If your daily duties include purchasing items for your unit, life is about to get a little easier.

The new eProcurement system, BuzzMart, will go live on Feb. 21, replacing Tech’s PeopleSoft campus requisition.

“The shift to BuzzMart, which has been in the planning stage for more than a year, is consistent with goal five in the Institute’s strategic plan,” said Rosalind Meyers, vice president of campus services. “BuzzMart will streamline the procurement and payment process, eliminate paperwork and allow Business Services to focus on value-added, strategic activities rather than transactional activities.”

The new system will offer the following benefits:

• 24/7 Internet-based access
• One-stop shopping experience
• Real-time processing
• Student and affiliate access
• Electronic approval and workflow
• No end-of-the-month reconciliation or invoices to organize

“From the user point of view, it’s all about customer service,” Meyers said. “BuzzMart will get an order placed faster, delivered faster, eliminate the excess paperwork that the PCard requires and it can be accessed from any computer.”

When the system is launched, many of the top Tech vendors, including Staples and Hewlett Packard, will be featured in BuzzMart as catalog suppliers. The prices in the catalogs reflect Tech’s negotiated rates, and additional vendor catalogs will be introduced over time.
Purchasers will now be designated one of four roles.

“Shoppers” can access BuzzMart and add items to a shopping cart. “Requesters” are responsible for reviewing cart contents and entering accounting information. Requesters are allowed to self-approve orders that are less than $3,000. All others must be approved by the “spend authority approver” and/or a “financial approver.”    

Currently, the system is being piloted by Housing and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.  

“BuzzMart gets you the goods and services in a more efficient, effective manner. The ability to generate custom reports far exceeds the previous system,” said Bob Canada, the leader for the Housing Department pilot. “It will be the one-stop shopping system.”

Employees must go through training to access BuzzMart. Training will be based on the four roles. Face-to-face training is available for all roles, while on-demand, Web-based training is also available for shoppers and spend authority approvers.

Training is ongoing and will be incorporated into the administrative system’s training schedule as a regular offering after the system is in production.