authority.

The step 1 10 of designating a non-trading central authority is accomplished in the Wood Products System by the membership as part of the registration process. As a consequence of the registration process, the corporation of the Wood Products System has the authority to perform the functions of the central authority.

Screening Applicants

The central authority screens applicants which wish to become traders and identifies those accepted into the system as authorized traders in step 110 of Figure 1.

For example, membership in the Wood Products System as an authorized trader is restricted to creditworthy wood industry participants who physically produce and ship, or receive and consume, truckload or carload lots of wood products at fixed permanent locations. This requires that the corporation of the Wood Products System investigate the credit or production facilities of the applicants or both. Such investigation reduces the investigations the traders themselves must perform during the time-critical creation of sales contracts. The corporation of the Wood Products System further limits membership to those industry participants which agree to conditions to remain authorized traders. Such membership conditions include the following.

• Members must sign a membership and services agreement.

• Members must sign a payment and financing agreement. • Members may terminate their membership on sixty days notice without cause or thirty days after notice of amendments to the membership and service agreement, or to the payments and financing agreement.

• The corporation of the Wood Products System may restrict or terminate a member's membership immediately upon the occurrence of an event of default relating to the member.

• Payment and financing are arranged through a separate entity herein called the financial company of the Wood Products System. The financial company of the Wood Products System may terminate a member's rights under the payment and financing agreement upon 30 days notice without cause and immediately upon occurrence of an event of default relating to the member, or at any time upon suspicion or notice of improper or alleged improper conduct by the member.

• Members bear risk of Wood Products System downtime. • Members must maintain acceptable credit, shipping, receiving, and claims performance commensurate with existing industry practice and standards to continue membership as authorized trader.

• Traders and the corporation of the Wood Products System are each responsible for following Wood Products System security matters. • There are no limits as to changes in price levels, movements of price, or volume of bids and offers.

The corporation of the Wood Products System further limits membership to those industry participants which agree to pre-established conditions for sales contracts constructed by the Wood Products System. In this embodiment, the pre-approved sales contract terms include the following.

• When membership is terminated, authorized traders must immediately cease making offers or bids and must fulfill all prior agreements or transactions in progress.

• Once a sales contract has been constructed, sequential unconditional obligations are created as follows: • On day the ship date, the seller ships the complete quantity of the agreed wood products, constructs the buyer's and seller's invoices, and forwards proof of shipment to the financial company of the Wood Products System. • By day after date specified in the bid (10 days or 30 days), the buyer pays the amount on the buyer's invoice to the financial company of the Wood Products System for same day funds settlement, whether or not wood products are received or received in good order.

• By day 16, the financial company of the Wood Products System pays seller's invoice to seller for same day funds settlement, provided the financial company of the Wood Products System receives proof of shipment.

• Buyer's invoices are free on board (FOB) destination at buyer's location and include transaction fees, taxes and all costs to seller. • Discounts for prompt payment accrue to the financial company of the

Wood Products System at 1% if seller is paid within 15 days (denoted as 1% 15).

• Discounts for prompt payment accrue to buyer at 1% if the financial company of the Wood Products System is paid within date on bid (10 days or 30 days, denoted 1% 10 or net 30, respectively).

• Transactions fees are paid to the financial company of the Wood Products System for furtherance to the corporation of the Wood Products System at 1% of cost FOB destination, per thousand board feet (MBF) for lumber, or per thousand square feet (MSF) for panel; and the transaction fees are automatically included in rates and totals in the buyer's invoice constructed.

• Disputes between buyer and seller regarding wood products are separate transactions between the buyer and seller.

• Title passes from seller to buyer at FOB destination. • Obligation of a buyer to pay the financial company of the Wood Products

System arises as of the date of the relevant buyer's invoice; obligation of the financial company of the Wood Products System to pay seller arises as of the date of the seller's invoice; the dates of both invoices should be the same and also be the date of shipment. • Taxes are the obligation of the taxed trader. • Late invoice payments are events of default.

From the Wood Products System example, it is clear that the screening process provides numerous complex contractual terms that bind the authorized traders and reduce the number and complexity of negotiations that must be performed in the time-critical environment of trades for commodities on the spot market. The inventors are unaware of any automated system that performs such screening for authorized traders.

It is also clear from the Wood Products System example that the risk to the seller is reduced by transferring the risk that the buyer won't pay to the financial company of the Wood Products System . This reduces the due diligence the seller must invest before consummating a sales contract with an unknown trader or new market entrant and makes contracting more efficient. Therefore, in another embodiment of the present invention, the seller agrees to be paid by a bonding agent, like the financial company of the Wood Products System , and the buyer agrees to pay the bonding agent. In one embodiment, the bonding agent and the central authority are the same; in another embodiment the central authority and bonding agent are commonly owned, at least in part, as is the case with the corporation of the Wood Products System and financial company of the Wood Products System; and, in another embodiment the bonding agent and the central authority are independent. To mitigate the risk, in the preferred embodiment the bonding agent establishes a credit limit for the authorized traders. This credit limit affects the sales contracts the authorized trader will be allowed to make. For example, in the Wood Products System, financial company of the Wood Products System establishes a credit limit for each member.

In another embodiment of the present invention, to offset the risk assumed by the bonding agent, a pre-approved contract term is established during the screening process that calls for the payment of transaction fees to the bonding agent. For example, in the Wood Products System, the risk assumed by financial company of the Wood Products System is offset by the guarantee and indemnification of the corporation of the Wood Products System, which received the transaction fees. As part of the screening process, when a person attempts to log on to an automated system, the person will be checked against a list of persons associated with authorized traders. If the person is not on that list, the person will be denied access. The transaction fee accrues to the corporation of the Wood Products System, not the financial company of the Wood Products System.

The authorized traders are represented by organizations or individuals who are their agents. It is possible that the various rights and services provided to an authorized trader by the central authority may be distributed non-uniformly to the trader's agents. For example, some agents, such as all the agents of the central authority and an accounting department of an authorized trader, may be allowed to review reports available from the databases stored on the central authority but may not engage in trades. Other agents may be able to engage in trades, by providing inputs for sales contracts, but may not prepare the invoices. Similarly, the functions of the central authority can be distributed non-uniformly among agent organizations and individuals. Therefore, in some embodiments of the present invention, the rights and functions of the authorized trader and central authority are distributed non- uniformly among their agents.

The database 335 of authorized traders shown in Figure 3 is used as the list of authorized traders in the preferred embodiment utilizing an automated system. Where privileges of an authorized trader or central authority may be distributed non- uniformly, the database includes a list of agents for the central authority and each authorized trader, and for each agent indicates the functions that agent has permission to perform.

The screen process is shown in Figure 1 before the payment of fees because some elements of the screen process are performed then. However, the access check during log on can be performed after the payment of fees, step 122, and after the central authority sets system parameters, step 124, in other embodiments.

When an open network like the internet is used to communicate between the authorized traders and the central authority, security measures are required as part of the screening process to keep out those who are not authorized traders. Any form of encryption technology known in the art may be used to enforce this aspect of screening. In the preferred embodiment, the internet is used, and encrypted communications are setup between the authorized trader and the central authority servers when the trader first logs on, and used in all subsequent log on sessions by that trader.

Authorized Traders

The authorized traders are industry participants which have successfully passed through the screening process. As described above, each authorized trader is represented by one or more agents. The permissions of each agent may be set separately. Thus the functions described for an authorized trader may be performed by some but not all its agents. In the preferred embodiment, the central authority servers, such as server 300, use the authorized traders database 335 shown in Figure 3, to determine whether a logged on user can perform the attempted function. For example, in the Wood Products System a set of roles are defined, each role with a predefined set of permissions. When a user is entered into the system a set of one or more roles that user is allowed to play are associated with the user. When the user subsequently logs on, the user selects one of the allowed roles and is permitted to perform the functions associated with that role. In the Wood Products System the authorized traders are called members and the persons who are allowed to buy or sell are called traders. To avoid confusion, the Wood Products System traders are herein called trading users.

In the Wood Products System, when members are registered, information about parent and any subsidiary or related companies are gathered. The subsidiaries or related companies may also be members or may be agents of the member. A trading user is a person directly associated with one company, its employer or contractor. Each company also owns one or more accounts, one account for each location that ships or receives wood products. Any company that has an account must be a member or have a parent company that is a member. Each trading user is set up with permission to perform trades on a predefined set of accounts that are associated with either the trading user's employer or a related company or a parent company.

In the Wood Products System, a user is assigned one or more of the following oles, with the associated permissions, as appropriate.

Wood Products System Administrator

Wood Products System Credit Manager

Wood Products System Accounting

Wood Products System Freight Book Editor

Member Administrator

• Selling Member Freight Book Editor

Member Accountant

Member Supervisor

Selling trading user

Buying trading user

Pay Membership Fees

In one embodiment, authorized traders pay membership fees above the transaction fees to the central authority in step 122. These fees fund the development and maintenance of the system. For example, in the Wood Products System, membership subscription fees are based on an annual contract payable monthly. Buying traders pay $X per month per receiving location; and selling traders pay $2X per month per shipping location.

In addition, an initial, one-time membership registration fee is paid by all authorized traders in the amount of $3X. In another embodiment, another process performed by the central authority is paid for separately. For example, in the Wood Products System, an authorized trader pays $0.6X per year for the market analysis results produced by a market trends and analysis program.

Set System Parameters The negotiating model of the present invention allows much flexibility to meet the needs of different commodities and markets. Some parameters of the negotiation are not incorporated into the final sales contract but control the sequence and timing of the information input by two or more traders who are negotiating. (We call such negotiating traders contracting traders herein to signify their intention to form a contract.) According to one embodiment, these parameters are freely set by the central authority upon notice to the authorized traders. These parameters can be set by the Buy/Sell commodity process 310 in Figure 3, or by the Screen applicants process 330, or by the Manage payments/accounting process 340, or by a separate process, not shown. For example, in the Wood Products System, system parameters include date format (year-month-day), time format (24 hour clock, hr:min), time standard (clock at the corporation of the Wood Products System , Chicago, Central standard or Central daylight time), trading times (7:00 to 19:00) and trading dates (e.g., July 4 but not December 25). Other system parameters include offer expiration times (30 minutes), bid expiration times (30 minutes), currency exchange rate (input daily), monitor refresh interval for displaying current offers and bids (3 minutes), trends refresh interval for displaying updated market trends and statistics computations (20 minutes), session timeout for logging a member off after prolonged inactivity, minimum buy bid as a percentage of the FOB destination price presented to the buyer (65%), and acceptable footage variance between the actual quantity shipped by the seller and the quantity on the seller's original offer as a percentage of the quantity on the original offer (e.g., 2%). System parameters related to security include password expiration time (e.g., 60 days), password minimum length (e.g., 8 characters), password maximum length (e.g., 30 characters), login fail tolerance for the number of times a user can attempt to log on with an incorrect password before the user is locked out (e.g., 3 tries), and suspension period before termination (e.g., 30 days).

Store Shipping Rate Data In Database

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the offers or bids presented to a buyer include the shipping rate and total freight costs. For example, in the Wood Products System the FOB Destination Price is the buyer's equivalent offer price which is the bid price including freight (i.e., the seller's offer price plus freight). Price is given as a cost per unit of quantity for the commodity, such as per thousand board feet (MBF) or per thousand square feet (MSF, or SM). This price element is typically provided by a seller depending on the shipping location and destination location. To speed the computation and conversion between seller's prices and buyer's prices, a database is maintained of data for shipping prices. This database 312 is shown within the Buy /Sell commodity process 310 on the server 300 in Figure 3, because the database 312 is used and controlled by that process in the preferred embodiment. In other embodiments, the database can be stored at any server of the central authority or in a shared portion of the memory medium.

In step 131 of Figure 1, the shipping rate database 312 is updated, either during an initial load, or by importing updates from some source off the central authority, or by directly editing the database at the central authority. Note that step 131 is depicted in Figure 1 within the general step 130 of buying and selling the commodity. This step need not be performed at each transaction, but all freight data changes should be incorporated into the database 312 some time before the next sales contract is constructed in step 135.

The shipping rate database 312 can be organized in any manner known in the art. Alternatively, in the preferred embodiment, there is a database table for each shipping location of each authorized shipping trader. Each table includes a list of destinations and for each destination there is a price corresponding to a price per load. The number of MBF or MSF per load, needed to compute the freight cost, is an input by the seller during the time-critical negotiations to construct a sales contract, or can be derived from the average capacity for the commodity of the transport type input by the seller at the time of the negotiations. If a destination is not listed in that table, then that seller location does not ship wood products to that destination.

For example, in the Wood Products System a Freight Book database is maintained that contains freight rates for a selling member from each mill to each destination that the mill ships to. For each mill there will be freight rates in only one currency, Canadian currency for Canadian mills shipping to Canadian destinations, and U.S. currency for U.S. mills shipping to Canadian destinations or U.S. or Canadian mills shipping to U.S. destinations. The Freight Book destinations are organized by major hubs and minor hubs. Major hubs are large named areas defined by the corporation of the Wood Products System and listed in a Master Freight Book. Each major hub will be associated with one or more minor hubs including at least municipalities in North America having populations in excess of 2,000 people. Additional minor hubs are added to the Master Freight Book as new buyer locations demand upon a request made to the Wood Products System administrators. Hubs are added to a seller's Freight Book from the Master Freight Book only as that mill begins shipping to new locations involving those hubs. For any minor hub, the Freight book will list one or more transport modes which determine the size of a load and an associated rate.

The arrangement of major hubs, minor hubs, and shipping rates per load by carrier type in the preferred embodiment shows more understanding of the needs of a commodity market and provides a more efficient retrieval of information for computation of costs applied to offers and bids in that market, than is shown or provided by any other freight rate database known to the inventors.

Inputs From Authorized Traders.

In Figure 1, during step 132 the central authority obtains the time-critical inputs from authorized traders needed for constructing sales contracts. This process is described in more detail with reference to Figures 4A and 4B where step 400 is the preferred embodiment of step 132. These inputs can be obtained by any mechanism known in the art. In the preferred embodiment, these inputs are obtained from the trading users operating separate client computers 260 connected to at least one central authority server 250 over a network 270 such as the internet, as shown in Figure 2B. In this embodiment, the trading users are presented with world wide web pages configured as forms with data entry areas using state of the art world wide web browsers. The web pages naturally prompt the users for the necessary inputs. Web browsers that support web pages with such data entry areas including pull down lists are known.

In Figure 4 A, a first offering trader of the authorized traders describes the commodity that is the subject of the offer in step 408. Note that an offer can be an offer to sell or an offer to buy. If the offeror is a buyer which has several payment terms pre-negotiated with the central authority, the offeror must select one of those payment terms at this step.

For example, in the Wood Products System the offer is an offer to sell and the commodity may be wood panel or lumber (boards). If the offer is for lumber, the following inputs describe the commodity at the time a sales contract is desired.

Seller Account (indicates location of mill, payment terms, etc.)

Species

Thickness

Width

Length

Trim or Tally

Surface

Moisture

Grade Grade Stamped

Wrapped

# of Loads

Transport type (used to compute the average number of board feet per load)

Ship Date Week Of

Board Footage

Unit Size

Other information optionally input at the time of the offer includes whether Bar Coding or Tarping is available on a load. If not input, Wood Products System™ will default to "No" for both of these fields. If a bar coding charge and tarping charge are registered in the Member Information File, this charge will be calculated into the final cost of goods on the sales contract and invoice if those options are made available.

If the offer in the Wood Products System is for panel, different inputs describe the commodity at the time a sales contract is desired. The panel description inputs don't require trim/tally or surface or moisture or grade stamped or wrapped values, but do require profile, and size instead of width and length, and square footage instead of board footage.

In step 410, the first trader inputs an offer price. If the offer is an offer to sell, the offer price would be the target price the seller wants to obtain upon loading the described commodity onto a vehicle ready to ship, the FOB seller location price, before any transaction fees, shipment costs, discounts or taxes. If the offer is an offer to buy, the offer price would be the target price on a vehicle at the location of the buyer, after any transaction fees and shipping costs but before any discounts or taxes, the FOB destination price. The price is preferably in cost per unit quantity of the commodity, so that the offeror can compare bids for different quantities. Total cost of the offer can be computed by the central authority from the information input by the offeror and the databases such as the authorized traders database 335 and the shipping rate database 312. For example, in the Wood Products System the offer price is one of the US and Canadian FOB Mill Prices.

In step 411, the central authority determines whether the offering trader has the resources to perform the terms of the offer, according to the best information available to the central authority. For example, the central authority determines whether the trader making an offer to buy has uncommitted credit remaining under the trader's credit limit. If not, the central authority does not permit an offer to be constructed and the input phase concludes without an offer or a sales contract, as indicated by the no trade step 405. In the preferred embodiment, the buyer is notified when the buyer cannot afford to make the described purchase. If the buying trader does have the resources required to perform according to the offer, then the offer is made available during subsequent steps. In the preferred embodiment, the offer made is given an offer identification number (offer ID). To make the determination of sufficient uncommitted credit within the credit limit, in the preferred embodiment, the central authority maintains totals of committed buys for each authorized trader and its agents in the authorized traders database 335 in Figure 3. In alternative embodiments, this information can be kept in another database. In the Wood Products System, credit is considered committed until a buyer pays an invoice or until there is a cancellation of a bid to buy, or a sales contract, or an invoice. When one of these events occur, credit is removed from the committed credit totals in the database.

In step 412 the central authority constructs an offer based on the inputs received in steps 408 and 410 described above. In step 413 The offeror can review and monitor the status of outstanding offers using a monitor-offers web page described in more detail below. The offeror may decide to cancel an outstanding offer at any time. If the offer is canceled, no trade can be completed based on the offer.

In step 414 a complementary second trader, that is a buyer if the offeror is a seller or a seller if the offeror is a buyer, inputs the criteria for a search of offers. (Non complementary traders can enter search criteria at this or any other time, but such actions are not relevant for the sequence depicted in Figures 4 A and 4B.) The criteria include at least the second trader's role and target values desired for some for the descriptive quantities of the commodity. In the preferred embodiment, the criteria includes a list of one, more or all complementary traders. For example, in the Wood Products System the search criteria for lumber offers include Buyer Accounts Seller Name Species Thickness Width Length

Trim (if other than R L has been selected at Length/Feet) Surface Moisture ■ Grade

The Offer ID, profile, search by sellers and supplemental inputs are not required but may also be used as search criteria. Corresponding criteria are used for panel searches. In another embodiment, unit price applicable to the second trader is an optional search criterion. In step 416 a search is performed to find all offers that satisfy the search criteria not involving price. Delivery to the buyer's destination is assumed to be a search criteria whether the buyer is the offeror or the searcher.

For each offer that passes non-price search criteria, the offer prices are converted to presentation prices at the second trader's location which are equivalent to the offer price once adjusted for transaction costs and shipping costs associated with the offeror and the second trader, in step 418. If price is a criterion, then the presentation price of the offer is used to determine whether the offer satisfies the criterion. If price is not a criterion, then the offer will be presented to the second trader. In step 420 all active offers that satisfy the second trader's search are presented for the second trader. In the preferred embodiment, this presentation is in the form of a search-results web page displayed on the client computer 260 by the client's browser application program. An offer is active if it has not expired and the offeror is still available on the network, e.g., has not logged off. The expiration time of an offer is set by the central authority as described above. In the preferred embodiment, the offer expiration time is 30 minutes. In the preferred embodiment a trader is automatically logged off if the trader's client has been inactive for a time exceeding a timeout parameter also set by the central authority and described above. In the preferred embodiment, the active orders are displayed one offer per line, and the second trader can obtain more details for each offer by indicating the offer of interest. After the second trader has reviewed the available offers, the trader can select one to bid on in step 422, shown in both Figure 4 A and in Figure 4B. For purposes of this description, it is assumed that the second trader has selected to bid on the offer constructed above by the first trader. The bid can be a bid to purchase a commodity in an offer to sell; or the bid can be a bid to sell the commodity to satisfy an offer to buy. In the preferred embodiment, the bidder indicates the offer on which to bid by clicking on the offer ID in the list of offers displayed by the bidder's client browser using a pointing device on the bidder's client computer.

Referring to Figure 4B, the input step 400 of the preferred embodiment is describe further. In step 424, the second, bidding trader (the bidder) changes a limited set of values of the values supplied in the offer being bid on, if desired. Some values may be changed and others not, depending on the commodity. Some changes involve items with optional costs, such as barcoding or tarping a load of the commodity. The bidder has the option of leaving the offer unaltered. In the preferred embodiment, when the bidder clicks on an offer ID, a make-a-bid web page is displayed on the client's display, listing the values of the properties that constitute the selected offer. Some areas of the web page will be fixed, and some areas of the web page can be changed before a bid is submitted. The layout of the make-a-bid page mimics the page layout of the web page displayed to prompt the offeror for the offeror' s inputs, for those items that are the same. In this embodiment, the bidder must select an integral number of loads, partial loads are not allowed. The bidder may also enter special conditions in a comments field. If the bidder incurs optional costs, the presented price must be recomputed and redisplayed on the bid. All information for optional cost items are carried with the offer so that the central authority can perform the re-computation automatically without further input from the offeror. If the bidder is a buyer which has several payment terms pre-negotiated with the central authority, the buyer must select one of those payment terms in this step. In this way a round of controlled re-negotiation affecting the most unique and time-critical terms of a proposed sales contract are allowed. None of the prior art systems of which the inventors are aware provide this function in an automated exchange system.

For example, in the Wood Products System embodiment of the present invention, the following items can be changed on a lumber bid to buy.

Trim or Tally Wrapped # of Loads ■ Bar Coding if offered by Seller Tarping if offered by Seller Ship Date Week Of

The buyer also may submit any conditions or comments concerning the offer by inputting the information in a bid comments text box provided on the form. The buyer must select payment terms before submitting the bid.

In step 426 the bidder inputs a bid price in response to the presentation price. If the central authority approves this price by determining that the buyer has adequate credit, an irrevocable bid will be constructed in step 430, described below; thus, the bidder must be willing to honor the price and consider it an irrevocable bid price . In step 428 the central authority checks the bid price. To discourage bids too disparate from the offer being responded to, in the preferred embodiment, the price must be within some threshold bid price. If the offer is an offer to sell, then the bid to buy must be greater than a minimum buy price. If the offer is an offer to buy, then the bid to sell must be less than a maximum sell price. The threshold bid price is a system parameter which is set to a value in step 124, described above. For example, in the Wood Products System, the minimum buy price is 65% of the presentation price, as listed in the above description of step 124. In another example embodiment, a maximum sell price is 150%) of the presentation price. If the bid price is within the threshold price, the central authority then determines whether the bidder is likely to be able to perform according to the bid terms. In the preferred embodiment, this includes determining that the bidder has sufficient uncommitted credit within the bidding member's credit limit, if the bidder is a buyer. The determination of available credit was described above for the buyer offeror in step 41 1. If the bid price is outside the threshold or exceeds a buying bidder's credit limit, no trade is allowed, as indicated by step 405. In the preferred embodiment, the bidder is notified via the make-a-bid web page that the bid price was not approved by the central authority.

In step 430, the central authority constructs an irrevocable bid based on the offer being bid on, the inputs received in step 424 and the bid price received in step 426. The bid includes an acceptance price for the offeror. The acceptance price is computed from the bid price corrected for transactions costs and shipping rates between the offeror and the bidder. If the offeror is a buyer, the acceptance price has the transaction costs and shipping costs added onto the bid price; if the offeror is a seller, as in the Wood Products System, the acceptance price has the transaction costs and shipping rates subtracted out from the bid price. In the preferred embodiment the bid is given a bid identification number (bid ID) and is associated with the offer ID.

In step 432 the bid is presented to the offeror as long as the bid is active. In the preferred embodiment, a bid is active if it has not expired. It does not matter whether the bidder has logged off. As described above for step 420, in the preferred embodiment a trader is automatically logged off if the trader's client has been inactive for a time exceeding the timeout parameter. The expiration time of a bid is set to a value by the central authority as described above for step 124. In the preferred embodiment the bid expiration time is 30 minutes.

In the preferred embodiment, bid presentation is accomplished first by updating a line on the monitor-offers web page listing the offers belonging to the first trader. The monitor-offers web page may be opened by the offeror and viewed from the offeror' s client machine and browser. If the monitor-offers web page is already open, the line will be updated at the next refresh time for the web page. The monitor-offers web page refresh rate is a system parameter set to a value in step 124 described above. In the preferred embodiment, the offeror can choose to view details of the bids associated with an offer on the monitor-offers web page using the pointing device; and, as a result, a web page giving all the unique details of the bid is transmitted to and displayed by the offerer's browser. If the offerer^'s monitor-offers web page does not list any bids, then no trade can be consummated, as indicated by step 405.

In step 434, the offeror accepts one or more of the active bids if the offeror wants to close the deal. The offeror can accept as many bids as there are sufficient loads in the original offer to satisfy. For example, if the original offer was for five loads, the offeror can accept a bid for 3 loads from one bidder and bids for one load each from two other bidders. By accepting the irrevocable bid from the second trader, the offeror indicates to the central authority that agreement has been reached between certain of the contracting traders. No further action by the bidders is necessary.

If no bid is accepted by the offeror, then no trade is completed as indicated by step 405.

In the preferred embodiment, a bidder is notified of an accepted bid, as well as the status of all bids made by the bidder, first by updating a line on a monitor-bids web page listing the bids belonging to the second trader. The monitor-bids web page may be opened by the bidder and viewed from the bidder's client machine and browser. If the monitor-bids web page is already open, the line will be updated at the next refresh time for the web page. The monitor-bids web page refresh rate is a system parameter set to a value in step 124 described above. In the preferred embodiment, the bidder can choose to view details of the bids associated on the monitor-bids web page using the pointing device; and, as a result, a web page giving all the unique details of the bid is transmitted to and displayed by the bidder's browser.

Constructing A Standardized Sales Contract

As a result of step 434 agreement is reached based on trader inputs and the central authority can proceed with constructing a sales contract as shown by step 135 in Figure 1. Figure 5 illustrates the sales contract construction step 500 according to another embodiment. In Figure 5, sales contract construction 500 includes constructing an original sales contract with all the unique terms of the accepted bid in step 510. This contract is binding on both offeror and bidder at this stage in time. In the preferred embodiment, one sales contract is constructed for each load in the bid(s) and given a unique sales contract identification number (sales contract ID).

In step 512 the bidder views the sales contract. This signifies that the bidder is notified that the bid has been accepted. In the preferred embodiment, this is accomplished by updating the bidder's monitor-bids web page with an indication that a bid has been accepted. For example, in the Wood Products System system, an "A" is placed in the bid status field of the bid line on the monitor-bids web page. In the preferred embodiment, the bidder is also notified with a message box sent to the bidder's browser, which displays the message in a separate window on the display of the bidder's client computer. The bidder may then open a sales contract web page which lists all the sales contracts that resulted from the bidders bids, and view any sales contract on a sales contract details web page. In other embodiments, the sales contract can be grouped by authorized trader, or agents of same, as well as by bid or by offer.

In step 514 a trader, whether offeror or bidder, requests a change for a term in the sales contract. The items that may be subject to a request for change are limited by the central authority to prevent excessive transaction costs. However, some modifications to the sales contract may be expedient and not burdensome for the other trader to consider. In the Wood Products System embodiment, the only contract item subject to a request for change is the destination, and only by the buyer. A buyer is allowed to request a change in destination which must be approved by the financial company of the Wood Products System. In the preferred embodiment, the change is accomplished by indicating an allowed change on the sales contract web page and selecting change request.

In step 516 the change in price resulting from the change in contract term, if any, such as the change in destination, is presented to the requestor so that the requestor knows the effect of the change.

In step 518 the requestor submits the change request, and in step 520 a cost change is computed for the other party. For example, the change destination request made by the buyer is used to compute a new seller's sales price corrected for transaction fees and the new buyer's destination. In step 522 the central authority presents the change request to the other party with the appropriate changes in contract terms and new price, as a result of freight changes If the other party accepts the change in step 524, then the central authority constructs an amended contract in step 530. If the other party rejects the change in step 524, then the central authority notifies the requesting trader in step 540 and retains the original sales contract in step 542.

For example, in the Wood Products System, if a buyer requests that a shipment of lumber or panel be delivered to an alternate location from the one in the accepted bid details, the buyer requests the change on the buyer's group sales contract page, and submits it to the selling trader for approval and acceptance. The seller receives notification of a change request via a notification message box at the top of the monitor offers page, a logoff page, and the home page. The seller will accept or reject the change request, and send the response back to the buyer, who will receive notification of this at the monitor bids page. By clicking on the notification message box, the buyer is taken to the sales contract page. The new sales contract would have a red arrow next to the sales contract ID identifying it as unviewed. If the seller accepts the change request, an amended sales contract is generated and sent to the buyer to view. The original sales contract ID will have a "-1" appended to it. The numeral appended will reflect how many times the seller has accepted a change request to the same offer. The status of the sales contract will be "NV," reflecting that the buyer has not yet viewed the seller's response. The buyer later clicks on the sale contract ID to generate the amended sales contract page. The recalculated prices will appear on the page. If the seller rejects the change request, the response is sent back to the buyer, and no changes are made to the original sales contract. The status of the sales contract would be "NA," reflecting that the seller did not accept the buyer's change request. The buyer is not requested to view the sales contract again if the seller rejects the change request.

Constructing Invoices

In step 136 of Figure 1, a selling trader constructs an invoice when a shipment is sent pursuant to a sales contract. An authorized trader, or its agent, must first notify the central authority that the load of the commodity has been shipped. For example, in the Wood Products System, the agent playing the role of selling member accountant notifies the central authority that a load associated with a sales contract ID has been shipped. In the preferred embodiment, the notification is performed by the agent making entries on a web page to which the agent has access. The central authority server provides the web pages displayed at the agent's client computer using the agent's web browser.

For example, in the Wood Products System, when a shipment has been shipped, the seller accountant creates the seller invoice and submits it to Wood Products System™. The Invoice is created with the final sales contract details automatically included. The seller accountant clicks on the operations tab in a top navigation bar of the Wood Products System members home page, then on the invoicing item in a lower navigation bar. An invoicing web page appears with areas for the accountant to enter information. When the accountant enters a company and account, a list of sales contracts is provided on the web page by the central authority server. The list contains an invoice identification number (invoice ID) which has a link to a create-invoice page if no invoice has yet been constructed for the associated sales contract. On the create-invoice page, the accountant will specify actual shipping details including, but not limited to,

actual quantity on the truck or rail car • bill of lading number actual ship date routing car number shipper information (name, contact, contact phone number) • first tax (name and percentage rate) second tax (name and percentage rate) third tax (name and percentage rate)

Inputting this data by the seller creates the invoice. In response, the central authority then automatically computes the following items and produces a seller's invoice. • cost of goods (FOB destination price times quantity of goods) • bar coding charge (bar coding price times quantity of goods)

• tarping charge (tarping price per load time one load)

• subtotal of above three items

• gross total (subtotal plus taxes) • discount ( [cost of goods minus total freight] times discount rate)

• net total (gross total minus discount)

The accountant then submits the invoice to the central authority by clicking on the submit invoice button at the bottom of the create-invoice page. The central authority then receives the seller's invoice and distributes it, including sending a buyer's invoice to the buyer.

In the preferred embodiment, once the invoice is submitted, the central authority assigns an invoice identification number (invoice ID) and the buyer is notified of the shipment via the sales contracts page which shows that an invoice has been generated for the sales contract. For example, in the Wood Products System, "INN" appears in the sales contract status field of the sales contract page.

Transaction Database

In step 137, the transaction database 315 is updated. This step is shown in Figure 1 after the invoice is constructed but may be updated at many times, including earlier times after each offer, bid, acceptance, change request, and change request acceptance is submitted.

Figure 3 shows the transaction database 315 residing on a server 300 of the central authority. The database is shown outside the Buy/Sell commodity process 310 because the database may be shared with other processes, especially the Manage payments/accounting process 340 and the Market trends/statistics process 320. In particular, the Manage payments/accounting process 340 makes entries into the database to reflect delivery and payment status of sales invoices on sales contracts, and generates many detailed reports for contracting partners based on the data in the transaction database 315.

Sufficient detail is stored in the database to support reports that must be generated from that database. Every offer, whether bid on or not, can be stored. It is a design consideration whether such information is deleted from the database if a step fails to lead to a completed transaction (through delivery and acceptance of goods). For example when an offer expires or is cancelled, the offer may be left unentered into the database, or deleted from the database if already there. On the other hand, even expired offers provide information about the activity on the system and the reliability of different traders. Thus there are reasons to record all activity on the system in the transactions database. Any technique known in the art for storing this information in a database may be used. Better performance may be obtained using certain arrangements of data, such as in the preferred embodiment.

Reports generated based on the data in the database specify the data that must be stored there. In the preferred embodiment all unique details of every offer, bid, sales contract, amended sales contract, invoice, and payment record is stored in the database, and the records are organized by offer ID, bid ID, sales contract ID, and invoice ID.

Manage Payments/Accounting In step 140 of Figure 1, payments are made and entered into an accounting system based at least in part on information in the transaction database 315. In the preferred embodiment much of this is done automatically by the Manage payments/accounting process 340 shown in Figure 3 which retrieves information from the transaction database in step 142, and interfaces with, and exports data to, any separate accounting packages in step 144. The bonding agent then pays sellers and collects from buyers in step 146 based on information provided during this process 340.

For example, in the Wood Products System, a separate accounting package, herein called the attached accounting system, manages receivable (such as buyer's invoices), payables (seller's invoice) and the associated financial transactions such as membership credit notes and membership credit management. This includes performing audit trails from offer through performance. The attached accounting system is relied on to ensure the integrity of payment due dates, discount percentage, transaction fee percentages, billing frequency, and due date expectations specified in contracts between members and the Wood Products System. The attached accounting system produces reports necessary to ensure contract compliance. The Wood Products System writes directly to the attached accounting system application. The attached accounting system application produces sub-ledger/account/activity status reports of a past date, typically past day, week and month end, to facilitate accounting reconciliation and auditing. The attached accounting system application produces reports on individual accounts to authorized traders, system operations, credit management, and payments and accounting, as applicable.

In an alternative embodiment, the accounting package is on the client computer of one of the contracting traders and the system exports the information from the server to the client as a file downloaded by the client's browser, for use directly by the accounting package on the client.

Market Trends

In step 160 of Figure 1 , market trends and statistics are computed based at least in part on information in the transaction database 315. In the preferred embodiment much of this is done automatically by the Market trends/statistics process 320 shown in Figure 3 which retrieves information from the transaction database and performs mathematical analysis in step 162, and interfaces with, and exports results to subscribing members in step 164. In the preferred embodiment, only members which have paid an extra fee are recipients of the market trends and statistics reports. In the preferred embodiment, currency conversions and standard products of varying temporal and spatial granularity are provided.

For example, in the Wood Products System, a separate analysis package, herein called the attached trends system, is used as the process 320. For every type of trade in zones as fine as the hub level, the attached trends system reports the following quantities.

• Closing price yesterday (FOB destination for buyers, and FOB destination with seller freight book equivalent for sellers).

• Volume sold year-to-date, yesterday, and total for today through last refresh.

• Volumes shipped yesterday, and total for today through last refresh. • Last sale price yesterday, and today through last refresh. • High/low/average price year-to-date, yesterday, and today through last refresh. In the attached trends system, there are two views for the information presented, one is in Canadian currency, the other in U.S. currency. Conversion from currency of data stored in the database to the selected view is done with the current exchange rate, shown on the screen, and updated at least daily. Also, year-to-date is a rolling 52 week period. Subscribers to the attached trends system are able to select one of the above products for a zone updated at each refresh interval. A zone is coarser than a hub when necessary to prevent subscribers from attributing price data to an individual member.

In the following section, called an external design document, more details are provided about the Wood Products System as an example of the preferred embodiment. In this external design document, a Company is a trader in the general sense used above. Also, an authorized trader is called a "Member Company," or simply, "Member;" and a "Trader" is a trader in the narrow sense, i.e. an individual user who is a buying or selling agent of the Company.

PURPOSE OF THE EXTERNAL DESIGN DOCUMENT

This document is in the series of documents listed below which have been produced as part of the development effort for The Wood Products System™. 1. Functional Requirements

2. Functional Specifications

3. Audit Requirements

4. Report Requirements

5. External Design The External Design document describes the interface between The Wood Products System™ and the users of The Wood Products System™.

This document describes all necessary information that went into the creation of the actual Web pages for the The Wood Products System™ Web site. Information objects, Data objects, Navigation objects, and Action objects are described, and criteria required for each object are defined. Flow diagrams for each process on The Wood Products System™ are included, as well as visuals of each Web page. LOOK AND FEEL REQUIREMENTS GRAPHIC DESIGN CONVENTIONS

Nomenclature

■ The Wood Products System Logo— A graphic displaying The Wood Products System Logo.

■ Navigation Bar— A graphic with links to the areas of The Wood Products System available to Member and The Wood Products System Users (based on their Roles and Permissions, and their current location in the Web site). See Figure 6A.

Color

The Wood Products System will employ the CLUT Palette throughout. This is a

216-color, non-dithering palette designed to be the same when displayed on almost any monitor.

Graphic Size The Wood Products System Logo and all graphics (buttons, gifs) will be as small as possible so as to minimize the amount of time pages take to load.

Format

All graphics are in Graphic Interchange Format. GIF is a format that compresses pictures without very much loss of the information in the original. Graphics saved in GIF format - "GIFs" in the vernacular - travel easily across the World Wide Web and display on monitors quickly.

Interlacing

All graphics are interlaced. Interlacing is a technique that allows the browser to display incoming graphics in layers, building them up in such a manner as to capture the viewer's attention and interest. Interlacing is important for large pictures, such as those on the Home Page. Page Size

The Wood Products System will assume a Web page of 1024 x 768 pixels set to display 256 colors. Consistent with the logic of the information required, designers will make every effort to avoid the necessity of scrolling.

Screen Size

The Wood Products System is mandating that their Members purchase a 19- inch monitor screen.

Navigation

Every page will have a Navigation Bar facilitating movement to major and minor areas of the Web site as well as the generic "previous" and "next" activities as appropriate.

Other Information

■ The The Wood Products System Web site will use the American spelling conventions.

■ Advertising space will appear on general pages, such as The Wood Products System Trends™ page, or the About The Wood Products System page. Advertising will not appear on any page that requires The Wood Products System Member to "do something", for example, Make an Offer, Search for Offers, query The Wood Products System Trends™ information, etc.

GENERAL SYSTEM PARAMETERS

Dates

Date format will always be year-month-day

Time

24-hour clock will be used Time will be delivered in the format " 11 :24"

The Wood Products System Clock referred to on The Wood Products System will reside at The Wood Products System headquarters in Chicago. Business day is 7: 00 to 19: 00 Chicago Time. AREAS OF THE THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM™ WEB SITE COMMON AREAS

Certain areas of The Wood Products System Web site will be available to all The Wood Products System Members.

Welcome

The Welcome page is reached when a User inputs http://The Wood Products

System URL in the address box of their Browser.

Log On

The Log on to The Wood Products System™ page is used to enter The Wood Products System. Members must have a valid User name and password.

Home

The Member's Home page is reached when a User successfully logs onto The

Wood Products System with a valid User name and password.

Directory The Wood Products System Members Directory provides links to all non- confidential The Wood Products System Member Company Information, Company Profiles, Account Information, Account Profiles, and Contact Information for both Companies and Accounts.

MEMBER SPECIFIC AREAS Other areas of The Wood Products System application will be available only to those who have been assigned the Role or Permissions to access them.

Operations

The Operations area of the Web site is available to The Wood Products System

Users and Members with the following Roles on The Wood Products System: 1. The Wood Products System Administrator

2. The Wood Products System Credit Manager

3. The Wood Products System Accounting

4. The Wood Products System Freight Book Editor

5. Member Administrator 6. Member Freight Book Editor (Selling Members only)

7. Member Accountant

Options available under the Operations tab are determined by the User role, and are discussed in the Operations section of this document.

Buy

Buying Member Traders and Supervisors will have access to the Buy area of the Web site. Options available under the Buy tab include Search Lumber Offers,

Search Panel Offers, Monitor Bids, Supervise Bids, Sales Contracts, and Cancelled

Sales Contracts.

Sell

Selling Member Traders, Supervisors, and Accountants will have access to the Sell area of the Web site. Options available under the Sell tab include Make

Lumber Offer, Make Panel Offer, Monitor Offers, Supervise Offers, Change

Requests, and Cancelled Sales Contracts.

Reports

The Web site provides The Wood Products System Members with user- oriented report information. A Member must be assigned the Reports permission, however, separately from their Role. Buying Members will be able to generate and view Buying Reports. Selling Members will be able to generate and view Selling Reports. A Selling Member's Freight Book Editor will be able to generate and view Freight Book Reports.

The Wood Products System Administrators and Credit Managers have access to Audit Reports.

The Reports each Member has access to on The Wood Products System will be discussed in the appropriate sections.

The Wood Products System Trends

The Wood Products System Trends offers The Wood Products System

Members industry specific reports. Members on The Wood Products System must purchase The Wood Products System Trends as an add-on service in order to view and query The Wood Products System Trends data generated by The Wood Products System.

NAVIGATING THROUGH THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM™

The Navigation system created for The Wood Products System has been designed with the goal to help The Wood Products System Members move intuitively and easily through the site.

The first level of navigation is entering The Wood Products System™ URL (Universal Resource Locator) into the Address box of the Internet Explorer Browser. Once the address is entered The Wood Products System Welcome page will be displayed. From the Welcome page, non-Members will be able to access "About The Wood Products System™" information. Members will enter The Wood Products System via the Log On page. THE NAVIGATION SYSTEM

Top Navigation Bar

The top layer of navigation on The Wood Products System Web site is composed of six tabs, which separate The Wood Products System into six areas:

1. Buy* 2. Sell*

3. Reports

4. Operations

5. Directory

6. The Wood Products System Trends™* * Buy only appears if User is part of a Buying Account, Sell appears only if User is part of a Selling Account, and The Wood Products System Trends™ appears only if User has proper permissions

This is called the Top Navigation Bar. Selecting one of the six tabs will produce the Lower Navigation Bar items associated with it. Figure 6A shows the Top and Lower Navigation bar items available to The Wood Products System Administrator: As you will see, The Wood Products System Administrator receives the Reports, Operations, Directory, and The Wood Products System Trends™ Top Navigation Bar items. Under the Operations tab, the Administrator has access to Administration, The Wood Products System™ Settings, Holidays, Cancel SCs, Import Freight Book, Major/Minor Hubs, and Payments. The Wood Products System Administrator does not have the Buy or Sell top tabs available.

Not all Members will see all Top Navigation Bar tabs. A Selling Trader will not see the Sell tab and its associated Lower Navigation Bar items. A Seller's Freight Book Editor will not see the Buy tab in the Top Navigation Bar. And so on. The Navigation Bars available to each Member will be determined by their

Role on The Wood Products System and the permissions assigned to them by their Member Administrator or The Wood Products System Administrator.

The Lower Navigation Bar

The Lower Navigation Bar produces the items available under a Top Navigation Bar tab. The content of the Lower Navigation Bar is determined by the

Member's Registration file. For example, a Selling Trader who has been assigned to

Trade Lumber only, and not Panel as well, will have "Make Lumber Offers" available in the Lower Navigation Bar but not "Make Panel Offers".

Clicking on a Lower Navigation Bar item loads the selected page, and puts the title of the page in the upper left corner.

The examples below show the Lower Navigation Bar items available to a

Selling Trader under the Sell tab, who trades in both lumber and panel.

The Bottom Navigation Bar At the bottom of each page on The Wood Products System site, is a set of navigation buttons, which will allow a User to:

1. Go to the Home page

2. Get Help for the page they are currently viewing

3. Access The Wood Products System Trends™ information. 4. Change Password.

5. Log Off or Exit The Wood Products System™. This set of navigation buttons is called the Bottom Navigation Bar. Figure 6B shows the Bottom Navigation Bar items that are available to all Users from any page on the site:

How ROLES AND PERMISSIONS DETERMINE NAVIGATION

Selling Members

Selling Members include the following roles:

1. Administrator

2. Accountant 3. Freight Book Editor

4. Supervisor

5. Selling Trader

For the following example, we will assume that each Member has been given Reports permissions. We will also assume that the Selling Member trades in both lumber and panel.

Please note: Any User may be assigned more than one role.

When The Wood Products System Administrator registers a Selling Trader or Supervisor, they will be assigned to certain Accounts, and given permission to trade Lumber, Panel, or both, and to generate and view Selling Reports. If a Selling Trader only trades Lumber, he will not be given the "Make Panel Offers" item in the Lower Navigation Bar.

There will be some Executive level Members on The Wood Products System™ who will not be assigned to any Accounts for their Company. They could be assigned the Reports and The Wood Products System Trends permissions only, and therefore their navigation items will be limited to the Reports and Directory tabs. Selling Member Top Navigation Bar Lower Navigation

Buying Members

Buying Members include the following roles:

1. Administrator

2. Supervisor

3. Trader

4. Accountant

For the following example, we will assume that each Member has been given Reports permissions. We will also assume that the Buying Member trades in both lumber and panel.

Please note: Any User may be assigned more than one role.

When a Buying Trader and Supervisor is registered by The Wood Products System Administrator, they will be assigned to certain Accounts, and given permission to purchase Lumber, Panel, or both, and to generate and view Buying Reports for those assigned Accounts. If a Buying Trader only trades in Lumber, he will not be given the Search Panel Offers item in the Lower Navigation Bar.

There will be some Executive level Members on The Wood Products System who will not be assigned to any Accounts for their Company. They could be assigned the Reports and The Wood Products System Trends permissions only, and therefore their navigation items will be limited to the Reports and Directory tabs.

The Wood Products System Users

The Wood Products System Members include the following roles:

1. The Wood Products System Administrator

2. The Wood Products System Credit Manager 3. The Wood Products System Accountant

4. The Wood Products System Master Freight Book Editor

For the following example, we will assume that each User has been given Reports permissions.

Please note: Any User may be assigned more than one role.

The Wood Products Top Navigation Bar Tab Lower Navigation Bar

Svstem™ User

WELCOME PAGE

The Welcome page is reached when a User inputs the Wood Products System homepage URL in the address box of their Browser. The Welcome Page invites Members to log on to The Wood Products System, and offers Non-Members a link to learn more about The Wood Products System, including how to contact The Wood Products System, for more information.

Welcome Page Actions

Non-Members, upon selecting the Public button, will be taken to the "About

The Wood Products System" page of the Web site.

Members, upon selecting Log on to The Wood Products System™, will be taken to the Member Log On page.

LOG ON TO THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM

CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY

If this is the first time that you are logging on, the "Registering The Wood Products System Certificate Authority" page appears. The following procedure provides encryption of all data for your browser and is necessary for proper security. You will not need to perform this procedure on subsequent log ons.

■ Click the Install button. The File Download window appears.

■ Select the "Open this fde from its current location" option.

^■ Click OK. The New Site Certificate window appears.

■ Click OK. The Root Certificate Store window appears.

■ Click Yes. The Wood Products System Authority registration is complete and you are returned to the Registering The Wood Products System Certificate Authority page.

^■ Click on the text Once installed, click here to Log On to The Wood Products System™. This will display the Log On page, where you may log on to The Wood Products

System. On subsequent log ons, the Log On page will appear after you click the Tree key on the Welcome page.

LOG ON PAGE

Once the above has been completed, the User will gain access to The Wood Products System via a simple Log On Page.

From the Welcome page, a Member would select the Log on to The Wood Products System™ button, which will produce the Log On page as shown in Figure 6C.

The User must input a Log On name (supplied to each Member by The Wood

Products System Administrator or their Member Administrator) and password (first time log on, it will be the same as the Username) The Log On name will be assigned at Member Registration.

The Log On name is the user's last name and first initial. The Log On name is not case-sensitive, and may not be longer than 20 characters in length.

Log On Page Actions

Selecting the Log On To The Wood Products System™ button routes the inputs from the Log On page to the Server. CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD For security reasons, The Wood Products System requires their Members to change their password every forty-two days. The Wood Products System will automatically prompt Members by displaying the Change Password page shown in Figure 6D at Log On when it is time to choose a new password. Members may, however, change their password anytime, by selecting the Change Password item at the Member's Home page.

Passwords must be 8 characters in length, and include at least one numeric and one alpha character. Passwords are case-sensitive. Change Password Page Actions

Selecting the Update button routes the inputs from this page to the Server, and returns the User to the Log On page. The User would then log on to The Wood

Products System, by inputting their User name and new password.

MEMBERS' HOME PAGE

The Home page shown in Figure 6E is the first page to greet Members once they have successfully logged onto The Wood Products System. The Home page will provide timely news items of interest to The Wood Products System Members. The content of these articles will change regularly.

Notifications

A Member will be informed of any messages that are important to address promptly, via the Notifications Alert message box at the top-center of the Home page.

For example, if The Wood Products System adds a Minor Hub to the Master Freight Book, they would provide the Notifications Alert to all Selling Members on The Wood

Products System to inform them of this.

By clicking on the Notifications Alert message box, the Notifications page is generated, an example of which is shown in Figure 6F.

By selecting a Message ID #, a Member may view the messages sent to him from The Wood Products System, such as shown in Figure 6G.

Clicking on the Clear button returns the User to the Notifications page, where he may select another Message ID # to view.

A Member may also clear messages from the Notifications page without viewing them in the following way: 8. Click in the checkbox under the (X) column beside the message you wish to clear.

9. Click on the (X) in the column heading itself. This will clear the message from the Notifications page. Audio Alarm

A Member User will also have an Audio Alarm option available to them.

The voice message will alert Sellers if a Bid is received, and will alert Buyers if a

Bid is accepted or if an Offer appears. The Member Administrator can activate/deactivate the alarm for each User.

The User's computer must have an audio card for this voice to be heard.

To activate the Audio Alarm, select the User's name from the Company information page. The User information page will appear. Select the Audio Notification checkmark box, and click on the Update button to activate/deactivate the alarm.

If the User is logged on when the alarm is activated, they must log off and log back on in order to start receiving the Audio Alarms.

In order to hear the alarm, a user must be on the Monitor Offers page (for Sellers), or the Monitor Bids page (for Buyers). These pages refresh every three minutes and the Audio Alarm occurs at the time of refreshing. The User can be working in another program, but The Wood Products System™ must be opened in the background in order for the alarm to work (i.e. the window must not be minimized).

Scrolling Marquee Any news that The Wood Products System wishes to send to Members will appear on the Scrolling Marquee at the Member Home page.

By clicking on the Marquee, a message box will appear that contains the full details of the message.

MEMBERS DIRECTORY The Wood Products System Members Directory consists of a linked alphabet chart. Selecting a letter of the alphabet produces a Members Directory Table, listing all The Wood Products System Members beginning with that letter. The left column provides the Short Company Name, beside the legal company name, and finally the city and state location of the Company. The Short Name is appended to every Account on The Wood Products System™. In the example shown in Figure 6H, the letter A was selected to generate the following Members Directory Table of The Wood Products System Companies and Subsidiary Companies beginning with the letter A.

The Short Name Alamo or Alamo Subl will be appended to all Accounts associated with the Company.

Selecting the Short Name in the first column takes a User to the Directory listing for the Company. The Directory provides all non-confidential information that a Company wants to share with other Members on The Wood Products System. This will include information on the Parent Company, all Subsidiary Companies, and all Accounts associated with the companies.

The hierarchical structure of the Company is displayed in the left frame of the Directory page, as illustrated in the following samples.

When Alamo is selected, the Main Info page for the Company is generated as shown in Figure 61. By selecting a Parent Company name, the name of one of its Subsidiary

Companies, or the name of one of the Accounts associated with a Company in the left frame, all non-confidential information provided by the Company can be viewed in the right frame of the Members Directory page. This information is organized in three categories: ^■ Main Info

^■ Contacts

^■ Profile

The Main Info page for Alamo Lumber Co. is displayed above. The Main Info page includes the Company's location and billing addresses, and provides access to their Company Contacts and Company Profile.

The Contacts registered for Alamo Lumber Co. can be viewed as in Figure 6J. The first level of information available to Members about the Contacts for a Company is the Contact Name, Title, and Telephone #. Every contact registered by a Company will appear in this Contacts summary table. Clicking on a Contact Name will generate the Contact Info and Contact Addresses information for the selected name. The Contact Info for Curt Vaughan III is displayed in Figure 6K.

You will notice that no address information has been input for Curt Vaughan

III. It is optional for Companies to provide this information.

An e-mail can be sent to the Company, Account or Contact of a Company. If an e-mail address is available, click on it. An e-mail form opens and can be completed and sent. Access the desired Company, Account, or Contact information page in the

Members Directory. If an e-mail address is available, click on it. An e-mail form opens where a message may be sent.

To view the Directory information about another Company or one of its Accounts, a User must click on a Company Name or Account name in the left frame of the Company Information page.

Clicking on Alamo in the left frame returns the User to the Main Info page for the Company. From here, the User may choose to view the Profile for a selected Company, by clicking on the Profile button at the bottom of the page. The Company Profile for Alamo is illustrated in Figure 6L. To leave the Profile area, click on a Company or Account name in the left frame of the page, or select one of the navigation items in the Top or Lower Navigation Bars.

A Company may also provide information about their Selling and Buying Accounts for The Wood Products System Members to view. These accounts are listed in the left frame of the Company Information page. In the following example, we have selected the Alamo- Alamo-Dallas Buying Account, and from the Main Info page for the Selling Account, we have selected to view their Profile. This is shown in Figure 6M. LOGGING OFF OF THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM

For security reasons The Wood Products System automatically "times out" if a Member does not perform an action for 30 minutes (or the time specified by The Wood Products System Administrator in The Wood Products System Settings). This time limit is flexible and determined by The Wood Products System Administrator. In such cases, The Wood Products System displays the Log On page the next time a User attempts to do something on The Wood Products System. The User will simply Log On again by inputting their User name and password.

All The Wood Products System Members exit The Wood Products System by clicking on the Log Off button available to them in the Bottom Navigation Bar.

It is very important to exit The Wood Products System Web site properly, so The Wood Products System can complete its audit of the Member's daily transactions. The Web site provides different prompts to Users depending on their roles on The Wood Products System. Selling and Buying Traders will receive a page to address any outstanding tasks before logging off. This is discussed in the Sell and Buy sections of this document.

The Wood Products System automatically times out members if they go for a certain amount of time without performing an action. The specific amount of time is a System Setting controlled by The Wood Products System Administrator, and will initially be set for 30 minutes. In such cases, The Wood Products System displays the

Log On page when an attempt is made to do something.

If a Selling Member is automatically disconnected, their Offers will be placed "on hold" so that they may not be viewed or Bid upon by Buyers.

SELL

The Selling Trader begins the selling process by creating an Offer.

MAKE LUMBER OFFERS

The Make Lumber Offer form shown in Figure 6N allows Sellers to create lumber Offers and to publish them to The Wood Products System. Mandatory Fields

Each field on the Lumber Offer form describes the Offer to the Buying

Trader. For this reason, there are certain fields that are mandatory, and for which the

Selling Trader must provide information. The Mandatory fields on the Lumber Offer form are highlighted on the Offer form with an asterisk beside the name. They are:

Seller Accounts

Species

Thickness

Width

^■ Length

Trim (if other than R/L has been selected at Length/Feet)

Tally (if R/L has been selected at Length/Feet)

Surface

Moisture

^■ Grade

Grade Stamped

Wrapped

# of Loads

Transport

^■ Ship Date Week Of

Board Footage ^■ Unit Size

■ And one of either US or CDN FOB Mill Prices.

Profile or Supplemental selections are not mandatory pieces of information.

It is not mandatory to select whether you are making Bar Coding or Tarping available on a load; but be advised that The Wood Products System will default to "No" for both of these fields.

If you have a bar coding charge and tarping charge registered in your Company Member Information File, this charge will be calculated into the final cost of goods on the Sales Contract and Invoice if "Yes" has been selected on the Lumber Offer form for Bar Coding Available and Tarping Available.

If you forget to select a mandatory field, upon clicking the Submit This Offer button, The Wood Products System will let you know. For example, as shown in Figure 6O.

Clicking OK at the message screen will take a User directly to the field that requires the selection or input.

Pop-Up Help is available for every field on the form. Simply click on a field name, such as "Seller Accounts" to display Pop-Up Help. See Help for Sellers on page 109.

LUMBER OFFER TEMPLATES

Selling Traders have the ability to save the details of an Offer as a template for retrieval and submission at another time.

CREATE AND NAME A LUMBER OFFER TEMPLATE

To create and name a Lumber Offer Template, select a value for all the fields you want to describe in your Offer.

Note: Seller Accounts, Ship Date Week Of, FOB Mill Price and Board Footage inputs will not be saved in a template.

At the bottom of the screen is the Templates management area as shown in Figure 6P. Locate the Name input text area, and give your template a name. You must name your template in no more than 20 characters, including spaces. We suggest you name it using the criteria that will give you immediate recall. For example, a typical lumber Offer consists of the following information: 7 loads of SPF 2x6 R L 10/10 8/12 20/14 15/16 #2&BTR GS PUTT S4S KD 19 by A-Frame Ship Date- 1998-09-28 and the FOB Mill Price is $350. There may be a comment such as "This is premium wood." This is too much information to include in a template name. Therefore, it will be up to each individual Selling Trader to choose what criteria are the most important to help him/her quickly recognize exactly what THIS template is. Perhaps an appropriate name would be 7SPF-2x6-R L-2&BTR-KD 19.

TEMPLATE NAME TIPS

There is a restriction as to what characters are allowed in a Template Name.

Quotation marks (single or double) and the common punctuation marks ~ colons, semi-colons, commas, and periods ~ are not allowed.

If you input an invalid character in the Template name, when you select the

Save button, you will receive an error message.

Upon clicking OK, The Wood Products System will take you back to the

Name input box, directly to the invalid character. Simply replace the character, and you will be able to save the template. You will notice that you will not be able to use 10'6" in your naming of a template. We offer two suggestions: 10f/6, or 10-6.

SAVE AN OFFER TEMPLATE

Once you have input the Template Name, click on Save. The newly saved template will now be displayed in the Select Templates drop-down box. SELECT AND LOAD AN OFFER TEMPLATE

Click on the arrow to the right of the Select templates selection list. This action will drop the list of items for you to view. You can use your mouse to scroll down the list to find the template you want, and when you do, simply release your mouse; you can input the first few characters or digits of the template name to take you to the template; or you can use your arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll up or down the list of templates. As you move your arrow key up and down the list, you can see the details of each template appear in the Offer form. When you locate the template you want to use, simply release your mouse or arrow key.

Traders will select a saved template in order to do one of three things: 1. Change the Offer in some way and save as a new template

2. Add the Seller Account, Ship Date Week Of, Board Footage, FOB Mill Price and any Comments needed, then submit it as an Offer to The Wood Products System by clicking the Submit button.

3. Delete a saved template. SELECT AND DELETE AN OFFER TEMPLATE

Select a template in the same way described above. Once you have located the template you want to delete, simply click the Delete key and it will remove the saved template from your selection list.

Lumber Offer Inputs and Selections LUMBER OFFER SELECTION LISTS

The following Selection Lists and their items appear on the Lumber Offer form. The selection list items are in the order they should appear in their drop-down boxes.

SELLER ACCOUNTS SELECTION LIST The Seller Accounts Selection List will include all Accounts a Selling Trader has permission to sell for. Accounts are assigned to Selling Traders by their Administrators.

The default list item for Seller Accounts is the last Account for which the Seller carried out a transaction. SPECIES SELECTION LIST

Abbreviated names will be used for the items in the Lumber Species selection list. They include: Abbreviated Name Full Name

SYP Southern Yellow Pine

SPF Spruce-Pine-Fir

Hem-Fir Hem-Fir

D Fir Douglas Fir

D Fir-Larch Douglas Fir-Larch

WR Cedar Western Red Cedar

In. Red Cedar Inland Red Cedar

Sitka Sitka Spruce

L Pine Lodgepole Pine

P Pine Ponderosa Pine

Id. W. Pine Idaho White Pine

EW Pine Eastern White Pine

Sugar Pine Sugar Pine

Redwood Redwood

Cal. Red Fir California Red Fir

Hem-Tarn Eastern Hemlock-

Tamarack

E. Hem Eastern Hemlock

WW Pine Western White Pine

Radiata Pine Radiata Pine

Jack Pine Jack Pine

Red Pine Red Pine

Tamarack Tamarack

EW Cedar Eastern White Cedar

Incense Cedar Incense Cedar

Yellow Cedar Yellow Cedar

Aspen Aspen

Poplar Poplar

Yellow Poplar Yellow Poplar

White Birch White Birch

B Cottonwood Black Cottonwood

Alder Red Alder

The default list item for Lumber Species is a blank item. The full names for Lumber Species and their abbreviated names will be available to Sellers in the On-line Help area of the Web site.

THICKNESS SELECTION LIST

The Lumber Thickness Selection List, in inches, includes 1/2, 4/4, 5/4, 6/4,

7/4, 8/4, 10/4, 12/4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 12. The default list item for Thickness is a blank item.

WIDTH SELECTION LIST

The Lumber Width Selection List items, in inches, include:

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12. The default list item for Width is a blank item.

LENGTH SELECTION LISTS

Lumber Length Selection List consists of two drop-down boxes. The first drop-down box lists R/L as the first item, and then the # of "feet" in length, from 1' to 48' in increments of 1'. The default list item for Length/Feet is a blank item. The second drop-down box lists the # of "inches" in length, from 0" to 1 1" in increments of 1 ". The inches length items will include the quotation mark (denoting inches) after the number, as in 6".

The default for the Length/Inches drop-down box is 0".

TRIM SELECTION LIST The Lumber Trim Selection List items include:

PET TBA, DET, Mill Cut, and the standard PET trim lengths: PET 120", PET 116-5/8", PET 116", PET 108", PET 105", PET 104-5/8", PET 104-1/2", PET 96", PET 94-1/4", PET 94-1/8", PET 93-1/4", PET 93", PET 92-5/8", PET 92-1/2", PET 92-1/4", PET 91-1/4", PET 91", PET 88-1/2", PET 88", PET 87-3/4", PET 87", PET 86-5/8", PET 86-1/2", PET 84", PET 82", PET 81-3/4", PET 74", PET 72", PET 60", PET 48", and PET 36".

The default list item for Trim is a blank item.

SURFACE SELECTION LIST

The Lumber Surface Selection List items include: S4S, S1S2E, S2S, S3S, RGH, SIS, S1E, S2E, S1S1E, S2S1E, RGH HDD, and RED.

The default list item for Surface is a blank item.

MOISTURE SELECTION LIST

Lumber Moisture Selection List includes Green, KD 19, KD 15, Kiln Wets, Ind. KD, and KD AT.

The default for the Moisture drop-down box is a blank item. GRADES SELECTION LIST

Abbreviated names will be used for the items in the Lumber Grades selection list. They include:

Abbreviated Name Full Name

#1 & BTR #1 & BTR

#1 #1

#2 #2

#2 & BTR #2 & BTR

STD & BTR STD & BTR

Const. STD Construction Standard

Stud Stud

Select Select

Select Struc. Select Structural

Uti. Utility

Uti. & BTR Utility & BTR

#3 #3

#3 & BTR #3 & BTR

PMO PMO

Econ. Economy

#4 #4

#4 & BTR #4 & BTR

1650fMSR 1650f Machine Stress Rated

1800fMSR 1800f Machine Stress Rated

2100fMSR 2 lOOf Machine Stress Rated

2250fMSR 2250f Machine Stress Rated

2400fMSR 2400f Machine Stress Rated

2700f MSR 2700f Machine Stress Rated

C & BTR C & BTR

D D

D & BTR D & BTR

Choice & BTR Choice & BTR

Const. Construction

STD Standard

Sterling Sterling

Quality Quality

Ind. Industrial

Mldg. Moulding

Rgh. Mldg. & BTR Rough Moulding & BTR

Premium Premium

#1 Shop #1 Shop

#2 Shop #2 Shop

#3 Shop #3 Shop

1 Common 1 Common

2 Common 2 Common

3 Common 3 Common Abbreviated Name Full Name

4 Common 4 Common

5 Common 5 Common A A

A Grade A Grade

Appearance Appearance

B & BTR Ind. B & Better Industrial

B Grade B Grade

B Lam. B Laminating

C Ind. C Industrial

C Select C Select

Choice Choice

Clear Clear

Clr. Hit. Struc. Clear Heart Structural

Clr. Struc. Clear Structural

Clr. V G Hit. Clear V G Heart

Const. Common Construction Common

Const. Heart Construction Heart

Cutting Cutting

C & BTR Dim. C & BTR Dimension

D Ind. D Industrial

D Ind. Clear D Industrial Clear

D Lam. D Laminating

D Select D Select

Dense Dense

Dse. Sel. Struc. Dense Select Structural

Dunnage Dunnage

Exp. Joint Expansion Joint

Factory Factory

Fact. Primed Factory Primed

Fact. Sel. Factory Select

Fact. Sel. (#3 Clr.) Factory Select (#3 Clear)

Finish Finish

Finish B & B Finish B & BTR

Finish C Finish C

Finish C & BTR Finish C & BTR

Finish D Finish D

#1 Foundation #1 Foundation

Ind. Fact. Sel. Industrial Factory Select

Knotty Knotty

LI LI

Ll-C (Lam.) Ll-C Laminating

LI -Dense Lam. LI -Dense Laminating

L2 L2

L2-D L2-D

L2-D Dense Lam. L2-D Dense Laminating Abbreviated Nanu : Full Name

L2-Lam. L2-Laminating

L3-Lam. L3 -Laminating

M-6 MEL M-6 Machine Evaluated

Lumber

M- 10 MEL M-10 Machine Evaluated

Lumber

M- 19 MEL M-19 Machine Evaluated

Lumber

M-23 MEL M-23 Machine Evaluated

Lumber

Merch. Merchantable

Merch. Hit. Merchantable Heart

#1 Struc. #1 Structural

Patio 1 Patio 1

Patio 2 Patio 2

Pitch Selects Pitch Selects

Prime Prime

Prime #2 Prime #2

Pr. Finish Prime Finish

Qual. Knty. Quality Knotty

Scaffold #1 Scaffold #1

Scaffold #2 Scaffold #2

Select Knotty Select Knotty

Select Shop Select Shop

Selected Selected

Sel. 2 Common Selected 2 Common

Sel. 3 Common Selected 3 Common

Shop Shop

Stained Sel. Stained Selects

The full names for Lumber Grades and their abbreviated names will be available to Sellers in the On-Line Help area of the Web site.

GRADE STAMPED SELECTION LIST

Lumber Grade Stamped Selection List includes GS (for Grade Stamped) and

NGS (for Not Grade Stamped).

The default list item for Grade Stamped is a blank item.

WRAPPED SELECTION LIST

The Lumber Wrapped Selection List items include:

P/W (for Paper Wrapped), PUTT (for Poly Under Top Tier), Open, and P- Cap (for Paper Capped). SUPPLEMENTAL SELECTION LIST

The Lumber Supplemental Selection List items include:

Abbreviated Name Full Name

PT CCA.25 Pressure Treated

CCA.25 PT CCA.40 Pressure Treated

CCA.40 PT CCA.60 Pressure Treated

CCA.60 PT CCA.80 Pressure Treated

CCA.80 FGR JNT Finger Joint

Pre-Drilled Pre-Drilled

The default list item for Supplemental is a blank item. PROFILE SELECTION LIST

Short forms will be used for the items in the Lumber Profile selection list.

They include T&G (for Tongue & Groove), Shiplap, Flooring, Stepping, and Bevel

Siding.

The full names for Lumber Profiles and their short forms will be available to Sellers in the On-line Help area of the Web site.

# OF LOADS SELECTION LIST

# of Loads Selection List includes 1 load, 2 loads, 3 loads ... through to 30 loads.

The default list item for # of Loads is 1 load. TRANSPORT SELECTION LIST

The Lumber Transport Selection List items include:

RAIL: TRUCKS:

SD Box T/L

DD Box B Train

50' box Super B

52' box Closed Van

60^* box 3 Axle

50' BH Pig Van

52' BH

52' A-frame

55' A-frame

53' NBH RAIL: TRUCKS:

55' BH

57' BH

60' NBH

60' Centerbeam

60' BH

60' A-frame

66' BH

71 A-frame

73 A-frame

The default list item for Transport is a blank item.

SHIP DATE WEEK OF SELECTION LIST

The Lumber Ship Date Week of Selection List Input includes a drop-down list of 15 forward Monday dates for the current year. The list items will appear in this format: 1998-08-23, the international standard (Note, the date format may be displayed as mm-dd-yy).

The default list item for Ship Date Week Of is the week following the current week. The current week will not be available to Sellers. LUMBER OFFER RADIO BUTTONS

The following Radio Button inputs appear on the Lumber Offer Form:

BAR CODING AVAILABLE RADIO BUTTON INPUT

Lumber Bar Coding Available Radio Button Input allows a choice of "Yes" or "No" to the implied question, "Is bar coding available for this shipment of lumber?" The Selling Member will be requested to input their Mill's Lumber Bar Coding charge at the time of registration. This charge will be shown to Buyers at the Make a Bid page, and the Accepted Bid Confirmation page. This amount will appear to Sellers and Buyers on the Sales Contract and will be added into the cost of goods on the Invoice. The default for this input will be "No".

TARPING AVAILABLE RADIO BUTTON INPUT

Lumber Tarping Available Radio Button Input allows a choice of "Yes" or

"No" to the implied question, "Is tarping available for this shipment of lumber?" The Selling Member will be requested to input their Mill's Lumber Tarping charge at the time of registration. A Mill may offer to tarp its shipments for free. This charge will be shown to Buyers at the Make a Bid page, and the Accepted Bid Confirmation page. This amount will appear to Sellers and Buyers on the Sales Contract and will be added into the cost of goods on the Invoice. The default for this input will be "No".

$US FOB MILL PRICE RADIO BUTTON INPUT

$US FOB Mill Price Radio Button Input allows the Selling Trader to choose the currency of the Offer. The default for this input will be "checked".

$CDN FOB MILL PRICE RADIO BUTTON INPUT $CDN FOB Mill Price Radio Button Input allows the Canadian Selling

Trader to choose the currency of the Offer. The default for this input will be based on whether the account is US or CDN.

LUMBER OFFER INPUT TEXT AREAS The following Text Inputs appear on the Lumber Offer Form:

LUMBER BOARD FOOTAGE INPUT

The Lumber Board Footage Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the implied question, "What is the board foot quantity of lumber offered in this shipment of lumber?" The input box will allow for a maximum of six digits and no commas should be input. This amount will appear to Buyers on the Make a Bid page, the Bid Details page, and the Sales Contract. This amount will appear to Sellers on the Offer Details page, and the Sales Contract. This amount may be changed on the Invoice to reflect the actual board footage of the shipment.

CDN FOB MILL PRICE INPUT The Lumber CDN FOB Mill Price Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the implied question, "What is your Canadian FOB Mill Price for this shipment of lumber?" Canadian Mills selling lumber to Canadian Buyers will input Canadian Mill Prices.

There is one price allowed per Offer. The currency an Offer is made in, is the currency the Buyer must bid in, and that the Offer is sold in. No periods or commas should be input in this field. US FOB MILL PRICE TEXT INPUT

Lumber FOB Mill Price Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the implied question, "What is your US FOB Mill Price for this shipment of lumber?" (US) FOB Mill Prices will be input by US Mills selling lumber to US or Canadian Buyers, and CDN Mills selling lumber to US Buyers.

There is one price allowed per Offer. The currency an Offer is made in, is the currency the Buyer must Bid in, and that the Offer is sold in. No periods or commas should be input in this field.

COMMENTS INPUT

The Lumber Comments Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the implied question, "Is there anything special or important about this Offer that you think Buying Traders should know?" (e.g., "This is premium white balsam.") TALLY INPUT

The Lumber Tally Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the implied question, "How many units of each different length of lumber are you offering to ship in this order of Random Lengths?" The Tally input is mandatory if R/L has been selected in the Length/Feet selection list. UNIT SIZE INPUT

Lumber Unit Size Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the implied question, "How many pieces per unit are included in this shipment of lumber?" The input box will allow for a maximum of three digits.

Lumber Offer Action Objects SUBMIT THIS OFFER

Submit This Offer button prompts The Wood Products System™ to send the Offer information to The Wood Products System™. It generates a Lumber Offer Details Confirmation page.

CLEAR THIS OFFER To clear the form of all selections, choose one of the following: ^■ Click on the Make Lumber Offer item in the Lower Navigation Bar under Sell

^■ Select <New Template> from the Select Templates drop-down list.

CONFIRM OFFER DETAILS The simple Java dialogue box shown in Figure 6Q offers the Selling Trader a chance to review the Offer Details before submitting them to The Wood Products System.

Clicking on OK will submit the Offer, and generate a Lumber Offer Details page. Clicking on Cancel will return the Seller to the current Make a Lumber Offer page.

LUMBER OFFER CONFIRMATION

When a Selling Trader submits an Offer to The Wood Products System, s/he receives confirmation from The Wood Products System that the Offer was received via a Lumber Offer Details page as shown in Figure 6R. It receives an Offer ID #, is date and time stamped, and its active status is noted (e.g., Offer Status: ACT). All the details of the Offer are presented in the same order as the Lumber Offer form: Seller Name, Species, Thickness, Width, Length, Trim or Tally, Surface, Moisture, Grade, Grade Stamped, Wrapped, Supplemental, Profile, # of Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Tarping, Ship Date Week Of, Board Footage, Unit Size, FOB Mill Price, and Comments. Clicking on the Monitor Offers button will take the Seller to the Monitor Offers area of the Web site.

Numbering of Offers Offer #'s are generated by the system when a Selling Trader submits an

Offer. The Offer # "099050009837" consists of the following:

^■ O for Offer.

^■ 99 - A two-digit # denoting the year the Offer is submitted. ■ 05 - A two-digit # denoting the month the Offer is submitted.

■ 0009837 - A seven-digit identification #.

MAKE PANEL OFFERS

The Make Panel Offers form shown in Figure 6S allows Sellers to create panel offerings and publish them to The Wood Products System.

Mandatory Fields

Each field on the Panel Offer form describes the Offer to the Buying Trader.

For this reason, there are certain fields that are mandatory, and for which the Selling

Trader must provide information. The Mandatory fields on the Panel Offer form are highlighted on the Offer form with an asterisk beside the name. They are:

Seller Accounts

Species

Thickness

Size

^■ Grade

Profile

# of Loads

Transport

Ship Date Week Of

^■ Square Footage

Unit Size

And one of either FOB Mill or CDN FOB Mill Prices. Supplemental is not a mandatory selection. It is not mandatory to select whether you are making Bar Coding or Tarping available on a load; but be advised that The Wood Products System will default to "No" for both of these fields.

If you forget to select a mandatory field, upon clicking the Submit This Offer button, The Wood Products System will let you know. Clicking OK at the message screen will take a User directly to the field that requires the selection or input.

Panel Offer Templates

CREATE AND NAME A PANEL OFFER TEMPLATE

To create and name a Panel Offer Template, select a value in all the fields you want to describe your Offer.

Note: Seller Accounts, Ship Date Week Of, Square Footage, and FOB Mill Price inputs will not be saved in a template.

At the bottom of the screen is the Templates management area, as shown above in Figure 6P. Locate the Name input text area, and give your template a name. You must name your template in no more than 20 characters, including spaces. We suggest you name it using the criteria that will give you immediate recall. For example, a typical panel Offer consists of the following information: 1 load of 5/8, 4x12, #2 Pine, shipped by A-Frame, Ship Date- 1998-09-28 and the FOB Mill Price is $250. There may be a comment such as "Cannot change ship date." This is too much information to include in a template name. Therefore, it will be up to each individual Selling Trader to choose what criteria are the most important to help him quickly recognize exactly what THIS template is. Perhaps an appropriate name would be: 1-5/8-4x12- #2-Pine.

TEMPLATE NAME TIPS

There is a restriction as to what characters are allowed in a Template Name.

Quotation marks (single or double) and the common punctuation marks — colons, semi-colons, commas, and periods — are not allowed.

If you input an invalid character in the Template name, when you select the Save button, you will receive an error message. Upon clicking OK, The Wood Products System™ will take you back to the

Name input box, directly to the invalid character. Simply replace the character, and you will be able to save the template.

SAVE AN OFFER TEMPLATE

Once you have input the Template Name, click on Save. The newly saved template will now be displayed in the Select Templates drop-down box.

SELECT AND LOAD AN OFFER TEMPLATE

Click on the .arrow to the right of the Select templates selection list. This action will drop the list of items for you to view. You can use your mouse to scroll down the list to find the template you want, and when you do, simply release your mouse; you can input the first few characters or digits of the template name to take you to the template; or you can use your arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll up or down the list of templates. As you move your arrow key up and down the list, you can see the details of each template appear in the Offer form. When you locate the template you want to use, simply release your mouse or arrow key. Traders will select a saved template in order to do one of three things:

1. Change the Offer in some way and save as a new template

2. Add the Seller Account, Ship Date Week Of, Board Footage, FOB Mill Price and any Comments needed, then submit it as an Offer to The Wood Products System™ by clicking the Submit button. 3. Delete a saved template. SELECT AND DELETE AN OFFER TEMPLATE

Panel Offer Inputs and Selections PANEL OFFER SELECTION LISTS

The following Selection Lists and their items appear on the Panel Offer form. The selection list items are in the order they should appear in their drop-down boxes.

The Panel Species Selection List includes the following items:

Abbreviated Name Full Name

Fir Fir

Poplar Poplar

Pine Pine

OSB OSB

CSP CSP

Wafer Board Wafer Board

HDO High Density Overlay

MDO Medium Density Overlay

LUAN LUAN

The default list item for Panel Species is a blank item.

THICKNESS SELECTION LIST The Panel Thickness Selection List, in inches, includes:

1/8, 3/16, 11/32, 1/4, 5/16, 3/8, 7/16, 15/32, 1/2, 19/32, 5/8, 11/16, 23/32, 3/4, 1, and 1-1/8.

The default list item for Panel Thickness is a blank item. SIZE SELECTION LIST

The Panel Size Selection List includes the following items, in feet:

4x4, 3x6, 4x8, 4x9, 4x10, 4x12, 5x8, 5x10, and 5x12. The default list item for Panel Size is a blank item.

GRADE SELECTION LIST

Abbreviated names will be used for the items in the Panel Grades selection list. They include:

Abbreviated Name Full Name

Rtd. Shtg. Rated Sheathing

Shtg. Sheathing

Select Shtg. Select Sheathing

Tight Face Select Tight Face Select

CDX CDX

CCX CCX

D Grade D Grade

APA Struc 1 R/S APA Structural 1 Rated Sheathing

Mill Certified Mill Certified

APA Rtd. S-I-F APA Rated Stur-I-Floor

Underlayment Underlayment

Sel. U/L Select Underlayment

STD STD

AAX AA Exterior

ABX AB Exterior

ACX AC Exterior

BBX BB Exterior

BCX BC Exterior

BB Plyform BB Plyform

G1S Good 1 Side

G2S Good 2 Side

SIS SIS

S2S S2S

Shop Shop

Factory Factory

APA Rtd. Siding 303-6 APA Rated Siding 303-6

APA Rtd. Siding 303-18 APA Rated Siding 303-18

APA Decorative Siding APA Decorative Siding

The default list item for Panel Grades is a blank item. The full names for Panel Grades and their abbreviated names will be available to Sellers in the On-line Help area of the Web site. PANEL PROFILE SELECTION LIST

The Panel Profile Selection List items include:

Abbreviated Name Full Name

T&G Tongue & Groove

COFI T&G COFI Tongue & Groove S/E Square Edge

Tl-11-1-1/4" Tl-11-1-1/4" Tl-11-1-1/8" Tl-11-1-1/8" RB&B 12" Reverse Board & Batten 12" Channel Groove 4" Channel Groove 4" Channel Groove 8" Channel Groove 8" S/L Ship Lapped

The default list item for Panel Profiles is a blank item.

SUPPLEMENTAL SELECTION LIST

Abbreviated names will be used for the items in the Panel Supplemental selection list. They include:

Abbreviated Name Full Name

3 Ply 3 Ply

3 Ply P&TS 3 Ply Plugged and Touched Sanded

4 Ply 4 Ply

4 Ply P&TS 4 Ply Plugged & Touched Sanded

5 Ply 5 Ply

5 Ply P&TS 5 Ply Plugged & Touched Sanded Full S∑ind Full Sand O&ES Oiled and Edged Sealed P&TS Plugged and Touched Sanded

Rough Sawn Rough Sawn Rough Sawn - NG Rough Sawn - No Grooves Smooth - S/S Smooth - Scratch Sand The default list item for Panel Supplemental is a blank item.

The full names for Panel Supplemental list items and their abbreviated names will be available to Sellers in the On-line Help area of the Web site.

# OF LOADS SELECTION LIST

# of Loads Selection List includes 1 load, 2 loads, 3 loads ... through to 30 loads. The default list item for # of Loads is 1 load.

TRANSPORT SELECTION LIST

The Panel Transport Selection List items include:

RAIL: TRUC

SD Box T/L

DD Box B Train

50' box Super B

52' box Closed Van

60' box 3 Axle

50' BH Pig Van

52' BH

52' A-frame

55- A-frame

53' NBH

55' BH

57' BH

60' NBH

60' Centerbeam

60' BH

60' A-frame

66' BH

71 A-frame

73 A-frame

The default list item for Transport is a blank item. SHIP DATE WEEK OF SELECTION LIST

The Panel Ship Date Week of Selection List Input includes a drop-down list of 15 forward Monday dates for the current year. The list items will appear in this format: 1998-08-23, the international standard (Note: due to Microsoft bugs, the date format may be displayed as mm-dd-yy). The default list item for Ship Date Week Of is the week following the current week. The current week will not be available to Sellers.

RADIO BUTTONS

The following Radio Button inputs appear on the Panel Offer Form.

BAR CODING AVAILABLE RADIO BUTTON INPUT The Panel Bar Coding Available Radio Button Input allows a choice of "Yes" or "No" to the implied question, "Is bar coding available for this shipment of panel?" The Selling Member will be requested to input their Mill's Panel Bar Coding charge at the time of registration. This charge will be shown to Buyers at the Make a Bid page, and the Accepted Bid Confirmation page. This amount will appear to Sellers and Buyers on the Sales Contract and will be added into the cost of goods on the Invoice. The default for this input will be "No".

TARPING AVAILABLE RADIO BUTTON INPUT

The Panel Tarping Available Radio Button Input allows a choice of "Yes" or

"No" to the implied question, "Is tarping available for this shipment of panel?" The Selling Member will be requested to input their Mill's Panel Tarping charge at the time of registration. A Mill may offer to tarp its shipments for free. This charge will be shown to Buyers at the Make a Bid page, and the Accepted Bid Confirmation page. This amount will appear to Sellers and Buyers on the Sales Contract and will be added into the cost of goods on the Invoice. The default for this input will be "No". $US FOB MILL PRICE RADIO BUTTON INPUT

$US FOB Mill Price Radio Button Input allows the Canadian Selling Trader to choose the currency of the Offer. The default for this input will be "checked".

$CDN FOB MILL PRICE RADIO BUTTON INPUT

$CDN FOB Mill Price Radio Button Input allows the Selling Trader to choose the currency of the Offer. The default for this input will be based on whether the account is CDN or US.

INPUT TEXT AREAS

The following Text Inputs appear on the Panel Offer Form.

CDN FOB MILL PRICE INPUT Panel CDN FOB Mill Price Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the implied question, "What is your Canadian FOB mill price for this shipment of panel?" Canadian Mills selling panel to Canadian Buyers will input Canadian Mill Prices. No periods of commas should be input in this field.

There is one price allowed per Offer. The currency an Offer is made in, is the currency the in which the Buyer must Bid and pay. US FOB MILL PRICE TEXT INPUT

Panel FOB Mill Price Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the implied question, "What is your US FOB Mill Price for this shipment of panel?" US Mills selling panel to US or Canadian Buyers, and Canadian Mills selling panel to US Buyers.will input FOB Mill Prices.

There is one price allowed per Offer. The currency an Offer is made in, is the currency in which the Buyer must Bid and pay. No periods of commas should be input in this field.

COMMENTS INPUT The Panel Comments Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the implied question, "Is there anything special or important about this Offer that Buying Traders should know?" (e.g., "Must accept Ship Date Week.")

SQUARE FOOTAGE INPUT

The Panel Square Footage Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the implied question, "What is the square foot quantity of panels offered in this shipment?" This input box will allow for a maximum of six characters and no commas should be input. This amount will appear to Buyers on the make a Panel Bid page, the Bid Details page and the Sales Contract. This amount will appear to Sellers on the Offer Details page and the Sales Contract. This amount maybe changed on the Invoice to reflect the actual square footage of the shipment.

UNIT SIZE INPUT

The Panel Unit Size Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the implied question, "How many pieces per unit are included in this shipment of panel?" The input box will allow for a maximum of three digits.

Action Objects

SUBMIT THIS OFFER

Submit This Offer button prompts The Wood Products System™ to send the Offer information to The Wood Products System™. It generates a Lumber Offer Details Confirmation page. CLEAR THIS OFFER

To Clear the form of all its selections, choose one of the following: 1. Click on the Make Panel Offer item in the Lower Navigation Bar under "Sell"

2. Select <New Template> from the Select Templates drop-down list.

CONFIRM OFFER DETAILS A simple dialogue box as shown above in figure 6Q offers the Selling Trader a chance to review the Offer Details before submitting them to The Wood Products System.

Clicking on OK will submit the Offer, and generate a Panel Offer Details page. Clicking on Cancel will return the Seller to the current Make a Panel Offer page.

PANEL OFFER CONFIRMATION

When a Selling Trader submits an Offer to The Wood Products System, s/he receives confirmation from The Wood Products System that the Offer was received via a Panel Offer Details page shown in Figure 6T. It receives an Offer #, is date and time stamped, and its active status is noted (Offer Status: ACT).

All the details of the Offer are presented in the same layout as the Offer form: Seller Name, Species, Thickness, Size, Grade, Profile, Supplemental, # of Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Tarping, Ship Date Week Of, Square Footage, Unit Size, FOB Mill Price, and Comments.

Clicking on the Monitor Offers button will take the Seller to the Monitor Offers area of the Web site.

MONITOR OFFERS

The Selling Trader's Monitor Offers page produces a summary of all valid Offers the Trader has posted to The Wood Products System, as shown in Figure 6U. The Monitor Offers page allows Selling Traders to accomplish the following tasks: ■ Monitor all Bids on outstanding Offers ■ Cancel Offers

^■ View Bid details on a selected Offer

■ View Comments on a selected Bid

■ Accept a Bid on an Offer

■ Delete Bids on an Offer

■ Receive Notification when a Buyer has requested a change in shipment destination on a Sales Contract

If a Seller trades in lumber, this page will list all his Lumber Offers, organized by Account. If a Seller trades in panel, it will list all his Panel Offers, organized by Account. If a Seller trades in both lumber and panel, Offers for both will appear in the same summary table, first sorted by Lumber or Panel, and then organized by Account.

The Offers will be ordered by time of submission.

Monitor Offers Table Pop-Up Help is available for every column heading in the table. Simply click on a column heading, such as "Offer #" to display Pop-Up Help. See Help for Sellers on page 109.

The information provided to Sellers at the Monitor Offers page is displayed in a table. The table displays the listings of all valid Offers a Seller has posted to The Wood Products System™. The details displayed to the Selling Trader in the Monitor

Offers table appear in columns. From left to right, the column headings include:

^■ Offer #: Clicking on the Offer # will generate the Offer Details page.

^■ # of Bids on the Offer: The magnifying glass icon will appear when there are Bids on an Offer. Clicking on this icon will display the Bids on the Offer in an Expanded View table.

^■ Asking Price: The Seller's Offer Price. Top Bid Price: The Buyer's Equivalent Offer Price (the Bid Price less Freight and - the Transaction Fee).

Top Bid Expiry Time

Selected Lumber Offer Details, in the following order:

Species

Thickness

Width

Length

Trim or Tally

Surface

Moisture

Grade

Grade Stamped

Wrapping

Supplemental

Profile

# of Loads

Transport

Bar Coding

Tarping

Ship Date Week Of

Board Footage

Unit Size Selected Panel Offer Details, in the following order:

Species

Thickness

Size

Grade

Profile

Supplemental

# of Loads

Transport

^■ Bar Coding

Tarping

Ship Date Week Of

Square Footage

Unit Size

^■ Comments: Comments may be viewed by clicking on the cloud icon in this column.

^■ Cancel Offer: By clicking on the (X) in the Cancel Offer column, the Offers will be cancelled and cleared from the Monitor Offers page. Bids made against the cancelled Offer will be voided.

^■ An Offer Details page is displayed in a second browser window when the Offer # is clicked. To close the window, click on the X button at the top right corner of the page.

Figure 6V is an example of a Lumber Offer Details page generated by clicking on an Offer #. Bid Expansion Table

By clicking on the magnifying glass icon beside the # of Bids on an Offer, the

Trader will produce an expanded view of all Bids made against a selected Offer, a shown in Figure 6W.

The information provided in this expanded view is displayed in a table, ranked according to Bid Price (top Bid price listed first), and next according to Bid Expiry Time (first to expire listed first). The Bid Expansion Table column headings include:

Delete or Accept Bid

- Bid #

Buyer Name

Changes to Offer

Bid Price

Expires

^■ Comments

At this Bid Expansion Table, the Trader may do the following:

1. Delete any Bids that he knows he will not consider (because the Bid price is too low, or because he doesn't like the conditions the Buyer placed on the Offer). A Selling Trader would delete a Bid by clicking in the check box beside the Bid # in the Delete or Accept Bid column. The Trader may check as many boxes as he wishes. Clicking on the X in the column heading will clear the Bids from the screen.

2. Accept any Bids on an Offer by clicking in the check box beside the Bid # in the Delete or Accept Bid column. Clicking on the check mark in the column heading will accept the Bids.

3. View the Profile page of a Buyer by clicking on the Buyer Name (this profile will be for the Buying Account of the associated company).

4. View the changes a Buyer has made to the Offer as a condition of his Bid in the Changes to Offer column. Only those things that differ from the original Offer will appear in this column. 5. View the comments a Buyer has included on a specific Offer by clicking on the cloud icon in the Comments column.

Bids shown in the expanded view table will display one currency only, since the currency placed on an Offer is the currency in which it must be sold.

Confirm Bid Details

The simple dialogue box shown in Figure 6X offers the Selling Trader a chance to review the Bid Details before finally accepting them.

Clicking on OK will generate Sales Contracts for the accepted Bids.

Clicking on Cancel will return the Seller to the current Expanded View Table.

Multiple Bids

A Selling Trader on a multiple load Offer will be able to mark and then select as a group any # of Bids on the condition that the total Bid loads does not exceed the total # of loads specified in the original Offer.

Should the amount of loads for the selected Bids exceed the original loads on the Offer, the Seller will be presented with the error message shown in Figure 6Y.

The original selected Bids will be displayed and the Seller may remove or add as required.

The original Offer is cleared from the active Offers list once the Bid(s) are accepted (in the same manner as for Offers with only one Bid). The Offer will not be automatically re-submitted if the amount of accepted

Bid loads are less than the original Offer loads. The Seller will have to submit a new

Offer for the remaining loads should he/she so wish.

MONITOR OFFERS PAGE FOR MULTIPLE BIDS

^■ The selling trader will be presented with a list of Bids against his/her Offer as it is currently laid out on the Monitor Offers Page.

^■ The Bids will be ordered from highest to lowest Bid price

^■ In the "Bid Expansion Table", a selection "checkbox" will be presented next to each Bid.

^■ The Seller can select or check multiple Bids. ■ The Seller has two icons at the top of the list that allows him/her to "Reject" or "Accept" the selected Bids. To accept the checked multiple Bids, the Seller would click on the checkmark icon.

■ After Accepting the Bid(s) the Seller is requested to confirm the acceptance of the selected Bid or to cancel it.

Monitor Offers Rules

^■ Bids will expire in 30 minutes from the time the Bid was created on The Wood Products System™, unless deleted from the Monitor Offers table by the Selling Trader.

^■ Offers will expire at the end of day, 7 business days from the time the Offer was created on The Wood Products System™, unless cancelled from the Monitor Offers table by the

Selling Trader.

^■ At Log Off, Selling Traders are informed of the # of active Offers they have on The Wood Products System™. They may delete them all at the Log Off page. If they want to delete selected ones only, they must return to the Monitor Offers page to do so.

^■ If a Selling Trader is automatically logged off due to inactivity for 30 minutes, all active Offers are placed on hold.

^■ If an Offer is cancelled, all Bids against that Offer will be cancelled.

^■ An Accepted Bid is irrevocable.

^■ Offers are cancelled at the suspension of an associated Account or User.

^■ Confirmation of an Accepted Bid for a Seller is the generation of the Sales Contract.

^■ Confirmation of an Accepted Bid for a Buyer is the Notification message box at the Monitor Bids page linked to the matching Sales Contract and an Audio Alarm message (if activated), and the status of the Bid turning to "A" for Accepted. SUPERVISE OFFERS

A Supervisor will act as back-up for Selling Traders, and oversee their activities. The Selling Supervisor will have access to Supervise Offers area of the Web site, as well as Supervise Change Requests. Unless the Supervisor has been assigned Trader permissions as well, he or she will not be allowed to:

■ Make a Lumber Offer

■ Make a Panel Offer

Supervisors are assigned on an Account-by-Account basis. The Selling Trader Supervisor may: ■ Supervise Offers: Cancel and Accept Bids on Offers, and Cancel Offers

■ View Sales Contracts to download or print

■ Supervise Change Requests, and Accept or Reject them

■ View Selling Reports for those Accounts he or she has been assigned to at the User Roles Table, as shown in Figure 6Z.

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SELLER SALES CONTRACTS

When a Seller accepts a Bid on an Offer, the Sales Contracts page is generated as shown in Figure 7A.

In the left frame of the page, the Seller has access to view this Group Sales Contract by clicking on the SC Group #, or each individual Sales Contract of a Multiple Load Offer by selecting a SC #.

The status of each Sales Contract is displayed beside the individual Sales Contract #s. The possible statuses of a Sales Contract are:

■ NV for Not Viewed by the Buyer

■ V for Viewed by the Buyer ^■ CR for Change Request

^■ NA for Change Request Not Accepted

^■ A for Change Request Accepted

■ INV for Invoiced

■ CNCL for Cancelled

^■ R for reinstated when an Invoice is cancelled

In the right frame of the page, is the Group Sales Contract information. At the top of the page, the Sales Contract Group #, the Date it was issued, the associated Offer and Bid #s, and the Seller Name appear. In the table directly below it, the Transport selected on the Offer appears in the first column, then the Accepted Bid Details. Accepted Bid Lumber Details are displayed in the following order: Species, Thickness, Width, Length, Trim or Tally, Surface, Moisture, Grade, Grade Stamped, Wrapping, Supplemental, Profile, # of Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Tarping, Ship Date Week Of, Board Footage, and Unit Size. This column is followed by the Approx. Quantity, Unit Size, and Ship Date columns.

Accepted Bid Panel Details are displayed in the following order: Species, Thickness, Size, Grade, Profile, Supplemental, # of Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Tarping, Ship Date Week Of, Square Footage, and Unit Size. This column is followed by Approx. Quantity, Unit Size, and Ship Date columns.

The next table on the Sales Contracts page provides the following information:

^■ SC #: This column lists the Sales Contract #s for each load of the accepted Bid. .

^■ Buyer Name: The Buyer whose Bid was accepted appears here.

^■ FOB Mill Price: The Seller's Equivalent Bid Price (the Bid Price less Freight, and - the Transaction Fee). ■ FOB Destination Price: The Buyer's Equivalent Bid Price (the Bid Price including Freight).

^■ Sub-Total: The FOB Destination Price + the Bar Coding Charge (per MBF or MSF).

^■ Extended Price: The Sub-total times the total MBF (or MSF) for the Offer. (MBF = Board Footage quantity divided by 1000. MSF = Square Footage quantity divided by

1000.)

■ Approx. Total (Net of Taxes): The Extended Price + the Tarping Charge (per load).

Below this table, the Seller's Bar Coding and Tarping Charges are displayed, if applicable. The Seller can leave the Sales Contracts page by selecting Monitor Offers on the Lower Navigation Bar.

INDIVIDUAL SELLER'S SALES CONTRACTS

Selecting one of the SC #'s from left frame of the page, will generate a single Sales Contract page as shown in Figure 7B. The Sales Contract page is divided into two frames. In the left frame, as at the

Group Sales Contracts page, there are links to each individual Sales Contract for an Offer. By clicking on a SC # in the left frame, a Sales Contract is displayed in the right frame.

The information included on the Seller's Sales Contract includes the following information as shown in Figure 7C. At the top of the page:

^■ The Sales Contract #

^■ The Date the Sales Contract was Issued. If an Amended Sales Contract is issued, the Date Issued will reflect the date the Amended Sales Contract was issued, which occurs when the Seller accepts a Change Request from a Buyer.

^■ Offer #

^■ Bid # In the first table, the following information is provided:

^■ Sold By Information

^■ Selling Company Name, Account and Address

^■ Sold To Information

^■ Buying Company Name, Account and Billing Address

■ Ship and Consign To Information

^■ Buying Company Name, Account and Shipping Address (Siding Address — Rail Carrier & Spur, if needed — is built into shipping address to appear on the Sales Contract)

In the second table, the following information is provided:

^■ Details of the Lumber Shipment, organized into the following columns:

^■ Transport Type

^■ Accepted Bid Details. Lumber Details are displayed in the following order: Species, Thickness, Width, Length, Trim or Tally, Surface, Moisture, Grade, Grade Stamped, Wrapping, Supplemental, Profile, # of Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Tarping, Ship

Date Week Of, Board Footage, and Unit Size. Panel Details are displayed in the following order: Species, Thickness, Size, Grade, Profile, Supplemental, # of Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Tarping, Ship Date Week Of, Square Footage, and Unit Size,.

^■ Approximate Quantity (Board Footage or Square Footage)

^■ Unit Size (pieces/unit)

^■ Ship Date Week Of

^■ Below this, appears the financial information:

^■ Buyer Name (Buyer Account)

^■ FOB Destination Price: The Buyer's Equivalent Offer Price (the Bid Price including

Freight).

^■ Bar Coding Charge, if applicable ^■ Sub-Total: The FOB Destination Price + the Bar Coding Charge (per MBF or MSF).

^■ Extended Price: The Sub-total times the total MBF or MSF for the Offer. (MBF = Board Footage quantity divided by 1000. MSF = Square Footage quantity divided by 1000).

^■ Tarping Charge, if applicable.

^■ Approximate Total Price, Net of Taxes: The Extended Price + the Tarping Charge (per load).

^■ Below this appears space for any comments made by the Buyer, Seller or both on the Offer and/or Bid.

^■ A Close button at the bottom of the page will return the User to the Sales Contract Group page.

Downloading

A Download button appears on the page, which allows the User to save it.

Before downloading, create a directory - either on the computer's hard drive or on the local area network - where the files will be stored. Files can also be saved to a floppy disk.

Make sure the Browser's "Security" setting is set to "Medium". To check this:

^■ In the Browser's menu bar at the top of the page, click the View menu item.

^■ Select Internet Options.

^■ Select the Security tab.

^■ Click in the Medium radio button.

■ Click OK.

To download to a file: ^■ Click the Download button, and a window will appear asking "What would you like to do with this file?" Click in the "Save this file to disk" radio button (if it is not already selected), then click OK.

■ Select the drive and the directory to which the information will be saved. If a new directory needs to be created, click on the folder icon with the star in the right corner at the top of the window.

^■ At the bottom of the window, give the information a name, by typing in the text box beside "File name:" Click the Save button. The dialog box in Figure 7D will appear when the it has been saved successfully.

^■ Click OK. The file is saved as a tab-delimited text. It may be opened by using MS Excel or any word processing program, although it will not be formatted in any way. Figure 7E shows an example of how it will look opened up with the program "Notepad".

CHANGE REQUESTS

If a Buyer requests that a shipment of Lumber or Panel be delivered to an alternate location from the one in the Accepted Bid Details, they would request the change on their copy of the Sales Contract, and submit it to the Selling Trader for approval and acceptance.

A Seller receives Notification of a Change Request via a Notification message box at the top of the Monitor Offers page. By selecting the message box, the Trader will be taken to the Change Requests area of the Web site shown in Figure 7F.

Pop-Up Help is available for every column heading in the table. Simply click on a column heading, such as "SC #" to display Pop-Up Help. See Help for Sellers on page 109.

The Seller can view the requested shipping destination change and the recalculated amounts here, and either Accept or Reject them by clicking in the appropriate check box and submitting a response by clicking the Submit button below the table.

If the Seller rejects a Change Request, the response is sent back to the Buyer, and no changes are made to the original Sales Contract. If the Seller accepts a Change Request, an Amended Sales Contract is generated and sent to the Buyer to view.

The Seller may also wish to view more details of the Change Request before accepting or reject it. To do so, the Seller will click on the SC # to generate the Sales Contract page as shown in figure 7G.

The Buyer's requested change in shipment destination will appear in the table to the right of the original Shipping Destination information. The Requested Shipping Destination information will include: The New Buyer Name (Buyer Account), recalculated FOB Destination Price, Sub-Total, Extended Price, and Approximate Total Price. If a Buyer has added Comments, they will appear on the Sales Contract as well. The Seller may input a Comment of his or her own before submitting the response. The Seller may select Accept or Reject to submit a response to the Buyer.

Notice that in the left frame of the Sales Contract page, the status of the current Sales Contract is marked CR for Change Request. The only Change Request comment that is retained on the new amended Sales Contract is one input by the Seller when accepting the Change Request.

A Buyer can only request a change in destination to a location that the Selling Account has a Freight Rate. There is a drop box that allows the Buyer to request an appropriate destination. After the change is made, a Notification will be sent to the Selling Trader informing them of the request.

Numbering of Sale Contracts

Sales Contract #s are generated by the system when a Selling Trader accepts a Bid on an Offer. The Sales Contract # "C99010002837" consists of the following:

^■ C for Sales Contract.

^■ 99 - A two-digit # denoting the year the Sales Contract is created.

^■ 01 - A two-digit # denoting the month the Sales Contract is created.

■ 0002837 - A seven-digit identification #. In the case of a Multiple Load Offer, however, an alpha character is appended to the Sales Contract #. For example, an Offer of 5 loads would generate Sales Contracts C99010002837A, C99010002837B, C99010002837C, C99010002837D, and C99010002837E. Amended Sales Contracts are created when a Seller agrees to ship an order to an alternate destination. The Sales Contract # is changed by appending a dash and numeral to the end of the Sales Contract #. The Amended Sales Contract # would be C99010002837 -1, for example. Each time a Sales Contract is changed, the amended # is incremented by one. If a Sales Contract is changed 5 times, the final SC # would be C99010002837 -5.

In the case of a change being made to one shipment of a Multiple Load Offer, the dash and numeral would be appended to the Sales Contract # as follows: C99010002837A-1.

Cancelled Sales Contracts

The Wood Products System Administrator is the only one who is capable of cancelling a Sales Contract. Under Operations, choose Cancel SCs on the Lower

Navigation Bar to display the Cancel SCs page, as shown in Figure 7H.

To view Sales Contracts, select the appropriate Company and Account, and click the Refresh button. Below the Refresh button, all Sales Contracts for which the company is either the Buyer or the Seller will be displayed, as shown in Figure 71. In order to cancel a SC, click on the checkbox next to the SC #, and then click on the (X) at the top of the column.

As soon as this is done, a page is displayed, as shown in fiugre 7J requesting the reason for the cancellation. After the reason is entered, click the Confirm button to Cancel the Sales Contract.

A User has two ways of viewing Cancelled SCs:

User will be notified before Log Off that there is a Cancelled Sales Contract. Click on View Cancelled SCs button to transfer to Cancelled SCs page. User can view Cancelled SCs by clicking on Cancelled SCs in the Lower

Navigation Bar, under Sell. The User can view the Cancelled Sales Contract by clicking on the SC # on the left side of the table shown in Figure 7K. All Cancelled SCs will have a CNCL in the Status column, which indicates that it has been cancelled.

The cancelled sales contract is shown in Figure 7L. The word Cancelled is displayed in red at the top of the Sales Contract, and the Cancellation Reason will appear at the bottom of the Cancelled Sales Contract.

REPORTS

SELLING REPORTS

The Reports tab will be available only to those Members who have been given permission to generate and view reports. Reports are assigned on an Account-by- Account basis to all Seller Members.

Selling Reports will allow Selling Traders and Supervisors to view historical information for all Offers, Sales Contracts, and Invoices related to transactions created by the Company's Traders on The Wood Products System™. The Selling Reports area of the Web site, shown in Figure 7M, allows Selling

Members to select a Company (or all Companies), a Selling Account (or all Accounts), and a date range, from and to, for each specific type of report. The types of reports available to Selling Members are categorized by Offers, Selling SCs, Selling invoices, and Cancelled Invoices (Cancelled Invoices Report may only be viewed by the Selling Account).

Selecting a Report Type then clicking the Refresh button will generated the requested report in the right frame of the page.

The Download button allows the Seller to save the Report information (see Downloading instructions on page 90).

Offer Reports

Figure 7N shows an Offer Report for the Saskfor MacMillan Ltd.'s Saskfor-

Sell Selling Account.

Offer Reports provide Seller Members with the following information:

■ At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the selected date range are displayed. ■ In a table displayed below that, the following information can be viewed:

^■ Offer Date

^■ Offer #: Clicking on the Offer # opens a second browser window with the selected Lumber Offer Details or Panel Offer Details page

^■ Product Information: Size (for Lumber: Thickness x Width x Length. For Panel:

Thickness x Size), Species, and Grade

^■ BF/SF: Board Footage or Square Footage quantities

^■ FOB Mill Price

^■ Total Price (FOB Mill Price x (BF or SF divided by 1000))x # of loads

^■ Expiry time of the Offer

^■ The Trader name associated with the Offer

^■ The Offer Status: Act for active, HLD for on hold, CNCL for cancelled, CLS for closed, and EXP for expired.

Above the Status column is the Get Status Help link that when clicked on displays the information shown in figure 7O.

By clicking on one of the column headings, a Seller is able to sort the table by the information contained in that column.

Sales Contract Reports

Figure 7P shows a Sales Contracts Report for the Company's Selling Account.

Sales Contract Reports provide Seller Members with the following information:

^■ At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the selected date range are displayed.

^■ In a table displayed below that, the following information can be viewed:

^■ Date the Sales Contract was Issued Sales Contract #: Clicking on the SC # opens a second browser window with the selected Sales Contract Details page

Buyer Name

Product Information: Size (for Lumber: Thickness x Width x Length. For Panel: Thickness x Size), Species, and Grade

BF/SF: Board Footage or Square Footage quantities

FOB Mill Price

Total Price (FOB Destination Price x (BF or SF divided by 1000))

Total CDN Price (if applicable)

The Trader name associated with the Offer

The Sales Contract Status:

NV for Not Viewed by the Buyer

V for Viewed by the Buyer

CR for Change Request ^■ NA for Change Request Not Accepted

A for Change Request Accepted

INV for Invoiced

CNCL for Cancelled

R for reinstated when an Invoice is cancelled Above the Status column is the Get Status Help link that when clicked on displays the information shown in Figure 7Q.

^■ Clicking on the status item for any Sales Contract will generate a historical report of the Sales Contract in a new browser window. This SC History table tracks the life of a Sales Contract: status changes, requests for change in destination, through to invoicing.

The Total Price reflects the amount of sales per Account.

^■ The Grand Total Price reflects the amount of sales for all Accounts. By clicking on of the column headings, a Seller is able to sort the table by the information contained in that column.

Figure 7R shows a SC History table, generated when a Seller clicks on the INV status code for Sales Contract # C99060000022A-1.

Invoice Reports

Figure 7S shows an Invoice Report for a Company's Selling Account.

Invoice Reports provide Seller Members with the following information:

^■ In a table displayed below, the following information can be viewed:

Date & Time the Invoice was Issued

Invoice #: Clicking on the Invoice # opens a second browser window with the selected Invoice Details page

Buyer Name

BF/SF: Board Footage or Square Footage quantities

FOB Mill Price

Total Price (FOB Destination Price x (BF or SF divided by 1000))

^■ Total CDN Price (if applicable)

The Trader name associated with the Offer

The Total Price reflects the amount of sales per Account.

The Grand Total Price reflects the amount of sales for all Accounts included on the Report.

By clicking on of the column headings, a Seller is able to sort the table by the information contained in that column. Cancelled Invoice Reports

Figure 7T shows a Cancelled Invoice Report for the Company's Selling

Account.

Cancelled Invoice Reports provide Seller Members with the following information:

■ At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the selected date range are displayed.

■ In a table displayed below, the following information can be viewed:

■ Cancelled Invoice # ■ Cancelled Invoice Date & Time

■ Seller Name

■ Buyer Name

■ Re-Issued Invoice # (if applicable)

■ Re-Issued Invoice Date & Time

■ Re-Issued Invoice Status

By clicking on of the column headings, a Seller is able to sort the table by the information contained in that column.

INVOICING When a shipment has been shipped, the Seller Accountant will create the

Seller Invoice and submit it to The Wood Products System™. The Invoice is created from the final Sales Contract details.

The Seller Accountant will click on the Operations tab in the Top Navigation Bar, then on the Invoicing item in the Lower Navigation Bar. This will generate the display shown in figure 7U. The Invoicing area is divided into two frames. In the left frame, the Accountant would select a Company and an Account, then click the Refresh button in order to generate a list of all Sales Contract #s associated with them. The Result List, which appears below the Refresh button, is composed of three columns: 1. INV #: In this column, the Accountant would select the <create> link in order to create an Invoice for a particular Sales Contract. The Invoice will display in the right frame of the page. Once an Invoice has been submitted, the SC # will no longer appear in this frame..

2. SC #: This column lists all Sales Contracts associated with the selected Company and Seller Account that have not been invoiced. Clicking on an SC # generates the Sales

Contract page in the right frame.

3. Buyer Name: The Buyers whose Bids were accepted appear in the third column.

THE SELLER INVOICE

The Invoice that is created for a Sales Contract # includes static information and dynamic fields in which the Accountant will specify the Actual Shipping Details.

As shown in figure 7V, the Invoice page itself is divided into 5 areas. The first area, at the top of the Invoice page, includes the Invoice # (generated by The

Wood Products System™ when the invoice is submitted), Today's Date, the associated Offer, Bid, Sales Contract, and Buyer's PO (if applicable) #'s. The Accountant can input the Company's P.O. # and Invoice # in the text input boxes provided. The second area of the Invoice is a table that provides the following information:

^■ Sold By Information

^■ Selling Company Name, Account and Address

^■ Sold To Information

^■ Buyer Company Name, Account and Billing Address

^■ Ship and Consign To Information

^■ Buyer Company Name, Account and Shipping Address (Siding Address — Rail Carrier & Spur, if needed — is built into shipping address to appear on the Sales Contract) The third area of the Invoice is a table with details of the Shipment, organized into the following columns:

^■ Transport Type

^■ Loads (# of loads) — this will indicate the total number of loads in the Bid, not the loads being shipped for this invoice.

^■ Accepted Bid Details. Lumber Details are displayed in the following order: Species, Thickness, Width, Length, Trim or Tally, Surface, Moisture, Grade, Grade Stamped, Wrapping, Supplemental, Profile, # of Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Tarping, Ship Date Week Of, Board Footage, and Unit Size. Panel Details are displayed in the following order: Species, Thickness, Size, Grade, Profile, Supplemental, # of Loads, Transport, Bar

Coding, Tarping, Ship Date Week Of, Square Footage, and Unit Size.

^■ Quantity (Board Footage or Square Footage): The Accountant will input the actual quantity that is on the truck or rail car

The fourth area of the Invoice consists of a table with the following information, taken from the final Sales Contract details:

^■ Buyer Account

^■ FOB Destination Price

^■ Number of Pieces — Seller can specify the total # of pieces.

The Accountant inputs the final Shipping information into the fourth area of the Invoice page. This information includes:

^■ Bill of Lading #

^■ Actual Ship Date

^■ Routing

^■ Car #

^■ Contact Name for the Shipper ^■ Phone # for the Shipper

The Wood Products System™ generates all monetary calculations from predetermined algorithms. The following items will be generated on the Invoice:

^■ Cost of Goods: FOB Destination Price times Total MBF or MSF divided by 1000, rounded to 2 decimals (including shipping & handling).

^■ Bar Coding Charge: Bar Coding Rate times Total MBF or MSF divided by 1000, rounded to 2 decimals.

■ Tarping Charge: Tarping Rate per load.

■ Sub-Total: The sum of Cost of Goods (including Freight) + Bar Coding + Tarping.

^■ Gross Total: The sum of the Sub-Total + Taxes, rounded to 2 decimals.

^■ Discount: Less (the Cost of Goods less - Total Freight) times (the Discount Rate divided by 100), rounded to 2 decimals.

^■ Net Total: The Gross Total minus the Discount.

^■ The following information will be input by the Accountant, and added to the subtotal to calculate the Gross Total:

^■ Tax 1 Name and percentage rate

^■ Tax 2 Name and percentage rate

^■ Tax 3 Name and percentage rate

Once all the Invoice information is correct, the Seller Account submits the Invoice to The Wood Products System™ by clicking on the Submit Invoice button at the bottom of the Invoice page. The Wood Products System™ will then take this Invoice information and create the Buyer's Invoice. ON-LINE FREIGHT BOOK

The Online Freight Book allows Members to update Master Freight Book information via The Wood Products System.

Before using the Online Freight Book, a Member must be assigned the Freight Book Editor role by The Wood Products System or Member Administrator.

UPDATING FREIGHT RATES

Under the Operations tab, click on Edit Freight Book in the Lower Navigation Bar. This leads to the Edit Freight Book page shown in Figure 8A.

In the Account field, select one of the Selling Accounts. The default is Hubs in Seller's Freight Book Only, which is the checkbox in the Hubs field.

Select the appropriate Major and Minor Hubs, and a Rate Table will appear in the right frame as shown in Figure 8B.

The table at the top of the page displays the following information:

■ Account — Seller's Account name

■ Major Hub

■ Minor Hub

The table at the bottom of the page displays the following information:

■ Truck/Rail

^■ Transport Mode

■ Rail Carrier

■ Price per Load

To change the Freight Rates, click inside the Price/Load column, and type in the updated Rates. The row in which data is being entered will be highlighted to reduce the likelihood of entry errors, as shown in Figure 8C. To view more Rail Carriers, select a Rail Carrier in the selection list at the bottom of the page, and then click on Add Rail Carrier. The new Rail Carrier will be added to the existing Freight Table list. If the selected Rail Carrier is currently on the list, a message box will appear, as shown in Figure 8D.

Click the Reset button to erase the new entries, and replace them with the original Freight Book values. Click the Save button to update the new information into the Freight Book.

SEARCHING FOR A MINOR HUB

To search for a Minor Hub, type in at least 3 characters of the requested Hub name in the Hub Search text area shown in Figure 8E.

Upon clicking the Search button, a list of all Minor Hubs in the Wood Products System Master Freight Book database will be displayed in the right frame, along with their associated Major Hub name as shown in Figure 8F.

Clicking on a Minor Hub name will display the associated Rate Table in the right frame, where updates may be made, as shown in Figure 8G.

REQUESTING AN OFFLINE UPDATE To send a request to The Wood Products System for an update of the Offline

Freight Book, click the Request Offline Update button in the left frame.

A message page will then appear with the following information as shown in Figure 8H.

^■ Message Header

^■ Message Type

■ Distribution Method

^■ Subject

^■ Message

^■ Request

^■ Account ID

^■ Account Name Click on the Send button to deliver the message to The Wood Products System.

UPLOADING FREIGHT BOOK DATA

Under the Operations tab, click on Upload Freight Book on the Lower Navigation Bar. The Upload Freight Book page shown in Figure 81 will appear.

On this page, a User can upload text files that have been exported from their Offline Freight Book for use with the Online Freight Book.

In the text input area, enter the drive path and name for the expanded file from the Offline Freight Book or click the Browse button to find and select the file from the appropriate directory on the computer.

To upload the file containing the Freight Rates, click the Upload button.

OFF-LINE FREIGHT BOOK

STARTING THE OFF-LINE FREIGHT BOOK

The Off-line Freight Book Application may be used without logging on to The Wood Products System.

From the Start menu, select Programs and then select The Wood Products System Freight Book. From here, select Freight Book Off-line, and the application Splash Screen will appear, as shown in Figure 8J

The Log On page will then appear, as shown in Figure 8K. Input the User name and password assigned by The Wood Products System, and the Off-line Freight Book page is displayed.

USING THE OFF-LINE FREIGHT BOOK APPLICATION

There are two sections of the Off-line Freight Book page as shown in Figure 8L. ^■ The Select side is on the left

^■ The Edit side is on the right

The following information is provided on the Select side:

^■ Account ^■ Address — once an Account is selected, the appropriate shipping address is displayed

^■ Select Hub

^■ Major Hub — all Major Hubs available in the Wood Products System Master Freight Book Database are available in this list. They are organized alphabetically by state/province, then by city.

^■ Minor Hubs — when a Major Hub is selected, the associated Minor Hubs are displayed.

When the appropriate selections are made, click on the Edit» button to switch to the Edit side of the page. Note: The Edit» button becomes active only after an Account is selected, and the «Update button becomes active when on the Edit side of the page.

The following information is provided on the Edit side as shown in Figure 8M.

^■ Hub Details — the selected Major and Minor Hub is displayed in this area

^■ Trucks — the truck table is separated into three columns:

^■ Transport Type (Truck)

^■ Transport Mode — B Train, Super B, Closed Van, Pig Van, and T/L (Truckload)

^■ Rate— Freight Rates must be input for each Truck Type in this column. At the top of the column, a US$ or CDN$ will appear depending on the Selling Account and its Shipping Address, and the Minor Hub location. The Currency rules are:

^■ A US Mill delivering to a US Buyer will input Freight Rates in US$

^■ A US Mill delivering to a Canadian Buyer will input Freight Rates in US$ to Canadian locations

^■ A Canadian Mill delivering to a US Buyer will input Freight Rates in US$ To US locations

^■ A Canadian Mill delivering to a Canadian Buyer will input Freight Rates in CDN$ ■ Rail Carriers — to add Rail Freight Rates, click the Add button next to the Rail Carriers table. A window will appear, as shown in figure 8N, where Freight Rates can be entered. A Rail Carrier must be chosen from the drop-down list at the top of the window.

The Rail Carrier table is separated into three columns:

■ Transport Type (Rail)

■ Transport Mode— SD Box, DD Box, 50' Box, 52' Box, 60' Box, 50' BH, 52' BH, 52' A-Frame, 55' A-Frame, 53' NBH, 55' BH, 57' BH, 60' NBH, 60' Centrebeam, 60' BH, 60' A-frame, 66' BH, 71' A-frame, and 73' A-frame

■ Rate — separate Freight Rates must be input for each Rail Carrier, and each Rail Car

Type. A US$ or CDN$ will appear at the top of this column depending on which currency is being used. Once the Rates are entered, click the Add button to save the Rail Freight Rates.

The Rail Carrier will appear under Rail Carrier Name on the Off-line Freight Book page with Add, Edit, and Delete buttons next to it, as shown in Figure 8O.

To save the new Freight Rates in the Off-line Freight Book click the «Update button. The Minor Hub will now have a * in the Rate column next to its name.

SEARCHING FOR HUBS

A Seller may search for a Minor Hub using the Search option of the Off-line Freight Book application.

Select the appropriate Account, and click on the Search button beside Select Hub on the Select side of the page.

The Hub search window will be displayed. Input at least 3 characters of the Minor Hub name, and a listing of all appropriate Minor Hubs will be provided with their associated Major Hubs as shown in Figure 8P.

By selecting a Minor Hub and clicking OK, the Minor Hub's rate table will be displayed. Freight Rates can now be input to this Minor Hub location, as shown in Figure 8Q. OFF-LINE FREIGHT BOOK REPORT

A Seller can generate a Report of all existing Freight Rates for all of their Selling Accounts, by selecting the Report button at the bottom of the Off-line Freight Book page. The Freight Book Report will then appear in a separate window, shown in figure 8R.

Today's date appears at the top of the Report.

The information appears in a table organized by Account, then by Major Hub. For each Major Hub, the following information is provided:

^■ Minor Hub

^■ State/Province

^■ Transport Mode (Truck and Rail Type)

^■ Rail Carrier

^■ Price (US)

^■ Price CDN

On the last page of the Report, there is a Reconciliation of total US and CDN

Freight Rates, when they were last modified, who prepared and approved the Freight Rates, and the associated dates, as shown in Figure 8S.

At the bottom of the window are the following icons:

^■ Go to the beginning of the Report

^■ Go back one page

^■ The current page of the total number of pages in the Report

^■ Go forward one page

^■ Go forward to the end of the Report

^■ Cancel ■ Enlarge or minimize the Report on the screen

■ Print the Report

■ Export the Report (save it in a specific format, to a specific file)

■ Export the Report (send it in a specific format to a specific e-mail address)

■ Close the Report

EXPORTING AN OFF-LINE FREIGHT BOOK

Click on the Export button at the bottom of the Off-line Freight Book page, and a Save As box will appear.

Enter a name for the file in the following format — Company Name-Account Name-Date (yyyy-mm-dd) — then click the Save button. The file is now ready to be uploaded to The Wood Products System™.

SELLER LOG OFF

To log off of The Wood Products System, a Seller user should click on the Log Off option on the Bottom Navigation Bar. Before being able to log off of The Wood Products System, a Seller will be transferred to the Exit The Wood Products System page, as shown in Figure 8T.

For example, Seller's are informed how many active Offers they have on The Wood Products System, and are informed that these Offers will be placed on hold until they Log On the next day. Also, if a Selling Trader is automatically logged off due to inactivity for 30 minutes, all active Offers are placed on hold.

Offers have a life span of 7 business days, after which time they are automatically deleted from The Wood Products System.

Seller Log Off Actions VIEW CHANGE REQUESTS Selling Traders are also informed if they have any Change Requests. They are provided with a View Change Requests button, which will take them to the Change

Requests area of the Web site. Once the Change Requests have been viewed, the Seller would select the Log Off button in the Bottom Navigation Bar again, and proceed with the Exit The Wood Products System procedure.

CANCEL OFFERS

Sellers may also choose to delete any active Offers by selecting the Cancel Offers button.

LOG OFF

If a Seller does not wish to view any outstanding Change Requests or Cancel Offers, s/he may select the Log Off button and exit The Wood Products System.

HELP FOR SELLERS

Help is available to Sellers from the field names on the Make Lumber Offer, and the Make Panel Offer forms.

MAKE A LUMBER OFFER POP-UP HELP

BAR CODING AVAILABLE Sellers may choose to offer Bar Coding on lumber shipments by selecting either "Yes" or "No" at the Bar Coding Available radio buttons.

Only when a Seller has offered to Bar Code a shipment of Lumber, may Buyers choose whether they want the shipment bar coded or not. The amount a Mill charges for bar coding (per MBF) will be displayed to Buyers at the Make a Bid page.

The Seller's Membership Profile is the source of the Bar Coding charge. If your Bar Coding rates need to be changed, contact your Member Administrator. This is a mandatory field.

BOARD FOOTAGE Enter the board foot quantity of lumber to be sold in this Offer. This is an estimate only. The actual Board Footage will be as per shipment.

This is a mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 6. Do not enter any punctuation in this field, such as commas. COMMENTS

In the Comments text area, enter anything special or important about this Offer that Buying Traders should know, e.g., "Unable to change ship date." If there is nothing special about the Offer, no comments are necessary. You may input up to a maximum of 100 characters, including punctuation and spaces.

This is not a mandatory field.

FOB MILL PRICE

Enter the FOB Mill Price, then select either the US$ or CDN$ radio button. Selecting the US$ radio button offers this lumber in American funds to both

American and Canadian Buyers, dependent on the appropriate US$ Freight Rates to those destinations.

Selecting the CDN$ radio button offers this lumber in Canadian funds to the Canadian Market only. This is a mandatory field.

The maximum # of characters allowed is 4. Do not enter any punctuation in this field, such as commas or dollar signs.

GRADE

Select the Grade of the lumber in this Offer. This is a mandatory field.

Short forms are used for some of the Grade list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Grade list items. (See Grade list items on page 62).

GRADE STAMPED If the Offer is grade stamped, select GS. If the Offer is not grade stamped, select NGS.

This is a mandatory field.

LENGTH

Select the Length, in feet and/or inches or "R L" for Random Lengths, for the lumber in this Offer.

If you select "R/L", you must input the Tally. If you select "R/L", the "Length/inches" and "Trim" fields are disabled. This is a mandatory field.

MOISTURE

Select the Moisture content for the lumber in this Offer. This is a mandatory field.

Short forms are used for some of the Moisture list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Moisture list items. (See Moisture list items on page 61).

NAME AND SAVE AS TEMPLATE Sellers may choose to save an Offer form as a Template to use over again. If, for example, you consistently sell 2x4, R/L, SYP, #3 lumber, you can create this Offer, save it as a Template, then retrieve this Offer repeatedly and re-submit it as a new Offer.

There are certain fields that are not saved in a Template. These are: Seller Account Name, Board Footage, Ship Date Week Of, and FOB Mill Price. You will need to enter these 4 items each time you call up a Template before submitting the Offer.

It is suggested that you name your Templates in a way that you can instantly recognize them. There is a maximum of 20 characters, including spaces, you may use to name any Template.

You may not use the following characters in a Template name: single quotes ' double quotes " commas , semi-colons ; colons : periods

# OF LOADS Number of Loads allows a Trader to submit a Multiple Load Offer. The # of loads represents the number of truckloads or carloads of lumber being offered.

-I l l- If you offer 10 loads, for example, you may accept Bids from multiple Buyers, up to the maximum but not exceeding the ten loads offered.

Tip: If a Buyer accepts 10 loads, he may submit a Change Request to have the separate loads delivered to different Buying Locations. This is dependent on the Seller's approval, however.

This is a mandatory field.

PROFILE

Select the Profile characteristics of the manufactured lumber for this Offer.

This is not a mandatory field. If you have Mill-specific manufactured products that are not listed here, please contact The Wood Products System .

Short forms are used for some of the Profile list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Profile list items. (See Profile list items on page 65).

SELECT A TEMPLATE

This list displays the names of Offer Templates you have previously created and saved. Select one, by clicking on a Template name with your mouse, then releasing it. If you want to view the details of your Templates before selecting one, once one is highlighted, use the arrow key on your keyboard to travel down the Template list one at a time. As you stop on a Template name, the details of the Template will display on the form.

SELLER ACCOUNTS Choose the Selling location the current Offer is to be shipped from.

This is a mandatory field.

If your Company has a shipping location that you require, but that does not appear in this list, contact the The Wood Products System Administrator to request a new Account be created for this location. SHIP DATE WEEK OF

Select the week you are willing to ship your lumber. The Ship Dates list 15 forward Monday dates for the current year. The list items appear in this format: Year-month-day. This is a mandatory field.

SPECIES Select the Species of lumber in this Offer.

This is a mandatory field.

Short forms are used for some of the Species list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Species list items. (See Species list items on page 59). SUPPLEMENTAL

If appropriate, select the Supplemental characteristic for the lumber in this Offer.

This is not a mandatory field.

If you have Mill-specific manufactured products that are not included in this list, please contact The Wood Products System .

Short forms are used for some of the Supplemental list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Supplemental list items. (See Supplemental list items on page 65).

SURFACE Select the type of Surface finish available in this Offer.

This is a mandatory field.

Short forms are used for some of the Surface list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Surface list items. (See Surface list items on page 61). TALLY

Enter the appropriate Tally by length for sale in this Offer in the following format: 10/10 10/12 10/14, etc. Commas are allowed in this input field.

The Tally field can only be filled in if the lumber Offer is Random Lengths. This means that you have selected "R/L" in the "Length/feet" field. If "R/L" is selected in the "Length feet" field, "Tally" is a mandatory field. Note: Buyers may counter the Offer with their own specific Tally requirements, which may or may not be approved by the Seller.

TARPING AVAILABLE

Sellers may choose to offer Tarping on lumber shipments by selecting "yes" or "no" at the Tarping Available radio button inputs.

Only when a Seller has offered to Tarp a shipment of lumber, may Buyers choose whether they want the shipment Tarped or not. The amount a Mill charges for tarping (per load) will be displayed to Buyers at the Make a Lumber Bid page.

The Seller's Membership Profile is the source of the Tarping charge. If your Tarping rates need to be changed, contact your Member Administrator. This is a mandatory field.

THICKNESS

Select the Thickness, in inches, of the lumber in this Offer. This is a mandatory field. TRANSPORT

Select the method of transportation to be used to deliver the lumber in this Offer.

This is a mandatory field.

The method of transportation determines which Freight Book rates are used to calculate the freight charges for delivering the lumber to a Buyer's location.

If a particular transportation mode specific to your Mill is not included here, please contact The Wood Products System .

TRIM

Select the appropriate Trim you are willing to allow for this lumber Offer. This is a mandatory field.

Buyers who search for a specific PET Trim length will be shown all PET TBA Offers as well.

UNIT SIZE

Enter the # of pieces per bundle for this Offer of lumber. This is a mandatory field. The maximum # of characters allowed is 3. Do not enter any punctuation in this field, such as commas.

WIDTH

Select the Width, in inches, of the lumber in this Offer. This is a mandatory field.

WRAPPED

Select the appropriate packaging for this Offer of lumber. This is a mandatory field.

MAKE A PANEL OFFER POP-UP HELP

BAR CODING AVAILABLE

Sellers may choose to offer Bar Coding on panel shipments by selecting either "Yes" or "No" at the Bar Coding Available radio buttons.

Only when a Seller has offered to Bar Code a shipment of Panel, may Buyers choose whether they want the shipment bar coded or not. The amount a Mill charges for bar coding (per MSF) will be displayed to Buyers at the Make a Bid page.

The Seller's Membership Profile is the source of the Bar Coding charge. If your Bar Coding rates need to be changed, contact your Member Administrator.

This is a mandatory field. COMMENTS

In the Comments text area, enter anything special or important about this Offer that Buying Traders should know, e.g., "Unable to change ship date." If there is nothing special about the Offer, no comments are necessary.

You may input up to a maximum of 100 characters, including punctuation and spaces.

This is not a mandatory field.

FOB MILL PRICE

Enter the FOB Mill Price, then select either the US$ or CDN$ radio button. Selecting the US$ radio button offers this panel in American funds to both American and Canadian Buyers, dependent on the appropriate US$ Freight Rates to those destinations.

Selecting the CDN$ radio button offers this panel in Canadian funds to the Canadian Market only.

This is a mandatory field.

GRADE Select the Grade of the panel in this Offer.

This is a mandatory field.

Short forms are used for some of the Grade list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Grade list items. (See Grade list items on page 74). NAME AND SAVE A TEMPLATE

Sellers may choose to save an Offer form as a Template to use over again. If, for example, you consistently sell 1/2", 4x12, Pine panel, you can create this Offer, save it as a Template, then retrieve this Offer repeatedly and re-submit it as a new Offer. There are certain fields that are not saved in a Template. These are: Seller

Account Name, Square Footage, Ship Date Week Of, and FOB Mill Price. You will need to enter these 4 items each time you call up a Template before submitting the Offer.

# OF LOADS

Number of Loads allows a Trader to submit a Multiple Load Offer. The # of loads represents the number of truckloads or carloads of panel being offered.

If you offer 10 loads, for example, you may accept Bids from multiple Buyers, up to the maximum but not exceeding the ten loads offered.

This is a mandatory field.

PROFILE

Select the Profile characteristics of the manufactured panel for this Offer.

This is a mandatory field. If you have Mill-specific manufactured products that are not listed here, please contact The Wood Products System .

Short forms are used for some of the Profile list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Profile list items. (See Profile list items on page 75). SELECT A TEMPLATE

This list displays the names of Offer Templates you have previously created and saved. Select one, by clicking on a Template name with your mouse, then releasing it.

If you want to view the details of your Templates before selecting one, once one is highlighted, use the arrow key on your keyboard to travel down the Template list one at a time. As you stop on a Template name, the details of the Template will display on the form.

SELLER ACCOUNTS

Choose the Selling location the current Offer is to be shipped from. This is a mandatory field. If your Company has a shipping location that you require, but that does not appear in this list, contact the The Wood Products System Administrator to request a new Account be created for this location.

SHIP DATE WEEK OF Select the week you are you willing to ship your panel.

The Ship Dates list 15 forward Monday dates for the current year. The list items appear in this format: Year-month-day. This is a mandatory field.

SIZE Select the length and width, in feet, of the panel in this Offer.

This is a mandatory field.

SPECIES

Select the Species of panel in this Offer.

This is a mandatory field. Short forms are used for some of the Species list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Species list items. (See Species list items on page 73).

SQUARE FOOTAGE

Enter the square foot quantity of panel to be sold in this Offer. This is an estimate only. The actual Square Footage will be as per shipment. This is a mandatory field.

The maximum # of characters allowed is 6. Do not enter any punctuation in this field, such as commas.

SUPPLEMENTAL If appropriate, select the Supplemental characteristic for the panel in this

Offer.

This is not a mandatory field.

If you have Mill-specific manufactured products that are not included in this list, please contact The Wood Products System^™. Short forms are used for some of the Supplemental list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Supplemental list items. (See Supplemental list items on page 75).

TARPING AVAILABLE Sellers may choose to offer Taφing on panel shipments by selecting "yes" or

"no" at the Taφing Available radio button inputs.

Only when a Seller has offered to Taφ a shipment of panel, may Buyers choose whether they want the shipment Taφed or not. The amount a Mill charges for taφing (per load) will be displayed to Buyers at the Make a Panel Bid page. The Seller's Membership Profile is the source of the Taφing charge. If your

Taφing rates need to be changed, contact your Member Administrator. This is a mandatory field.

THICKNESS

Select the Thickness, in inches, of the panel in this Offer. This is a mandatory field.

TRANSPORT

Select the method of transportation to be used to deliver the panel in this Offer.

This is a mandatory field. The method of transportation determines which Freight Book rates are used to calculate the freight charges for delivering the panel to a Buyer's location.

If a particular transportation mode specific to your Mill is not included here, please contact The Wood Products System.

UNIT SIZE Enter the # of pieces per unit for this Offer of panel.

This is a mandatory field.

The maximum # of characters allowed is 3. Do not enter any punctuation in this field, such as commas. MONITOR OFFERS POP-UP HELP

OFFER #

Offer #'s are generated by the system when a Selling Trader submits an Offer. The Offer number "099050009837" consists of the following: "O" for Offer

"99" - A two-digit number denoting the year the Offer is submitted.

"05" - A two-digit number denoting the month the Offer is submitted.

"0009837" - A seven-digit identification number.

An Offer remains active while the trader is logged on to The Wood Products System and on hold when the trader is logged off. It stays in the system up to 7 business days after creation unless cancelled or sold.

Click the Offer # to view the Offer details.

# OF BIDS

The total number of Bids are shown. The magnifying glass icon will appear when there are any Bids on an Offer. Clicking the magnifying glass displays the Bids on the Offer.

ASKING PRICE

The Seller's FOB Mill Price as entered when the Offer was created.

TOP BID PRICE The highest Bid expressed as FOB Mill. This field will have "$0" if no Bids have been received on the Offer. Note:

If Canadian prices exist, they will be ranked with the US Prices notionally, and will have the acronym CDN appended to it. The Canadian price is converted by The Wood Products System to US dollars in order to find its place in the ranking of all Offer prices. However, the FOB Destination Price will appear as CDN $350, for example.

EXPIRY TIME

The time (CST) when the Bid will expire. This field is blank, if no Bids have been received. A Bid expires automatically after 30 minutes if a Seller does not accept it, or if The Wood Products System or the Seller cancels it. The Wood Products System clears all Bids at the end of a trading day.

OFFER DETAILS (LUMBER)

Offer Details include the following information (listed in the order they appear):

Species

Thickness x Width

Length [Random Length (R/L) or Feet and Inches]

Trim or Tally - If you have selected R/L, the tally appears; if you selected a length other than R/L, the trim appears

Surface

Moisture

Grade

Grade Stamped (GS for Grade Stamped, NGS for Not Grade Stamped)

Wrapping (P/W for Paper Wrapped, PUTT for Poly Under Top Tier, or Open)

Supplemental (since this is not a mandatory field, it may be empty)

Profile (since this is not a mandatory field, it may be empty)

# of loads

Transport Mode

Bar Coded (BC for Bar Coding Available or NBC for Bar Coding Not Available)

Tarped (T for Taφing Available or NT for Taφing Not Available)

Ship Date Week Of - Ship Dates are always listed as the Monday of the selected week.

Board Footage Unit Size

OFFER DETAILS (PANEL)

Species

Thickness

Size

Grade

Profile

Supplemental (since this is not a mandatory field, it may be empty)

# of loads

Transport Mode

Bar Coded (BC for Bar Coding Available or NBC for Bar Coding Not Available)

Taφed (T for Tarping Available or NT for Taφing Not Available)

Ship Date Week Of - Ship Dates are always listed as the Monday of the selected week

Square Footage

Unit Size

COMMENTS If a comment is included with the Offer, a cloud icon will appear in this column. Clicking on the icon will display the comment in a message box.

CANCEL OFFER

A red X icon is provided to the right of each Offer. Click the X icon beside the Offer you wish to cancel. This causes a Cancel Offer Confirmation message box to appear. Select the OK button on the Cancel Offer Confirmation message box to confirm cancellation of the Offer. The selected Offer is cleared from the table, and all Bids made against the cancelled Offer are rejected.

Select the Cancel button on the Cancel Offer Confirmation message box to return to the Monitor Offers page without canceling the Offer.

CHANGE REQUESTS POP-UP HELP

SC #

Sales Contract Numbers are generated by the system when a Selling Trader accepts a Bid on an Offer. The Sales Contract number "C99010002837" consists of the following:

- "C" for Sales Contract

^■ "99" - A two-digit number denoting the year the Sales Contract is created

^■ "01 " - A two-digit number denoting the month the Sales Contract is created.

^■ "0002837" - A seven-digit identification number.

In the case of a Multiple Load Offer, however, an alpha character is appended to the Sales Contract number. For example, an Offer of 5 loads would generate Sales Contracts C99010002837A, C99010002837B, C99010002837C, C99010002837D, and C99010002837E. Amended Sales Contracts are created when a Seller agrees to ship an order to an alternate destination. The Sales Contract Number is changed by appending a dash and numeral to the end of the Sales Contract Number. The Amended Sales Contract Number would be C99010002837-1, for example. Each time a Sales Contract is changed, the amended number is incremented by one. If a Sales Contract is changed 5 times, the final SC# would be C99010002837-5.

In the case of a change being made to one shipment of a Multiple Load Offer, the dash and numeral would be appended to the Sales Contract Number as follows: C99010002837A-1.

Click the SC# to view the SC. OFFER #

Offer #'s are generated by the system when a Selling Trader submits an Offer. The Offer number "099050009837" consists of the following:

^■ "O" for Offer

■ "99" - A two-digit number denoting the year the Offer is submitted.

■ "05" - A two-digit number denoting the month the Offer is submitted.

^■ "0009837" - A seven-digit identification number.

An Offer remains active while the trader is logged on to The Wood Products System and on hold when the trader is logged off. It stays in the system up to 7 business days after creation unless cancelled or sold. Click the Offer # to view the Offer details.

BlD #

Bid #'s are generated by the system when a Buying Trader submits a Bid on an Offer. The Bid number "B99050009837" consists of the following: ^■ "B" for Bid

^■ "99" - A two-digit number denoting the year the Offer is submitted

^■ "05" - A two-digit number denoting the month the Offer is submitted

^■ "0009837" - A seven-digit identification number

Click the Bid # to view the Bid details. SELLER NAME

The account name of the Seller who created the Offer. CHANGE FROM

The original buying account/location of shipment. PRICE The original price of the shipment. This includes shipping and handling costs to the original location. CHANGE TO

The requested buying account/location of shipment.

NEW PRICE

The revised price of the shipment. This includes shipping and handling costs to the new location.

ACCEPT

Buyers may request that a Seller change the destination of an order. The Seller is required to view each Change Request and has the choice to accept or reject it. It is suggested that you click on the SC# to view the Sales Contract before accepting or rejecting it. The Buyer may have included a Comment with the Change Request, and it can only be viewed at the Group Sales Contracts or Individual Sales Contract pages.

If you wish to send a Comment to the Buyer with your response, you may do so at the Group Sales Contracts or Individual Sales Contract pages.

To accept a Change Request without viewing the actual Sales Contract, simply click in the check box under the Accept column heading.

When you click Submit, an Amended Sales Contract will be sent to the Buyer. Note:

^■ An Invoice for goods may be created even if the Buyer has not viewed the Seller's response to a Change Request.

^■ A Seller Accountant may create an Invoice even if there is an unviewed Change Request on a Sales Contract. If the Invoice is created, the Change Request will be rejected, and the Invoice will be created from the original Sales Contract details.

REJECT

Buyers may request that a Seller change the destination of an order. The

Seller is required to view each Change Request and has the choice to accept or reject it. It is suggested that you click on the SC# to view the Sales Contract before accepting or rejecting it. The Buyer may have included a Comment with the Change Request, and it can only be viewed at the Group Sales Contracts or Individual Sales Contract pages.

If you wish to send a Comment to the Buyer with your response, you may do so at the Group Sales Contracts or Individual Sales Contract pages. To accept a Change Request without viewing the actual Sales Contract, simply click in the check box under the Accept column heading.

When you click Submit, an Amended Sales Contract will be sent to the Buyer.

Note: " An Invoice for goods may be created even if the Buyer has not viewed the Seller's response to a Change Request.

■ A Seller Accountant may create an Invoice even if there is an unviewed Change Request on a Sales Contract. If the Invoice is created, the Change Request will be rejected, and the Invoice will be created from the original Sales Contract details.

BUY

The Buying Trader begins the Buying process by searching for Offers.

SEARCH FOR LUMBER OFFERS

Buyers will search for Offers of lumber or panels on The Wood Products System. From a search results page, they will be able to view details of any Offer by clicking on the Offer #. From the Buyers Lumber Details or Panel Details pages, a Buyer will be able to submit a Bid on an Offer.

In order for a Bid to be accepted on an Offer, The Wood Products System must approve and reserve the Buyer's credit line before the Bid is sent to a Seller. The Seller must also have a Freight Rate to the Buyer's Minor Hub. The Search for Lumber Offers page shown in Figure 9A allows Buyers to input search criteria to try and match with The Wood Products System lumber Offers. Selection areas are similar to the Seller's Offer page, minus a few of the Seller's Offer criteria.

Note: Buyers can also search by one, multiple or all Sellers, by selecting the Search By Sellers Only option. Mandatory Fields

There are certain fields that are mandatory on the Lumber Search form, and for which the Buying Trader must provide information. The Mandatory fields on the

Lumber Search form are highlighted on the page with an asterisk beside the field name. They are:

Buyer Accounts

Seller Name

■ Species

Thickness

Width

Length

Trim (if other than R/L has been selected at Length/Feet)

^■ Surface

Moisture

Grade

The Offer #, Comments, Profile, Search By Sellers and Supplemental inputs are not required to complete a valid search form. If you forget to select a mandatory field, upon clicking the Submit This Search button, The Wood Products System will let you know, for example, as shown in Figure 9B.

Clicking OK at the message screen will take a User directly to the field that requires the selection or input. Pop-Up Help is available for every field on the form. Simply click on a field name, such as "Seller Accounts" to display Pop-Up Help. See Help for Buyers on page 178.

LUMBER SEARCH TEMPLATES

Buying Traders have the ability to save the details of a search as a template for retrieval and submission at another time.

Create and Name a Lumber Search Template

To create and name a Lumber Search Template, select a value for all the fields you want to describe in your search.

At the bottom of the screen is the Templates management area, as shown in Figure 6P.

Locate the Name input text area, and give your template a name. You must name your template in no more than 20 characters, including spaces. We suggest you name it using the criteria that will give you immediate recall. For example, a typical lumber search consists of the following information: 2x6, 10', Mill Cut, SPF, #2&BTR, S4S, KD 19, Studs. This is too much information to include in a template name. Therefore, it will be up to each individual Buying Trader to choose what criteria are the most important to help him/her quickly recognize exactly what THIS template is. Perhaps an appropriate name would be: 2x6x10-MC-SPF-2&BTR.

TEMPLATE NAME TIPS

There is a restriction as to what characters are allowed in a Template Name.

Quotation marks (single or double) and the common punctuation marks — colons, semi-colons, commas, and periods ~ are not allowed.

If you input an invalid character in the Template name, when you select the Save button, you will receive an error message.

Upon clicking OK, The Wood Products System will take you back to the Name input box, directly to the invalid character. Simply replace the character, and you will be able to save the template. You will notice that you will not be able to use 10'6" in the naming of a template. We offer two suggestions: iθf/6, or 10-6.

Save A Search Template

Select and Load a Search Template

Click on the arrow to the right of the Select templates selection list. This action will drop the list of items for you to view. You can use your mouse to scroll down the list to find the template you want, and when you do, simply release your mouse; you can input the first few characters or digits of the template name to take you to the template; or you can use your arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll up or down the list of templates. As you move your arrow key up and down the list, you can see the details of each template appear in the Search form. When you locate the template you want to use, simply release your mouse or arrow key. Traders will select a saved template in order to do one of three things:

1. Submit it as a search for Offers.

2. Change the search in some way and save as a new template.

3. Delete it.

Select and Delete A Search Template Select a template in the same way described above. Once you have located the template you want to delete, simply click the Delete key and it will remove the saved template from your selection list.

LUMBER SEARCH INPUTS AND SELECTIONS

Lumber Search Selection Lists The following Selection Lists and their items appear on the Lumber Search form. The selection list items are in the order they should appear in their drop-down boxes. BUYER LUMBER ACCOUNTS SELECTION LIST

The Buyer Accounts Selection List Input will include all Accounts a Buying

Trader has permission to buy for, as assigned by the The Wood Products System Administrator. The default list item for a Buyer's Accounts list is the last Account for which the Buyer carried out a transaction.

SELLER NAME SELECTION LIST

Seller Name Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the implied question, "Is there a particular Mill or Mills whose lumber Offers you would like to see?"

Buyers may select All Sellers to search on, or selected ones. To select more than one Seller Name, click on one name, hold down the CTRL key, and continue to click on as many Seller Names as you like. When you have selected them all, release the CTRL key. To view all offers currently posted by one or more Sellers or All Sellers, click the Search By Seller Only option and select the desired Seller or "All Sellers" option from the Seller Name field. You may select multiple Sellers by holding down the

CTRL key and clicking on the desired Sellers.

The default list item for Seller Names will be the All item. Information on the Seller is available at the Members Directory, and also at the Search Results page.

SPECIES SELECTION LIST

Short forms will be used for the items in the Lumber Species selection list.

They include:

Abbreviated Name Full Name

SYP Southern Yellow Pine

SPF Spruce-Pine-Fir

Hem-Fir Hem-Fir

D Fir Douglas Fir

D Fir-Larch Douglas Fir-Larch

WR Cedar Western Red Cedar

In. Red Cedar Inland Red Cedar

Sitka Sitka Spruce

L Pine Lodgepole Pine

P Pine Ponderosa Pine Id. W. Pine Idaho White Pine EW Pine Eastern White Pine Sugar Pine Sugar Pine Redwood Redwood Cal. Red Fir California Red Fir Hem-Tarn Eastern Hemlock-Tamarack

Abbreviated Name Full Name E. Hem Eastern Hemlock WW Pine Western White Pine Radiata Pine Radiata Pine Jack Pine Jack Pine Red Pine Red Pine Tamarack Tamarack EW Cedar Eastern White Cedar Incense Cedar Incense Cedar Yellow Cedar Yellow Cedar Aspen Aspen Poplar Poplar

Yellow Poplar Yellow Poplar White Birch White Birch B Cottonwood Black Cottonwood Alder Red Alder

The default list item for Lumber Species is a blank item. The full names for Lumber Species and their short forms will be available to Buyers in the On-line Help area of the Web site.

THICKNESS SELECTION LIST

The Lumber Thickness Selection List, in inches, includes 1/2, 4/4, 5/4, 6/4,

7/4, 8/4, 10/4, 12/4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 12.

The default list item for Thickness is a blank item. WIDTH SELECTION LIST

The Lumber Width Selection List items, in inches, include:

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12.

The default list item for Width is a blank item.

LENGTH SELECTION LISTS Lumber Length Selection List consists of two drop-down boxes. The first drop-down box lists R/L as the first item, and then the # of "feet" in length, from 1' to 48' in increments of 1'. The default list item for Length/Feet is a blank item.

The second drop-down box lists the # of "inches" in length, from 0" to 11" in increments of 1". The inches length items will include the quotation mark (denoting inches) after the number, as in 6". The default for the Length/Inches drop-down box is 0".

TRIM SELECTION LIST

The Lumber Trim Selection List items include:

The default list item for Trim is a blank item. If a Buyer selects a specific Trim length, such as PET 82", the search results will deliver all Offers with PET 82" as the Trim criteria, and all Offers with PET TBA as the Trim criteria. All other search criteria must match the Offer.

The Trim selection list will be deactivated if a Buyer selects R/L in the Length/Feet selection list. SURFACE SELECTION LIST

The Lumber Surface Selection List items include:

S4S, S1S2E, S2S, S3S, RGH, SIS, S1E, S2E, S1S1E, S2S1E, RGH HDD, and RED.

The default list item for Surface is a blank item. MOISTURE SELECTION LIST

Lumber Moisture Selection List includes Green, KD 19, KD 15, Kiln Wets,

Ind. KD, and KD AT.

The default for the Moisture drop-down box is a blank item.

GRADES SELECTION LIST Short forms will be used for the items in the Lumber Grades selection list.

They include: Abbreviated Name Full Name

#1 & BTR #1 & BTR

#1 #1

#2 #2

#2 & BTR #2 & BTR

STD & BTR STD & BTR

Const. STD Construction Standard

Stud Stud

Select Select

Select Struc. Select Structural

Uti. Utility

Uti. & BTR Utility & BTR

#3 #3

#3 & BTR #3 & BTR

PMO PMO

Econ. Economy

#4 #4

#4 & BTR #4 & BTR

1650f MSR 1650f Machine Stress Rated

1800fMSR 1800f Machine Stress Rated

2100fMSR 2 lOOf Machine Stress Rated

2250f MSR 2250f Machine Stress Rated

2400fMSR 2400f Machine Stress Rated

2700fMSR 2700f Machine Stress Rated

C & BTR C & BTR

D D

D & BTR D & BTR

Choice & BTR Choice & BTR

Const. Construction

STD Standard

Sterling Sterling

Quality Quality

Ind. Industrial

Mldg. Moulding

Rgh. Mldg. & BTR Rough Moulding & BTR

Premium Premium

#1 Shop #1 Shop

#2 Shop #2 Shop

#3 Shop #3 Shop

1 Common 1 Common

2 Common 2 Common

3 Common 3 Common

4 Common 4 Common

5 Common 5 Common

A A

A Grade A Grade Abbreviated Name Full Name

Appearance Appearance

B & BTR Ind. B & Better Industrial

B Grade B Grade

B Lam. B Laminating

C Ind. C Industrial

C Select C Select

Choice Choice

Clear Clear

Clr. Hit. Struc. Clear Heart Structural

Clr. Struc. Clear Structural

Clr. V G Hit. Clear V G Heart

Const. Common Construction Common

Const. Heart Construction Heart

Cutting Cutting

C & BTR Dim. C & BTR Dimension

D Ind. D Industrial

D Ind. Clear D Industrial Clear

D Lam. D Laminating

D Select D Select

Dense Dense

Dse. Sel. Struc. Dense Select Structural

Dunnage Dunnage

Exp. Joint Expansion Joint

Factory Factory

Fact. Primed Factory Primed

Fact. Sel. Factory Select

Fact. Sel. (#3 Clr.) Factory Select (#3 Clear)

Finish Finish

Finish B & B Finish B & BTR

Finish C Finish C

Finish C & BTR Finish C & BTR

Finish D Finish D

#1 Foundation #1 Foundation

Ind. Fact. Sel. Industrial Factory Select

Knotty Knotty

LI LI

Ll-C (Lam.) Ll-C Laminating

LI -Dense Lam. LI -Dense Laminating

L2 L2

L2-D L2-D

L2-D Dense Lam. L2-D Dense Laminating

L2-Lam. L2-Laminating

L3-Lam. L3 -Laminating

M-6 MEL M-6 Machine Evaluated

Lumber Abbreviated Name Full Name

M- 10 MEL M- 10 Machine Evaluated

Lumber M- 19 MEL M-19 Machine Evaluated

Lumber

M-23 MEL M-23 Machine Evaluated

Lumber

Merch. Merchantable Merch. Hit. Merchantable Heart #1 Struc. #1 Structural Patio 1 Patio 1 Patio 2 Patio 2 Pitch Selects Pitch Selects Prime Prime Prime #2 Prime #2 Pr. Finish Prime Finish Qual. Knty. Quality Knotty Scaffold #1 Scaffold #1 Scaffold #2 Scaffold #2 Select Knotty Select Knotty Select Shop Select Shop Selected Selected Sel. 2 Common Selected 2 Common Sel. 3 Common Selected 3 Common Shop Shop Stained Sel. Stained Selects

The default list item for Grades is a blank item.

The full names for Lumber Grades and their abbreviated names will be available to Buyers in the On-Line Help area of the Web site.

SUPPLEMENTAL SELECTION LIST

The Lumber Supplemental Selection List items include:

Abbreviated Name Full Name

PT CCA.25 Pressure Treated CCA.25 PT CCA.40 Pressure Treated CCA.40 PT CCA.60 Pressure Treated CCA.60 PT CCA.80 Pressure Treated CCA.80 FGR JNT Finger Joint Pre-Drilled Pre-Drilled

The default list item for Supplemental is a blank item.

PROFILE SELECTION LIST

Abbreviated names will be used for the items in the Lumber Profile selection list. They include T&G (for Tongue & Groove), Shiplap, Flooring, Stepping, and Bevel Siding.

The full names for Lumber Profiles and their short forms will be available to Buyers in the On-line Help area of the Web site.

Lumber Search Input Text Areas The following Text Inputs appear on the Lumber Search Form.

OFFER # INPUT

The Offer # Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the implied question, "Do you wish to view the details of a specific Lumber Offer (perhaps noticed on a previous search results screen)?"

Lumber Search Action Objects

SUBMIT THIS SEARCH

Submit This Search button prompts The Wood Products System to send the search information to The Wood Products System, match it with The Wood Products System Lumber Offer listings, and return them to the Buyer in a Search Results

Table.

CLEAR THIS SEARCH

To Clear the form of all its selections, choose one of the following:

■ Click on the Search Lumber Offers item in the Lower Navigation Bar under the Buy tab.

^■ Select <New Template> from the Select Templates drop-down list.

LUMBER SEARCH RESULTS

The Lumber Search Results page, as shown in Figure 9D, allows Buying Traders to see what Offers meet their search criteria. Above the Search Results Table, the Buyer Account Name against which the Search was made is highlighted at the top.

The input criteria from their search form will be displayed in a summary line at the top of their Search Results Table in the same order as it appears on the Search form:

Species, Thickness x Width, Length, Trim (if R/L selected at Length), Surface, Moisture, Grade, Supplemental, Profile.

If a Search by Seller is chosen the results would be:

Search Criteria: All Deliverable Offers The daily Currency Exchange Rate is displayed above the Table as well.

LUMBER SEARCH RESULTS TABLE

The Search Results Table displays Offers matching a Buyer's Search criteria. Offers are ranked by FOB Destination Price in descending order.

The information provided on the Lumber Search Results Table shows the Buyer all the criteria of the Offer that was not included on the Search form. This information is organized into the following columns:

^■ FOB Destination Price: Offers must be sold in the currency they were made. US FOB Destination prices will be ranked with notional Canadian FOB Destination prices. The FOB Destination price a Buyer sees is the Seller's FOB Mill Price + Freight per MBF + (the Seller + Buyer Transaction Fee) on the Offer.

^■ Seller Name: The name the Buyer sees is comprised of the Short Company Name, appended to the Selling Account Name, which will be the location of the Mill. By selecting the Seller Name, a Profile page for the Seller will be accessed and displayed.

^■ # of Current Bids on the Offer: This lets the Buyer know how many other Buyers are interested in the Offer.

^■ Description: Lumber description is displayed in the following order: Species, Thickness, Width, Length, Trim or Tally, Surface, Moisture, Grade, Grade Stamped, Wrapping, Supplemental, Profile, # of Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Taφing, Ship Date Week Of, Board Footage, and Unit Size. ■ Comments: Any comments associated with the Offer.

■ Offer #: By clicking on the Offer #, Traders will be able to view the details of an Offer at the Make a Lumber Bid page. This is also the page that the Buyer may submit a Bid on the Offer.

If there are no Offers matching your search criteria, you will receive a message at the Search Results page, as shown in Figure 9C.

Action Objects

VIEW SELLER PROFILE

Selecting on the Seller Name will generate a Profile page for the Seller, as shown in Figure 9E.

To return to the Search Results page, the Buyer would simply click in the window's close box (X) in the upper right hand corner, or click on the Close button at the bottom of the page.

VIEW LUMBER OFFER DETAILS By clicking on the Offer #, a Buyer will be able to call up the Make a Lumber

Bid page, as shown in Figure 9F and described below.

MAKE A LUMBER BID

By clicking on the Offer #, a Buyer will be able to call up the Make a Lumber Bid page, where the Buyer can view the Offer Details, change any of the items the Trader is allowed to change, then make a Bid on the specific Offer.

The Make a Lumber Bid page provides a Buyer with all the details of a specific Offer. Some areas of the Offer will be fixed, and some areas of the Offer can be changed before a Bid is submitted. The layout of the Make a Lumber Bid page shown in Figure 9F mimics the

Seller's Lumber Offer page layout, shown in Figure 6N, for those items that are the same.

The items a Buying Trader may change before submitting a Bid on an Offer are: ■ Trim or Tally

■ Wrapped

■ # of Loads

■ Bar Coding (only if offered by Seller)

■ Taφing (only if offered by Seller)

■ Ship Date Week Of

The Buyer will also be able to submit any conditions or comments s/he may have on the Offer along with a Bid Price, by inputting the information in the Bid Comments text box provided on the form. The Buyer must select Payment Terms before submitting the Bid.

All inputs on the Make a Lumber Bid page are mandatory. If you forget to select a mandatory field, upon clicking the Submit This Bid button, a message box will appear, for example as shown in Figure 9B.

LUMBER BID INPUTS AND SELECTIONS

Lumber Bid Selection Lists

The following Selection Lists and their items appear on the Make a Lumber Bid form. The selection list items are in the order they should appear in their dropdown boxes.

The default selections for each Selection List will be the item chosen by the Seller on the original Offer.

TRIM SELECTION LIST The Lumber Bid Trim Selection List items include: PET TBA, DET, Mill Cut, and the standard PET trim lengths: PET 120", PET 116-5/8", PET 116", PET 108", PET 105", PET 104-5/8", PET 104-1/2", PET 96", PET 94-1/4", PET 94-1/8", PET 93-1/4", PET 93", PET 92-5/8", PET 92-1/2", PET 92-1/4", PET 91-1/4", PET 91", PET 88-1/2", PET 88", PET 87-3/4", PET 87", PET 86-5/8", PET 86-1/2", PET 84", PET 82", PET 81-3/4", PET 74", PET 72", PET 60", PET 48", and PET 36".

WRAPPED SELECTION LIST

The Lumber Bid Wrapped Selection List items include:

P/W (for Paper Wrapped), PUTT (for Poly Under Top Tier), Open, and P- Capped (for Paper-Capped).

# OF LOADS SELECTION LIST

The Lumber Bid # of Loads Selection List includes 1 load, 2 loads, 3 loads ... through to 30 loads.

SHIP DATE WEEK OF SELECTION LIST The Lumber Bid Ship Date Week Of Selection List Input includes a dropdown list of 15 forward Monday dates for the current year. The list items will appear in this format: 1998-08-23, the international standard (Note: due to Microsoft bugs, the date format may be displayed as mm-dd-yy).

BUYER PAYMENT TERMS A Buying Trader must select the Payment Terms on every Offer he or she

Bids on. The Payment Terms currently available to Buyers include: 1% 10, Net 30, or any other terms set up by The Wood Products System Administrator.

Lumber Bid Radio Buttons

The following Radio Button inputs appear on the Make a Lumber Bid form. BAR CODED RADIO BUTTON

The Bar Coded radio button input allows Buyers to refuse the Bar Coding offered by the Seller for this shipment of lumber.

The Seller's Bar Coding charge is displayed on the Make a Lumber Bid page below the Bid Price. If the Buyer selects Yes, the Bar Coding charge will appear to Sellers and

Buyers on the Sales Contract, and will be added to the cost of goods on the Invoice. If the Buyer selects No, the Bar Coding charge will not be added to the cost of goods on the Sales Contract and on the Invoice.

The Wood Products Systemis set up so that bar coding charges are entered in US dollars. When a Seller of a Canadian Account puts in an Offer in Canadian dollars and a Canadian Buyer submits a Bid against it, on the Make a Bid page the Buyer will see the Bar Coding charge with the exchange rate factored in.

TARPED RADIO BUTTON

The Tarped radio button input allows Buyers to refuse the Tarping offered by the Seller for this shipment of lumber. The Seller's Tarping charge is displayed on the Make a Lumber Bid page below the Bid Price.

If the Buyer selects Yes, the Tarping charge will appear to Sellers and Buyers on the Sales Contract, and will be added to the cost of goods on on the Invoice.

If the Buyer selects No, the Tarping charge will not be added to the cost of goods on the Sales Contract and on the Invoice.

The Wood Products Systemis set up so that tarping charges are entered in US dollars. When a Seller of a Canadian Account puts in an Offer in Canadian dollars and a Canadian Buyer submits a Bid against it, on the Make a Bid page the Buyer will see the Taφing charge with the exchange rate factored in.

Lumber Bid Inputs

The following Text Inputs appear on the Make a Lumber Bid form.

TALLY INPUT

The Tally Input allows Buyers to alter the tally of an Offer, in response to the implied question, "Do you want to change the tally on the Offer as a condition of your Bid?"

LUMBER BID COMMENTS INPUT

Lumber Bid Comments Input allows Buyers to input as text, anything they want to highlight to a Seller about their Bid. The Selling Trader will view these comments at the Monitor Offers page. BID PRICE INPUT

The currency an Offer was made is the currency in which the Buyer must submit a Bid. The Wood Products Systemwill check that the Bid price is at least 65% (or as designated in The Wood Products System Settings) of the FOB Destination Offer Price. If it is not, the Trader will receive an error message.

Make a Lumber Bid Action Objects

SUBMIT BID

The Submit Bid button sends the Bid details made against the lumber Offer to

The Wood Products System. The Buyer's Currently Available Credit is checked to see that it will cover the Cost of Goods (including Freight) + Transaction Fee, but not including Taxes. If the Offer is a multiple load Offer, the Buyer's Credit must be checked to see that it will cover the cost for the entire shipment.

Clicking on the Submit Bid button generates a confirm Bid details dialogue box, shown in Figure 9G, offering the Buyer one last chance to review the Bid Details before submitting them.

Click OK to proceed with the Bid or Cancel to return to the Bid Creation page in to revise the Bid particulars.

Bidding Rules ^■ An Offer must be sold in the currency in which it was made.

^■ A mill's bar coding and taφing charges appear on the Make a Bid page. With this information available, a Buyer can determine how much this will cost for the load and can make an informed decision as to whether the shipment should be bar coded and/or tarped.

^■ No Bid that is less than 65% (or as designated in The Wood Products System Settings) of the FOB Destination Price per MBF will be accepted on The Wood Products System.

^■ A Bid is active for 30 minutes whether or not the Buyer is logged on to The Wood Products System. This means that a Seller can accept a Bid on an Offer even if the Buyer is not active on The Wood Products System. When the Buyer logs on next, a Notification and Audio Alarm message (if activated) of the sale will be delivered to the Buyer's home page.

^■ A Bid expires automatically after 30 minutes if a Seller does not accept it, or if The Wood Products System or the Seller cancels it. The Wood Products System clears all Bids at the end of a trading day (7:00 p.m. Chicago time).

^■ The Bid Time begins when The Wood Products System sends confirmation of receipt to the Buying Trader.

Buyer's Currently Available Credit

^■ When the Bid is submitted, the Buyer's Available Credit is accessed to see that it can cover the cost of the Offer.

^■ When an Alternate Shipping Destination is selected on the Sales Contract, the Available Credit is accessed to see that it can cover the cost of the change.

^■ When the Invoice is created, the Available Credit is adjusted (incremented or decremented, depending on the final shipment details).

^■ When the Invoice is paid, the Available Credit is adjusted (incremented).

^■ When a Bid is cancelled, the Available Credit is adjusted (incremented).

ACCEPTED BID CONFIRMATION

When a Bid is accepted by The Wood Products System, The Wood Products System dates and time stamps it, displays the Bid Status, lists the accepted Bid criteria, and sends it to the Buying Trader as confirmation of receipt.

The Bid Time begins when The Wood Products System sends this confirmation to the Buying Trader.

The details of the Accepted Bid are provided on a bid details page, as shown in Figure 9H, in the same format as the Make a Bid page. The difference between the two is that the Accepted Bid Details page is static information only, and has a Monitor Bids button.

Accepted Bid Confirmation Action Objects

Clicking on Monitor Bids takes Buyers to the Monitor Bids page where they may monitor the activities on all Bids they currently have against The Wood

Products System Offers.

SEARCH FOR PANEL OFFERS

Buyers may search for Offers of lumber or panel on The Wood Products System. From a search results page, they will be able to view details of any Offer by clicking on the Offer #. From the Buyers Lumber Details or Panel Details pages, a Buyer will be able to submit a Bid on an Offer.

In order for a Bid to be accepted on an Offer, The Wood Products System must approve and reserve the Buyer's credit line before the Bid is sent to a Seller. The Seller must also have a Freight Rate to the Buyer's Minor Hub. The Panel Offers Search form, as shown in Figure 91, allows Buyers to input search criteria to try and match The Wood Products System panel Offer listings. Selection areas are similar to the Seller's Offer page, minus a few of the Seller's Offer criteria.

Note: Buyers can also search by one, multiple or all Sellers, by selecting the Search By Sellers Only option.

Mandatory Fields

There are certain fields that are mandatory on the Panel Search form, and for which the Buying Trader must provide information. The Mandatory fields on the Panel Search form are highlighted on the page with an asterisk beside the field name.

They are:

^■ Buyer Accounts

■ Seller Name ■ Species

■ Thickness

■ Size

■ Grade

■ Profile

The Offer #, Supplemental, and Comments inputs are not required to complete a valid search form.

If you forget to select a mandatory field, upon clicking the Submit This Search button, The Wood Products System will let you know; for example, as shown in Figure 9B.

Pop-Up Help is available for every field on the Panel Search form. Simply click on a field name, such as "Seller Account" to display Pop-Up Help. See Help for Buyers on page 182.

PANEL SEARCH TEMPLATES

Create and Name a Panel Search Template To create and name a Panel Search Template, select a value for all the fields you want to describe in your search.

Locate the Name input text area, and give your template a name. You must name your template in no more than 20 characters, including spaces. We suggest you name it using the criteria that will give you immediate recall. For example, a typical panel search consists of the following information: 7/16", 4x8, S/E, OSB, APA Rated Sheathing. This is too much information to include in a template name. Therefore, it will be up to each individual Buying Trader to choose what criteria are the most important to help him quickly recognize exactly what THIS template is. Perhaps an appropriate name would be: 4x8-SE-OSB-APA-Shtng.

TEMPLATE NAME TIPS

There is a restriction as to what characters are allowed in a Template Name.

Quotation marks (single or double) and the common punctuation marks ~ colons, semi-colons, commas, and periods — are not allowed.

Upon clicking OK, The Wood Products System will take you back to the Name input box, directly to the invalid character. Simply replace the character, and you will be able to save the template.

Save a Search Template Once you have input the Template Name, click on Save. The newly saved template will now be displayed in the Select Templates drop-down box.

Select and Load a Search Template

Click on the arrow to the right of the Select templates selection list. This action will drop the list of items for you to view. You can use your mouse to scroll down the list to find the template you want, and when you do, simply release your mouse; you can input the first few characters or digits of the template name to take you to the template; or you can use your arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll up or down the list of templates. As you move your arrow key up and down the list, you can see the details of each template appear in the Search form. When you locate the template you want to use, simply release your mouse or arrow key.

Traders will select a saved template in order to do one of three things:

1. Submit it as a search for Offers.

2. Change the search in some way and save as a new template before submitting.

3. Delete it. Select and Delete a Search Template

Select a template in the same way described above. Once you have located the template you want to delete, simply click the Delete key and it will remove the saved template from your selection list. PANEL SEARCH INPUTS AND SELECTIONS

Panel Search Selection Lists

The following Selection Lists and their items appear on the Panel Search form. The selection list items are in the order they should appear in their drop-down boxes. BUYER PANEL ACCOUNTS SELECTION LIST

The Buyer Accounts Selection List Input will include all Accounts a Buying

Trader has permission to buy for, as assigned by the The Wood Products System

Administrator.

The default list item for a Buyer's Accounts list is the last Account for which the Buyer carried out a transaction.

SELLER NAME SELECTION LIST

Seller Name Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the implied question, "Is there a particular Mill or Mills whose panel Offers you would like to see?" Buyers may select All Sellers to search on, or selected ones. To select more than one Seller Name, click on one name, hold down the CTRL key, and continue to click on as many Seller Names as you like. When you have selected them all, release your CTRL key.

To view all offers currently posted by one or more Sellers or All Sellers, click the Search By Seller Only option and select the desired Seller or "All Sellers" option from the Seller Name field. You may select multiple Sellers by holding down the CTRL key and clicking on the desired Sellers.

The default list item for Seller Names will be the All item. Information on the Seller is available at the Members Directory, and also at the Search Results page. SPECIES SELECTION LIST

The Panel Species Selection List includes the following items:

Abbreviated Name Full Name

Fir Fir

Poplar Poplar

Pine Pine

OSB OSB

CSP CSP

Wafer Board Wafer Board

HDO High Density Overlay

MDO Medium Density Overlay

LUAN LUAN

The default list item for Panel Species is a blank item. THICKNESS SELECTION LIST

The Panel Thickness Selection List, in inches, includes:

The default list item for Panel Thickness is a blank item. SIZE SELECTION LIST

The Panel Size Selection List includes the following items, in feet:

GRADE SELECTION LIST Short forms will be used for the items in the Panel Grades selection list. They include:

Abbreviated Name Full Name

Rtd. Shtg. Rated Sheathing

Shtg. Sheathing

Select Shtg. Select Sheathing

Tight Face Select Tight Face Select

CDX CDX

CCX CCX

D Grade D Grade

APA Struc 1 R/S APA Structural 1 Rated

Sheathing

Mill Certified Mill Certified Abbreviated Name Full Name

APA Rtd. S-I-F APA Rated Stur-I-Floor

Underlayment Underlayment

Sel. U/L Select Underlayment

STD STD

AAX AA Exterior

ABX AB Exterior

ACX AC Exterior

BBX BB Exterior

BCX BC Exterior

BB Plyform BB Plyform

G1S Good 1 Side

G2S Good 2 Side

SIS SIS

S2S S2S

Shop Shop

Factory Factory

APA Rtd. Siding 303-6 APA Rated Siding 303-6

APA Rtd. Siding 303-18 APA Rated Siding 303-18

APA Decorative Siding APA Decorative Siding

The default list item for Panel Grades is a blank item.

The full names for Panel Grades and their abbreviated names will be available to Buyers in the On-line Help area of the Web site.

PANEL PROFILE SELECTION LIST

The Panel Profile Selection List items include:

Abbreviated Name Full Name

T&G Tongue & Groove

COFI T&G COFI Tongue & Groove S/E Square Edge

The default list item for Panel Profiles is a blank item.

SUPPLEMENTAL SELECTION LIST Short forms will be used for the items in the Panel Supplemental selection list. They include: Abbreviated Name Full Name

3 Ply 3 Ply

3 Ply P&TS 3 Ply Plugged and Touched Sanded

4 Ply 4 Ply

4 Ply P&TS 4 Ply Plugged & Touched Sanded

5 Ply 5 Ply

5 Ply P&TS 5 Ply Plugged & Touched Sanded

Full Sand Full Sand

O&ES Oiled and Edged Sealed

P&TS Plugged and Touched Sanded

Rough Sawn Rough Sawn

Rough Sawn - NG Rough Sawn - No Grooves

Smooth - S/S Smooth - Scratch Sand

The default list item for Panel Supplemental is a blank item. The full names for Panel Supplemental list items and their abbreviated names will be available to Sellers in the On-line Help area of the Web site.

Panel Search Input Text Areas The following Text Inputs appear on the Lumber Search Form.

OFFER # INPUT

The Offer # Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the implied question, "Do you wish to view the details of a specific Panel Offer (perhaps noticed on a previous search results screen)?"

Panel Search Action Objects

SUBMIT THIS SEARCH

Submit This Search button sends the search information to The Wood Products

System, matches it with The Wood Products System Panel Offer listings, and returns them to the Buyer in a Search Results Table. CLEAR THIS SEARCH

To Clear the form of all its selections, choose one of the following:

■ Click on the Search Panel Offers item in the Lower Navigation Bar under the Buy tab.

■ Select <New Template> from the Select Templates drop-down list. PANEL SEARCH RESULTS

The Panel Search Results page, as shown in Figure 9J, allows Buying Traders to see what Offers meet their search criteria.

Above the Search Results Table, the Buyer Account Name against which the Search was made is highlighted at the top.

A l am o -Al am o -D al l as B uyi n g

The input criteria from their search form will be displayed in a summary line at the top of their Search Results Table in the same order as it appears on the Search form: Species, Thickness, Size, Grade, Profile, and Supplemental.

Search Criteria: OSB, 3/8, x8, Shtg, S/E

The daily Currency Exchange Rate is displayed above the Table as well.

Today's Currency Exchange Rate: $0.6500

PANEL SEARCH RESULTS TABLE The Search Results Table displays Offers matching a Buyer's Search criteria.

Offers are ranked by FOB Destination Price in descending order.

The information provided at the Panel Search Results Table shows the Buyer all the criteria of the Offer that was not included on the Search form. This information is organized into the following columns: ^■ FOB Destination Price: Offers must be sold in the currency they were made. US FOB Destination prices will be ranked with notional Canadian FOB Destination prices. The FOB Destination price a Buyer sees is the Seller's FOB Mill Price + Freight per MBF + (the Seller + Buyer Transaction Fee) on the Offer.

^■ # of Current Bids on the Offer: This lets the Buyer know how many other Buyers are interested in the Offer. ■ Description: Panel description is displayed in the following order: Species, Thickness, Size, Grade, Profile, Supplemental, # Of Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Tarping, Ship Date Week Of, Square Footage, and Unit Size.

■ Comments: Any comments associated with the Offer.

■ Offer #: By clicking on the Offer #, Traders will be able to view the details of an Offer at the Make a Panel Bid page. This is also the page that the Buyer may submit a Bid on the Offer.

If there are no Offers matching your search criteria, you will receive the message at the Search Results page, as shown in Figure 9K.

Action Objects

VIEW SELLER PROFILE

Selecting on the Seller Name will generate a Profile page for the Seller, as shown in Figure 9L.

VIEW PANEL OFFER DETAILS

By clicking on the Offer #, a Buyer will be able to call up the Make a Panel

Bid page, described and illustrated below.

MAKE A PANEL BID

The Make a Panel Bid page provides a Buyer with all the details of a specific Offer. Some areas of the Offer will be fixed, and some areas can be changed before a Bid is submitted.

The layout of the Make a Panel Bid page, as shown in Figure 9M, mimics the Seller's Panel Offer page layout for those items that are the same. The items a Buying Trader may change before submitting a Bid on an Offer are:

^■ # of Loads

■ Bar Coding (if applicable)

^■ Taφing (if applicable)

■ Ship Date Week Of

The Buyer will also be able to submit any conditions or comments he may have on the Offer along with his Bid Price, by inputting the information in the Bid Comments text box provided on the form. The Buyer must select Payment Terms before submitting the Bid.

All inputs on the Make a Panel Bid page are mandatory. If you forget to select a mandatory field, upon clicking the Submit This Bid button, a message box will appear, for example, as shown in Figure 9B.

PANEL BID INTPUTS AND SELECTIONS

Panel Bid Selection Lists

The following Selection Lists and their items appear on the Make a Panel Bid form. The selection list items are in the order they should appear in their drop-down boxes.

The default selections for each Selection List will be the item chosen by the

Seller on the original Offer.

# OF LOADS SELECTION LIST

The Panel Bid # of Loads Selection List includes 1 load, 2 loads, 3 loads ... through to 30 loads.

SHIP DATE WEEK OF SELECTION LIST

The Panel Bid Ship Date Week Of Selection List Input includes a drop-down list of 15 forward Monday dates for the current year. The list items will appear in this format: 1998-08-23, the international standard (Note: due to Microsoft bugs, the date format may be displayed as mm-dd-yy).

BUYER PAYMENT TERMS

A Buying Trader must select the Payment Terms on every Offer he or she Bids on based on the available options specified in their Buying Account.

Lumber Bid Radio Buttons

The following Radio Button inputs appear on the Make a Panel Bid form.

BAR CODED RADIO BUTTON

The Bar Coded radio button input allows Buyers to refuse the Bar Coding offered by the Seller for this shipment of panel.

The Seller's Bar Coding charge is displayed on the Make a Panel Bid page below the Bid Price.

If the Buyer selects Yes, the Bar Coding charge will appear to Sellers and Buyers on the Sales Contract, and will be added to the cost of goods on the Invoice. If the Buyer selects No, the Bar Coding charge will not be added to the cost of goods on the Sales Contract and on the Invoice.

The Wood Products System is set up so that bar coding charges are entered in US dollars. When a Seller of a Canadian Account puts in an Offer in Canadian dollars and a Canadian Buyer submits a Bid against it, on the Make a Bid page the Buyer will see the Bar Coding charge with the exchange rate factored in.

TARPED RADIO BUTTON

The Tarped radio button input allows Buyers to refuse the Tarping offered by the Seller for this shipment of panel.

The Seller's Tarping charge is displayed on the Make a Panel Bid page below the Bid Price.

If the Buyer selects Yes, the Tarping charge will appear to Sellers and Buyers on the Sales Contract, and will be added to the cost of goods on the Invoice.

If the Buyer selects No, the Tarping charge will not be added to the cost of goods on the Sales Contract and on the Invoice. The Wood Products System is set up so that tarping charges are entered in US dollars. When a Seller of a Canadian Account puts in an Offer in Canadian dollars and a Canadian Buyer submits a Bid against it, on the Make a Bid page the Buyer will see the Tarping charge with The Wood Products System rate factored in.

Panel Bid Inputs

The following Text Inputs appear on the Panel Search form. PANEL BID COMMENTS INPUT

Panel Bid Comments Input allows Buyers to input as text, anything they want to highlight to a Seller about their Bid. The Seller will view these comments at the Monitor Offers page.

BID PRICE INPUT The currency an Offer was made is the currency in which the Buyer must submit a Bid. The Wood Products System will check that the Bid price is at least 65% (or as designated in The Wood Products System Settings) of the FOB Destination Offer Price. If it is not, the Trader will receive an error message.

Make a Panel Bid Action Objects SUBMIT BID

The Panel Bid Submit Bid button sends the Bid details made against the panel

Offer to The Wood Products System. The Buyer's Currently Available Credit is checked to see that it will cover the Cost of Goods (including Freight) + Transaction Fee, but not including Taxes. If the Offer is a multiple load Offer, the Buyer's Credit must be checked to see that it will cover the cost for the entire shipment.

Clicking on the Submit Bid button generates a confirm Bid details dialogue box, shown in Figure 9N, offering the Buyer one last chance to review the Bid Details before submitting them. Click OK to proceed with the Bid or Cancel to return to the Bid Creation page to revise the Bid particulars.

Bidding Rules

^■ An Offer must be sold in the currency in which it was made.

^■ A mill's bar coding and taφing charges appear on the Make a Bid page. With this information available, a Buyer can determine how much this will cost for the load and can make an informed decision as to whether the shipment should be bar coded or tarped.

" A Bid is active for 30 minutes whether or not the Buyer is logged on to The Wood

Products System. This means that a Seller can accept a Bid on an Offer even if the Buyer is not active on The Wood Products System. When the Buyer logs on next, a Notification and Audio Alarm message (if activated) of the sale will be delivered to the Buyer's home page.

ACCEPTED BID CONFIRMATION

The details of the Accepted Bid are provided on a details page, as shown in Figure 9O, in the same format as the Make a Bid page. The difference between the two is that the Accepted Bid Details page is static information only, and has a Monitor Bids button.

Accepted Bid Confirmation Action Objects

Clicking on the Monitor Bids button takes Traders to the Monitor Bids page where they may monitor the activities on all Bids they currently have against The

Wood Products System Offers. MONITOR BIDS

The Buying Trader's Monitor Bids page, as shown in Figure 9P, produces a summary of all valid Bids a Buyer has posted to The Wood Products System

The Monitor Bids page allows Buying Traders to accomplish the following tasks:

■ Monitor their Bids on Offers

■ View the details of a selected Offer

■ Clear N/A status Bids

■ Receive Notification when a Seller has accepted a Bid, via the Notification message box and Audio Alarm (if activated), and the status of a Bid changing from active to accepted

■ Receive Notification when a Seller responds to the Buyer's request for a change in shipment destination on a Sales Contract

If a Buyer deals in lumber, it will list all his Bids on Lumber Offers. If a Buyer deals in panel, it will list all his Bids on Panel Offers. If the Buyer deals in both lumber and panel, both will appear on the same table. These listings will be organized first by Lumber or Panel, and then by Buyer Account.

MONITOR BIDS TABLE

Pop-Up Help is available for every column heading in the table. Simply click on a column heading, such as "Offer #" to display Pop-Up Help. See Help for Buyers on page 178.

The information provided to Buying Traders at the Monitor Bids page is displayed in a table. The details displayed to the Buying Trader in the Monitor Bids table appear in columns. From left to right, the column headings include:

■ Offer #: Clicking on the Offer # will generate the Offer Details page.

■ Bid #: Clicking on the Bid # will generate the Bid Details page.

■ Asking Price: The Seller's Offer price. Bid Price: The price the Buyer Bid on the Offer.

Selected Lumber Bid Details in the following order:

Species

Thickness

Width

Length

Trim or Tally

Surface

Moisture ^■ Grade

Grade Stamped

Wrapping

Supplemental

Profile ^■ # of Loads

Transport

Bar Coding

Taφing

Ship Date Week Of ^■ Board Footage

Unit Size

Selected Panel Offer Details, in the following order:

Species

Thickness

Size

Grade

Profile

Supplemental

# of Loads

Transport

Bar Coding

Taφing ^■ Ship Date Week Of

^■ Square Footage

^■ Unit Size

■ Comments: Comments may be viewed by clicking on the cloud icon in this column.

^■ Bid Status: There are three possible Bid statuses:

1. An active Bid will be shown by the Bid Expiry Time in green.

2. An accepted Bid will be have the green A status.

3. A Bid that has timed out or been cancelled by the Seller or The Wood Products System will be given a red NA status. ^■ Clear Bid: By clicking in the checkbox on the far right column, then clicking on the (X) in the table heading, the selected Offers will be cleared from the Monitor Bids page. Active Bids will not have a checkbox so that they can not be cancelled. Bids made against the cancelled Offer will be voided, and Buying Traders' Currently Available Credit Limits will be incremented.

An Offer Details page is displayed in a second browser window when the

Offer # is clicked. To close the window, click on the (X) button at the top right comer of the page, or click on the Close button at the bottom of the page.

Figure 9Q is an example of a Lumber Offer Details page generated by clicking on an Offer #. A Bid Details page is displayed in a second browser window when the Bid # is clicked. To close the window, click on the (X) button at the top right comer of the page.

Figure 9R is an example of a Lumber Bid Details page generated by clicking on a Bid #.

OFFER EXPANSION TABLE

By clicking on the magnifying glass icon beside the Offer #, the Trader will produce an expanded view of original Offer details.

It provides the same details as the Bid Details in the Monitor Bids Table, with the addition of the Seller Name. The Selected Lumber Offer Details shown in the expanded table is:

Species

Thickness

Width

Length

Trim or Tally

Surface

Moisture

Grade ^■ Grade Stamped

Wrapping

Supplemental

Profile

# of Loads ^■ Transport

Bar Coding

Taφing

Ship Date Week Of

Board Footage ^■ Unit Size he Selected Panel Offer Details shown in the expanded table is:

Species

Thickness

Size

Grade

Profile

Supplemental

# of Loads

Transport

Bar Coding

Taφing

Ship Date Week Of

Square Footage

Unit Size If any of the Offer Details are different than the Bid Details, they will be highlighted in blue.

BUYER SALES CONTRACTS

When a Seller accepts a Bid on an Offer, a Sales Contract is generated and sent to the Buyer. The Buyer receives Notification of an accepted Bid in two ways:

1. The status of the Bid turns from the green Bid Expiry Time to a green A for Accepted in the Monitor Bids Table.

2. The Notification message box appears at the top of the Buyer's Monitor Bids page.

SALES CONTRACTS Figure 9S illustrates the Sales Contracts area of the Web site for a Buyer.

A Buyer has access to each individual Sales Contract (one for each load in a Multiple Load Offer, or just one for a single load Offer) or the Group Sales Contracts. The Sales Contracts are organized in a table under the following column headings: ^■ Sales Contract #: Group and individual

^■ Offer # associated with the Sales Contract

^■ Bid # associated with the Sales Contract

^■ Seller Name: the Account the Selling Trader selected at Make an Offer

^■ Buyer Name: the Account the Buying Trader selected at Search for an Offer, and where the shipment is being delivered

^■ Total Price per load

^■ Status of the Sales Contract

The possible statuses of a Sales Contract are:

^■ NV for Not Viewed by the Buyer

" V for Viewed by the Buyer ^■ CR for Change Request

^■ NA for Change Request Not Accepted

^■ A for Change Request Accepted

^■ INV for Invoiced

- CNCL for Cancelled

^■ R for reinstated when an Invoice is cancelled

GROUP SALES CONTRACT

Figure 9T illustrates a Group Sales Contract page.

In the left frame of the page, a Buyer can see the Sales Contract Group #, the individual SC #s, and the status of the individual Sales Contracts. Clicking on an individual Sales Contract # will generate the Sales Contract in the right frame of the page.

In the right frame of the page, is the Group Sales Contract information. At the top of the page, the Sales Contract Group #, the Date it was issued, the Seller Name, and the associated Offer and Bid #s appear. Clicking on the Offer # will open a new browser window and display the Offer Details page.

In the second table, the Transport Type selected on the Offer appears in the first column, then the Accepted Bid Details. Accepted Bid Lumber Details are displayed in the following order: Species, Thickness, Width, Length, Trim or Tally, Surface, Moisture, Grade, Grade Stamped, Wrapping, Supplemental, Profile, # of Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Taφing, Ship Date Week Of, Board Footage, and Unit Size.

Accepted Bid Panel Details are displayed in the following order: Species, Thickness, Size, Grade, Profile, Supplemental, # of Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Tarping, Ship Date Week Of, Square Footage, and Unit Size.

This column is followed by Approx. Quantity (Square Footage), Unit Size, and Ship Date Week Of columns. The third table on the Sales Contracts page provides the following information:

■ SC #: This column lists the Sales Contract #s for each load of the accepted Bid.

■ Buyer Name: The Buyer whose Bid was accepted appears here.

■ FOB Destination Price: The price submitted by the Buyer.

■ Sub-Total: The FOB Destination Price + the Bar Coding Charge (per MBF or MSF).

■ Extended Price: The Sub-total times the total MBF (or MSF) for the Offer. (MBF = Board Footage quantity divided by 1000. MSF = Square Footage quantity divided by 1000.)

^■ Approximate Total Price (Net of Taxes): The Extended Price + the Taφing Charge (per load).

^■ Requested Destination: If a Buying Trader wishes to submit a change request to the Seller to ship a load to an alternate destination, they would select another Buying Account from the selection list here.

^■ New FOB Destination Price: When a Buying Trader selects a new Buying Account, The Wood Products System recalculates the FOB Destination Price and shows it here.

^■ New Approximate Total Price (Net of Taxes): When a Buying Trader selects a new Buying Account, The Wood Products System recalculates the Approximate Total Price and shows it here.

^■ Status of the individual Sales Contracts

The possible statuses of a Sales Contract are:

^■ NV for Not Viewed by the Buyer

^■ V for Viewed by the Buyer

^■ CR for Change Request ^■ NA for Change Request Not Accepted

^■ A for Change Request Accepted

^■ INV for Invoiced

• CNCL for Cancelled

^■ R for reinstated when an Invoice is cancelled

INDIVIDUAL BUYER'S SALES CONTRACTS

Selecting one of the SC #'s from the left frame of the page, will generate a single Sales Contract, as shown in Figure 9U.

A Buyer can specify a Purchase Order Number (PO #) on the Sales Contract which will be carried forward to the Invoice, as shown by the detail in Figure 9V.

In the Buyer's PO # field (upper left comer of the Sales Contract), type the PO #. A diskette icon appears prompting you to save the PO #, as shown in Figure 9W. Click the diskette icon to save the PO #. If changes are needed for any reason, these steps may be repeated. Note: A PO # can be added to any Sales Contract, except for ones that have been cancelled or are undergoing a Change Request.

The Seller will then receive a Notification specifying that a Buyer PO # is included on the Sales Contract.

An individual Buyer's Sales Contract is shown in Figure 9X. The information included on the Buyer's Sales Contract includes the following information:

At the top of the page:

^■ The Sales Contract #

^■ The Date the Sales Contract was Issued. If an Amended Sales Contract is issued, the Date Issued will reflect the date the Amended Sales Contract was issued, which is when the

Seller accepts a Change Request from a Buyer.

- Offer # ^■ Bid #

■ Seller's PO # (if entered by Seller)

■ Buyer's PO # (if entered by Buyer)

In the first table, the following information is provided: ^■ Sold By Information

^■ Selling Company Name, Account and Address

■ Sold To Information

^■ Buyer Company Name, Account and Billing Address

^■ Ship and Consign To Information

^■ Buyer Company Name, Account and Shipping Address (Siding Address— Rail

Carrier & Spur, if needed — is built into shipping address to appear on the Sales Contract)

In the second table, the following information is provided:

^■ Details of the Lumber Shipment, organized into the following columns:

^■ Transport Type

^■ Accepted Bid Details. Lumber Details are displayed in the following order: Species, Thickness, Width, Length, Trim or Tally, Surface, Moisture, Grade, Grade Stamped, Wrapping, Supplemental, Profile, # of Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Taφing, Ship Date Week Of, Board Footage, and Unit Size. Panel Details are displayed in the following order: Species, Thickness, Size, Grade, Profile, Supplemental, # of Loads,

Transport, Bar Coding, Taφing, Ship Date Week Of, Square Footage, and Unit Size.

^■ Approx. Quantity (Board Footage or Square Footage)

^■ Unit Size (pieces/unit)

^■ Ship Date Week Of ■ Below this, appears the financial information:

■ Buyer Name (Buyer Account)

■ FOB Destination Price: The Buyer's Bid on the Offer, including the Freight.

■ Bar Coding, if applicable.

■ Extended Price: The Sub-total times the total MBF or MSF for the Offer. (MBF = Board Footage quantity divided by 1000. MSF = Square Footage quantity divided by 1000.)

■ Taφing, if applicable.

^■ Approximate Total Price, Net of Taxes: The Extended Price + the Taφing Charge

(per load).

■ Below this appears space for any comments made by the Buyer, Seller or both on the Offer and/or Bid.

■ A Close button at the bottom of the page will return the User to the Sales Contract Group page.

The Download button allows the Buyer to save the Sales Contract information (see Downloading instructions on page 90).

CHANGE REQUESTS

If a Buyer requests that a shipment of Lumber or Panel be delivered to an alternate location from the one in the Accepted Bid Details, they would request the change on their Group Sales Contract page, as shown in Figure 10A, and submit it to the Selling Trader for approval and acceptance.

A Seller receives Notification of a Change Request via a Notification message box at the top of the Monitor Offers page. The Seller will Accept or Reject a Change Request, and send their response back to the Buyer, who will receive Notification of this at the Monitor Bids page. By clicking on the Notification message box, the Buyer would be taken to the Sales Contract page. The new Sales Contract would have a red arrow next to the SC # identifying it as unviewed. If the Seller accepts a Change Request, an Amended Sales Contract is generated and sent to the Buyer to view. The only change request comment that is retained on the new amended Sales Contract is one input by the Seller when accepting the Change Request. The original Sales Contract # will have a -1 appended to it. The numeral appended will reflect how many times the Seller has accepted a change request to the same Offer. The status of the Sales Contract will be NV, reflecting that the Buyer has not yet viewed the Seller's response. The Buyer would then click on the Sales Contract # to generate the Amended

Sales Contract page. The recalculated prices will appear on the page.

If the Seller rejects a Change Request, the response is sent back to the Buyer, and no changes are made to the original Sales Contract. The status of the Sales Contract would be NA, reflecting that the Seller did not accept the Buyer's change request. The Buyer is not requested to view the Sales Contract again if the Seller rejects the change request.

Numbering of Sale Contracts

Sales Contract #s are generated by the system when a Selling Trader accepts a Bid on an Offer. The Sales Contract # "C99010002837" consists of the following: ^■ C for Sales Contract.

^■ 99 - A two-digit # denoting the year the Sales Contract is created.

^■ 01 - A two-digit # denoting the month the Sales Contract is created.

^■ 0002837 - A seven-digit identification #.

In the case of a Multiple Load Offer, however, an alpha character is appended to the Sales Contract #. For example, an Offer of 5 loads would generate Sales Contracts C99010002837A, C99010002837B, C99010002837C, C99010002837D, and C99010002837E.

Amended Sales Contracts are created when a Seller agrees to ship an order to an alternate destination, requested by the Buyer with a Change Request. The Sales Contract # is changed by appending a dash and a numeral to the end of the Sales Contract #. The Amended Sales Contract # would be C99010002837 -1, for example. Each time a Sales Contract is changed, the amended # is incremented by one. If a Sales Contract is changed 5 times, the final SC # would be C99010002837 -5. In the case of a change being made to one shipment of a Multiple Load Offer, the dash and numeral would be appended to the Sales Contract # as follows: C99010002837A-1.

REPORTS

BUYING REPORTS The Reports tab will be available only to those Members who have been given permission to generate and view reports. Reports are assigned on an Account-by- Account basis to all Buyer Members.

Buying Reports will allow Buying Traders and Supervisors to view historical information for all Bids, Sales Contracts, and Invoices related to transactions created by the Company's Traders on The Wood Products System.

The Buying Reports area of the Web site allows Buying Members to select a

Company (or all Companies), a Buying Account (or all Accounts), and a date range, from and to, for each specific type of report. Bids, Buying Sales Contracts, Credit

Usage, Buying Invoices, Credit Notes and Unpaid Buying Invoices categorize the types of reports available to Buying Members.

Selecting a Report Type then clicking the Refresh button will generate the requested report in the right frame of the page.

The Download button allows the Buyer to save the Report information (see Downloading instructions on page 90).

Bid Reports

Figure 10B shows a Bid Report for the Alamo Lumber Company's Alamo- Dallas Buying Account.

Bid Reports provide Buyer Members with the following information:

■ At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the selected date range are displayed. ^■ In a table displayed below that, the following information can be viewed:

^■ Bid Date & Time

■ Bid #: Clicking on the Bid # opens a second browser window with the selected Lumber Bid Details or Panel Bid Details page ^■ Product Information: Size (for Lumber: Thickness x Width x Length. For Panel:

Thickness x Size), Species, and Grade

^■ BF/SF: Board Footage or Square Footage quantities

^■ FOB Destination Price (This is the price submitted on the Bid by the Buying Trader)

^■ Total Price (FOB Mill Price x (BF or SF divided by 1000))x # of loads ^■ Total CDN Price (if applicable)

^■ Expiry time of the Bid, date and time

* The Trader name associated with the Bid

^■ The Bid Status: A for Accepted, NA for Not Accepted, or ACT for Active

Above the Status column is the Get Status Help link that when clicked on displays the following information, as shown in Figure IOC.

By clicking on one of the column headings, a Buyer is able to sort the table by the information contained in that column.

Sales Contract Reports

Figure 10 D shows a Sales Contracts Report for the Company's Buying Account.

Sales Contract Reports provide Buyer Members with the following information:

^■ In a table displayed below that, the following information can be viewed:

^■ Date & Time the Sales Contract was Issued

^■ Sales Contract #: Clicking on the SC # opens a second browser window with the selected Sales Contract Details page

^■ Seller Name: the Selling Account ^■ Product Information: Size (for Lumber: Thickness x Width x Length. For Panel:

Thickness x Size), Species, and Grade ^■ BF/SF: Board Footage or Square Footage quantities

^■ FOB Destination Price: The Bid Price submitted by the Buying Trader

^■ Total Price (FOB Mill Price x (BF or SF divided by 1000))

^■ Total CDN Price (if applicable)

^■ The Trader name associated with the Offer

^■ The Sales Contract Status: NV for Not Viewed by the Buyer V for Viewed by the Buyer CR for Change Request ^■ NA for Change Request Not Accepted

A for Change Request Accepted

INV for Invoiced

CNCL for Cancelled

R for reinstated when an Invoice is cancelled Above the Status column is the Get Status Help link that when clicked on displays the following information, as shown in Figure 10E.

^■ The Total Price reflects the amount of sales per Account.

^■ The Grand Total Price reflects the amount of sales for all Accounts included on the report.

Figure 10F shows a SC History table, generated when a Buyer clicks on the INV status code for Sales Contract # C99040000159A.

Credit Usage Reports

Credit Usage Reports provide Buyer Members with the following information, as shown in Figure 10G.

^■ At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the selected date range are displayed. In a table displayed below that, the following information can be viewed:

^■ Date and Time the Buyer's Credit was accessed

■ #: This refers to the Transaction type, defined in the next column. If the transaction is a Bid, it will be the Bid #. If the Transaction is an Offer, it will be the Offer #. If the transaction is a Sales Contract, it will be the SC #.

^■ Transaction: The transactions reported are:

Updated Account Credit Limit

Updated Credit Limit

Created Lumber Bid ^■ Created Panel Bid

Destination Change Requests for SC

Change Destination Approved for SC

Changed Destination Rejected for SC

Invoice Created ^■ Bid Cancelled

Bid Expired

Change Credit Sharing

Change Credit Source

^■ Debit: the Amount debited from the Credit Amount ^■ Credit: the Amount credited to the Credit Amount

^■ US Notional: Converts credit usage from $CDN to $US in total

^■ Credit Used

Invoice Reports

Figure 10H shows an Invoice Report for the Company's Buying Account.

Invoice Reports provide Buyer Members with the following information:

^■ In a table displayed below, the following information can be viewed: Date & Time the Invoice was Issued

Invoice #: Clicking on the Invoice # opens a second browser window with the selected Invoice Details page Seller Name (or Seller Account name)

Product Information: Size (for Lumber: Thickness x Width x Length. For Panel: Thickness x Size), Species, and Grade BF/SF: Board Footage or Square Footage quantities FOB Destination Price (the Bid Price submitted by the Buying Trader) Total Price (FOB Destination Price x (BF or SF divided by 1000)) Total CDN Price (if applicable) The Trader name associated with the Offer The Invoice Status

The Total Price reflects the amount of sales per Account.

The Grand Total Price reflects the amount of sales for all Accounts included in the report.

Credit Notes Reports

A Credit Note is issued to a Buyer when a The Wood Products System Administrator cancels an Invoice.

The information provided on the Credit Note is the same as its associated Buying Invoice. The cost details, however, will have the letters CR appended to them.

Figure 101 shows a Credit Notes Report for the Company's Buying Account.

Credit Notes Reports provide Buyer Members with the following information:

^■ In a table displayed below, the following information can be viewed:

^■ Cancelled Invoice # ^■ Cancelled Invoice Date

^■ Credit Note #

^■ Credit Note Date ^■ Seller

^■ Buyer

^■ Re-Issued Invoice #

^■ Re-Issued Invoice Date & Time ^■ Re-Issued Invoice Status

Unpaid Buying Invoices Reports

Unpaid Buying Invoices Reports provide the The Wood Products System Administrator with the following information, as shown in Figure 10J.

^■ At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the date are displayed.

^■ In a table displayed below that, the following information can be viewed:

Date & Time Issued

Invoice #: Clicking on the Invoice # opens a second browser window with the selected Invoice page

Seller Name

Product Information: Size (for Lumber: Thickness x Width x Length. For Panel:

Thickness x Size), Species, and Grade

BF/SF: Board Footage or Square Footage quantities ^■ FOB Destination Price (This is the price submitted on the Bid by the Buying Trader)

Total Price (FOB Mill Price x (BF or SF divided by 1000))

Total CDN Price (if applicable)

The Trader name associated with the invoice

A Total Price and Grand Total Price are displayed at the bottom of the table. By selecting one of the column headings, the Wood Products System

Administrator is able to sort the table by the information contained in that column.

BUYER INVOICES

When a shipment has been shipped, the Seller Accountant will create the Seller Invoice and submit it to The Wood Products System. The Invoice is created from the final Sales Contract details. A Commercial Accounting application will generate the Buyer Invoice and deliver it to the Company's Billing Address.

The Buyer's Invoice is available on The Wood Products System through the Reports facility. A Buyer Member assigned to an Account would select the Reports tab in the Top Navigation Bar, then the Buying Reports option in the Lower Navigation Bar. By selecting a Company and an Account, then clicking on the Invoicing Report Type and Refresh, an Invoicing Report is generated in the right frame of the page, as shown in Figure 10L.

By selecting an individual Invoice #, the Buyer Invoice is generated.

THE BUYER INVOICE

The Invoice that is created for a Buyer will consist of static information only.

The Invoice page itself is divided into 6 areas. The first area, at the top of the Invoice page, includes the Invoice # (generated by The Wood Products System), Today's Date, the associated Offer, Bid, and Sales Contract #'s. The Seller's and Buyer's PO #'s are also provided (if applicable).

The second area of the Invoice is a table that provides the following information:

^■ Sold By Information

■ Selling Company Name, Account and Address

^■ Sold To Information

^■ Buyer Company Name, Account and Billing Address

^■ Ship and Consign To Information

^■ Buyer Company Name, Account and Shipping Address (Siding Address — Rail Carrier & Spur, if needed— is built into shipping address to appear on the Sales

Contract)

The third area of the Invoice is a table with details of the Shipment, organized into the following columns:

■ Transport Type ^■ # of Loads- this will indicate the total number of loads in the Bid, not the loads being shipped for this invoice.

■ Accepted Bid Details. Lumber Details are displayed in the following order: Species, Thickness, Width, Length, Trim or Tally, Surface, Moisture, Grade, Grade Stamped, Wrapping, Supplemental, Profile, # of Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Tarping, Ship Date

Week Of, Board Footage, and Unit Size. Panel Details are displayed in the following order: Species, Thickness, Size, Grade, Profile, Supplemental, # of Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Taφing, Ship Date Week Of, Square Footage, and Unit Size.

■ Quantity (Board Footage or Square Footage): The actual amount that has been loaded on the truck or rail car.

^■ Buyer Name (Buyer Account)

^■ FOB Destination Price

^■ Number of Pieces

The final Shipping information appears in the fifth area of the Invoice page. This information includes:

^■ Bill of Lading #

^■ Actual Ship Date

^■ Routing

^■ Car #, if Rail

^■ Contact Name for the Shipper

^■ Phone # for the Shipper

The sixth area contains the cost breakdown of the shipment. These costs include: ■ Cost of Goods: Unit Price times Total MBF or MSF divided by 1000, rounded to 2 decimals (including shipping and handling).

■ Freight Charge: Total MBF or MSF x Freight Rate divided by 1000, rounded to 2 decimals.

■ Bar Coding Charge: Bar Coding Rate times Total MBF or MSF, rounded to 2 decimals.

■ Taφing Charge: Tarping Rate per load.

■ Sub-Total: The sum of Cost of Goods (including Freight) + Bar Coding + Taφing.

■ Taxes: any applicable taxes

■ Gross Total: The sum of the Sub-Total + Taxes, rounded to 2 decimals.

^■ Discount: Less (the Cost of Goods less — Total Freight) times (the Discount Rate divided by 100), rounded to 2 decimals.

■ Net Total: The Gross Total minus the discount.

BUYER LOG OFF

To log off of The Wood Products System, a Buyer should click on the Log Off option on the Bottom Navigation Bar. Before being able to log Off of The Wood Products System, a Buyer will be transferred to the Exit The Wood Products System page, as shown in Figure 10M.

Buying Traders are informed if they have any outstanding Bids at the time of

Log Off, and that they will remain active on The Wood Products System for the 30- minute life of a Bid. This means that a Seller may accept a Bid on an Offer even if the Buying Trader is logged off of The Wood Products System. They are also notified if there is an unviewed or cancelled Sales Contract or Invoice.

If a Buyer does not deal with outstanding Sales Contracts before logging off, upon logging on the next time, the Buyer will again be reminded to view them. The Wood Products System sends a message to the Buyer via the Notification Alert message box at the top of the Buyer's Home page. If the Notification Alert message box is present when the Buyer logs on, the Buyer should immediately read it. Clicking on the message box will generate the Notifications page, as shown in Figure ION.

By selecting a Message ID #, the Buying Trader may view the messages sent from The Wood Products System, as shown in Figure 10O.

If, at the end of the second business day the Buyer has not viewed a Sales

Contract, an Exception Notice will be sent to the Buyer's Supervisor (or Member

Administrator. This is determined at registration.). If at the end of the third business day, or 72 hours from the time it was generated, the Sales Contract is still unviewed, a Notification will be sent to The Wood Products System for appropriate action.

Buyer Log Off Actions VIEW SALES CONTRACTS

Buyers are informed if they have any unviewed Sales Contracts, and are encouraged to go back to their Sales Contracts area of the Web site to administer them before logging off. Once the task has been completed, the Buyer would select the Log Off button in the Bottom Navigation Bar again, or the Log Off button at the bottom of the Exit The Wood Products System page, and proceed with the Exit The Wood Products System procedure.

LOG OFF If a Buyer does not wish to view any outstanding Sales Contracts, s/he may select the Log Off button to exit The Wood Products System.

HELP FOR BUYERS

Help is available to Buyers from the field names on the Search Lumber Offers and the Search Panel Offers forms. SEARCH FOR LUMBER OFFERS POP-UP HELP

BUYER ACCOUNTS

An Account represents a delivery location.

A Buyer may purchase multiple loads of lumber for one location, and subsequently request a change of shipment destination per Sales Contract. For example: Central Purchasing Bids on 10 loads of lumber for one destination. It is accepted by the Seller and a Sales Contract is generated. Central

Purchasing may then request that each load be delivered to a different location, by selecting a different Buying Account, from the list of all the Company's Buying Accounts, available on the Sales Contract.

Note that FOB Delivered prices will change based on the Freight Rates to each Buying Location.

If your Company has a delivery location that does not appear in this list, contact the The Wood Products System Administrator to request a new Account be created for this location.

This is a mandatory field.

GRADE

Select the Grade of lumber you are interested in purchasing.

This is a mandatory field. Short forms are used for some of the Grade list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Grade list items. (See Grade list items on page 132).

LENGTH

Select the Length of lumber, in feet and inches or "R/L" for Random Lengths, you are interested in purchasing.

If "R/L" is selected, you will be prevented from selecting a "Trim" value. This is a mandatory field.

MOISTURE

Select the Moisture content of the lumber you are interested in purchasing. This is a mandatory field.

Short forms are used for some of the Moisture list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Moisture list items. (See Moisture list items on page 132). NAME AND SAVE A TEMPLATE

Buyers may choose to save a search form as a Template to use over again. If, for example, you consistently purchase 2x4, R/L, SYP,#3 lumber, you can create this search, save it as a Template, then retrieve it repeatedly to re-submit as a new search. The Buyer Account names and Seller Names are not saved in a Template.

You will need to select these items each time you call up a Template before submitting the search. Offer #'s are also not saved in a Template.

PROFILE

Select the Profile characteristics of the manufactured lumber you are interested in purchasing.

This is not a mandatory field.

If there are any manufactured products not listed here that you are interested in purchasing, please contact The Wood Products System.

Short forms are used for some of the Profile list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Profile list items. (See Profile list items on page 136).

SELECT A TEMPLATE

This list displays the names of search Templates you have previously created and saved. Select one, by clicking on a Template name with your mouse, then releasing it. If you want to view the details of your Templates before selecting one, once one is highlighted, use the arrow key on your keyboard to travel down the Template list one at a time. As you stop on a Template name, the details of the Template will display on the form. SELLER NAME

Seller Name Input allows you the option of seeing specific Sellers' Offers, or All Sellers Offers.

The names of Sellers that appear in this list are all the Mills who are Members of The Wood Products System who have Freight Rates to your destination locations.

You may select as many Seller Names as you like before submitting your search. To select more than one Seller Name, use your mouse to point and click on one Seller Name. Hold down your CTRL key, and select as many other Seller Names as you like. When you have selected as many as you wish, release your CTRL key and Submit the search.

The Wood Products System recommends you choose All Sellers to see the maximum amount of Offers currently on the market.

This is a mandatory field.

Tip: At the search results table, Seller Name is one of the column headings. Clicking on a Seller Name will display a Profile page for the Seller. Also, information about any Seller Member on The Wood Products System can be found at the Members Directory area.

SPECIES

Select the Species of lumber you are interested in purchasing. This is a mandatory field.

Short forms are used for some of the Species list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Species list items. (See Species list items on page 130).

SUPPLEMENTAL If appropriate, select the Supplemental characteristic for the lumber in this search. This is not a mandatory field.

If there are manufactured products not included in this list that you are interested in purchasing, please contact The Wood Products System.

Short forms are used for some of the Supplemental list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Supplemental list items. (See Supplemental list items on page 135).

SURFACE

Select the Surface finish for the lumber you are interested in purchasing. This is a mandatory field. Short forms are used for some of the Surface list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Surface list items.

THICKNESS

Select the Thickness, in inches, of the lumber you are interested in purchasing. This is a mandatory field.

TRIM

Select the appropriate Trim length of the lumber you are interested in purchasing.

If "R/L" was selected in the "Length" field, you will be prevented from selecting a "Trim" value.

If a Length other than "R/L" is selected, this field is mandatory.

If you select a specific PET Trim length, you will be shown Offers submitted by Sellers with this specific PET Trim length plus those Offers submitted by Sellers with the PET TBA Trim value. WIDTH

Select the Width, in inches, of the lumber you are interested in purchasing. This is a mandatory field.

SEARCH FOR PANEL OFFERS POP-UP HELP

BUYER ACCOUNTS An Account represents a delivery location. A Buyer may purchase multiple loads of panel for one location, and subsequently request a change of shipment destination per Sales Contract.

For example: Central Purchasing Bids on 10 loads of panel for one destination. It is accepted by the Seller and a Sales Contract is generated. Central Purchasing may then request that each load be delivered to a different location, by selecting a different Buying Account, from the list of all the Company's Buying

Accounts, available on the Sales Contract.

Note that FOB Delivered prices will change based on the Freight Rates to each Buying Location. If your Company has a delivery location that does not appear in this list, contact the The Wood Products System Administrator to request a new Account be created for this location.

This is a mandatory field.

GRADE Select the Grade of the panel you are interested in purchasing.

This is a mandatory field.

Short forms are used for some of the Grade list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Grade list items. (See Grade list items on page 148). NAME AND SAVE A TEMPLATE

Buyers may choose to save a search form as a Template to use over again. If, for example, you consistently purchase 1/2", 4x12, Pine panel, you can create this search, save it as a Template, then retrieve it repeatedly to re-submit as a new search.

The Buyer Account names and Seller Names are not saved in a Template. You will need to select these items each time you call up a Template before submitting the search. Offer #'s are also not saved in a Template.

It is suggested that you name your Templates in a way that you can instantly recognize them. There is a maximum of 20 characters, including spaces, you may use to name any Template. You may not use the following characters in a Template name: single quotes double quotes " commas , semi-colons ; colons : periods

PROFILE

Select the Profile characteristics of the manufactured panel you are interested in purchasing.

This is a mandatory field. If there are manufactured products not listed here that you are interested in purchasing, please contact The Wood Products System.

Short forms are used for some of the Profile list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Profile list items. (See Profile list items on page 149). SELECT A TEMPLATE

This list displays the names of search Templates you have previously created and saved. Select one, by clicking on a Template name with your mouse, then releasing it.

SELLER NAME

The Wood Products System recommends you choose All Sellers to see the maximum amount of Offers currently on the market. This is a mandatory field.

Tip: At the search results table, Seller Name is one of the column headings. Clicking on a Seller Name will display a Profile page for the Seller. Also, information about any Seller Member on The Wood Products System can be found at the Members Directory area. SIZE

Select the length and width, in feet, of the panel you are interested in purchasing.

This is a mandatory field.

SPECIES Select the Species of panel you are interested in purchasing.

This is a mandatory field.

Short forms are used for some of the Species list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Species list items. (See Species list items on page 148). SUPPLEMENTAL

If appropriate, select the Supplemental characteristic for the panel in this search.

This is not a mandatory field.

Short forms are used for some of the Supplemental list items. Below is a comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Supplemental list items. (See Supplemental list items on page 150).

THICKNESS Select the Thickness, in inches, of the panel you are interested in purchasing.

This is a mandatory field. MONITOR BIDS POP-UP HELP

OFFER #

■ "O" for Offer

■ "99" . A two-digit number denoting the year the Offer is submitted.

■ "05" - A two-digit number denoting the month the Offer is submitted.

■ "0009837" - A seven-digit identification number. An Offer remains active while the trader is logged on to The Wood Products

System and on hold when the trader is logged off. It stays in the system up to 7 business days after creation unless cancelled or sold. Click the Offer # to view the Offer details.

BlD # Bid #'s are generated by the system when a Buying Trader submits a Bid on an Offer. The Bid number "B99050009837" consists of the following:

^■ "B" for Bid

■ "99" - A two-digit number denoting the year the Offer is submitted

■ "05" - A two-digit number denoting the month the Offer is submitted ^■ "0009837" - A seven-digit identification number

Click the Bid # to view the Bid details.

ASKING PRICE

The Seller's FOB Destination Price as entered when the Offer was created. BID PRICE The FOB Destination Price entered by the Buyer as the Bid Price.

BID DETAILS (LUMBER)

Bid Details include the following information (listed in the order they appear):

■ Species ^■ Thickness x Width

^■ Length [Random Length (R/L) or Feet and Inches] Trim or Tally - If you have selected R/L, the tally appears; if you selected a length other than R/L, the trim appears

Surface

Moisture

Grade

Grade Stamped (GS for Grade Stamped, NGS for Not Grade Stamped)

Wrapping (P/W for Paper Wrapped, PUTT for Poly Under Top Tier, or Open)

Supplemental (since this is not a mandatory field, it may be empty)

Profile (since this is not a mandatory field, it may be empty) ^■ # of loads

Transport Mode

Bar Coded (BC for Bar Coding Available or NBC for Bar Coding Not Available)

Tarped (T for Tarping Available or NT for Taφing Not Available)

Board Footage Unit Size

BID DETAILS (PANEL)

Species

Thickness x Width

Length [Random Length (R/L) or Feet and Inches]

Surface

Moisture

Grade

Grade Stamped (GS for Grade Stamped, NGS for Not Grade Stamped) ^■ Wrapping (P/W for Paper Wrapped, PUTT for Poly Under Top Tier, or Open)

Supplemental (since this is not a mandatory field, it may be empty)

Profile (since this is not a mandatory field, it may be empty)

# of loads

Transport Mode ■ Bar Coded (BC for Bar Coding Available or NBC for Bar Coding Not Available)

■ Tarped (T for Tarping Available or NT for Tarping Not Available)

■ Ship Date Week Of- Ship Dates are always listed as the Monday of the selected week. ^■ Board Footage

^■ Unit Size

COMMENTS

If a comment is included with the Bid, a cloud icon will appear in this column. Clicking on the icon will display the comment in a message box. BID STATUS

The status of a Bid can be:

A The Seller accepted your Bid on the Offer.

Your Bid is still active on the system, as Active indicated by the presence of the Bid expiry time (e.g., 13:42).

Your Bid was not accepted by the Seller, . cancelled by the Seller or The Wood

Products System, or timed out (after 30 minutes or at the end of the trading day).

ADMINISTRATION

USER ADMINISTRATION

Creating A The Wood Products System User

The Wood Products System Users are created to allow them access to perform various functions on The Wood Products System. All The Wood Products

System Users are given Company level access to The Wood Products System Members.

To create a new The Wood Products System User, the Wood Products

System Administrator clicks on the Administration tab on the Lower Navigation Bar, under Operations to obtain the display shown in Figure 11 A.

Click on the Create New The Wood Products System User button in the left frame, and a new user form will be produced on the right, as shown in Figure 1 IB. The new user form is separated into two areas: Personal and User Roles.

PERSONAL

The fields for Personal information are as follows: First Name*

Title

Telephone*

E-mail — If e-mail address is entered, The Wood Products System Operations Users can send an e-mail to Users that they have access to via the User Information page.

Log On Name* (no longer than 20 characters in length)

^■ Last Name*

Salutation

Fax

Middle Initial

Audio Notification (checkbox)

^■ Mail Notification (checkbox)

Pager Notification (checkbox)

indicates mandatory fields

USER ROLES

In the User Roles table, the following roles are given: ^■ The Company/ Account designates The Wood Products System to indicate that this is a The Wood Products System User.

^■ Admin Manage Credit

Trader (not applicable to a The Wood Products System User)

Supervisor (not applicable to a The Wood Products System User)

Accountant

Freight Book

Reports

The Wood Products System Trends

The Wood Products System Administrator must select the appropriate roles for the new The Wood Products System™ User, and click inside the checkbox to choose the roles. If the new User is assigned either the Wood Products System

Administrator or Credit Manager roles, the Master Key must be entered into the appropriate field.

If the Wood Products System Administrator tries to submit the form without selecting a value in one of the mandatory fields, an error message will instruct them of the field that is missing a value, and upon selecting OK, will be taken directly to the field, as shown, for example, in Figure 6P.

Once the information is complete, click the Add button, which takes the Wood Products System Administrator to the User form. The new User can be updated (by entering the new information) or activated from by clicking the respective buttons. At any given time, clicking on a User name in the right frame will transfer the

Wood Products System Administrator to that User's Information page, as shown in Figure 1 IC.

If e-mail is entered, a yellow envelope will appear to the right of the e-mail field. By clicking on the envelope, an e-mail message can be sent to that User using the form shown in Figure 1 ID. User Status

At any given time, a Wood Products System User will fall under one of the following four statuses (which are indicated next to the Wood Products System User's name): » Frartl f«*f , Branόor><fQ.

^■ New — A User with (N) beside their name has not yet been activated by the Wood Products System or Member Administrator

^■ Active — A User with no status reference beside their name is an active User on The Wood Products System

^■ Locked — A User with (L) beside their name has entered an incorrect password at least 3 times, and is considered locked out of The Wood Products System. The Wood Products System or Member Administrator has to reset the User's password in order for the User to regain access to The Wood Products System

^■ Suspended — A User with (S) beside their name has been temporarily suspended from accessing The Wood Products System

^■ Deleted — The name of a User who has been deactivated, or deleted form The Wood Products System will not appear in the list of User names. However, the Wood Products System Administrator will have a record of the User's activities

Suspending and Deleting a The Wood Products System User In the left frame of the Wood Products System Administration page, choose the User that will be suspended. Once the User page is displayed, click on the

Suspend button, which will bring up a Suspend User page, as shown in Figure HE.

This page displays an input text box where the Wood Products System Administrator must enter the reason for suspending the User. After a reason is entered, click on either the Confirm or the Cancel button.

If no reason is given, an error message will be displayed to inform the Wood

Products System Administrator that a reason must be given. If suspended, a User will then appear with an (S) beside their name, and the User page now has a Delete button rather than a Suspend button, as shown in Figure 1 IF. Also under the buttons appears the reason why the User has been suspended.

Users who have been suspended for twenty-four hours may be deleted from the system. If there is an attempt to delete a User before this time, an error message will appear, as shown in Figure 11 G.

The deletion process is the same as the suspension process. Once deleted, a User can no longer access the system, but all historical information created by the User will remain in the system and can be viewed by the Wood Products System Administrator in an Audit Report.

Resetting a The Wood Products System User Password

To reset a The Wood Products System User password, the Wood Products

System Administrator must only click on the Reset Password button on the Wood Products System User page. This resets the User's password to his or her Log On name, and as soon as they Log On they will be presented with the Password Expired page. The User must create a new password in order to be allowed access to the system.

Suspending and Deleting a Company, Account or Company User

Choose the Company, Account or Company User that is to be suspended from the alphabet chart under Administration. Then follow the instmctions given in

Suspending and Deleting a Wood Products System User on page 191.

Resetting a Company User's Password

To reset a Company User's password, the Wood Products System

Administrator must only click on the Reset Password button on the Company User page. This resets the User's password to his or her Log On name, and as soon as they Log On they will be presented with the Password Expired page. The User must create a new password in order to be allowed access to the system.

Accessing an Existing Company

There are two areas of The Wood Products System that allow those Users with Operations roles on the system to access and view Company information. Non- confidential and confidential information can be viewed via the Administration area, while non-confidential information can be viewed via the Members Directory area.

SELECT A COMPANY FROM ADMINISTRATION

From the Administration page, click the Go To Company List button and then select a letter of the alphabet in which the Company name begins. This will display all Companies beginning with this letter. The letter S display is shown in Figure 11H.

If the Short Name of a Company is selected, the Company page will appear where all of the Company's information can be accessed and/or changed. SELECT A COMPANY FROM THE MEMBERS DIRECTORY

In this area, Company information can only be viewed and not changed. To reach this area, click on Directory on the Top Navigation Bar, and Member directory in the Lower Navigation Bar. Choose a letter in the Alphabet Chart, and then choose the appropriate Company. This will display a static company page, where the Company information can be viewed.

NEW COMPANIES, ACCOUNTS, & MEMBER USERS

Creating a New Company

At the Administration page, click the Go To Company List button, then the Create New Company button below the Alphabet Chart, and a New Company page will be displayed, as shown in Figure 111.

The page is divided into two areas:

MAIN INFO

^■ Short Name*

^■ Legal Name*

ADDRESSES

^■ Location

^■ Address* ^■ City*

^■ State*

^■ Zip*

^■ Telephone* ^■ Fax

^■ E-mail

^■ Mailing/Billing (repeat of above Location fields)

* Indicates mandatory fields

If the Location Address is the same as the Mailing/Billing Address, there is an option to copy and paste the information from one section into the other. Just click on Copy from this section, and then click on Paste to this section in the appropriate areas.

► Copy from this section

► Paste to this section

When all mandatory information has been entered, click the Add button to add this company to The Wood Products System. If a mandatory field has been left empty, a message indicating which field must be filled in appears, as for example shown in Figure 6P.

The new information will appear on the Company page, with a series of buttons: Update, Profile, and Activate as shown in Figure 11J. The Company name appears in the left frame of the page, with the status (N) for New beside it.

The Credit area appears in the third frame to the right of the Company page.

The Wood Products System Credit Manager will be able to access this company record to assign its Credit information by clicking on the Add button under Credit.

Once the information is entered it will appear in the area below Credit, as shown in Figure UK.

The Contacts area appears below the Credit area. The Wood Products System Administrator or the Member Administrator may now add Contacts for the company by clicking on New under Contacts. Contacts is divided into two areas:

MAIN INFO ■ Main ^■ Direct Contact Details

^■ Assistant

ADDRESSES

^■ Location

^■ Mailing/Billing

■ Shipping

In order to add a new Contact, click on the Add button on the bottom of the Contacts Page. The Contacts' First name, Last name and Title/Position will appear under Contacts on the Company page. Each of these categories has subfields in them, which are displayed in Figure 1 IL and 1 IM.

The Contact can then be accessed by clicking on the Contact's name. The Company Profile page appears with two new buttons on the bottom of the page for either updating or deleting the Contact's information.

Creating a Company Profile Company Profile is not mandatory for any Member to provide on The Wood

Products System. Profile information can be provided for every level of a Company.

To create a Profile page, go to the appropriate Company page in Administration.

Select Profile at the bottom of the page, and the company Profile page will appear, as shown in Figure 1 IN. Once the information has been entered, the Company Profile can be viewed by Members and the Wood Products System Administrator in the Members

Directory, or by The Wood Products System Administrators in Administration.

Figure 110 is an example of Sierra Pacific Lumber Industries' Company Profile.

Creating a New Subsidiary Company On the Company page, click on the New button directly under the Related

Companies category. A New Company page will appear that is identical to the page that appeared when a New Company was added. See Creating a New Company. Click on the Add button and the new Subsidiary Company will appear in the left frame, below the Parent Company with an (N) next to its name, as shown in Figure I IP.

The Credit information, Profile and Contacts can be entered in the same way as the Company information was entered.

Creating a New Selling Account

Member Sellers must have at least one Selling Account to create an Offer on

The Wood Products System.

On the Company page under Administration, click on the NEW button under Selling Accounts. The New Selling Account information page will then appear, where all the relevant information must be entered, as shown in Figure 1 1Q.

The information form is divided into 3 areas, each with subheadings: ^■ Main Info

^■ General

Selling Account Name*

GST# — required for all Canadian mills

QST# — required for all Mills in Quebec

HST# — required for all Mills in the Maritimes ^■ Charges

Lumber Bar Coding — Canadian and US charges/load

Panel Bar Coding — Canadian and US charges/load

Lumber Taφing — Canadian and US charges/load

Panel Taφing — Canadian and US charges/load ^■ Transaction Fee Rate* — entered by the Wood Products System Credit Manager

^■ Other

^■ Trade Lumber — click the checkbox if Selling Account wishes to trade lumber

^■ Trade Panel — click the checkbox if Selling Account wishes to trade panel

^■ Payment Terms — the Seller payments terms is 1% 15 or Net 30. ^■ Addresses ^■ Location

Address*

City*

State*

Zip*

Telephone*

Fax

E-mail Mailing/Billing — same fields as Location

Bank Info

US Bank Info Bank Name Bank # Transit # ^■ Account #

^■ US Bank Address

Street City State ^■ Zip

Telephone Fax E-mail Contact Name ^■ Contact Telephone

^■ Canadian Bank Info — same fields as US Bank Info and Address * Indicates mandatory fields

Once all the information has been entered, as shown in Figure 11R, click on the Add button to include the Selling Account in The Wood Products System. If there are any empty mandatory fields, a message box will appear and show the empty field.

The Selling Account will then appear on the Selling Account page with an (N) for New beside its name. By clicking the Activate button at the bottom of the page, the Selling Account will no longer have the (N) next to its name, and it will be activated. Also the buttons at the bottom of the page will change to Update, Profile and Suspend.

The Wood Products System Administrator may now do any or all of the following: ■ Change any of the Account information (with the exception of the Transaction Fee Rate) and click the Update button.

■ Create a Profile for the Selling Account by selecting the Profile button at the bottom of the page.

■ Create Contacts for the Selling Account by selecting the NEW button under Contacts to the right.

■ Note: The Member Administrator for this Company can do any of the above.

To select an existing Selling Account, click on the Account name under Selling Accounts in the left frame of the page.

Creating a New Buying Account Member Buyers must have at least one Buying Account to create a Bid on

The Wood Products System.

On the Company page, click on the NEW button under Buying Accounts. The

New Buying Account information page will then appear, where all the relevant information must be entered. The information form is divided into 3 areas, each with subheadings:

^■ Main Info

^■ General

^■ Selling Account Name* GST# — required for all Canadian mills

QST# — required for all Mills in Quebec

HST# — required for all Mills in the Maritimes Hub Info

Major Hub*

Minor Hub*

Rail Carrier*

Siding/Spur

^■ Credit (entered by the The Wood Products System Credit Manager) ^■ Source

Credit Limit

Credit Used Transaction Fee (entered by the The Wood Products System Credit Manager)

Rate* ^■ Tax 1 — Select appropriate Tax names that must be applied to the fee on the invoice

Tax 2 — Select appropriate Tax names that must be applied to the fee on the invoice

Tax 3 — Select appropriate Tax names that must be applied to the fee on the invoice

^■ Other

^■ Trade Lumber — Click the checkbox if Buying Account wishes to trade lumber

^■ Trade Panel— Click the checkbox if Buying Account wishes to trade panel

^■ Payment Terms — The Buyer Payments Terms are 1% 10, Net 30, or any other terms set up by The Wood Products System Administrator

^■ Payment Process — ACH, EFT, or Wire ddresses

Location

^■ Address*

^■ City* State*

Zip*

Telephone*

Fax

E-mail

Mailing/Billing — same fields as Location Shipping — same fields as Location

Bank Info

^■ US Bank Info ^■ Bank Name

Bank # Transit #

Account #

^■ US Bank Address ■ Street

City

State

Zip

Telephone ^■ Fax

E-mail

Contact Name

Contact Telephone

^■ Canadian Bank Info — same fields as US Bank Info and Address indicates mandatory fields

Once all the information has been entered, click on the Add button to include the Selling Account in The Wood Products System. If there are any empty mandatory fields, a message box will appear and show the empty field. For example:

The Buying Account will then appear on the Buying Account page, as shown in Figure US, with an (N) for New beside its name. By clicking the Activate button at the bottom of the page, the Selling Account will no longer have the (N) next to its name, and it will be activated. Also the buttons at the bottom of the page will change to Update, Profile and Suspend. The Wood Products System Administrator may now do any or all of the following:

■ Change any of the Account information (with the exception of Credit Limit, Credit Source, and Transaction Fee Rates) and click the Update button.

■ Create a Profile for the Buying Account by selecting the Profile button at the bottom of the page.

■ Create Contacts for the Buying Account by selecting the NEW button under Contacts to the right.

■ Note: The Member Administrator for this Company may do any of the above.

To select an existing Buying Account, click on the Account name under Buying Accounts in the left frame of the page.

Creating Member Company Users

Select an existing Company name to display the Company page. Click the

New button under Company Users, and the New User page will appear, as shown in

Figure 11T. This page is divided into two areas:

^■ Personal

■ First Name*

^■ Title

^■ Telephone* ^■ E-mail — If e-mail address is entered, The Wood Products System Operations Users or Member Administrator can send an e-mail to Users that they have access to via the User information page.

^■ Log On Name*

■ Last Name* ^■ Salutation

^■ Fax

^■ Middle Initial

^■ Audio Notification (checkbox)

^■ Mail Notification (checkbox)

^■ Pager Notification (checkbox) * Indicates mandatory fields

User Roles (mark appropriate checkboxes)

The Company/Account(s) options are provided ^■ Admin

Manage Credit Trader Supervisor Accountant ^■ Freight Book

Reports

The Wood Products System Trends Once information has been entered, click the Add button to include the User in The Wood Products System. If there is an empty field, a message box will appear, and indicate which field must be filled in.

When the information is properly entered, the User name will appear on the bottom of the left frame under Company Users, as shown in Figure 1 1U. The name will have an (N) next to it until the Company User is activated.

In order to activate a new Company User, click on the Company User name, and when the User page appears click the Activate button at the bottom of the page. Once activated, the new buttons that appear at the bottom of the page are Update, Suspend, and Reset Password.

If e-mail is entered, a yellow envelope will appear to the right of the e-mail field. By clicking on the envelope, an e-mail message can be sent to that User, using the form shown in Figure 1 ID, for example. CANCELING SALES CONTRACTS

The Wood Products System Administrator is the only one who is capable of canceling a Sales Contract. Under Operations, choose Cancel SCs on the Lower Navigation Bar to display the Cancel SCs page, as shown in Figure 1 IV. To view Sales Contracts to cancel, select the appropriate Company and

Account, and click the Refresh button to get a page such as that shown in Figure 11W.

Below the Refresh button, all Sales Contracts for which the company is either the Buyer or the Seller will be displayed. In order to cancel a SC, click on the checkbox next to the SC #, and then click on the (X) at the top of the column.

As soon as this is done, a page is displayed requesting the reason for the cancellation, shown in Figure 11X. After the reason is entered, click the Confirm button to Cancel the Sales Contract.

The User can view the Cancelled Sales Contract by clicking on the SC # on the left side of the table.

When a User views a Cancelled Sales Contract, it will have a CNCL in the Status column, which indicates that it has been cancelled. Also the word Cancelled is displayed in red at the top of each Cancelled Sales Contract, and the Cancellation Reason will appear at the bottom of the Cancelled Sales Contract.

THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM SETTINGS

The Wood Products System Administrator is responsible for setting certain System Parameters and Defaults. Selecting Operations on the Top Navigation Bar, and The Wood Products System Settings on the Lower Navigation Bar accesses them. The Wood Products System Settings area is divided into three sections:

General, Security, and Trading.

The System Settings in the General area are shown in Figure 12A and include: Canadian Exchange Rate — The Canadian Currency Exchange Rate will be input daily. Numbers must be greater than 0 and less than or equal to 10. and may use up to 4 decimal places. You cannot enter negative numbers, 0, symbols, or text.

Monitor Refresh Interval — The Monitor Offers page at the Seller Member area of The Wood Products System and the Monitor Bids page at the Buyer Member area need to be refreshed often to relay current trading information. The interval must be greater than or equal to 30 seconds. You cannot enter numbers greater than 43.200 seconds (12 hours). You cannot enter negative numbers, 0, symbols, text, or decimals.

The Wood Products System Trends Refresh Interval — The interval must be greater than or equal to 30 seconds. You cannot enter numbers greater than 43,200 seconds (12 hours).

You cannot enter negative numbers, 0, symbols, text, or decimals.

Session Timeout (Minutes) — This time setting determines the length of time, in minutes, a The Wood Products System or Company User may be logged onto the Wood Products System without performing an activity. If a User does not perform an action within this timeframe, they will be logged off. The interval must be greater than 0. You cannot enter numbers greater than 1440 minutes (24 hours). You cannot enter negative numbers, 0, symbols, text, or decimals.

The System Settings in the Security area are shown in Figure 12B and include: ^■ Password Expiry — The Wood Products System Administrator will set the number of days until all The Wood Products System Users^" passwords will expire. After this time. Users will be presented with the Password Expired page, where they must select new passwords. The amount entered must be less than 365 days. You cannot enter negative numbers, 0, symbols, text, or decimals.

^■ Password Minimum Length — The password minimum length must be more than 3 characters and less than 20 characters. You cannot enter negative numbers, 0, symbols, text, or decimals.

^■ Password Maximum Length — The password maximum length must be more than 20 characters and less than 40 characters. You cannot enter negative numbers, 0, symbols, text, or decimals.

-202 ^■ Login Fail Tolerance — This setting determines how many times Users may log on to The Wood Products System with an incorrect password before they will be locked out. Once locked out, they must call the Wood Products System Administrator or their Member Administrator to unlock and reactivate them. This number must be greater than 0 and less than 1 ,000. You cannot enter negative numbers, 0, symbols, text, or decimals.

■ Suspension Period Before Deletion (Hours) — This time setting determines how long, in hours, a Company, Account, or User must be suspended before they may be deleted from The Wood Products System. This number must be equal to or greater than 24 hours. It must be less than 8,760 hours (365 days). You cannot enter negative numbers, 0, symbols, text, or decimals.

The System Settings in the Trading area are shown in Figure 12C and include:

^■ Bid Expiry Time — A Buying Trader's Bids against a Selling Trader's Offers will expire after this amount of time. This setting must be greater than 0, and less than 1 ,440 minutes (24 hours). You cannot enter negative numbers, 0, symbols, text, or decimals.

^■ Offer Expiry Days — A Selling Trader's Offer will expire after this amount of time. This setting must be greater than 0 and less than 365 days. You cannot enter negative numbers, 0, symbols, text, or decimals.

^■ Start Trading Hour — The hour that trading commences on The Wood Products System in the Chicago time zone. You may not enter a number less than 0:00 or greater than 24:00

(hours). You may enter hours and minutes, but the minutes must be less than :60. You cannot enter negative numbers, symbols, text, or decimals.

^■ End Trading Hour — the hour that trading ceases on The Wood Products System in the Chicago time zone. After this time, and before the Start Closing Hour, Members may access The Wood Products System to generate and view reports. You may not enter a number less than 0:00 or greater than 24:00. You may enter hours and minutes, but the minutes must be less than :60. You cannot enter negative numbers, symbols, text, or decimals.

^■ Start Closing Hour — The Wood Products System will stop all Member activities at this time by logging them off the system. The Wood Products System closing will not affect the security or integrity of a transaction. You may not enter a number less than 0:00 or greater than 24:00. You may enter hours and minutes, but the minutes must be less than :60. You cannot enter negative numbers, symbols, text, or decimals.

■ End Closing Hour — The Wood Products System will begin Member activities, except trading, at this time. You may not enter a number less than 0:00 or greater than 24:00.

You may enter hours and minutes, but the minutes must be less than :60. You cannot enter negative numbers, symbols, text, or decimals.

^■ Minimum Bid (Fraction of FOB Destination) (%) — a Buying Trader must input a Bid that is this percentage of the FOB Destination Price for an Offer. This number must be greater than 0 and less than or equal to 100. You cannot enter negative numbers, 0. symbols, or text.

You may enter a number up to 2 decimal places.

^■ Acceptable Footage Variance (%) — the actual shipping board footage or square footage that a Seller Account inputs on an Invoice must not vary by this percentage from that of the original Offer. This number must be greater than 0 and less than or equal to 100. You cannot enter negative numbers. 0, symbols, or text. You may enter a number up to 2 decimal places.

^■ Stop Trading — the The Wood Products System Administrator may need to Stop Trading activities on the system in an emergency situation. The Stop Trading button would be clicked to stop trading on The Wood Products System.

The third column in each of these three areas is the Last Changed column.

This lets the Wood Products System Administrator know when a particular System Setting was last changed.

The Wood Products System Administrator may change these settings as often as desired. A System Audit Report will be generated which reports all System Setting changes that have occurred over a specified amount of time.

Any settings changed by the Administrator will be implemented immediatel) on the System. HOLIDAY SETTINGS

The Wood Products System Administrator is responsible for telling The Wood Products System what days are not available for trading. To access this, go to Holidays on the Lower Navigation Bar, under the Operations tab. When this options chosen, a calendar for the current year is displayed as shown in Figure 12D.

To update holidays for another year, use the arrow keys at the top of the page on either side of the current year to move forward or backward.

To mark a day as a non-trading day, simply click on the day on the calendar, then click the Update button at the bottom of the page. An input text box will appear, as shown in Figure 12E, requiring a reason for the update, and the Master Key Code.

When the reason and Master Key has been entered click Confirm to complete the process.

All holidays are shown by the fact that they appear in red. By default, The Wood Products System sets every Saturday and Sunday as non-trading days. IMPORT FREIGHT BOOK

Once a Member Company has uploaded a Freight Book into The Wood

Products System, the Wood Products System Administrator can then import the

Freight Book. Under Operations, select Import Freight Book on the Lower

Navigation Bar. A table will be displayed, like that shown in Figure 12F, that contains the following information:

^■ Uploaded By — name of the person who uploaded the Freight Book

^■ Filename

^■ Size — size of the file

^■ Date — date file was uploaded

■ Import

■ Delete To delete a file from The Wood Products System, click on the (X) under the Delete column in the appropriate row. A message box will then appear asking for verification of the deletion, as shown in Figure 12G. Click OK to delete, or Cancel to return to the Import Freight Book page. To import the Freight Book, click on the checkmark under the Import column in the appropriate row. A message box will then appear asking for verification of the import, as shown in Figure 12H. Click OK to import, or Cancel to return to the Import Freight Book page.

Once OK is clicked, The Wood Products System will begin importing the file. When the file is completely imported, the Import Confirmation page is displayed, shown in Figure 121. This page confirms the successful import of the file to The Wood Products System.

MAJOR AND MINOR HUBS

View Major/Minor Hubs To view Major/Minor Hubs, select Major/Minor Hubs on the Lower

Navigation Bar under Operations.

Then select the letter of the alphabet that the Major Hubs' name begins with.

This will display a list of all Major Hubs beginning with that letter, as shown for the letter H in Figure 12J. The columns that are presented are the Name of the Major Hub and the State. In any Hubs listings, US States are listed first followed by Canadian Provinces.

By selecting the name of a Major Hub, a new alphabet chart will be displayed that shows the associated Minor Hubs. At this point, the Major Hub can be edited and updated, as shown in Figure 12K, by making the changes and selecting update. By selecting the letter of a Minor Hub, a list of all Minor Hubs beginning with that letter will appear with its Name and State. Clicking on the name of a Minor Hub will display that Minor Hub, which can also be edited and updated, as shown in Figure 12L. Creating New Major Hubs

Select Major/Minor Hubs on the Lower Navigation Bar. and click on the

Create New Major Hub button. The Major Hubs page is displayed, with the Major Hub

State drop-down list, and a Major Hub Name input text box. as shown in Figure 12M. Input the new Major Hub name and State, then click on the Add button. The new Major Hub will be added to the Wood Products System Master Freight Book

Database.

Creating New Minor Hubs

Follow the View Major/Minor Hubs process so that the page in Figure 12N is available:

Select the Create New Minor Hub button to display a page that has a Minor Hub State drop-down list, and an input box for the new Minor Hub name, as shown in Figure 12O. Input the new State and name, and then click the Add button. The new Minor Hub will be added to the Wood Products System Master Freight Book Database.

PAYMENTS

Selecting Operations in the Top Navigation Bar and Payments in the Lower

Navigation Bar will display all active invoices in The Wood Products System. The

Payments page, such as shown in Figure 12P, allows the Wood Products System Administrator to update the active invoices, either to select the Paid or Written off columns in the appropriate rows.

At the Payments page, a table will be displayed with the following information:

^■ Invoice #

^■ Buyer Account Name

" Amount — amount of the invoice

^■ Currency— $US or $CDN

^■ Paid — if the invoice has been paid ■ Written Off — if the invoice has been written off

If the Buyer has paid the invoice, click on the checkbox in the Paid column. Then click on the Update button at the bottom of the page to update The Wood Products System. The updated invoice will be immediately removed from the Payments page, and the Buyer's Credit will be credited by the amount of the invoice.

If the invoice has been written off, click on the checkbox in the Written Off column. Then click on the Update button at the bottom of the page to update The Wood Products System. The updated invoice will be immediately removed from the Payments page, and the Buyer^'s Credit will be credited by the amount of the invoice.

REPORTS

Buying Reports

Buying Reports will allow the Wood Products System Administrator to view historical information for all Bids, Sales Contracts, and Invoices related to transactions created by a Member Company on The Wood Products System.

The Buying Reports area of the Web site allows the Wood Products System

Administrator to select a Company, a Buying Account (or all Accounts), and a date range, from and to, for each specific type of report. Bids, Buying Sales Contracts,

Credit Usage. Buying Invoices. Credit Notes, Unpaid Buying Invoices, and Written Off Buying Invoices categorize the types of reports available to the The Wood

Products System Administrator.

The Download button allows the Buyer to save the Invoice information (see Downloading instructions on page 90).

Written Off Buying Invoices is the only type of report that has not been described under Buying Reports.

WRITTEN OFF BUYING INVOICES REPORTS

Written Off Buying Invoices Reports provide the Wood Products System Administrator with the following information, as shown in Figure 12Q. At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the date range are displayed.

In a table displayed below that, the following information can be viewed:

Date Issued

Invoice #: Clicking on the Invoice # opens a second browser window with the selected Invoice page Seller Name

Product Information: Size (for Lumber: Thickness x Width x Length. For Panel: Thickness x Size). Species, and Grade BF/SF: Board Footage or Square Footage quantities

FOB Destination Price (This is the price submitted on the Bid by the Buying Trader) Total Price (FOB Mill Price x (BF or SF divided by 1000)) Total CDN Price (if applicable) The Trader name associated with the invoice The Invoice Status: written off A Total Price and Grand Total Price are displayed at the bottom of the table. By selecting one of the column headings, the Wood Products System Administrator is able to sort the table by the information contained in that column.

Selling Reports

Selling Reports will allow the Wood Products System Administrator to view historical information for all Offers, Sales Contracts, and Invoices related to transactions created by a Member Company on The Wood Products System.

The Selling Reports area of the Web site, as shown in Figure 12R, allows the

Wood Products System Administrator to select a Company, a Selling Account (or all

Accounts), and a date range, from and to. for each specific type of report. The types of reports available to Selling Members are categorized by Offers, Selling SCs,

Selling invoices, and Cancelled Invoices.

The Download button allows the Wood Products System Administrator to save the Report information (see Downloading instructions on page 90). The four types of Selling Reports are described under Selling Reports on page 94.

Freight Book Reports

Freight Book Reports will allow the Wood Products System Administrator to generate a report of each Member's Freight Rate editing history.

Under Reports on the Top Navigation Bar. select Freight Book Reports, and the Freight Book Reports page will appear, as shown in Figure 12S.

The Freight Book Reports area of the Web site allows the Wood Products

System Administrator to select a Company, a Selling Account (or all Accounts), and a date range, from and to, for each report.

Clicking the Refresh button will generate the requested report in the right frame of the page, as shown in Figure 12T.

The Download button allows the Wood Products System Administrator to save the Report information. " At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the date range are displayed.

^■ In a table displayed below that, the following information can be viewed:

^■ Major Hub

^■ Minor Hub — associated Minor Hubs " State/Province ^B Transportation Mode

^■ Rail Carrier

^■ Price

^■ Price CDN

^■ Date of the Update ^■ Freight Book Editor

The column headings of an Online Freight Charges Report may not be clicked to sort the data by category.

Audit Reports

Audit Reports will allow the Wood Products System Administrator to generate reports on the following topics: System Access Historv

Password Changes

Membership Permission Changes

System Settings Changes

Holiday Changes

Membership File Changes

Reconciliation

Transaction History

Credit Limit Changes

^■ Over Credit

Invoice Quantity Variance

Under Reports on the Top Navigation Bar. select Audit Reports, and the Audit Reports page will appear, as shown in Figure 12U.

The Audit Reports area of the Web site allows the Wood Products System Administrator to select a date range, from and to, for each report.

Selecting an Audit Type, and then clicking the Refresh button will generate the requested report in the right frame of the page.

The Download button allows the Wood Products System Administrator to save the Report information (see Downloading instructions on page 90). By selecting one of the column headings in any of the reports, the Wood

Products System Administrator is able to sort the table by the information contained in that column.

-91 9. ACCESS HISTORY REPORT

The Access Histoπ Report provides the Wood Products System Administrator with the following information, as shown in Figure 12V. ^β User Name • User's Company Name

• Date/Time the transaction occurred

• Transaction Type — Logged On, Logged Out, Failed to Log ON, or Logged Out by the System

PASSWORD CHANGES REPORT The Password Changes Report provides the Wood Products System

Administrator with the following information, as shown in Figure 12W.

^■ Changed By — who made the password change

^■ Company Name — Company of person who made change

^■ Affected User — whose password has been changed

^■ User's Company Name

^■ Transaction Date & Time — date and time the password change was made

^B Transaction Type — Reset Password, or Password Changed

PERMISSION CHANGES REPORT

The Permission Changes Report provides the Wood Products System Administrator with the following information, as shown in Figure 12X.

^■ Changed By — either a Member Administrator or The Wood Products System Administrator

" Company Name — Company of person who made change

^■ Date/Time the permission change was made ^■ Transaction l >pe — Which User Role or Permission was Granted or Revoked to a The Wood Products System oi Company User

^■ Affected User — The Wood Products System or Member User who was assigned or had removed the User Role or Permission

^■ Affected User's Company Name

SYSTEM SETTINGS CHANGES REPORT

The Settings Changes Report provides a Wood Products System Administrator with the following information, as shown in Figure 12Y.

^■ Changed By — this person will always have the Wood Products System Administrator role

* Date/Time that the setting was changed

^■ The actual System Setting changed

^■ Changed Fro — what the System Setting was changed from

^■ Changed To — what the System Setting was changed to

HOLIDAY CHANGES REPORT

The Holiday Changes Report provides a The Wood Products System Administrator with the following information, as shown in Figure 13 A.

^■ Changed By — this will always be the name of a The Wood Products System Administrator

^■ Date/Time — when the Holiday was added or deleted

^■ Day Changed — the holiday date that was added or deleted

^■ Transaction Type — they are. Holiday Added. Holidav Deleted. Weekend Trading Day Added, and Weekend Trading Day Deleted MEMBERSHIP FILE CHANGES REPORT

The Membership File Changes Report provides a The Wood Products System Administrator with the following information, as shown in Figure 13B.

■ Changed By — this person will always have the Wood Products System Administrator role

■ Account or User — name of the Member whose file was changed. This could be an Account or a User

^■ Company Name — company that has been accessed to make an update

^■ Date/Time that the file was changed

^■ Changed From — what the Member File was changed from

^■ Changed To — what the Member File was changed to

^■ Transaction Type — type of change made to the Member File

RECONCILIATION REPORT

The Reconciliation Report provides a daily total of all Invoices created by The Wood Products System and sent over to the Commercial Accounting System, as shown in Figure 13C. The Commercial Accounting will create their own

Reconciliation Report, and manually check that the two reports are the same, ensuring that the data they received is intact.

The information is grouped by currency, and is displayed in the following groupings:

^■ Cost of Goods and Charges

^■ Transaction Fee

^■ Transaction Fee Taxes, broken down by jurisdiction (state or province)

The Gross Total. Discount, and NET TOTAL amounts are calculated at the bottom of the Report. TRANSACTION HISTORY REPORT

The Transaction History Report pro\ ιdes a The Wood Products System Administrator with the following information, as shown in Figure 13D.

^■ Date & Time of the transaction

■ # — Offer #, Bid #. Sales Contract #, or Invoice

^■ Transaction Type — The states of a transaction that are tracked, the order in which they will happen, and the Web page they are linked to include:

*Note: If a Seller opens a Change Request and does not Accept or Reject it. the status will be reported as "Seller viewed SC^". ^■ Account Name ■ User Name

■ Company Name

In the left frame of the page, there is an input text box below Transaction History Report. To view the Transaction History of a specific transaction, enter an Offer #,

Bid #, Sales Contract #, or Invoice #. and click Refresh. The Transaction History will appear in the right frame of the page, as shown in Figure 13E.

CREDIT LIMIT CHANGES REPORT

The Credit Limit Changes Report provides a The Wood Products System Administrator with the following information, as shown in Figure 13F. Changed By — who changed the Credit Limit

Date/Time the Credit Limit changes were made

Credit Source — Company name

Shared — credit shared (yes/no)

Account Name

Credit Limit

Transaction Type — Change Credit Source, Change Credit Sharing, Updated Credit Limit, Updated Account Credit Limit, and Credit Added

A change in Credit information is identified in the table by bold letters. OVER LIMIT CREDIT REPORTS

The Over Limit Credit Report provides a The Wood Products ^"System Administrator with the following information, as shown in Figure 13G. ^■ User Name — Buying Trader for the associated transaction

^B User^'s Company Name ^■ Date/Time Company went over Available Credit

^■ Account Credit Source

^■ Account Credit Limit

^■ Credit Used By Account

^■ Amount Over

^■ Invoice #

INVOICE QUANTITY VARIANCE REPORT

The Invoice Quantity Variance Report provides a The Wood Products System Administrator with the following information, as shown in Figure 13H. ^■ User Name

^■ Company Name

^■ Buy Account Name

^■ Date/Time

" Invoice #

^■ Offered Quantity (BF/SF)

- Delivered Quantity (BF/SF)

^■ Percent Difference

^■ Transaction Type — they are: Footage less than allowable variance, and Footage more than allowable variance.

THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM TRENDS

The Wood Products System Trends is divided into three areas: ^■ Regions

■ Templates

^■ Market Data

Only a The Wood Products System Administrator is permitted to assign the Wood Products System Trends permission to a Member

Regions

CREATING THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM TRENDS REGIONS

A The Wood Products System Administrator will create Regions for The Wood Products System Members to use to generate market data. Click on Trends in the Top Navigation Bar, and Regions in the Lower

Navigation Bar, to get to the Regions page, as shown in Figure 131.

If there are any Regions already created, they will appear listed in the left frame of the page.

To create a new Region, click on the New button in the top of the left frame. A page is displayed to the right, with the following information, as shown in figure 13J.

^■ Name input text box — for the naming of new Regions or changing the names of existing regions

^■ Other Hubs — lists all Major Hubs in the The Wood Products System Freight Book Database, minus those in other Regions

^■ Region Hubs — The Wood Products System Administrator will move selected Major Hubs from the Other Hubs area to the Region Hubs area using the double arrow button (») to create a new Region

To add a new Region, enter the Region into the Name input text box, and then move the appropriate Major Hubs from Other Hubs into the Region Hubs column, as shown in Figure 13K.

When a Region is complete, click the Add button. The new Region appears highlighted in the Regions list in the left frame, and an Update and Delete button will appear at the bottom of the page, as shown in Figure 13L. VIEWING AN EXISTING THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM TRENDS REGION

To view an existing Region, click on the appropriate region in the left frame, and it will be displayed on the right, as shown in Figure 13M. It can then be updated or deleted. DELETING THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM TRENDS REGIONS

Select the Regions name form the list of Regions in the left frame to display its listings to the right. Select the Delete button, and the message box shown in Figure 13N will appear to allow confirmation for the deletion.

Click on OK to delete the Region, or click on Cancel to return to the Regions page.

When the Region is deleted, it is removed from all templates that refer to it. The User will then be informed via a Notification that the Region has been removed.

SPLITTING THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM TRENDS REGIONS

If a Major Hub has been assigned to a Region, the Wood Products System Administrator can move it into another Region, or into a new Region. In order to split Regions, the Major Hub must be removed from the current Region it is in, and assigned to another Region.

Select the appropriate Region in the left frame of the Regions page, and then click the double arrow button («) to move the Region from the Region Hubs list to the Other Hubs list, as shown in Figure 13O.

The Major Hub may now be assigned to an existing Region, or to a new Region.

Templates

Click on the Trends™ tab in the Top Navigation Bar, and the Templates item in the Lower Navigation Bar to display the Templates main page.

Click on the NEW button under Templates in the left frame of the page, so that a new template will appear, as shown in Figure 13P.

Under the Region column heading in the right frame of the page, select the region for which you want to generate market data. These Regions are those created by the Wood Products System Administrator. When a Region is selected, the default Template selections appear for each of the categories. Figure 13Q illustrates the default selections for Lumber. The categories and default Template selections for Lumber are:

Species

Thickness

Width

Length - Feet

Length - Inches

Trim (Optional Checkbox) ^■ Moisture

Grade

Supplemental (Optional Checkbox)

Click on the Panel tab to display the Panel Template selections. Figure 13R illustrates the default selections for Panel. The categories and default Template selections for Panel are:

Species

Thickness

Size

Grade - Profile

Supplemental (Optional Checkbox)

CREATING A TEMPLATE

To select the data for your Template, first click on the default values under one of the column headings to display the drop-down selection list for that category. Select the item you want in each category. If you want to generate Market

Data with Trim and/or Supplemental categories as criteria, click in the check boxes provided.

Select the currency you want by clicking in either the US or CDN radio buttons at the top of the page. Input the Name of your Template in the input text box beside Name at the top of the page. Click the Add button at the bottom of the page. A message box will appear if there is any missing information. Select OK to transfer to the appropriate area to fill in the information. The Template name will now appear highlighted in the left frame of the page, as shown in Figure 13S. The currency selected for the Template appears beside the name in brackets.

It is now possible to generate Market Data.

Market Data The Data is grouped together based on Regions specified by the Wood

Products System Administrator (e.g. if a sale of lumber was made in Addison,

Illinois and Addison was part of Region named 'Chicago', then that sales becomes part of the Market Data displayed with 'Chicago')

The Market Data generated is determined by the amount of Panel and Lumber products sold over The Wood Products System.

To generate Market Data:

Click on the Market Data item in the Lower Navigation Bar, or on the Trends™ item in the Bottom Navigation Bar at the bottom of the page. A new Browser window will appear. The Templates created will appear in a list to the left.

Select a Template name, and a Summary table is displayed in the middle of the page, as shown in Figure 13T.

The information provided in the table includes: ^■ Today's High, Low, and Average FOB Delivered Prices

^■ The weighted MBF or MSF Volume sold for the product you have selected.

Clicking on the Template name in the summary table, under the Product Details column heading, will display two graphs to the right, as shown in Figure 13U. At the top of the right frame, is:

■ Today^'s date and time ^■ A drop-down selection list of time periods you may choose to generate Market Data for:

^■ Intraday (today, up until this minute)

■ 1 Week

^■ 4 Weeks ^■ 12 Weeks

^■ 24 Weeks

^■ 52 Weeks

^■ The Average Close price.

Below this are two graphs: " A Trading Prices graph — graphing the product's total dollar value sold within the select time period, low to high. (The graph spread is determined by volume.)

^■ A Trading Volume graph — graphing the product's total MBF or MSF sold within the select time period. This total is a weighted total. (The graph spread is determined by volume.) Select another time period and click the Refresh button to change the Market

Data that appears in the graphs.

The gradations of the graphs: Dollars x Time and Total MBF x Time, are determined by the values generated during trading for the time you selected.

On the Trading Prices graph for the Intraday time period, you may double- click anywhere on the bar to generate a bubble with the minimum, maximum, and average prices at a specific time of day.

On the Trading Volume graph, double-click on a colored volume bar to generate a bubble with the specific volume information.

On the Trading Prices graph for the 1 Week time period, you may double- click on any point on the graph line to generate a bubble with the average price at a specific time of day.

On the Trading Volume graph for the same 1 Week period, double-click on a colored volume bar to generate a bubble with the specific volume information.

To close the Market Data window, click the (X) in the top right corner of the window. LISTINGS

The Wood Products System Administrator can view a complete list of

Member Companies or Accounts using Listings. From the Directory tab on the Top

Navigation Bar, select Listings on the Lower Navigation Bar. The Listings page will appear with a checkbox choice between Companies or Accounts, as shown in Figure

13V.

Companies Listings

Select Companies, and then click the Refresh button to generate the requested listings in the right frame of the page, with the current date at the top of the page, a shown in Figure 13W.

The Download button allows the Wood Products System Administrator to save the listings information.

You can sort by a column by clicking on the text in the heading. The Companies Listings provides a The Wood Products System Administrator with the following information: Short Name of the Company Company ID #

Location

^■ Address ^■ City

^■ State

^■ Zip

^■ Telephone

^■ Fax (if available) ^■ Mailing/Billing — same fields as Location ^■ Status — Active or Not Active

Accounts Listings

Select Accounts, and then click the Refresh button to generate the requested listings in the right frame of the page, with the current date at the top of the page, as shown in Figure 13X. You can sort by a column by clicking on the text in the heading. The Download button allows the Wood Products System Administrator to save the listings information.

The Companies Listings provides a The Wood Products System Administrator with the following information: Name of the Account

Account ID # Type — buying or selling account

Location

^■ Address ^■ City

^■ State

^■ Zip

^■ Telephone

^■ Fax (if available) ^■ Mailing/Billing — same fields as Location

^■ Shipping — same fields as Location

^■ Status — Active or Not Active

HELP FOR THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR

Help is available to the Wood Products System Administrator from the field names on:

^■ Create New The Wood Products System User

^■ Create New Company

^■ Create New Buying Account

^■ Create New Selling Account

Create New The Wood Products System User Pop-Up Help FIRST NAME

Input the first name of the current User.

This is a mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 30. TITLE

Input the title of the current User, such as "Freight Book Editor" or "Trader".

This is not a mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 20. TELEPHONE

Input the telephone number in any of the common telephone formats, such as 555-555-1212 or (555) 555-1212. If there is an extension number, you may input it after the telephone number, such as "ext.254". This is a mandatory field. The maximum number of characters allowed is 25.

E-MAIL

Input the e-mail address in the following format: zhackett@lumbercompany.com.

E-mail addresses are not case-sensitive. This is not a mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 100.

LOG ON NAME

Input the current User's Log On Name. This Log On Name is what a User will input on the Log On Page to enter the Wood Products System system. A User Log On Name must be unique on the system. There cannot be two

Users with the same Log On Name. If you input a Log On Name and get an error message, it means that there is another Member on the system with that User Name. Select a new Log On Name.

Log On names are usually the first name of the User or the first initial and last name of the user. Choose a Logoon Name that the User will remember easily.

It is recommended that the same format be used for all Users at a Member Company.

Log On names are not case-sensitive. This is a mandatory field. The maximum number of characters allowed is 20. LAST NAME

Input the current User's last name.

This is a mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 30. SALUTATION

Input how the current User prefers to be addressed: Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms., M., Mme., or Mile.

This is not a mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 5. FAX

Input the fax number in any of the common formats, such as 555-555-1212 or (555) 555-1212, for example.

This is a not mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 25. MIDDLE INITIAL

Input the current User's middle initial.

This is not a mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 2.

AUDIO NOTIFICATION Input the Audio Notification.

This is not a mandatory field.

MAIL NOTIFICATION

Input the Mail Notification. This is not a mandatory field. PAGER NOTIFICATION

Input the Pager Notification. This is not a mandatory field. ADMIN

Administrators are generally responsible for managing Companies (The Wood Products System Admin only), Selling Accounts, Buying Accounts, and Users. The Wood Products System Administrators create The Wood Products

System Users and Company Users. Member Administrators may create Users for their Company only, but may not assign the following User Roles to their Company Members: Admin, Trader, or Supervisor.

Administrators also may create and edit Company and Account Profiles, and Company and Account Contact information.

MANAGE CREDIT

Only The Wood Products System Users may be assigned the Credit Manager role.

The Credit Manager is responsible for assigning Credit to Companies and Credit Limits to a Company's Buying Accounts.

TRADER

A Trader can be assigned to Selling Accounts or Buying Accounts.

A Selling Trader will create and submit Offers and accept Bids on Offers.

A Buying Trader will search for Offers and make Bids on Offers. Both Selling and Buying Traders will manage Sales Contracts and Change

Requests for their transactions.

If Traders are to view Invoices for their transactions, they must be assigned the "Reports" permission separately for their assigned Accounts.

SUPERVISOR A Supervisor can be assigned to Selling Accounts and/or Buying Accounts. A

Supervisor may act as "backup" for a Company's Traders.

A Selling Supervisor will supervise Offers submitted by Company Traders. If a Selling Supervisor needs to be able to create Offers, he or she must also be assigned the Trader role. A Buying Supervisor will supervise Bids submitted by Company Traders. If a Buying Supervisor needs to be able to Bid on Offers, he or she must also be assigned the Trader role.

ACCOUNTANT The Accountant Role may be assigned to a The Wood Products System User or a Seller Member User only. The Seller Member Accountant is responsible for Invoicing.

If a Seller Accountant needs to view Offer, Sales Contract, or Invoice details once the Invoice has been created, however, they must be assigned the Reports permission separately for their assigned Selling Accounts.

FREIGHT BOOK

The The Wood Products System Freight Book Editor is responsible for managing the The Wood Products System Master Freight Book database, and for importing a Seller Member's Freight Book information into it. Seller Member Freight Book Editors are responsible for creating and updating their Mill's Freight Book, and for exporting it to the The Wood Products System Master Freight Book Editor.

A Freight Book Editor automatically has access to Freight Book Reports. However, if a Freight Book Editor also needs to view Selling Reports, he or she must be assigned the Reports permission separately.

REPORTS

The "Reports" permission has been separated from the User Roles because some Members on the Wood Products System will have permission to view Reports and nothing else. These Users could be The Wood Products System or Company Executives.

It is recommended that the "Reports" permission be assigned to all Members on The Wood Products System for many reasons. Here are a few:

Traders assigned the Reports permission for their Accounts will be able to access their transaction history records quickly and easily, as needed. If a Selling Trader or Supervisor needs to see the details of an Invoice, he or she will need to have the Reports permission in order to do so. The Invoice information is only available to Seller Members - other than the Accountant - through the Selling Reports area of The Wood Products System.

If a Buying Trader or Supervisor needs to see the details of an Invoice, he or she will need to have the Reports permission in order to do so. The Invoice information is only available to Buyer Members through the Buying Reports area of The Wood Products System.

Supervisors assigned the Reports permission for all of a Company's Accounts will be able to compare Trader activity on an Account by Account basis.

THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM TRENDS

The Wood Products System Trends is a separate Market Data application that is offered by The Wood Products System.

Only a The Wood Products System Administrator may assign this permission.

Create New Company Pop-Up Help SHORT NAME

Input the Short Name for the current Company. This Short Name will be appended to a Selling Account or Buying Account name. It is important that the

Short Name begin with the same letter as the Legal Company Name, and be similar to it. For example, the Legal Name for a company is "The Northfield Lumber

Company Limited". The Short Name for the Company would be "Northfield".

This is a mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 10.

LEGAL NAME Input the Legal Name for the current Company.

This is a mandatory field. The maximum number of characters allowed is 100.

ADDRESS

Input the Street name, P.O. Box Number, or R.R. Number. This is a mandatory field. The maximum number of characters allowed is 50.

CITY

Input the City name. This is a mandatory field. The maximum number of characters allowed is 30.

STATE

Select the State or Province. This is a mandatory field.

ZIP Input the Zip Code or Postal Code.

This is a mandatory field. The maximum number of characters allowed is 10.

TELEPHONE

Input the telephone number for the current Location in any of the common telephone formats, such as 555-555-1212 or (555) 555-1212, for example. If there is an extension number, you may input it after the telephone number, such as "ext.254". This is a mandatory field. The maximum number of characters allowed is 25.

FAX Input the fax number of the current Location in any of the common formats, such as 555-555-1212 or (555) 555-1212, for example. This is a not mandatory field. The maximum number of characters allowed is 25.

E-MAIL Input the e-mail address of a Contact at the current Location in the following format: johndoe@lumbercompany.com. E-mail addresses are not case-sensitive. This is not a mandatory field. The maximum number of characters allowed is 100. Create New Buying Account Pop-Up Help ACCOUNT NAME

Input the location where shipments will be delivered. The Account Name will be joined with the Company Short Name to generate the Seller Name. For example, the Legal Name for a company is Northfield Lumber and Panel Company Limited. The Short Name for the company would be Pinefield. The location of the current Buying Account, or the location where this account would like its lumber or panel delivered, is Plattsburgh. Therefore, the Buyer Account Name will be Pinefield- Plattsburgh. This is a mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 10.

GST#

If you are a Canadian Dealer, input your Company's GST Registration Number. This will appear on the Invoice. This is not a mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 30.

Note: Canadian Dealers who input an HST Registration Number do not need to also input a GST Registration Number.

QS7# If you are a Canadian Dealer in the province of Quebec, input your

Company's QST Registration Number. This will appear on the Invoice. This is not a mandatory field. The maximum number of characters allowed is 30.

HST# If you are a Canadian Dealer in the Maritime Provinces, input your

Company's HST Registration Number. This will appear on the Invoice. This is not a mandatory field. The maximum number of characters allowed is 30.

MAJOR HUB Select a Major Hub for the current Buying Account. Major Hubs currently are large US and Canadian cities. This is a mandatory field.

MINOR HUB

Select a Minor Hub for the current Buying Account. If the Buying Account location is not itself a Minor Hub, select the Minor Hub closest to it. If the Buying Account is a Reload Center, select the Minor Hub for the Reload Center. This is a mandatory field.

RAIL CARRIER

Select the Rail Carrier that provides access to your location. This is a mandatory field. SOURCE

Select the Company whose Credit Limit the current Buying Account may access.

LIMIT

Input the dollar amount of Credit assigned to the current Buying Account. USED

The Credit Used amount is the amount of a Buying Account's total Credit Limit currently tied up in transactions. These transactions include:

1. Active Bids

2. Outstanding Invoices. The Credit Used amount is incremented when an Invoice is paid in full, and when an active Bid is not accepted by a Seller, or when it times out.

RATE

Input the Transaction Fee Rate. This is the percentage agreed upon between The Wood Products System and the Company, such as "0.5" percent. This is a mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 6.

TAX 1

Input the name of the first tax the current Company must charge for goods. Input the first tax rate. For example, the first tax a company may charge on goods is "New York State" tax. The rate could be "7"%. These are mandatory fields.

The maximum number of characters allowed for a tax name is 20. The maximum number of characters allowed for the tax rate is 6.

TAX 2 Input the name of the second tax the current Company must charge for goods.

Input the first tax rate. For example, the second tax a company may charge on goods is "Federal" tax. The rate could be "8"%. These are mandatory fields.

TAX 3

Input the name of the third tax the current Company must charge for goods. Input the third tax rate. For example, the third tax a company may charge on goods is "Goods & Services" tax. The rate could be "5"%. These are mandatory fields.

LUMBER

If the current Buying Account will be trading in lumber, check this box. A Buying Account must check one or both of Trade Lumber or Trade Panel.

PANEL

If the current Buying Account will be trading in panel, check this box.

A Buying Account must check one or both of Trade Lumber or Trade Panel.

PAYMENT TERMS There are three Buyer Payment Terms available on The Wood Products

System currently: 1% 10 Days, Net 30 Days, or any other terms set up by The Wood Products System Administrator.

These checkboxes are both checked by default. This will allow Buying Traders associated with this Account to determine, on an Offer-by-Offer basis, what payment terms are desired. If you wish to allow only one Payment Term for this Buying Account, you may click in the check box of the Payment Term you do not wish this Account to have, in order to "deselect" it.

This is a mandatory field. PAYMENT PROCESS

Select the Payment Process by which your company will be paying The Wood Products System for lumber and panel shipments it purchases over The Wood Products System.

This is not a mandatory field. BANK NAME

Input the name of the US Bank associated with the current Buying Account.

This is not a mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 50.

BANK NUMBER Input the bank number of the US Bank associated with the current Buying

Account.

This is not a mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 10.

TRANSIT NUMBER Input the Transit Number of the US Bank associated with the current Buying

Account.

This is not a mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 10.

ACCOUNT NUMBER Input the current Buying Account's US Bank Account number.

This is not a mandatory field. The maximum number of characters allowed is 20.

CONTACT NAME

Input the name of a Contact at the US Bank associated with the current Buying Account. This is not a mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 60.

CONTACT TELEPHONE

Input the Telephone number of a Contact at the Canadian Bank associated with the current Buying Account.

This is not a mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 25.

Create New Selling Account Pop-Up Help ACCOUNT NAME

Input the location of the Mill associated with the current Account. The Account Name will be joined with the Company Short Name to generate the Seller Name. For example, the Legal Name for a company is Northfield Lumber and Panel Company Limited. The Short Name for the company would be Northfield. The location of the current Selling Account is Albany. Therefore, the Seller Account Name will be Northfield-Albany. This is a mandatory field. The maximum number of characters

GST# If you are a Canadian Mill, input your Company's GST Registration Number.

This will appear on the Invoice.

This is not a mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 30.

Note: Canadian Mills who input an HST Registration Number do not need to also input a GST Registration Number.

QST#

If you are a Canadian Mill in the province of Quebec, input your Company's QST Registration Number. This will appear on the Invoice. This is not a mandatory field. The maximum number of characters allowed is 30. HST#

If you are a Canadian Mill in the Maritime Provinces, input your Company's HST Registration Number. This will appear on the Invoice. This is not a mandatory field. The maximum number of characters allowed is 30.

LUMBER BAR CODING

Input both U.S. and Canadian dollar values your Mill charges to bar code a shipment of lumber (per MBF).

If your Mill bar codes its lumber free-of-charge, input $0 as the Bar Coding Charge.

If your Mill does not deliver to the US, input $0 as the Bar Coding Charge in the US$ column.

If your Mill does not deliver to Canada, input $0 as the Bar Coding Charge in the CDN$ column. This is a mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 4. Do not enter punctuation in this field, such as dollar signs or commas.

PANEL BAR CODING

Input both U.S. and Canadian dollar values your Mill charges to Bar Code a shipment of panel (per MSF).

If your Mill bar codes its panel free-of-charge, input $0 as the Bar Coding Charge.

If your Mill does not deliver to the US, input $0 as the Bar Coding Charge in the US$ column. If your Mill does not deliver to Canada, input $0 as the Bar Coding Charge in the CDN$ column.

This is a mandatory field.

The maximum number of characters allowed is 4. Do not enter punctuation in this field, such as dollar signs or commas. LUMBER TARPING

Input both U.S. and Canadian dollar values your Mill charges to Tarp a shipment of lumber (per load).

If your Mill tarps its lumber free-of-charge, input $0 as the Taφing Charge. If your Mill does not deliver to the US, input $0 as the Tarping Charge in the

US$ column.

If your Mill does not deliver to Canada, input $0 as the Tarping Charge in the CDN$ column.

This is a mandatory field. The maximum number of characters allowed is 4. Do not enter punctuation in this field, such as dollar signs or commas.

PANEL TARPING

Input both U.S. and Canadian dollar values your Mill charges to Tarp a shipment of panel (per load).

If your Mill tarps its panel free-of-charge, input $0 as the Taφing Charge.

If your Mill does not deliver to the US, input $0 as the Taφing Charge in the US$ column.

If your Mill does not deliver to Canada, input $0 as the Taφing Charge in the CDN$ column.

This is a mandatory field.

TRADE LUMBER If the current Selling Account will be trading in lumber, check this box.

A Selling Account must check one or both of Trade Lumber or Trade Panel.

TRADE PANEL

If the current Selling Account will be trading in panel, check this box.

A Selling Account must check one or both of Trade Lumber or Trade Panel. PAYMENT TERMS

For the present time, the Seller Payment Terms will be 1% 15 Net 30 for all Seller Members on the Wood Products System.

ERROR MESSAGES

COMMON ERRORS

ERRORMESSAGE REASONFORERROR

"Failed to change Your password is not Click on your browser^'s password. Reason: The the required length as Back button to return to password length must determined by the the Change Password be greater than 'x' Wood Products System page. Input a New (system setting)." Administrator. Password that is at least as many characters long as the set minimum length.

NOTIFIC ATIONS ERRORS

"No messages have You have clicked on Click OK and select a been selected." the Clear button Message by clicking in without selecting a the check box in the Notification Message. right column of the Message line. Then select the Clear button.

COMPAM , ACCOUNT, USER, AND CONTACT FORM ERRORS

"Log On Name (or any A mandatory field has Click oκ and return to other mandatory field not been selected, or if the field that requires a name): Required value it is an input text field, selection. Select an item is empty." a name has not been or enter the information entered.. and resubmit your form. Mandatory field names have an asterisk beside them.

"Error: Failed to save You have entered an Click OK. Enter the the User Record. incorrect Master Key correct Master Key Reason: Invalid code. code and resubmit. Master Key."

"Reason: Required You have not entered a Click OK. Enter a reason value is empty." reason for suspending, and resubmit. unlocking, activating after suspension, or deleting a User before you selected the Confirm button.

TRANSPORT TYPES

The following is a summary of the new list of transport types The Wood Products System has added to the database. Note: It is understood that The Wood Products System is not sure that all types across North America are currently known, nor the rate differences between say a 52' car and a 55' car. The Wood Products System is considering hiring freight consultants to provide The Wood Products System with a short synopsis of the rail system and rate structure.

RAIL

SD Box DD Box ^■ 50' Box

52' Box 60' Box

50' BH (bulkhead) 52' BH (bulkhead) ^■ 52' A-Frame

55' A-Frame 53' NBH (nonbulkhead) 55' BH (bulkhead) 57' BH (bulkhead) " 60' NBH (nonbulkhead)

60' Centrebeam 60' BH (bulkhead) 60' A-frame 66' BH (bulkhead) ^■ 71 ' A-frame

73' A-frame

Trucks T/L

B Train ^■ Super B

Closed Van 3 Axle Pig Vans GLOSSARY

This glossary is a list of definitions and terms used in the documentation for The Wood Products System.

Active Offer - An Offer placed on The Wood Products System for Buyers to register Bids against. The Selling Trader who submitted the Offer to The Wood Products System must be logged on to The Wood Products System in order for a Buying Trader to Bid against an Offer.

Application - Software that does relatively complex tasks, searching, sorting and storing information. Browser - The application used to access and read the World Wide Web. The

Browser supported by The Wood Products System is Internet Explorer version 4.0 and higher.

Bug - A mistake or unexpected occurrence in the function of the software.

Buttons - An outlined area on the page that you click on to choose an action. Common buttons include OK, Cancel, Delete, Save, and Submit.

Certificate - An internal security check ensuring the individual logging on is actually who they say they are.

Checkbox - Used to turn on an option. Click once in the empty checkbox and a check mark will appear. Click again to remove it. Click - Press and release the mouse button. To click on something, position the mouse pointer over it and then click.

Close Box - A small box with an X inside, usually in the top right hand corner of a window. Clicking on the X will close a currently open window, or the Browser application itself. Crash- A problem that causes the program or the operating system to stop working.

Double-Click - Position your pointer and quickly click the mouse button twice without moving the mouse. You can double-click to open applications and documents. Drop-down Box - A box with a scroll bar that lists all items in one category, for example species of lumber. Also called a list box or selection list box. Fields - Areas where information can be selected or entered. For example, on an Offer form, the space where a species of lumber can be selected is a field. The space where the FOB Mill Price can be entered is also a field.

Hung- When The Wood Products System is inactive. A problem causes the program or operating system to stop working. icon- A small picture that represents access to more information. Click it once to select it. For example, at the Sales Contracts area of the Wood Products System Web site, the red arrow represents that a Trader has not yet viewed a Sales Contract. Internet - An electronic connection to other applications or information. This can include any locations connected to it around the world. This is also called the World Wide Web. The Wood Products System Web site is an Internet application in that it can be accessed by the public. However, the public can only view general and con-confidential information, and not participate in trading. Intranet - An electronic connection to other individuals or information within a restricted boundary. This can include other locations of the same company. The Wood Products System Web application is an Intranet application in that The Wood Products System allows only those who have become The Wood Products System Members access to it. List Box- A box with a scroll bar that lists all items in one category, for example species of lumber. Also called a drop-down box or selection list box.

Lock - When a User enters an incorrect password more than the allowable # of times, they become locked out of The Wood Products System and unable to function. The User then must contact either their Member Administrator or the Wood Products System Administrator to reset their password.

Log On - The steps required to gain access to the application. Log Off - The steps required to exit the application.

Master Key - The code required to delete a company from The Wood Products System, and to assign The Wood Products System Administrator and Credit Manager permissions to a User.

Mouse - The pointing device supplied with the computer. Moving the mouse will move the pointer. Navigation Bar - The bars at the top of the screen used to navigate through the Wood Products System application. In the Wood Products System application, there are three navigation bars.

The top navigation bar consists of index tabs, which take users to general areas of the Web site. These areas include Buy, Sell, Operations, Reports, The Wood Products System Trends, and Directory. Their assigned roles and permissions determine the tabs each Member will see.

The lower navigation bar consists of pages available within each of the general areas. For example, the Buy area includes the following pages: Search Lumber Offers, Search Panel Offers, Monitor Bids, and Sales Contracts. The pages each Member will see are determined by their assigned roles and permissions.

The bottom navigation bar allows The Wood Products System Members to go Home, to get On-line Help, to go to The Wood Products System Trends, or Log Off The Wood Products System. Operating System- The software that runs the computer itself.

Page - The display of information on the terminal screen. It could also be referred to as window or screen.

Password - The code required to enter The Wood Products System.

Pointer - The small arrow on the screen which is moved using the mouse. Program - Another word for software.

Radio Buttons- One in a group of buttons that can be selected. When you select one radio button the others are automatically deselected.

Refresh - The page or screen is updated with the latest information. The Wood Products System has been set to automatically refresh certain pages. For example, The Wood Products System will refresh the Monitor Offers page every three minutes. However, a Member may also request to refresh the page manually. To refresh a page manually, click on the right mouse button and select Refresh from the floating menu.

The Browser also has a Refresh button. However, with the Wood Products System application, if you click on the Browser's Refresh button, the entire Web site will be refreshed, and you will be automatically returned to the Home page. Scroll Bars- A rectangular strip appearing on the right or bottom edges of a window. Use the scroll arrows or scroll box to move through the contents of the window.

Software - Instructions that tell a computer what to do. System - The Wood Products System application.

Tab - The area on the top navigation bar which looks like the tab of a file folder. It takes users to the main areas of the Wood Products System Web site: Buy, Sell, Operations. Reports, The Wood Products System Trends, and Directory.

Template - An electronic copy of a Web page form. It is saved to allow repeated use.

Title Bar- A horizontal strip across the top of the window that contains its name.

Webmaster - One who is proficient in creating or changing applications used by the World Wide Web. Web Page - When logged onto the World Wide Web it is the page or window visible on the screen. Usually one page has access or links to other pages.

Window- A rectangular area on the screen which has a title bar, and scroll bars.

World Wide Web - An electronic connection to other applications or information. This can include any locations connected to it around the world. This is also called the Internet.

Conclusion

The preferred embodiment of the present invention provides extensive computerized assistance for trading in a cash market for commodities. Such assistance is not provided by prior art systems. In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A method for completing trades in a market for a commodity, the method comprising: designating a non-trading central authority; screening a plurality of entities to identify a plurality of authorized traders, the screening performed by the central authority; and constructing a standardized sales contract for the commodity by the central authority in response to an input from each trader of at least two contracting traders of the plurality of authorized traders, if agreement is indicated by the input from each trader.

2. The method of Claim 1 , wherein said screening further comprises determining that an entity has sufficient resources to complete a minimum trade in order to identify the entity as an authorized trader of the plurality of authorized traders.

3. The method of Claim 1, further comprising determining that the at least two contracting traders are likely to have sufficient resources to perform according to the sales contract.

4. The method of Claim 3, further comprising: paying a seller of the at least two contracting traders upon shipment of the commodity in accordance with the sales contract, said paying performed by a bonding authority; and collecting payment from a buyer of the at least two contracting traders in accordance with the sales contract, said collecting performed by the bonding authority.

5. The method of Claim 4, wherein the bonding authority and the central authority are commonly owned.

6. The method of Claim 1, before said constructing the sales contract, further comprising: inputting an offer price by a first trader of the plurality of authorized traders; inputting an irrevocable bid price in response to the offer price by a second trader of the plurality of authorized traders; and indicating agreement for constructing a sales contract if an acceptance price in response to the bid price is selected by the first trader.

7. The method of Claim 6, wherein the acceptance price and the bid price differ.

8. The method of Claim 7, wherein the acceptance price and the bid price differ by an amount in response to a freight cost for shipment of the commodity to a destination associated with a buyer of the at least two contracting traders.

9. The method of Claim 7, wherein the acceptance price and the bid price differ by an amount in response to a transaction fee retained by the central authority.

10. The method of Claim 7, wherein the acceptance price and the bid price differ by an amount in response to a transaction fee collected by a bonding authority.

11. The method of Claim 6, wherein: the offer price is a minimum selling price; and the bid price is a buying price.

12. The method of Claim 6, wherein: the offer price is a maximum buying price; and the bid price is a selling price.

13. The method of Claim 6 wherein the bid price is in response to a presented price, the presented price equal to the offer price corrected for at least one of a transaction fee and a freight cost.

14. The method of Claim 1 further comprising paying a subscription fee to the central authority by a trader of the plurality authorized traders.

15. The method of Claim 6, further comprising: presenting a plurality of offers from the plurality of authorized traders to the second trader by the central authority; selecting by the second trader a selected offer from the first trader among the plurality of offers, the selected offer including a presentation price responsive to the offer price; and if the second trader indicates to the central authority a bid is desired, constructing a bid associated with the second trader by the central authority in response to the selected offer and the bid price.

16. The method of Claim 6, further comprising: presenting a plurality of bids from the plurality of authorized traders to the first trader by the central authority; and selecting by the first trader a selected bid from the second trader among the plurality of bids if a sales contract is desired, the selected bid including the acceptance price.

17. The method of Claim 1, further comprising: requesting a change in the sales contract by a buyer of the at least two contracting traders; inputting by the buyer a new destination to which the commodity is shipped; and if a seller of the at least two contracting traders accepts the change, constructing an amended sales contract in response to the new destination.

18. The method of Claim 8, further comprising computing the freight cost in response to a shipping rate retrieved from a database of shipping rates, each shipping rate associated with each destination of a plurality of destinations, the database associated with a seller of the at least two contracting traders.

19. The method of Claim 1 further comprising storing information about the sales contract by the central authority in a transaction database.

20. The method of Claim 19 further comprising computing market trends or statistics from the information in the transaction database.

21. The method of Claim 20 further comprising distributing market trends or statistics to a trader of the plurality of authorized traders.

22. The method of Claim 19 further comprising exporting the information in the transaction database to an accounting system of a contracting trader of the at least two contracting traders.

23. The method of Claim 1 wherein agreement is not indicated unless the input from each trader is received within a certain duration of time.

24. The method of Claim 1, wherein the constructing the standardized sales contract includes computing a contract price in response to the input from each trader and a freight cost for shipment of the commodity to a destination associated with a buyer of the at least two contracting traders.

25. The method of Claim 24, further comprising computing the freight cost in response to a shipping rate retrieved from a database of shipping rates, each shipping rate associated with each destination of a plurality of destinations, the database associated with a seller of the at least two contracting traders.

26. A system for completing trades in a market for a commodity, the system comprising: a network; a client having one or more client processors configured for connecting to the network; and a server connected to the network, the server having a server memory medium storing information indicative of a plurality of authorized traders, and one or more server processors configured for determining whether the client is a trader client belonging to a trader of the plurality of authorized traders, for accepting input from the trader client, and for constructing a standardized sales contract for the commodity in response to input from the trader client of each of at least two contracting traders, if the input from the client of each trader indicates agreement.

27. The system of Claim 26, the one or more server processors further configured for, before said constructing the sales contract: receiving an offer price from a first trader client of a plurality of trader clients; if a bid is intended, receiving an irrevocable bid price in response to the offer price from a second trader client of the plurality of trader clients; and if agreement is intended, receiving from the first trader client a selection of an acceptance price in response to the bid price indicating agreement for constructing a sales contract.

28. The system of Claim 27, the one or more server processors further configured for: computing a presentation price in response to the offer price and at least one of a transaction fee and a freight cost; constructing an offer in response to the presentation price; computing an acceptance price in response to the irrevocable bid price and the at least one of the transaction fee the freight cost, and constructing a bid in response to the acceptance price.

29. The system of Claim 28, wherein: the one or more server processors are further configured for presenting a plurality of offers constructed for a plurality of trader clients to the second trader client; and receiving a selection from the second trader client indicating the offer from the first trader client before said constructing the bid; and said constructing the bid is also responsive to the offer.

30. The system of Claim 28, wherein: the one or more server processors are further configured for presenting a plurality of bids constructed for a plurality of trader clients to the first trader client; and receiving a selection from the first trader client indicating the bid from the second trader client before said constructing the sales contract; and said constructing the sales contract is also responsive to the bid.

31. The system of Claim 26, the one or more server processors are further configured for: receiving a request for a change in the sales contract from a buyer of the at least two contracting traders; presenting information in response to the request for change to a seller of the at least two contracting traders, and if an indication of acceptance is received from the seller, constructing an amended sales contract in response to the request for change.

32. The system of Claim 31, wherein: the request for change includes a new destination to which the commodity is shipped; and the information presented to the seller includes a new shipping rate to the new destination.

33. The system of Claim 26, wherein: the server memory medium stores a transaction database; and the one or more server processors are further configured for storing information from the sales contract in the transaction database.

34. The system of Claim 33, the one or more server processors further configured for computing market trends or statistics from the information in the transaction database.

35. The system of Claim 34, the one or more server processors further configured for distributing market trends or statistics to a trader client.

36. The system of Claim 33, the one or more server processors further configured for sending contract information about the sales contract associated with the at least two contracting traders from the transaction database to a contracting client belonging to a contracting trader of the at least two contracting traders in a standard format.

37. The system of Claim 36, the one or more client processors on the contracting client further configured for storing the contract information in the standard format and for executing an accounting process that uses the contract information in the standard format.

38. The system of Claim 26, wherein the input from the client of each trader does not indicate agreement unless the input from each trader client is received within a certain duration of time.

39. The system of Claim 26, wherein: the server memory medium stores a shipping rate database, each shipping rate associated with each destination of a plurality of destinations, the database associated with a seller of the at least two contracting traders; and constructing the standardized sales contract includes computing a contract price in response to the input from the client of each trader and a rate retrieved from the shipping rate database.

40. The system of Claim 26, wherein: the network is the internet; and the one or more client processors are configured as an internet browser.

41. The system of Claim 40, the one or more server processors further configured for receiving the input from the trader client through a web page.

42. The system of Claim 41 , the one or more server processors further configured for presenting a web page to the trader client to prompt the trader for the input from the trader client.

43. A method for using a computer to complete trades in a market for a commodity, the method comprising: logging on to a server of a central authority which determines whether a user is a trader of a plurality of authorized traders; entering input onto the server; and if the input entered indicates agreement, then constructing by computer a standardized sales contract for the commodity in response to the input of each of at least two contracting traders.

44. The method of Claim 43, further comprising: entering an offer price from a first trader of a plurality of trader; if a bid is intended, entering an irrevocable bid price in response to the offer price from a second trader of the plurality of traders; and if agreement is intended, selecting an acceptance price by the first trader in response to the bid price indicating agreement for constructing a sales contract.

45. The method of Claim 44, further comprising: viewing by the second trader a plurality of offers constructed for a plurality of traders; and selecting by the second trader the offer from the first trader; and

46. The method of Claim 44, further comprising: viewing by the first trader a plurality of bids constructed for a plurality of traders; and selecting by the first trader the bid from the second trader.

47. The method of Claim 43, further comprising: requesting a change in the sales contract by a buyer of the at least two contracting traders; viewing information in response to the request for change by a seller of the at least two contracting traders, and indicating acceptance by the seller if constructing an amended sales contract in response to the r change is desired.

48. A computer-readable medium for supporting trades in a market for a commodity, the medium bearing instructions for causing one or more processors to: determine whether a client process is a trader client belonging to a trader of the plurality of authorized traders; accept input from the trader client, and construct a standardized sales contract for the commodity in response to input from the trader client of each of at least two contracting traders, if the input from the client of each trader indicates agreement.

49. The medium of Claim 48, the instructions for causing one or more processors to, before said constructing the sales contract: receive an offer price from a first trader client of a plurality of trader clients; if a bid is intended, receive an irrevocable bid price in response to the offer price from a second trader client of the plurality of trader clients; and if agreement is intended, receive from the first trader client a selection of an acceptance price in response to the bid price indicating agreement for constructing a sales contract.

50. The medium of Claim 49, the instructions for causing one or more processors to further: compute a presentation price in response to the offer price and at least one of a transaction fee and a freight cost; construct an offer in response to the presentation price; compute an acceptance price in response to the irrevocable bid price and the at least one of the transaction fee the freight cost, and construct a bid in response to the acceptance price.

51. The medium of Claim 50, wherein: the instructions cause one or more processors to further present a plurality of offers constructed for a plurality of trader clients to the second trader client; and receive a selection from the second trader client indicating the offer from the first trader client before said constructing the bid; and said construct the bid is also responsive to the offer.

52. The medium of Claim 50, wherein: the instructions cause one or more processors to further present a plurality of bids constructed for a plurality of trader clients to the first trader client; and receive a selection from the first trader client indicating the bid from the second trader client before said construct the sales contract; and said construct the sales contract is also responsive to the bid.

53. The medium of Claim 48, the instructions for causing one or more processors to further: receive a request for a change in the sales contract from a buyer of the at least two contracting traders; present information in response to the request for change to a seller of the at least two contracting traders, and if an indication of acceptance is received from the seller, construct an amended sales contract in response to the request for change..

54. The medium of Claim 53, wherein: the request for change includes a new destination to which the commodity is shipped; and the information presented to the seller includes a new shipping rate to the new destination..

55. The medium of Claim 48, wherein: a memory medium stores a transaction database; and the instructions further cause one or more processors to store information from the sales contract in the transaction database.

56. The medium of Claim 55, the instructions for further causing the one or more processors to compute market trends or statistics from the information in the transaction database.

57. The medium of Claim 56, the instructions for further causing the one or more processors to distribute market trends or statistics to a trader client.

58. The medium of Claim 55, the instructions for further causing the one or more processors to send contract information about the sales contract associated with the at least two contracting traders from the transaction database, said information in a standard format, to a contracting client belonging to a contracting trader of the at least two contracting traders.

59. The medium of Claim 48, wherein the input from the client of each trader does not indicate agreement unless the input from each trader client is received within a certain duration of time.

60. The medium of Claim 48, wherein: a memory medium stores a shipping rate database, each shipping rate associated with each destination of a plurality of destinations, the database associated with a seller of the at least two contracting traders; and construct the standardized sales contract includes compute a contract price in response to the input from the client of each trader and a rate retrieved from the shipping rate database.

61. The medium of Claim 60, the instructions for further causing the one or more processors to receive the input from the trader client through a web page.

62. The medium of Claim 61 , the instructions for further causing the one or more processors to present a web page to the trader client to prompt the trader for the input from the trader client.

63. A client computer for supporting trades in a market for a commodity, the client computer comprising: a client memory medium for storing contract information about a sales contract for the commodity, the contract information received in a standard format from a server computer which constructed the sales contract; and one or more client processors configured for executing an accounting process that uses the contract information in the standard format.

64. A computer-readable medium for supporting trades in a market for a commodity, the medium bearing instructions for causing one or more processors to: store contract information about a sales contract for the commodity, the contract information received in a standard format from a server computer which constructed the sales contract; and execute an accounting process that uses the contract information in the standard format.

65. A computer-readable medium bearing information for use by one or more processors supporting trades in a market for a commodity, the information comprising: a field indicative of a seller of a plurality of authorized traders; and a plurality of shipping rate records, each record associating one destination of a plurality of destinations to which the seller will ship with one or more shipping rates charged by the seller.

66. The computer-readable medium of Claim 65, the information further comprising a field indicating a major hub associated with a subset of the plurality of destinations.

67. The computer-readable medium of Claim 65, each record further comprising one or more transport modes corresponding to the one or more shipping rates.

68. The computer-readable medium of Claim 65, each shipping rate of the one or more shipping rates expressed as freight cost per unit commodity per load.