Boston University Enrolls Aravo to Achieve Excellence in Supplier Management
Company Size
1,000+
Region
- America
Country
- United States
Product
- Aravo
Tech Stack
- Supplier Information Management
- ERP system
- SaaS platform
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Cost Savings
- Productivity Improvements
Technology Category
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms
Applicable Industries
- Education
Applicable Functions
- Procurement
Use Cases
- Inventory Management
- Supply Chain Visibility
Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
Boston University (BU) is a large, diverse, world-class institution that employs over 9,600 employees and supports 32,000 students in over 58 countries. BU is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston’s largest employers. Among its faculty and alumni, BU counts 6 Nobel Prize winners, including Martin Luther King, Jr., 22 Pulitzer Prize winners, and numerous Guggenheim and MacArthur fellows. In 2009, the University began the implementation of a new ERP system for human resources, procurement, and finance. With a go-live date of July 2011 for the new SRM system, the BU Sourcing and Procurement team was confronted with both a challenge and a unique opportunity.
The Challenge
In 2009, Boston University began the implementation of a new ERP system for human resources, procurement, and finance. With a go-live date of July 2011 for the new SRM system, the BU Sourcing and Procurement team was confronted with both a challenge and a unique opportunity. The team viewed the looming implementation as an opportunity to further improve efficiency and enhance their service to the University community. However, it soon became apparent that a new supplier management strategy had to be deployed prior to the ERP go-live date. With over 5,000 primary suppliers paid via legacy systems in 2009, decentralized processes continuously fostered data quality issues with BU’s supplier information. Initial supplier data reviews quickly highlighted supplier duplication, contradictory payment terms, and incomplete records. Further review illustrated that obtaining data from suppliers was an entirely manual process with few verifications for accuracy. Because of the overwhelming number of suppliers that needed to be managed with such a small staff, no effort to correct, update, or validate supplier data had ever been initiated.
The Solution
Aravo’s SIM-based (Supplier Information Management) approach ensures that there is a single source of truth for supplier data, accessible by disparate business functions around the globe, integrating into existing IT systems, and able to support existing business processes. In addition, as a SaaS platform, Aravo provides the University with the necessary flexibility to accommodate both existing and new business processes and IT systems, along with easy access so that supplier information can be retrieved from multiple systems – all at a lower cost than typical spend management and ERP solutions. Delivery via a SaaS solution meant that the University could rapidly deploy Aravo despite having extremely complex data and information requirements, workflows and business rules. Registration surveys were emailed from the Aravo platform to nearly 5,000 existing BU suppliers over the course of 6 months. The supplier registration survey responses captured sales contacts, addresses, tax and banking data, agreed upon payment terms, diversity certifications, OSHA and contractor safety data, insurance, and any current dual signature contracts. A workflow engine then pushed supplier data to the appropriate commodity team for review and approval.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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