June 3, 2013

To: Campus Community
From: Gene Lucas, Executive Vice Chancellor, Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor
  Michael Young, Vice Chancellor, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
  Ron Cortez, Associate Vice Chancellor, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services
Re: Update on Gateway e-procurement project

 

In July 2011, Michael, Ron, and I agreed to be executive sponsors and provide support for a proposal from a broad campus-wide team recommending that the campus proceed with adopting an eprocurement system. As executive sponsors of the project that was later named Gateway, we are pleased to provide the campus with this update.

Gateway was designed in three phases. Phase I, "Implementation", and Phase II, "Deployment", were scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2013. We are very pleased to announce that those phases of the project have been accomplished on time and on budget.

Over 10,000 purchase orders have been placed in Gateway and essentially all of our 200 campus departments have been trained and are using the system. We wish to commend the staff from Student Affairs, the College of Engineering, Administrative Services, Letters & Science, Organized Research Units, and the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor for their hard work, creativity, and success. They have met or exceeded every expectation we had for the project and have done so in a collaborative way that can serve as a model for the campus.

The Gateway development project has now become a campus production system that needs to be supported on an ongoing basis. Thus Phase III of the project, “Support, Enhancements, and Integration” begins on July 1, 2013. On that date, responsibility for managing and maintaining the Gateway eprocurement system moves from the current Gateway team to Business and Financial Services. BFS will also oversee the integration of Gateway to the new Oracle/PeopleSoft financial system.

As we had hoped, Gateway has grown to a point that it no longer needs executive sponsorship or a development team. Both groups will disband as of June 30th, 2013.

Business and Financial Services has prepared for this transition and is committed to supporting and improving the system in the future. Under the able leadership of Leslie Griffin, Associate Director of Business and Financial Services, and Christine Griffin, Gateways Systems Manager, a user group will be formed to ensure that the owners of the system, and the campus community as whole will continue to have a strong role in the design and functionality of the system.