Improved Procurement Efficiency
Hubspan’s Integration-as-a-Service Drives Improved Procurement Efficiency in DeKalb County, Georgia
Premier Business Integration Solution Enables Municipality to Achieve Greater Visibility, Control around Purchasing Process
Seattle, WA – - December 6, 2006 – Hubspan, Inc., a leading provider of Integration-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions for business-to-business integration, today announced that DeKalb County, one of the largest Atlanta-area municipal governments, has successfully integrated eight strategic vendors-CDW, Command Uniforms, Dell Computer, Fisher Scientific, Grainger, Johnson Industries, North American Fire Equipment Company (NAFECO), and Office Depot-into its advanced Oracle e-Business Suite. Each vendor was on-ramped in a record six to eight weeks through Hubspan’s seamless single point of connection. The county plans to add two more vendors, Lashley Tractor Sales and E.R. Partridge, before the end of calendar 2006, completing a first tier of 10 suppliers, with more planned for the near future.
Prior to implementing the Oracle/Hubspan system, DeKalb County, like most other U.S. municipalities, interacted with its vendors primarily through the phone, e-mail, and fax. However, Vernon Jones, DeKalb County CEO, made it a priority to move rapidly in the direction of advanced technology and automation in a number of key areas-including greater efficiency and visibility around purchase transactions. In order to more fully leverage its Oracle solution and accelerate bringing product and service providers onboard, the county adopted Hubspan’s innovative Integration-as-a-Service (IaaS) model.
“DeKalb County works with vendors who have varying degrees of technical skill,” said Curtis Rawlings, deputy director, IT. “What attracted us to Hubspan was its ability to connect us with critical suppliers regardless of how simple or complex their internal systems may be.”
“Just as important, we estimate that we will save significant time and money annually, because we will be able to consolidate orders, develop a clear picture of interdepartmental acquisition needs across the county, and negotiate more favorable pricing,” added Doyle Shaw, director, purchasing and contracting.
“State, county, and local governments are realizing the need to operate efficiently while making the best possible use of taxpayer dollars,” said Trisha Gross, Hubspan senior vice president of global services. “DeKalb County is very forward-looking in deciding to automate its procurement system, then acting rapidly to make that happen. Management has already moved beyond simply facilitating data interchange with vendors to taking advantage of Oracle’s punch-out capabilities by using Hubspan to connect directly into supplier catalogs.”
Hubspan at DeKalb County
DeKalb County implemented Oracle Procurement in order to meet goals that included improving purchasing efficiencies by consolidating spending, asserting stronger controls over the requisition and approval process, and directly accessing vendor catalogs through Oracle’s punch-out capabilities. Initially, the county implemented the Hubspan IaaS solution to simplify connecting with suppliers. During the Oracle deployment, however, the county discovered that many of its vendors were not prepared to directly link their catalogs to the Oracle infrastructure. Hubspan was able to expedite the process of integrating the county’s major suppliers through its ability to connect with all current enterprise applications and, in turn, connect those applications and all existing data formats though its Straight-Through IntegrationT technology.
Hubspan is currently working with DeKalb County to bring additional suppliers on board. Furthermore, Hubspan and DeKalb County are in the process of enabling electronic invoice processing with trading partners in the DeKalb County supplier community. When completed, vendors’ electronic invoices will flow directly into DeKalb County’s Oracle AP system, providing greater efficiency and also delivering higher quality information as the need to re-key data is eliminated.
About DeKalb County
DeKalb County, Georgia is the second largest county in Georgia. Operating under the leadership of CEO Vernon Jones, its current population is estimated at more than 665,000, and its largest employers are Emory University, the DeKalb County government and school system, General Motors, and the Internal Revenue Service. The county has the most even balance of jobs and housing of any metro Atlanta county and enjoys rich transportation resources including MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, four major interstates, numerous truck terminals and rail sites, and two airports. The county is at the forefront of biomedical technology and is home to the Centers for Disease Control, Emory University’s Rollins Research Center, and the American Cancer Society national headquarters. The county also has a strong hospitality industry. DeKalb County has the highest concentration of Hispanic and Asians in Georgia and is one of the largest refugee resettlement locations in the state. For more information about the county, visit www.co.dekalb.ga.us.
About Hubspan
Hubspan’s Integration-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions reduce the cost of managing business integration and deliver a higher level of cross-enterprise speed. Hubspan drives better results by more closely integrating processes, transactions, and applications between companies. Hubspan’s Straight-Through IntegrationT enables faster turns on a diversified flow of transactions and new collaborative services across a business network of customers, business units, suppliers, and partners. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Hubspan has facilitated over $150 billion in trade by connecting more than 7,200 trading partners in 34 countries. For more information, please see www.hubspan.com.