2015: eProcurement
Steady adoption of PURCO SA Online and Travel platforms
PURCO SA and our technology partner mymarket.com are making steady progress rolling out the PURCO SA Online and PURCO SA Travel e-procurement platforms that were launched in late 2013.
While solid headway is being made with adoption of the PURCO SA Travel tool, the process of switching higher education purchasing systems to electronic procurement has been slower.
Although disappointing, this is not unanticipated.
PURCO SA Online Travel, which allows members to quickly plan, book and confirm travel arrangements whilst benefiting from the discounts offered by our travel partners, is an easier implementation.
On the other hand the Online eProcurement platform is more complex to integrate with existing ERP, Accounting and Budgeting systems.
One reason for the slow adoption is a lack of systems uniformity between member institutions.
Not only do their existing systems differ (SAP, Oracle, ITS etc.) but some universities manage procurement through a centralised system while others have separate purchasing processes for each faculty and campus.
Whilst the implementation of the PURCO SA Online purchasing system will clearly streamline processes and aggregate orders to create more efficiency, savings and a higher degree of transparency, the implementation decision requires detailed strategic consideration as well as systems and culture change.
We trust member institutions will support the vision of a sector-wide e-procurement and travel management platform, and reap the benefits that the collaborative system will deliver to the broader higher education membership.
A key challenge overcome
A significant challenge with the consortium buying model relates to members that want to approve a PURCO SA level supplier, while restricting their buyers to a limited selection of the supplier’s product range.
mymarket.com have responded by customising the PURCO SA Online system to allow for selection of Consortium level contract items at an item and not supplier level.
This enhancement will give every member institute full and final control on what items are accessible to their buyers from the system catalogues.
Progress status
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
Integration with NMMU’s ITS system has been fully piloted. Catalogue supplier adoption is underway and the next step is to switch ITS from the pilot system to the new live environment.
NMMU is also scheduled for the Travel platform.
Tshwane University of Technology
PURCO SA Travel is being implemented at Tshwane University of Technology, and the interface with their ITS system is due for final sign-off .
Extensive workshops have been held to map the business processes and identify the integration touchpoints with a view to keeping the ERP integration and setup costs to a minimum.
University of Cape Town
Implementation of PURCO SA Online and PURCO SA Travel is at an advanced stage at UCT.
The University had a number of unique system requirements, making integration with their SAP system unusually complex. Despite the challenges the integrations are completed, tested and live.
In addition to the standard requirements, the UCT integration catered for the following:
- User data is integrated with the UCT human resource system;
- Single sign on allows user log-ins to be validated back to the UCT Identity Vault;
- Access to SAP-controlled Fund Centres enables automatic fund linkages to user profiles and cost centres. Authorisation workflows update the system with fundholder details so requisitions can be routed for approval.
- Cost centre activation and deactivation
- An end to end Purchase Card system for purchasing, invoice receipt and matching, bank settlements and transaction recording.
The rollout plan to users and suppliers will commence as soon as the University has signed off development.
In the meanwhile UCT departments continue to be identified for rollout on Travel. The Graduate School of Business and the Science Department are already live with the system, while implementation is underway with the Faculty of Health Sciences.
University of Johannesburg
The University of Johannesburg is in the process of integrating PURCO SA Online with their Oracle ERP.
Final testing of the UJ integration is underway in a pre-production environment and sign off and go-live will be able to commence shortly.
University of Zululand
The University of Zululand is in the pipeline to implement the PURCO SA Online Travel platform.
UNIZULU, NMMU and Tshwane University of Technology all use the ITS system, and it is possible they will be able to use the business process flows mapped out in the TUT project. They may also be able to share the ITS development costs for ERP Integration.
PURCO SA Travel - tender proposals
Mymarket has submitted PURCO SA Travel proposals for Travel Tenders advertised by Umalusi, UNISA and the Universities of Venda and Pretoria.