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Texas State San Marcos Selects SciQuest eProcurement

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 06/22/09

Texas State University-San Marcos will implement SciQuest's suite of eProcurement solutions to aggregate its purchasing. All departments within Texas State will use the new system, which will enable buyers to shop online with preferred suppliers in electronic catalogs or "punch-out" to suppliers' Web sites in an environment similar to that found on popular e-commerce sites.

"Spending on goods and services is the one variable component of the budget that institutions can leverage without impacting staff and academic programs, yet most lack real-time visibility into these significant budget outlays," said Jacque Allbright, director of purchasing at the institution. "It's absolutely critical to bring spending on goods and services under management in order to create the complete financial picture required to maximize existing resources."

Allbright credits SciQuest's track record of serving colleges and universities of all sizes, the strong endorsements of current customers, and the cost-effective nature of the company's on-demand solutions as differentiators that contributed to the Board of Regents' decision to implement the new system. Scheduled for deployment later this year, the system will integrate with the university's financial system of record, an SAP enterprise resource planning system.

The SciQuest implementation methodology enables the university to phase-in catalogs over time to allow for an orderly transition from current procurement processes. SciQuest will provide real-time visibility into spending, giving procurement and financial managers access to data needed to aggregate the university's buying power, negotiate more favorable terms and conditions with suppliers, and free faculty and staff from administrative tasks typically associated with paper-based procurement processes.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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