Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
Features
eProcurement >> ONE STOP SHOPPING
5/27/2005
Indiana University, officials rolled out a brand-new system from SciQuest. The technology directly connected the university’s online requisition system with its major strategic suppliers, putting purchasing decisions in the hands of end users. Because the system contained only those items under contracts the school had pre-negotiated, compliance with the contracts skyrocketed, and savings increased accordingly. In one case, when school officials negotiated an unprecedented 15 percent discount with a particular computer supplier, end users were purchasing equipment at the new prices the next day.Then, of course, there’s the University of New Mexico, which in 2002 rolled out yet another SciQuest eProcurement solution, as part of an ERP implementation from SunGard SCT. Like Penn, UNM officials had had enough of the problems caused by manually inputting paperbased purchase orders into the ERP system. It wasn’t long before the school’s eProcurement push became the cornerstone of an effort to improve customer service across the board. Director of Purchasing Bruce Cherrin remembers that the new technology paid huge dividends almost overnight, eliminating errors by transferring data automatically, and by freeing up secretaries and staffers who input data, to perform other tasks.
“We’ve come a long way since the days when requisitions went through the paper approval process from one department to another,” says Cherrin, who notes that the implementation of ERP combined with eProcurement and other systems, cost about $10 million. “The way we have it now, everything is integrated, which makes the whole process more efficient.”
Taking the Plunge, or…
With eProcurement in its infancy, other schools find themselves testing the water. At the University of Washington, officials at the University Stores division recently combined technology from ERP vendor JD Edwards (now part of People- Soft/Oracle) and Ariba, to put together a portal containing thousands of office and laboratory products. The effort, still in beta, also offers a full set of account management tools that provides up-to-date information about supplies ordered and overall expenditures. Another effort at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology boasts similar synergies, pairing SciQuest with ERP from SAP, and similar management features to yield supplier consolidation, reduced transaction cost, and shorter order fulfillment cycles.
They’re still using training wheels at the University of St. Thomas (MN), however. There, Melanie Weiss, director of Purchasing Services, says the school has been “looking at” eProcurement technology for years. Currently, the private Catholic college handles ordering and payment online through ERP from SunGard SCT, but inputs requisitions manually into the ERP system. Weiss says that though she’s looking for a dynamic eProcurement system that can handle orders in real time, she still fears that such a system will cost too much for her tiny budget and that changing the buying behavior of end users could take months. Still, she acknowledges, something must be done. “Maverick buying runs rampant” at St. Thomas, she admits, and she has received a mandate to cut costs. Weiss may be pondering the best course of action, but one thing is certain, she concedes: eProcurement is the way.
Recommended Reading
- Microsoft Unveils Exchange and SharePoint as Services
Microsoft exec Stephen Elop on Monday announced two hosted solutions from Microsoft--Exchange Online and SharePoint Online--which are now available to organizations of all sizes in the United States. The software, paid for by annual subscriptions, is hosted on Microsoft's servers and supported by Microsoft's channel partners.
- 6 Ways Not To Become Rote Using Instructional Technology
There are, in my experience, six strategies to consider with any use of technology that will guard against rote use of technology and facilitate critical analysis of teaching and learning effectiveness. In this article, I'll share with you the checklist I work with and encourage others to work with in learning about and using new technology.
- Bringing Student Web "Stuff" to Campus Enterprise Systems
How can an institution incorporate Web 2.0 learning opportunities for students, and evidence of learning from those opportunities, into existing campus technologies and processes? PlugJam is providing part of the answer.
- Delta iTunes U Helps Meet Student Expectations for Web 2.0 Apps
As part of a strategy to meet students' expectations to experience interactive Web 2.0 applications in their learning environments, Delta College in Michigan launched an online Delta iTunes U site this fall.
- Tipping Point for "Content"--Dynamic Interaction, Not Static Stuff
The word "content," as used in education, is troublesome for many educators today who see education as a constructivist process, an interaction between knower and learner, and as a student-centered activity.
- Penn State Pilots Proctored Online Testing System from Kryterion
The Pennsylvania State University's World Campus and Kryterion have gone public with results of a pilot in which students completed proctored exams online using Webassessor Online Secured Testing. The technology is intended to deliver tests without the need for an in-room proctor present.
