SUNY recently announced that nine SUNY schools, including MCC, will receive $1.5 million to finance the purchase and implementation of an e-procurement software platform that will streamline purchasing, create efficiencies and build data sets that will help us make more cost-saving decisions. The grant comes from the
SUNY Investment and Performance Fund.
MCC has been collaborating on this SUNY Shared Services initiative since 2013 with Alfred State College, The College of Ceramics at Alfred University, State University College at Brockport, University at Buffalo, State University College at Buffalo State, State University College at Fredonia, State University College at Geneseo, and Erie Community College. The goals of the initiative are to:
* streamline the acquisition of goods and services for all participating campuses
* create operational efficiencies through process standardization across participating campuses
* improve compliance with procurement laws and regulations
* capture expenditure data from all campuses to allow for the ‘strategic’ sourcing of goods and services, reducing the cost paid to vendors
The goals will be accomplished through the installation of a common procurement software platform called eProcurement; Vanderbilt University (an eProcurement customer) describes the software like this:
eProcurement is a fully capable electronic web application for purchasing goods and services. eProcurement allows shoppers to browse online catalogs, add items to a shopping cart and submit the requisition electronically. Orders may also be created manually for complex purchases of capital equipment and professional services. Completed requisitions are routed for review or approval via electronic workflow. Requisitions to select suppliers included in the hosted "eCatalog" will automatically generate purchase orders and transmits them to the suppliers. All other approved eProcurement requisitions are routed to purchasing agents for Procurement review and processing into purchase orders.
SciQuest will provide the eProcurement software platform, pending final contract negotiations between SUNY and SciQuest and subsequent approval by the Offices of the New York State Attorney General and the New York State Comptroller.
An implementation schedule will be announced as soon as the contract is finalized.
It is important to note that the software ‘sits’ on top of Banner and essentially augments the Banner product.
Many thanks to Patrick Bates, Director of Purchasing, for his yeoman's effort on this initiative, including collaborating with our SUNY sister institutions and shepherding a complex proposal through various approval processes.