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Cornell University: Putting a New Face on a Familiar System
2/27/2003
"There were no surprises here, we knew it would take a lot of effort," says Dennis Butts, Cornell's Manager of Purchasing Systems. "This was a complex development process; many of the Web screens require information from multiple APPS screens. APPS is a complicated application with error messages for every field, and without any documentation. It required extensive manual testing and de-bugging to fine tune the final release. The outside integrators and our team worked collaboratively to quickly get the project ready for real-world use."Cornell's Office for Purchasing Services considers the project to be time well-spent—especially the up-front time spent in campuswide user focus groups that led to its well-designed, logical, intuitive processes. Having met the project's primary goal—to create an enhanced, intuitive user interface that is sufficiently easy to use as to allow direct interaction between customers and the system—Cornell is continuing deployment of the Web-based system to an even broader range of users. Use of the Web interface is steadily increasing, and Patriarco expects usage, currently at a volume of 150 to 200 Web-based requisitions per week, to expand. "New users come in waves," says Patriarco. "One person will find out about it, and share it with others they work with. We've had a great response, and are eager to expand the use."
Tip of the Iceberg
Cornell University's new Web-based purchasing solution is just the tip of the
iceberg. With its open architecture and easy extensibility, the system is well
positioned for future enhancement, as well as extension beyond this initial
Web-based requisition application across other departments. With the success
of this purchasing project, Cornell has already moved on to develop a Web-based
interface to their budgeting and resource planning system, and is planning to
develop the capability to accept vendors' invoices electronically.
For more information, contact Vince Patriarco, Director of Purchasing, Cornell University, at vmp2@cornell.edu.
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