February
28, 2003 Mount
Holyoke's New Purchasing Card Offers Many Benefits
What
does it take to buy paper, a computer, or a petri dish for Mount
Holyoke? Each purchase usually involves several employees and
numerous steps, from typing a requisition and a purchase order,
to matching an invoice with a packing slip, to scheduling, printing,
and reconciling payment checks. During the last year, some faculty
and staff have found a much easier way to shop, thanks to a new
purchasing card program introduced last March by Financial Services
and led by Project Specialist Lorraine Lacasse.
MHC's new purchasing cards with Visa accounts work in the
same manner as personal credit cards, enabling employees to order
office and research supplies directly from preferred vendors.
An online system called PaymentNet lets cardholders review their
orders and allocate charges to one or several MHC accounts. It
also sends monthly statements detailing each cardholder's
transactions.
The new program is catching on quickly, says Lacasse. As of December
2002, fifty-eight employees had received purchasing cards, each
customized according to need and budget. Those cardholders have
already initiated 2,620 transactions, says Lacasse, saving time
as well as bank fees, which are charged on each check issued by
the College.
"The program has made purchasing much more efficient for
the institution, but it has also given more control to individuals,"
says Lacasse. Cardholders can order and receive goods quickly
without advancing personal funds, which then have to be reimbursed
by the College issuing a check, or doing a lot of paperwork. They
also gain online privileges. At Hartford Office Supply's
Web site, for example, cardholders have access to a secure server
that shows the College's discounted prices and offers order
forms that can be customized for recurring programs or meetings.
With a single click of the mouse, for example, Senior Administrative
Assistant Penny Silveira orders everything she needs for a typical
meeting of the board of trustees. "It is a real time-saving
device," says Silveira.
"It is quick and easy to use, a real improvement over the
old p.o. system," says cardholder Craig Woodard, associate
professor of biological sciences, who has used his card to buy
laboratory supplies and mail research materials to colleagues.
The program is particularly useful for orders that must be divided
among several accounting units, endowment funds, and departments.
Ellen Shukis, director of the Botanic Garden and Talcott Greenhouse,
for example, uses PaymentNet to divide plant orders, even to adjust
charges when a portion of an order becomes unavailable. "I
do a lot of personal shopping over the Internet already,"
says Shukis. "This is just as quick and easy. With so much
less paperwork, it saves me a lot of steps."
Encouraged by the initial success of the card program, Lacasse
hopes to continue to expand the number of users on campus.
The
counter is
1,932
|
