In these budget-conscious times, getting the best deal on purchases for your department is more important than ever. If you currently use ePro to make purchases for your department, you’ll soon be introduced to a new tool called BuyCarolina. It’s a lot like ePro but with some cool functionality that benefits you and the University. The major difference between the two systems is that instead of shopping each catalog one by one, with BuyCarolina, you can search for a product across multiple catalogs at a time for the majority of suppliers. You can compare the pricing from different suppliers before you add an item to your shopping cart. You’ll also be able to add items from multiple suppliers to your cart instead of buying from each supplier separately. It’s like a shopping mall with BuyCarolina as your personal shopper.
Things That Aren’t Changing
The good news is not everything is changing; you don’t have to learn a whole new system. The beginning and the end of your ordering process isn’t changing. You’ll still start with ConnectCarolina to get to BuyCarolina and you’ll complete the purchase with the same ConnectCarolina check-out and approval processes you use now. For more information on how it works, go to the BuyCarolina page on the Finance website.
BuyCarolina Suppliers
Right now, the University has 26 suppliers it contracts within ePro, but with BuyCarolina, we will eventually open the marketplace to 50 or 60 suppliers in the next several years. The more we use the marketplace, the more likely competitors will start to lower their prices, driving down costs. Likewise, frequent use of the system means higher compliance with supplier contracts already in place, which will enable the University to negotiate better contracts with suppliers moving forward.
To bring BuyCarolina online, there will be an eProcurement outage beginning on Thursday, August 13 at 5:00 p.m. and lasting through Monday, August 17 at 8:00 a.m. The initial launch of the marketplace will include the current suppliers that UNC-Chapel Hill works within ePro today.
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Join the Webinar Introducing a New Way to Purchase at UNC – Buy Carolina Date: Thursday, August 13, 3:00 pm |