Heriot-Watt University Joins UKprocure SystemseMarketplace

Posted on Oct 25, 2004

Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh has become the first University in the UK to sign-up to UKprocure Systems eMarketplace, the largest eCommerce community in the UK public sector. The solution, which went live at the end of September 2004, will enable Heriot-Watt to engage in fully electronic trading with its suppliers, by automating the entire procurement process, from requisitioning and catalogue management to document transmission.

The University has set itself a target to achieve a 5% reduction in non-pay expenditure against ‘maverick’ turnover and a 1.5% reduction in spend against its top 200 suppliers as a result of its eProcurement strategy. Heriot-Watt will achieve tangible business benefits from the eMarketplace, including improved contract compliance, a significant reduction in the transaction costs for the University and its suppliers, a reduction in order processing time, improved payment performance and an improved commercial relationship with suppliers. Heriot-Watt is already seeing keener prices from its suppliers because of the benefits they see from trading electronically with the University via the eMarketplace.

Tony Newjem, Director of Purchasing & Supply Services at Heriot-Watt University said: “UKprocure Systems provides a comprehensive eCommerce solution, based on the Oracle platform. Following a detailed analysis of the market we carried out a tendering exercise, and from the responses received, concluded that UKprocure Systems would best meet our needs. This decision was based on the cost of the solution for the University and its suppliers, the technical capabilities of the system and UKprocure Systems ability to support our bullish supplier adoption programme. By harnessing the UKprocure Systems eMarketplace we will be able to drive down raw material and process costs and revitalise our contracting and contract management programme whilst giving ourselves more control over our spend through information-rich expenditure data.”

The introduction of the UKprocure Systems eMarketplace builds on Heriot-Watt’s implementation of the Oracle E-Business Suite. The eMarketplace will enable the University to maximise its return on investment in the Oracle systems and will enable it to quickly achieve the benefits of eProcurement. Initially, Heriot-Watt will be using the UKprocure Systems eMarketplace to provide hosted, supplier-maintained catalogues and ‘punch-out’ functionality to suppliers’ transactional websites where appropriate. Electronic Invoicing functionality will be introduced within two months of going live, as a way for the University and its suppliers to add increased efficiency into the purchase-to-pay cycle.

Eoin MacDonald, Procurement Systems Manager at Heriot-Watt University said: “With limited staff, it is not possible for us to manage on-line catalogues for all our top 200 suppliers. By using a tailored eMarketplace, we have effectively moved that responsibility onto the suppliers and UKprocure Systems. With devolved requisitioning involving a potential maximum of 1,500 users, we wanted to make the process of raising orders and contract compliance as easy as possible. Using supplier-maintained catalogues, hosted on the eMarketplace, will make the purchasing process uniform across our core suppliers and will dramatically reduce the incidence of errors and invoice rejection.”

Shish Lal, CEO, UKprocure Systems said: “Procurement is a major area of expenditure and public sector organisations have an opportunity to achieve the level of savings outlined by the National eProcurement Project and the Gershon efficiency review by utilising eProcurement. Heriot-Watt’s use of the UKprocure Systems eMarketplace is providing a cost-effective and proven route to achieving measurable time and cost savings. They are using IT to enable professional and strategic procurement and putting in place an architecture that they can share collaboratively with other purchasing organisations.”

The first thirty Heriot-Watt suppliers will be on the eMarketplace by the end of 2004. The selection of these suppliers has been based on total turnover, number of transactions, sound contract coverage and level of e-enablement. Heriot-Watt will be targeting the remaining top 200 suppliers, which account for 75% of non-pay spend, over the next 18-24 months. The University is now working with UKprocure Systems to introduce a programme of eTenders and eAuctions to deliver further cost and time savings.

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About UK Procure

UKprocure Systems (www.ukprocure.com) is the leading supplier of end-to-end procurement solutions to the UK public sector, with an emphasis on healthcare, local government and education. UKprocure Systems provides managed services and hosted solutions that support the full procurement process, from sourcing and managing to ordering and invoicing. Its industry-leading eSourcing and eMarketplace solutions, which are based on the robust Oracle platform, are reinforced by UKprocure Systems consultancy services and unrivalled knowledge of the public sector supplier base and business processes. UKprocure Systems enables its customers to achieve dramatic cost savings through the transformation of the procurement process, savings that can be re-deployed to improve front line service delivery. At the same time, UKprocure Systems innovative solutions help public sector organisations meet Government targets for Modernisation, Best Value and Collaboration.

For more information please contact:
Tara Williams
UKprocure Systems
T: 020 7936 9489
M: 07976 906673
E: tara.williams@ukprocure.com

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