Newcastle University manages purchasing from approved suppliers in one central system with Proactis

Challenge 

Newcastle University is a Russell Group institution with a world-class reputation for research excellence, ranked in the top 150 universities globally and in the top 10 in Europe for teaching quality. It provides higher education to more than 23,000 students and employs approximately 5,500 staff across four campuses in Newcastle, London, Malaysia, and Singapore, with centralised procurement. 

The University was already using Proactis Sourcing for tendering and an SAP ERP solution, but the day-to-day purchasing process frequently relied on free-text orders - and sometimes no purchase order at all. The process was resource-intensive, often non-compliant, error-prone, and generated significant paper trails. There was limited visibility of what was being ordered, and staff had no easy route to compare suppliers or access pre-negotiated prices. 

The University identified that providing employees with a single online destination - covering all commonly ordered goods and services from preferred suppliers, within established authorisation policies - was the right approach to eliminate wasted time, drive compliance, and improve purchasing outcomes. 

Solution 

Proactis Marketplace was selected to host contracted suppliers' goods and services in a common marketplace for low-value, frequently-ordered items including IT equipment, IT consumables, safety equipment, laboratory supplies, catering, and furniture. Punch-out connections - many in XML format so orders are placed directly into the supplier's system - were created for more specialist items or where catalogue supply was not feasible. 

Proactis manages all supplier catalogue and punch-out connections from a single platform, meaning the University only needs to maintain one integration from its SAP ERP. Buyers can move seamlessly from SAP into the Proactis Marketplace, select goods and services at nationally agreed prices, and ensure payment is processed - all through a single, user-friendly interface. For departments without direct procurement access, requests are routed to the centralised Procurement team for review and order submission. 

The combination of Proactis Marketplace and Proactis Sourcing has eliminated paper trails and wasted time across the procurement cycle - providing an auditable, compliant, and fully integrated purchasing environment for the entire institution.