HERNDON, VA -- June 6, 2004 -- ePlus inc. (NASDAQ: PLUS) announced today that Vanderbilt University has selected the company's electronic procurement, supplier enablement and hosting services to streamline and decentralize the purchasing process for the university's undergraduate and graduate schools.
When fully deployed, the system will enable an estimated 3,000 users to access approximately 100,000 supply items from 75 vendors through a central online catalog, and to source and order off-catalog items required by members of the university's research and academic communities. This strategy is expected to expedite purchases by dramatically reducing the need for manual sourcing, paper-based routing to all personnel in the approval chain, and other manual processing steps.
Products to be purchased through the system range from office and lab supplies to MRO supplies and printing services. A key factor in winning the contract was ePlus' system's capacity to handle a wide-range of catalog-based products as well as off-catalog orders, ensuring that all spending flows through the system for maximum efficiency and control.
Other deciding factors included the ability of ePlus' software to integrate with the university's legacy accounting system and the ability to accommodate Vanderbilt's approval hierarchy.
"We are automating our procurement practices as a means of accelerating the purchase experience for our internal users while simultaneously reducing our procurement costs, increasing control over ad hoc purchases, and increasing visibility into our spending patterns," said David Jones, Director of Procurement and Disbursement Services for the university. "ePlus has demonstrated the ability to support these initiatives with a mature and flexible system that is capable of adapting to the needs of a university environment."
The implementation will include ePlus' Procure+ software, which will put Web-based requisitioning, purchase order generation and purchasing management tools on the desktops of select Vanderbilt employees for easy shopping and automated order processing; and ePlus' Content+ Supplier Portal software, which will allow vendors to quickly load and manage their product information in the university's electronic catalog.
ePlus will provide both solutions as a hosted solutions, allowing the university to be free of hardware and administrative costs associated with installing and maintaining in-house infrastructure and overhead usually required for entprise level software applications. ePlus' systems will be integrated with the university's PeopleSoft financial system and legacy applications.
"Vanderbilt conducted a rigorous comparison of offerings from some of the major eProcurement and content management vendors in the market, and their choice of ePlus reflects the broad functionality, versatility and cost-effectiveness of our solutions," said Ken Farber, president of ePlus Systems and Content Services. "It is important for anyone launching an eProcurement system to have confidence in their technology partner, and this contract is another example of our ability to distinguish ourselves from the competition."
About Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt is an internationally recognized research university in Nashville, Tennessee, with strong partnerships among its 10 schools, neighboring institutions and the community. Vanderbilt offers undergraduate programs in the liberal arts and sciences, engineering, music, education and human development, as well as a full range of graduate and professional degrees. The combination of cutting edge research, liberal arts and a distinguished medical center creates an invigorating atmosphere where students tailor their education to meet their goals and researchers collaborate to solve complex problems affecting our health, culture and society. An independent, privately supported university, Vanderbilt is the largest private employer in Middle Tennessee and the second largest private employer based in the state.
About ePlus inc.
A leading provider of Enterprise Cost Management, ePlus provides a comprehensive solution to reduce the costs of purchasing, owning, and financing goods and services. ePlus Enterprise Cost Management (eECM) packages business process outsourcing, eProcurement, asset management, supplier enablement, strategic sourcing, document access and collaboration, and financial services into a single integrated solution, all based on ePlus' leading business application software. The company is headquartered in Herndon, VA, and has more than 30 locations in the U.S and Canada. For more information, visit www.eplus.com, call 888-482-1122 or email info@eplus.com.
