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Purchasing
The eProcurement Equation
11/1/2007
MAKING ePROCUREMENT LOOK EASY
Market rather than mandate. One challenge of eProcurement systems in higher ed is that there are so many potential users, from professors to staff members—all of whom aren’t formal purchasing agents and so may utilize the system sporadically. But, an end user who understands a good eProcurement system and its benefits will use it without coercion. After all, once the newness factor wears off, it is almost always easier to buy something electronically than through a paper system. "While we do mandate compliance [with the eProcurement system]," Maier says, "our strategy is to market acceptance rather than mandate compliance." To that end, U Penn spends time educating the user community about the system, its benefits for the university, and especially how it can help users save time and get their purchases that much more quickly.
Push the ‘What’s in it for me?’ angle. Getting key people on board is a must for any big project. For continued investment and support, Maier names three mission-critical stakeholders to sell: senior management, faculty/staff, and the technology folks. "Everything we do has a kind of marketing twist to it," he says. "So we make sure that we understand what each stakeholder is looking for, what his or her hot buttons are, and then as we roll out new programs, we market to those business requirements."
UCF anticipates a number of benefits from adding the new eProcurement module, according to William Merck II, VP, administration and finance. Merck anticipates that those benefits will include the ability to show users the best sources for buying both goods and services—a major advantage of an eProcurement system’s online buying features. Merck and Vilsack also look forward to better record-keeping on purchases, which will in turn allow them to analyze spend patterns and negotiate better contracts. "When we have a better handle on the quantities we’re buying from specific vendors, we should be able to get better pricing," Merck maintains.
And that’s indeed one of the big eProcurement benefits, confirms CDW-G’s Rotoli. A large potential for savings comes on the back end, when spending data is collected in one place. By connecting the eProcurement system and financials in general to the university’s enterprise resource planning system, administrators can collect spending data for enlightening reports and slice-anddice analysis. That, in turn, can tease out further savings. Is too much buying happening off-contract? Are spending benchmarks being met? Could greater savings be realized with a different supplier? Answers to those questions come from analyzing where the dollars are flowing.
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