Moving Ahead with the SC500 Initiative

What a difference a year makes! The Supply Chain 500 (SC500) initiative has made significant strides forward since our last report in February 2017. Our first accomplishment was the development of a plan for this 5+ year transformational journey. The plan’s immediate areas of focus include Procurement technology and process initiatives, and farther down the road, Supply Chain initiatives.

Though the state audit and budget constraints delayed additional funding for SC500, with the guidance of the SC500 Advisory Council, we adjusted to this by refining the roadmap to center on projects that can be advanced within current budgets.

Projects we launched and made progress on this past year include:

1. Implementing CalUsource – the new upstream Procurement Technology from GEP: This historic collaboration between the UC and CSU systems will encourage greater collaboration and efficiencies both system- and state-wide. The Sourcing and Contracts modules in this fully-integrated web-based platform for Sourcing, Contracting, Supplier Management and Spend Analysis went live in December 2017. Classroom trainings in Sourcing and Contracts offered at UC campuses up and down the state in January were well-received by UC and CSU staff, and many have launched projects on the new platform. The Spend Analysis functionality rolls out on February 2, and promises great improvements in efficiency and transparency for more accurate evaluation and forecasting.
2. Completing cross-campus Normalization assessment as a precursor to moving all campuses to one eProcurement platform (Unified Instance) – an in-depth process of campus visits, surveys and evaluations developed a set of recommendations for implementation. The PLC is now working to prioritize the opportunities to pursue in 2018.
3. Initiating Unified Instance – Phase 1 has been completed at UC Davis which currently includes catalog shopping. UC Merced will soon be joining the unified instance with a Pcard marketplace while they await a decision on a new financial system and full implementation.
4. Implementing Procure-to-Pay (P2P) recommended actions – Phase 1 has been completed, with our initial efforts focused on invoicing, terms, and settlement as they produce the most immediate direct benefit.

As projects are completed and/or funding becomes available, we look forward to the next SC500 opportunities which will include completion of the CalUsource implementation, progress on Normalization process changes, continuing Unified Instance implementations and addressing some of the other high-return opportunities within SC500.

A program like SC500 needs effective collaboration, governance, management and coordination to achieve success. We’ve established the SC500 Program to facilitate this effort and provide necessary support services like planning, milestone tracking, risk mitigation, issue resolution and cost/benefit tracking.

The SC500 program is coordinated by Program Director, Laurie Wolkow; Program Manager, Nik Neu; and Communications and Training Manager, Bara Waters, along with a core team representing all project areas. Their engagement has enabled project teams to easily collaborate and share information, leverage common templates and tools, and effectively engage and communicate with stakeholders. While this team addresses the immediate opportunities, they continue to rely on the PLC and the SC500 Advisory Council (VCPB or VCA representative from each campus) to set priorities and provide guidance. The next SC500 Advisory Council meeting is on February 15, 2018. This will be an opportunity to confirm appropriate next steps in light of current priorities, resource availability and recommendations arising from the recent Huron report (about the UCOP restructuring effort).

We welcome your insights and input, and will provide you with regular updates on our continued progress in this exciting endeavor.

For questions or comments regarding the SC500 program, contact nik.neu@ucop.edu.