Procurement | News

Hawai'i Pacific U Chooses E-Commerce System To Cuts Costs, Streamline Purchasing

• By Sharleen Nelson
• 07/25/13

In an ongoing effort to cut purchasing costs and streamline their procure-to-pay process, Hawai'i Pacific University (HPU) plans to implement a cloud-based e-procurement and management system.

For the project, HPU has selected spend management and e-procurement provider ESM Solutions. The company's easyPurchase application integrates with the university's existing financial system to provide e-commerce shopping to an unlimited number of users who can access contracted catalogs from any computer browser or mobile device. The application also includes a dashboard for monitoring transactions, analyzing data and trends, and managing workflow.

Key features include:

• Credit card (P-Card) and purchase order support;
• Full enterprise resource planning and general ledger integration;
• Single-and two-level, ad-hoc routing and multi-dimensional workflows;
• Desktop and central receiving;
• Invoice management services;
• Storeroom, warehouse, electronic forms, and textbook management;
• Custom branding applications;
• Support for Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and Safari; and
• Support for iOS and Android tablets.

To automate and manage supplier contracts ESM's Contract Management application will allow HPU to draft, store, sort, and search contracts, and keep track of dates and deadlines for renewals and approvals. Features include a full text search function, lifecycle management, invoice and payment tracking, digital signage, financial system integration, remote access, and email notifications.

"We chose ESM Solutions as Hawai'i Pacific's e-procurement provider because they understand how higher education purchasing works," said Sharon Blanton, vice president and CIO of Hawai'i Pacific University, in a prepared statement. "The ease of doing business with them coupled with their affordable solutions will make the transition to their electronic purchasing system smooth and easy."

The state's largest private university with 7,500 students, Hawai'i Pacific University has two campuses. The main campus, located in downtown Honolulu, is home to the College of Business Administration and College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Eight miles away in Kaneohe, the 135- acre Loa campus houses the College of Natural and Computational Sciences and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. HPU is also affiliated with the Oceanic Institute, a 56-acre research center located at Makapu'u Point on the coast of O'ahu, Hawai'i, which specializes in marine biology, marine aquaculture, biotechnology, and ocean resource management. For more information, visit hpu.edu.

For additional information about ESM Solutions, visit esmsolutions.com.