Submitted on behalf of Robert A. Cree, associate vice president for business and finance.
As a follow up to Carl Sgrecci's Intercom announcement on August 18 pertaining to the restructuring of the Division of Finance and Administration, I wanted to share with you additional details that directly relate to the restructuring within General Services and the reassignment of purchasing responsibilities.
Over the past few years, continued technological advances in the printing and duplicating industry have made it necessary to create a centralized office responsible for receiving, formatting, assigning, and mailing all requests for print production work. With this in mind, and in conjunction with the strategic review of the College's organizational structure, the Print Shop has been merged with the Variable Data and Print Media Technology Services department into what will now be known as the Print, Variable Data, and Media Technology Center. Cindy French will supervise the newly formed Print, Variable Data, and Media Technology Center and will continue to report directly to me.
It was also announced that Purchasing as a central function will be dissolved and the responsibilities reassigned to other areas. Over the course of the last few years it has become clear that technology has allowed departments to become their own purchasing managers. The volume of purchasing card transactions has grown considerably, and over the past few years, the purchasing function has been decentralized, allowing departments to enter their own requisitions and approve their own purchases. With this said, I want to provide additional details surrounding the reassignment of the purchasing function.
Karen Cleveland will continue to support departments with their procurement needs by providing the necessary technical assistance with the College's online purchasing module (iProcurement), assisting departments in an effort to ensure requisitions are properly entered into Parnassus, creating the necessary purchase orders once a requisition has received the necessary approvals, and ensuring the necessary documentation has been received in a collaborative effort with Accounts Payable so that payments can be processed in a timely manner. She will also continue to provide the necessary assistance to campus users with any of their procedural needs within the procurement module. Karen will now be part of the Financial Services unit.
Gail Wagner will be moving to the Office of Facilities, where her primary role will be to support Facilities with all of their procurement needs. Her responsibilities also include the procurement of office furniture and assisting departments with their needs with these types of purchases. Gail will report directly to Rick Couture, associate vice president for facilities.
Wayne French will assume the role of manager of warehouse, procurement, and leasing operations. In this new role, Wayne will continue to manage the College's warehouse and receiving operations, along with the administration of the College-wide copier program. Additionally, Wayne will provide support to departments with their procurement and leasing needs. This will include providing assistance to departments with the selection and purchase of goods and services, submitting bid requests through Bidnet to ensure best possible pricing, analyzing bid proposals, and making recommendations to departments. Wayne will continue to report directly to me in his new role.
As we continue to fine tune the reassignment of the purchasing function, please feel free to reach out to Karen, Gail, Wayne, or myself with any questions you may have. We ask for your continued patience as everyone settles into their new roles. Thank you.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/2009082416534086