Customer Spotlight: Barry Swanson

College/Unit: Purchasing

Describe what you and/or your team does at UK.

The UK Purchasing Division is responsible for oversight of all procurement related activities for the entire University. Our scope includes the procurement related activities for all academic, healthcare, research, athletic and agriculture areas of the University. We also are responsible for the Supplier Diversity, UK Supply Center and UK Surplus Property Units and the work they perform in support of the University and its mission.

Talk about the ways you’ve collaborated with ITS and how it impacted your work.

On a routine basis the Purchasing Division and ITS collaborate to establish contracts for the purchase of all types of technology commodities and services. Some examples of this collaboration include IT hardware, software, consulting services and communication equipment. Over the past 2 years the Purchasing Division and ITS have been actively engaged in a collaborative project to improve the technology utilized by departments as they conduct their day to day purchasing activities. The Ariba eCatalogue Module successfully went live in September with the result being the creation of an Amazon.com type shopping experience for campus departments. The project began during the Our Path Forward Procure to Pay Transformation project. Campus departments, University Financial Services, ITS and the Purchasing Division worked together to identify needs and develop solutions using SAP/Ariba technology to provide tools for use to meet the identified needs. The project was accomplished on-time, on-budget and the initial feedback has been positive. Work remains to achieve a true best in class eProcurement system but the Ariba eCatalogue Module is great start. The project’s success was a collaborative effort with ITS staff playing a lead role in the successful implementation.