June 27, 2024

Accounts Payable (AP) & Procurement Services is pleased to announce an upcoming transition to a new e-procurement platform to replace Smart Source, which is currently hosted by Jaggaer. Over the next several months, we will begin transitioning to the robust new environment of SAP Ariba. This change follows a comprehensive competitive bidding process and strong feedback supporting this transition from the Drexel purchasing community and is part of our ongoing commitment to improve efficiency, ease of use and cost-effectiveness in the University’s procurement activities.

Request for Proposal (RFP) Process

• Formal Bid Solicitation (E-Procurement Platform and Implementation Partners)
  • Eight e-procurement suppliers invited; four responsive proposals received and evaluated
  • Proposals secured from multiple implementation partners
• Drexel End User Engagement
  • Fifteen University stakeholders, including three faculty members, invited to participate on the E-Procurement RFP committee
  • Satisfaction survey conducted for all Smart Source users
• Selection
  • SAP Ariba selected based on system functionality, feedback from RFP committee, Smart Source user survey results, and negotiation with finalists to secure best value pricing
  • Ernst & Young, an experienced consulting firm with a team of Ariba specialists, selected as implementation partner following review of multiple proposals

Anticipated Benefits:

• Efficiency: SAP Ariba will partner with Ernst & Young for implementation of the new system, drawing upon industry best practices, tailoring the system to Drexel policies and processes, and optimizing the platform for end user ease of use.
• Functionality: In addition to e-procurement, SAP Ariba will host contract management and strategic sourcing modules which will drive process improvements in contract review, contract warehousing, and competitive bidding activities.
• Cost Savings: Support for centralized comparison shopping across catalogs, dedicated SAP Ariba resource to drive cost savings resulting from price reduction, spend/policy compliance, potential vendor consolidation, AI-driven tools and more

What’s Next?

• Town Hall Demos: In partnership with Ernst & Young, AP & Procurement Services will host recorded town halls with an overview of the new system, including the opportunity to submit questions in advance.
• User Focus Groups: AP & Procurement Services will invite frequent e-procurement users and representatives from partner departments across the University to assist in building efficient, intuitive, easy-to-follow workflows and processes.
• Updates: AP & Procurement Services will have an SAP Ariba project presence on our website to provide updates and/or other transition-related information.
• Transition Timeline: We currently anticipate a conversion from Jaggaer to SAP Ariba in late 2024-early 2025.
• Survey Feedback: To ensure we capture as much user feedback as possible, please take this short, anonymous Qualtrics survey.

Finally, as we work toward this transition, we have some additional process improvements rolling out in the coming weeks. Specifically, we have worked with our partners in the Office of the General Counsel, Risk Management, Tax and more to streamline the contracting process for certain frequently used supplier categories:

• Limited Engagement Services Agreement for defined classes of limited service providers
• Peer Review/Advisory Services Agreement for academic-related services

We will share additional details as they become available. We look forward to further engagement with you as we continue to work toward process improvement, clarity, and efficiency in the purchasing experience.