About University of Manchester

The University of Manchester is one of the UK’s largest and most respected universities, renowned worldwide for its teaching excellence, pioneering research, and global impact. Home to more than 40,000 students from over 170 countries and supported by 12,000 staff, the University is part of the prestigious Russell Group and consistently ranks among the world’s top institutions. With a proud history of innovation, spanning from the discovery of graphene to 25 Nobel Prize winners, Manchester combines cutting-edge facilities, industry partnerships, and a vibrant city-centre campus to deliver life-changing education and groundbreaking discoveries that shape a better future for society.

The challenge

One of the University’s key criteria was that the new solution was able to integrate with Oracle ERP. They needed to increase the efficiency of the purchasing process and ensure all spend was appropriately controlled.

They also wanted to improve compliance against preferred supplier contracts, and provide visibility of these contracts across the University.

It was important that all product and pricing data was kept up-to-date and accurate. They wanted enablement of key suppliers across all commodities for eProcurement.

The solution

Over 4,100 users have access to Purchasing, with exposure to products ranging from office supplies to complex bio-science structures.

The solution complements and integrates with the University’s Oracle finance system. The intuitive interface makes requisitioning and ordering of routine commodities a much simpler process. By reducing unnecessary human intervention in the ordering process valuable staff time is freed up and the procurement to payment process has been greatly simplified.

Ian Jarvey, Deputy Head of Procurement, University of Manchester, comments, “Introducing Purchasing has significantly reduced the transactional costs of ordering and paying invoices for items procured through the system when compared to traditional purchasing routes.”

The University has also seen associated benefits in terms of increased contract compliance, closer supplier engagement and improved management of supplier accounts. 

Ian concludes, “Adopting the OneAdvanced system has significantly enhanced the purchasing experience of users at the University as well as improving control of expenditure and contract compliance at a strategic level.”