NCASBO E-Procurement Steering Committee

A new E-Procurement Steering Committee has been established to provide feedback and direction on the E-Procurement Interface with SunPac and ISIS.  The Steering Committee consists of representatives from LEAs using SunPac and ISIS and will meet quarterly with the NC E-Procurement @ Your Service team.  Members will serve as the primary contact for area LEAs regarding E-Procurement and communicate pertinent information resulting from Steering Committee meetings.  In addition, the Steering Committee will suggest and prioritize future LEA change requests, gathering suggestions from area LEAs to make sure requests are representative of all LEAs.  The Steering Committee will also provide assistance in gathering the participation report and unencumbered funds information required from LEAs after they are certified on the E-Procurement interface.

The E-Procurement Steering Committee members are:

Michael Croshaw, Rowan-Salisbury, Co-Chair

Tina McLamb, Purchase and Contract, E-Procurement Project Director

Lois Poole, Purchase and Contract, LEA Liaison

Jenny Billings, NCASBO Executive Director

Sherry Wescott, Dare County Schools

Lynn Elms, Union County Schools

Nancy Harris, Lenoir County Schools

Anna Austin, Union County Schools

Jay Stanley, Whiteville City Schools

Shirley Bess, Union County Schools

Hazel Thrift, Cleveland County Schools

Chuck Clements, Department of Public Instruction

Larry McLamb, Department of Public Instruction

During the first meeting of the NCASBO E-Procurement Steering Committee, several items were discussed with the E-Procurement team.  Below are some of the topics that were addressed.

Q:  How can we improve the communication of system information to E-Procurement users?

A:  The NC E-Procurement team has begun sending periodic emails of system tips and new functionality to all project contacts at each LEA that is live on the E-Procurement interface.  This information will also be posted on the Public Schools page on the E-Procurement portal (http://www.ncgov.com/eprocurement/asp/section/ep_leas.asp).  NCASBO will work with the NC E-Procurement team to post links to this information on its site.

Q:  Some LEAs are being invoiced the 1.75% marketing fee on invoices from certain vendors.  Should the LEA pay these fees?

A:  LEAs were advised to inform the vendor that they will not pay this fee.  LEAs may work with Tim Lassiter or Betsy Watson, from Purchase and Contract, for further assistance on this issue.  Tim can be contacted by email at

Tim.Lassiter@ncmail.net or by telephone at (919) 807-4526, and Betsy can be contacted by email at Betsy.Watson@ncmail.net or by telephone at (919) 807-4550. 

Q:  Sometimes vendor information does not match what I have or appears out of date.  How can address information be corrected?

A:  Users should ask the vendor to update their contact information in the NC E-Procurement Vendor Registration site.  If they need help updating information, vendors can call the NC E-Procurement Help Desk at 888.211.7440, option 2 or epservice@ncmail.net.  The LEA Liaison from Purchase and Contract, Ellen Philpot, is also available to help with vendor registration issues.  Future functionality will allow users to edit remit to information for E-Procurement vendors. 

Q:  Messages are sent from my LEA to E-Procurement every 5 minutes, however, they do not always appear in the E-Procurement system that quickly.  What is causing this?  Will there be additional slowness as more LEAs are live on the interface?

A:  Unlike ISIS LEAs, which send POs one at a time as they are approved, SunPac LEAs send POs in batches connected with print or reprint runs, which often results in large numbers of POs being sent at one time.  If a large batch of POs is being processed and your LEA’s PO is in the queue behind that batch, your PO will be imported into E-Procurement after the batch is processed.  This was a particular issue at the beginning of the fiscal year, when schools submitted very large batches of POs. 

From a technical perspective, the NC E-Procurement @ Your Service team is working to move the integration hub, which routes messages to and from the LEAs, to a larger, dedicated server.  NC E-Procurement is also working to improve message throughput by making changes to application code.

Q:  Sometimes a vendor says they did not receive a PO and that I need to resend.  What is the best way to do this?

A:  The vendor should confirm that his or her information is correct in the E-Procurement Vendor Registration system to make sure that POs are being routed to the correct fax number or email address.  If the information is correct, the order should be resent from E-Procurement by resending the order out of ISIS/SunPac.  In order to be consistent, if the order must be reprinted and faxed to the vendor by the LEA, the PO in E-Procurement should be used.

LEA User Group

In October 2003, an LEA User Group was established. This user group consists of representatives from school systems across the State and meets on a quarterly basis. During meetings, this group has reviewed and provided advice on a wide range of topics including statewide term contracts, training, the E-Procurement implementation, vendor registration, LEA certification and participation reports.  Going forward, the LEA user group will place continued emphasis on providing input to the Division of Purchase and Contract in purchasing matters.  Of critical importance is their input on statewide term contracts.  Please feel free to contact the following user group members regarding current and future statewide term contracts: Hazel Thrift (Cleveland), Ronnie Green (Charlotte-Mecklenburg), John Mann (Guilford), Scott Doolittle (Wake), Frankie Brinkley (Nash-Rocky Mount), Robin Vick (Tyrell), Linda Bullard (New Hanover), Sondra Wolfe and Craig Garner (Catawba); Danny Shepard (Onslow) and Chuck Clements (DPI).

E-Procurement System Tip Links

E-Procurement System Tips

http://www.ncgov.com/eprocurement/asp/section/public_schools/lea_system_tips.asp

List of Top 50 Commodity Codes

http://www.ncgov.com/eprocurement/asp/section/public_schools/documents/Top%2050%20Commodity%20Codes.pdf

Use E-Procurement language on bids and quotes

http://www.ncgov.com/eprocurement/asp/section/public_schools/Language_On_Bids_Quotes.asp

Additional fees on vendor invoices

http://www.ncgov.com/eprocurement/asp/section/public_schools/Changes_Added_To_Invoice.asp