Coventry City Council improves on-contract spend with Proactis Marketplace

Challenge 

Coventry City Council is the governing body for the City of Coventry, serving a population of over 350,000 residents. The Council employs more than 5,000 staff, with procurement managed centrally by a strategic team of 22, including six in the Systems team and 7.64 FTE in Accounts Payable. 

Prior to implementing Proactis Marketplace, the Council had limited access to supplier catalogues for employees, meaning staff frequently found it difficult to locate what they needed and resorted to purchasing from unapproved suppliers. This was particularly prevalent for low-value, high-volume goods such as cleaning materials and stationery. The process was time-intensive, compliance was inconsistent, and visibility of what was being purchased across the organisation was poor. 

The Council required a solution that would consolidate approved suppliers in a single, easily accessible platform, speed up order processing, improve on-contract spend, and integrate seamlessly with its Unit4 ERP - whilst being straightforward for staff across multiple departments to use. 

Solution 

Proactis Marketplace was implemented for all Council staff, consolidating approved suppliers into a single, integrated platform accessible from the Unit4 ERP system. Staff can easily browse and select the products and services they need from approved catalogues, with the order process streamlined through seamless integration with Unit4 - from selection and order placement through to receipt and payment. 

The introduction of Proactis removed the need for the central Procurement team to pre-check prices or verify supplier compliance for individual purchases, saving significant time and enabling the team to focus on higher-value strategic activities. Nearly 3,000 orders are now placed annually through Proactis, with complete and accurate management information captured on every transaction.