Central Community College case study
Central community college press fast forward on digital procurement with ellucian spend management
Eliminating paper-based steps, realizing substantial savings, and employing technology to connect Central’s purchasing processes
Central Community College (CCC) knew its current purchasing processes were no longer sustainable. As the volume of paper increased, costs associated with mailing purchase-related forms and information between campuses, plus the time lag between purchase requests and approvals grew. And with a strategic imperative to modernize their technology, they knew something needed to change.
As CCC began to explore requirements for new purchasing tools, they knew that the solution selected needed to tightly integrate with the Ellucian Colleague Finance system already in place on campus. And as part of the risk management component of their evaluation, the purchase system also needed the ability to work stand alone too.
Central Community College chose to extend its Ellucian Colleague ERP system with Ellucian Purchase to encompass its procurement department, which enabled them to radically modernize and streamline the formerly outdated purchasing processes.
Challenges
Results
The pandemic: blessing and curse
It was the pandemic that proved the strongest catalyst to highlight the inadequacies of CCC’s manual procurement processes. Implementation occurred in April and May 2020, just as COVID-19 began to shut the campus down. “Sign-off happened prior to the pandemic,” explained Carmen Taylor, Purchasing Manager for Central Community College. “It was a curse because it
just had to work, there was no other option, and it was a blessing because, after
go-live, we were completely virtual. That was something that would never have been
possible without procurement modernization.”
“ Taking a new approach to training became a necessity” Carmen commented “Staff at home due to COVID had more time, with virtual training and easily accessible materials it was very effective”.
Project management and momentum
When a newly appointed Vice President started at CCC, a dot matrix printer was still in use. Clearly, something needed to change. He approached Carmen and asked her to start the process to replace the antiquated procurement processes and make the change happen.
Carmen was determined to “drag” procurement at the college into the 21st century. She was appointed project manager and set her focus on the project, dedicating a specific amount of time to it throughout the duration of research and planning. The implementation of the purchase solution was an “astounding” success. In fact, internal stakeholders at the campus have come to rely on Ellucian Purchase, so much so it can act as an icebreaker within the user groups.
Pro tip: Ellucian Purchase’s budget management updates saves Carmen the time needed to manually enter changes into her institutions purchase system.
Radical realization: a year after implementation, the results speak
for themselves
Since day one, CCC has seen dramatic changes for the better. These changes are integral to their college functions now. The software is more user-friendly, and the staff gave great feedback post-implementation. One of the most radical changes realized was staff members’ greater visibility into where a transaction was within a process. CCC has come a long way in just one year, their old processes and dot matrix printer are completely in the past.
Benefits since go-live
When asked about her thoughts and feelings going into implementation, Carmen said that at first, they were all “absolutely scared to death.” But she added, “It’s important to keep the train moving.” The IT, team is a great example of adapting to implementation and pushing it forward. They now have a general list of items that are auto-approved (such as a PC mouse and cables). This list helps users know they can easily purchase certain products that are already approved and within built-in
budget constraints.
“We have created quick guidelines for users as part of the training process,” said Carmen. Although she also added…
“The system steps you through it which helps staff members. It’s instant, you’re not having to wait a week to find out there was something not right on the form and get it fixed. And users find it very efficient.” said Taylor.
Reporting the change
Faculty and staff have received training on the Ellucian Purchase solution. They can get reports on staff spend by department and can see the spend for themselves immediately, without having to request a report for it. Carmen said, “The tools are there; they just need to use them. And the purchase team has created quick guidelines for users as part of the training process.” Carmen added that she produces a purchasing report for the board of governors monthly. Previously, she
had to call someone to run the report and rearrange it under the manual process (which took two to three days). Now, from an automated custom report within Ellucian Purchase, it takes just 20 minutes. She’s also able to present the report in the format that the C-suite likes best.
It makes the process robust. We just wanted to make it easier for them by automating processes such as creating requisitions and purchase orders.”
Critics to changemakers and champions
Central Community College’s combined team of Procurement, Data Management, Accounts, and IT recognized a need to modernize their procurement technology. To roll out the new system and support processes, they worked together as a cohesive unit.
There was some pushback on the college’s investment in the procurement project, as it was not directly for faculty resources or student spending. A minority of staff who had been with the college for a long time were uncomfortable with the changes and voiced their concerns.
Carmen shared “We wanted them to understand our perspective on why we wanted to make this change happen, but it’s great to have that devil’s advocate too. Carmen turned them from critics into champions, by helping them see the changes were in their best interests.
Ellucian Purchase provided the college with an affordable way to deliver the technology needed to digitize and automate their purchasing process. This enabled them to eliminate paper, improve process efficiency, increase visibility, and shorten the time for approvals.
