1. Smarter Purchasing - A Better Way to Buy

2. What is Smarter Purchasing
Electronic ordering system allowing everyone to buy goods and services
Catalogue and non catalogue buying
Orders will be approved electronically
Goods will be receipted directly by goods inward staff
Invoices will be received centrally by Accounts Payable and will not require further approval where they agree to the order and goods are received

3. Why are we doing it
Simplicity and efficiency: to ensure that our purchasing process is simple and efficient to use for everyone right from placing orders to paying for goods
Better decisions: the right people in Departments are making the right decisions on what to buy at the order stage as this is when the University commits to purchase a good or service
Better buying: Smarter Purchasing will allow price comparisons to be performed on good/ services supplied by 60 + suppliers to ensure what we buy meets our needs and is the best value for money
Improving supplier relations and terms: currently, many suppliers are paid late which has a negative impact on our relationship and our ability to negotiate better prices with them. Smarter purchasing will allow suppliers to be paid on time and put us in a much stronger position to drive the costs of purchases down

4. What are we not changing
Please still use Purchase Cards for:
low value, high volume purchases that are not on our catalogue
one time suppliers as this is cheaper and more efficient
see your Departmental Purchasing Expert for these type of purchases
Departments can still not pay a supplier if goods/ services are not right but you must tell us via your Department Purchasing Expert
Where an invoice price differs to the order the department will make the decision on whether to pay it
Safety products still need a safety approval

5. https://connect.le.ac.uk/sp_order/
Ordering demo

6. Questions on ordering

7. https://connect.le.ac.uk/sp_approval/
Approval demo

8. Questions on approvals

9. Resources to get up to speed with the system
Training sessions starting w/c 17 Feb 2014
User guides available via website to support all stages
System Demos
Website
Departmental Contacts
Department
People
Chemistry
Phil Acton, Sara Mounteney and Chris Goddard
III
Rebecca Draper and Sushila Rambhai
Biochemistry
Barbara Birch
CPP
Karen Monger and Amanda Fisher
ITS
Wendy Ferguson and Avril Vilcins
Central
Richard Griffiths, Jon Gunnell, Zoe Chandler and Emily Ledson

10. Launch date 3 March 2014