Submitted on behalf of Robert Cree, AVP for Business and Finance.
Ithaca College recently completed an Effectiveness and Affordability review which identified a number of processes that were recommended for a more in depth review in an effort to identify potential gains in efficiency and application of industry best practices. One such area that was identified is that of the College’s current purchasing processes. In light of this information the College has decided to take a more in depth look at its current purchasing processes and compare them to current industry best practices and assess how strategic sourcing would benefit Ithaca College and what would be involved to move the College in that direction.
The term strategic sourcing can be defined as the procurement process an institution uses to continuously assess and improve its purchasing activities.
As a result the College has engaged the services of a purchasing consultant, Enterprise Solutions Group (ESG), to perform a “Procurement Assessment” of the College’s current purchasing processes. This assessment is an important first step in determining a procurement performance baseline; identify issues and opportunities, and priorities for next steps in the transformation process.
One of the primary components of this procurement assessment is for ESG to meet with a cross representation of faculty, staff and students that perform some form of purchasing on behalf of the College. These meetings will be the basis in providing information to ESG around the efficiency or inefficiency of the College’s procurement processes.
Recognizing the fact that ESG will not be able to meet with everyone on campus who participates in the College’s purchasing function we have established a couple other ways in which faculty, staff and students may share their thoughts on the College’s current procurement processes. We have established an email address, strategicsourcing@ithaca.edu, for anyone to share their thoughts on the College’s current procurement processes. All messages sent to this email address will be automatically forwarded to ESG for them to compile the information received into their formal procurement assessment report back to the College. Additionally, ESG has created a survey, whereby anyone interested in participating may share their thoughts through the online survey link listed below.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Ithaca_College
We will keep you informed about our progress on this work by means of periodic updates. You may at any time visit the project website (www.ithaca.edu/eareview/phases/strategic-sourcing/) for current information.
We invite anyone who would like to share their thoughts and ideas on the College’s current procurement processes to please do so utilizing either the online survey or sending an email to strategicsourcing@ithaca.edu.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20131105113627663