i-Buy

Purchasing Services' New Shopping Marketplace

By Kate Monahan

Have you ever wished that you could shop for products for work in the same way that you shop online for yourself at home? Wish no more: NYU's Purchasing Services has just launched the new i-Buy system, an e-commerce portal that supplements the existing e-Requisitioning System (e-Req) and brings a self-service shopping cart experience to NYU departments.

Prior to i-Buy, there were a variety of ways to purchase supplies at NYU, all of which required some amount of paperwork and recordkeeping, including:

• Buying the item(s) at your own expense and being reimbursed
• Using e-Req to initiate a Purchase Order
• Using a "Pcard" (Purchasing-issued credit card) and managing the supporting documents
• Issuing a Small Dollar Order and handling the follow-up paperwork

Using these methods, NYU departments spent more than $400 million dollars on products and services last year. This amount of purchase power, when properly harnessed, can be used by Purchasing Services to negotiate better discounts and/or improved services for the University, and that is part of what i-Buy will provide. i-Buy is not intended to replace the options described above (you can continue to use the old methods if you wish), but to supplement them with a convenient, full-featured new option. In addition to creating a quick and convenient shopping experience for you, when you place an order through i-Buy, the system automatically uploads your purchasing information to e-Req and NYU's financial system, fame. This substantially reduces payment handling by Accounts Payable for these purchases, while also capturing data that can improve NYU's ability to negotiate discounts. In addition, enabling departments to make their own decisions about purchases without Purchasing Services' intervention allows Purchasing Services to focus on contract development and on expanding the array of suppliers available through i-Buy.

Simple, Secure & Streamlined

i-Buy provides convenient access to a wide range of suppliers through a single, secure log-on. This enables one-stop shopping by eliminating the need to sign into individual suppliers' websites, and instead presents you with a virtual shopping mall of customized websites providing discounted pricing for the NYU community. When you shop in the i-Buy marketplace, you fill one virtual shopping cart with products from many suppliers, and when you check out, the system automatically creates detailed Purchase Requisitions for each supplier. Once your department's administrator approves the Purchase Requisition, a Purchase Order will be transmitted directly to the supplier (without handling by Purchasing Services). Your order can then be tracked via e-Req, as it would be with any other Purchase Requisition or Purchase Order. This automated process eliminates the need for each NYU office to maintain purchasing documents.

In addition to its convenience, i-Buy offers a very diverse marketplace—with millions of product options, including technology, furniture, office supplies, books, and more—that will continue to grow. Some of the suppliers already enabled include Applied Biosystems, Barnes & Noble, B&H Photo, Bio-Rad Labs, CDW, DS&D, Dell, Fisher Scientific, GovConnection, Invitrogen, New England Biolabs, Roche Diagnostics, Sigma-Aldrich, Staples, and VWR Scientific. i-Buy provides access to these and other approved suppliers via customized websites (known as "punchouts") that launch when selected within the system. For example, if you've been using the Staples website in the past to place your orders, you'll find that you can access the same site through i-Buy, and that it now integrates with the e-Req System to create Purchase Requisitions. Suppliers without punchout capabilities, referred to as hosted suppliers (mostly scientific suppliers), use online catalogs to show their products.

According to John Jagard, the Director of NYU's Purchasing Services, the average i-Buy order takes just a few minutes to complete. The system also has the advantages of eliminating paperwork and the potential for data entry errors, and provides handy tools for storing a list of your favorite items and comparing prices. There is no minimum or maximum limit on the amount you may spend through i-Buy, aside from any limits established by your department. Nor are there any restrictions on which supplier you choose to purchase your item(s) from, so long as they're included in the i-Buy market-place. This gives you the freedom to choose what to buy, from whom to buy it, and how much to spend.

Getting Started

i-Buy is designed to be easy to use, and builds on the familiarity many NYU community members already have with the popular e-Req System. Access to the NYU e-Req System does not, however, necessarily mean automatic access to i-Buy. If the i-Buy icon does not appear on the Main Menu of e-Req when you log in, you can contact your department's e-Req System administrator to request access. Decisions about access will be made by your department. Once you have permission to use i-Buy, you can access the system from e-Req or via the Purchasing Services channel within the Work tab of NYUHome (http://home.nyu.edu/).

To assist NYU departments in using i-Buy, Purchasing Services has launched a detailed and easy-to-use online tutorial. You can access the i-Buy Tutorial and additional information about the system via the Purchasing Services website at www.nyu.edu/purchasing.services/ or via the "Get Help" button within e-Req. In addition to i-Buy, Purchasing Services released a redesigned version of the e-Req System at the beginning of the Spring 2007 semester, featuring a new look, improved navigation and usability, and convenient access to i-Buy.

If you have questions about i-Buy, please contact your departmental e-Req administrator, or send email to purchasing.info@nyu.edu.

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Author Biographies

Kate Monahan is Editor of Connect: Information Technology at NYU.

Page last reviewed: April 24, 2007. All content © New York University.
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