Negotiatus vs. PeopleSoft eProcurement

Negotiatus is well suited for multi-location--many locations doing the same thing, such as a franchise model. However, if you really want to have tight control on costing, the reporting is not robust enough that, with scale, it would make more sense to bring this in house and create your own vendor relationships

Incentivized

Currently we are only using ePro on the back end - we have an integrated front end for workflow approvals, catalog management that is much more user friendly than previous versions of PeopleSoft. It may be time to review what's now available in the new versions.

Incentivized

• Consolidated invoicing--Negotiatus consolidates all invoices into one monthly invoice for us to pay by the 15th of the subsequent month.
• General ledger mapping--products on the platform can be mapped to one or more entities or cost centers through a monthly consolidated file, which has great value when it comes to process efficiency.
• Ease of use--the platform is fairly easy for both users and administrators. With many locations that are geographically dispersed, it allows us to manage purchasing without an excess training need.

Incentivized

• System allows for quick ordering from preferred vendors or past orders. This can expedite the process for frequent users.
• PeopleSoft communicates with our finance department so allows for quick lookup and linking to the thousands of accounts that can be used fro purchasing. This reduces error in entering incorrect numbers that do not exist.
• Streamline flow to the direct supervisor or account control to approve the ePro request. Triggers a direct email with link to the request, and the review/approval is less than a few clicks.

Incentivized

• Communicating Savings: Negotiatus sells itself on its vendor network--the ability to search for the best possible price according to what is available. However, it is challenging to tell what that savings would have been (e.g., WB Mason vs. Amazon).
• Speed of Resolution: it sometimes takes a few months to come to a resolution when it comes to analysis/reporting. As they do not have great reporting around savings, we often ask for them to provide some periodic analysis. The account manager will put in the request, but it may not get completed or be up to the appropriate standard due to lack of understanding of the requirements.
• Cancelled Orders: at some points early on (2+ years ago), many of the orders were cancelled and we were left scrambling to replace them. That has gotten much better.

Incentivized

• Robustness of facilities within the browser - PeopleSoft ePro uses a frame to encapsulate the punchout, and this is not always the best supported
• PeopleSoft Test Framework does not work with ePro punchout, which requires manual testing and does not allow for end to end automated testing
• eProcurement and traditional "Core" procurement do not share the same functionality exactly, which can cause confusion within the user community

Incentivized

I am aware of better systems, but this is what the employer I work for has to offer. Overall, there are fewer negatives than positives so I would support the usability. New staff members can quickly obtain access and go through a 5-10 minute training video that we build in house. The speed at which someone can become a proficient user speaks to the usability of ePro.

Incentivized

Ariba is another option to look at as I understand end user interface is straight forward, given it is configured correctly. It is a SaaS offering with SAP that offers a market place with it's portal. Unfortunately I do not have much detail on Ariba but from what I've heard from colleges it is pretty nice. One draw back is the cost passed to vendors who sign up to use it to provide product and services to your business. I'm not sure if that is a must for all users but if so, I don't believe that is a good way to tread your vendors, especially if you have smaller vendors with slim margins

Incentivized

• Positive efficiencies (major positive)
• Negative monthly costs per location
• Positive control

Incentivized

• I feel that it is streamlined and makes placing orders easy.
• All connected orders to budget. Helps me keep track of spending.

Incentivized