PunchOut technology for greater control and ease of purchase

A bespoke online catalogue for Surrey County Council

Surrey County Council first approached Equanet in 2010 to introduce an online catalogue of IT products and has been working with Equanet ever since. The council buys IT hardware, software and peripherals from Equanet. Within its in-house IT department it has a small procurement section which buys centrally for the whole organisation. In addition it has around  four hundred buyers located in numerous departments who regularly buy peripheral items. Historically these buyers tended to either ask the IT department to source the required products for them, which was time-consuming and an inefficient use of the IT team’s time, or they purchased  themselves through a supplier of their choice with no centralised control. Neither of these options was proving to be effective.

For Dean Fazackerley, Catalogue Specialist at Surrey County Council, the online catalogue provided by Equanet had many benefits but still did not address a core problem: “We had already introduced an online catalogue with Equanet’s help but we didn’t want to give free rein to all four hundred of our  buyers to order whatever they liked. Therefore, we originally only allowed PunchOut technology to be used within the IT teams. Then we found that our buyers were starting to circumvent the system and do their own thing. The preferred option was to provide all buyers with a PunchOut system that restricted purchasing according to policy. Through this technology a selection of products could be ordered by individuals while the purchase of other, larger ticket items was still controlled by our IT team”.

PunchOut technology for greater control and ease of purchase

Andy Toner, Equanet’s eCommerce Solutions Consultant, started discussing the option of using PunchOut technology to greater effect within Surrey County Council in January 2011, and when Dean was looking to set up a second online catalogue through its SAP procurement system they explored how this technology could best be utilised. This new catalogue offered a more restricted range of peripheral products accessible to all buyers within the council whilst big ticket items still had to be sourced and authorised through the IT department, thus limiting maverick buying. “We wanted our people to be able to self-serve, but in a controlled manner through one single, approved supplier”, Dean explained.

Through Equanet’s website the council’s buyers could potentially have been given access to over 30,000 products but controlling choice was a priority. “Together we trawled through each product category to agree which items should be made accessible to the wider audience” Andy explains. “We discussed and agreed the portal design and content that buyers would see when they signed in. We agreed the project plan and my team delivered on schedule”.

To ensure the technology worked seamlessly across both Equanet’s and the council’s SAP systems Andy initially set up a live link so that users could log in and buy in a controlled test environment. A number of refinements were then made to make improvements that had not previously been considered. Once Dean and his test users were completely satisfied that the system was robust and incorporated the right product mix for each group of buyers they were switched over to a live environment and the system was launched to all users. This set-up and testing stage was implemented free of charge by Equanet. As Andy explains “it’s all part of the service”.

The new system went live in June 2011 and was well received with very positive user feedback. Only minor refinements were required which were put in place straight away. The team at Equanet built a bespoke front page for the council users and the content was provided by Dean which outlined the organisation’s purchasing policy, processes, how to use the online catalogue and what users should do if unable to find what they were looking for. This makes the council’s buyers feel comfortable that they are still operating within their own environment as they are tapping into systems that are already in place and familiar to them. Dean feels this is important because: “some of our users are not technically minded so it gives them reassurance”.

How it works

The basket of products being purchased is processed through Equanet’s system then flowed back through the council’s own SAP system for approval, automatically generating an electronic purchase order to Equanet. This in turn is then processed into an electronic invoice directly back into the council’s system. Every step along the way is electronic, eliminating the need for a paper trail.

A positive experience all round

The new system brings numerous benefits to the council. It provides a highly efficient purchase-to-pay process which has been automated wherever possible. Duplication of manual entries has been minimised so the administration has been simplified. It enables greater control over what the council’s buyers are purchasing, and who they are buying from, with the ability to monitor purchasing without the time-consuming need to sanction every individual purchase order for peripheral items. Now only a small number of purchase orders need to be approved by exception.

It is also beneficial to the buyers themselves. It empowers them to self-serve rather than forcing them to adhere to a manual process that is controlled by a small number of their colleagues in the IT department. Most importantly it minimises the cost of procurement overall. Linking to Equanet’s website gives the council’s buyers access to live pricing, and they are subsequently able to make buying decisions based on real-time prices and stock availability.

For Dean the benefits are clear: “We now have much greater visibility and control of our spend. The PunchOut technology recalls product descriptions and codes so that reporting is more detailed than that offered by procurement card companies. We have fixed pricing which is always Equanet’s best price at the time of purchase, and our users have much greater clarity around what they are authorised to buy. The administrative burden has also more or less disappeared”.

Since the introduction of PunchOut technology Dean has received no complaints from his users. “It’s much easier for them to purchase this way; it’s more visual and a lot quicker. For the IT team there has been a significant reduction in the number of unnecessary calls they have to handle, and having to authorise purchase of products unnecessarily”.

He has also been impressed by the service he has received from Andy Toner at Equanet. “Andy has been brilliant. He doesn’t talk in technical jargon. He took in what we required as business users and translated that into a business product that was right for us. He was also very responsive to all the testing and changes we required. We have asked for continuous tweaks since implementation and he is always very quick to respond. The whole experience has been very positive”.

“Andy was brilliant. He didn’t talk in technical jargon. He took in what we were required as business users and translated that into a business product that was right for us”

Dean Fazackerley, Catalogue Specialist, Surrey County Council