Portland State U Selects Purchasing Application for Campus-Wide Spend Management

  • By Sharleen Nelson
  • 10/08/13

In an effort to trim costs, streamline the purchasing process, and better serve its administrators and staff members, Portland State University (PSU) plans to implement a campus-wide procure-to-pay process.

For the project, PSU has selected spend management and e-procurement provider ESM Solutions to roll out its integrated easyPurchase application across the university system.

The software-as-a-service-based easyPurchase interface will allow an unlimited number of PSU end-users and administrators to manage electronic purchase orders, invoices, and payments and provide anytime access to supplier catalogs.

Key Features Include:

  • Online ordering;
  • Connections to selected suppliers;
  • Dashboard view of all spend data;
  • Ability to place orders from mobile devices;
  • Shop, cart, checkout e-commerce shopping experience;
  • Credit card (P-Card) and purchase order support;
  • Full enterprise resource planning and general ledger integration;
  • Desktop and central receiving;
  • Invoice management services;
  • Integrated cart configuration;
  • Electronic forms management;
  • Textbook management;
  • Private branding for customizable applications;
  • Support for Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari; and
  • Support for iPads and Android tablets.

"The university was in need of an affordable, yet user-friendly application for our institutional staff to purchase from our contracted suppliers at the best price,” said Darin Matthews, director of contracting and procurement services for Portland State University, in a prepared statement. "After evaluating multiple solutions, ESM Solutions was the clear choice to help PSU meet our spend management needs.”

Portland State University, a public urban research university located on 49 acres in downtown Portland, OR, has the largest overall undergraduate and graduate enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, and is the only public university in the state that is located in a major metropolitan city. Portland State offers more than 60 undergraduate and 40 graduate programs in fine and performing arts, liberal arts and sciences, business administration, education, urban and public affairs, social work, engineering and computer science. Portland State's 2013 operating budget is approximately $57 million.

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

About the Author

Sharleen Nelson is a freelance journalist based in Springfield, Oregon. She can be reached at [email protected].

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