Jason Koski/University Photography

e-SHOP, Cornell's online shopping tool, could save the university up to $10 million each year -- if faculty and staff members use it.

This article is the second in a series focusing on the work being done by the Initiatives Coordination Office for the Reimagining Cornell effort.

Cornell could save up to $10 million each year -- and a slew of jobs -- by buying goods and services through its online shopping software. But only if faculty and staff join in.

"It's our duty to our community. This is not a trivial thing," said Joe Thomas, dean of the Johnson School. "This is millions of dollars."

Only 30 percent of Cornell's spending with suppliers registered in e-SHOP, Cornell's online purchasing tool, actually goes through e-SHOP. But Thomas and other members of the Initiatives Coordination Office's (ICO) procurement team want to boost that figure to 80 percent -- and 100,000 transactions -- by the end of the next fiscal year, saving up to $10 million by July 2011. Overall, the procurement team aims to save between $30 million and $40 million by July 2014 through the e-SHOP strategy as well as such initiatives as streamlining processes and shifting more expenditures to vendors with whom Cornell has negotiated savings.

Although e-SHOP has its critics -- some say it's confusing while others say their orders have been lost or delayed -- savings from e-SHOP could help minimize layoffs, said procurement team member Joanne DeStefano, vice president for finance and chief financial officer of Cornell. "Every dollar we save in procurement goes toward one less dollar we have to take out in staff reductions," she said.

Piloted in 2006, e-SHOP has been available since July 2009. It gives Cornell purchasers a one-stop, Web-based "shopping cart" for ordering a range of goods and services through preferred suppliers. It saves Cornell money in several ways, compared with other purchasing methods: Each transaction is cheaper to process and requires less paperwork; and the system helps the university more closely track its spending. With that data in hand, the university can negotiate better prices with preferred vendors, DeStefano said.

Supply Management Services, which runs e-SHOP, is working hard to correct the problems infrequent users have had with e-SHOP, said procurement initiative manager Thomas Romantic, senior director of supply channel management and business services. Those new to the system will find tutorials on the e-SHOP Web site, as well as weekly live demonstrations online with trainers. Frequent users find the system easy to use and more efficient, Romantic said.

Research associate Ahmed Gaballa uses e-SHOP almost daily to buy laboratory and computer supplies for 11 people in the microbiology department.

"It's a great system," he said. "It takes a little bit of time to get used to it in the beginning, but once you know the system, it's so easy to work with." He especially likes that he doesn't have to search the Internet for the best deal, he said. "It will automatically give me the official prices for Cornell, so I don't have to compare prices."

Supply Management Services has begun issuing monthly reports to directors of major units, who will take responsibility for encouraging their staff and faculty to use e-SHOP.

"It is very important that we succeed in this initiative and that everyone who is involved in purchasing cooperate to make e-SHOP succeed," said Susan A. Henry, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and an academic sponsor of the ICO procurement team. "We are all aware that there are still some kinks in the system, but with input and cooperation from all involved, these problems are rapidly being resolved."

In December, Provost Kent Fuchs charged the ICO procurement team with proactively managing spending, particularly the selection of vendors and the negotiation of commodity pricing, and improving processes, tools and analytical abilities. Overall, the ICO plans to realize $90 million annually in administrative savings by July 2014, the start of fiscal year 2015.

Fuchs and ICO director Paul Streeter, associate vice president, will host a public discussion on the ICO's progress at a time and place to be announced.