This article provides an overview of ESM, detailing its features and functionalities, including instructional videos. It also explains how to request and approve transactions using ESM and addresses common issues users may encounter.
Table of Contents
- What is ESM?
- What are the Features?
- How To Send a Request In ESM
- How To Approve a Request In ESM
- Commonly Encountered ESM Issues
- ESM Training
What is ESM?
ESM is the procurement engine behind Ellucian Purchase, an advanced online shopping solution designed to automate the entire procure-to-pay process. This comprehensive system ensures continuous visibility, control, and management of electronic purchases with approved vendors, streamlining contract negotiation within a user-friendly online shopping portal. ESM offers a complete suite of solutions, including Bids and Quotes, Contract Management, Supplier Management, and more, to optimize procurement operations and enhance efficiency.
What are the Features?
Connect buyers to the resources they need with intuitive shopping tools and automated approvals.
Influence buyer behavior with intelligent tools to support better spending performance.
Provide a unified purchasing ecosystem to help procurement and finance collaborate more effectively for improved visibility and control.
Balance convenience with the checks and validations needed to meet institutional policy and serve every member of your education community.
Delivers a single marketplace with automated approval routing to help buyers search for and compare products and suppliers for a more convenient and compliant shopping experience
How To Send a Request / How To Approve a Request In ESM
How to Send a Request in ESM:
This video provides a comprehensive overview of the ESM application's requesting features. It explains how to access different suppliers, outlines the steps for effectively shopping and making requests through ESM, and demonstrates how to track and view all transactions.
How to Approve a Request in ESM:
This video comprehensively explains how to approve transaction requests in the ESM application. It details how to navigate the approval process, manage approvals effectively, and make corrections or edits to purchase requests.
Commonly Encountered ESM Issues
Error: "Wrong Workflows"
Prior to clicking Request Approval, it's crucial to check off View Workflow Details for accuracy, as this step is often overlooked and essential for smooth operations. Should you find any discrepancies, please follow the resolution below.
Resolution
Open a support ticket to create or modify the approver workflow with our Enterprise Applications Team - Service CatalogError: "The initiator.detail.id is required."
This message indicates a mismatched username on the Colleague side.
Resolution
Open a support ticket for record correction with our Enterprise Applications Team - Service CatalogError: GL Number Message
Encountering a message in the History area stating "The GL number [GL ###] does not exist in Colleague" indicates a problem with the GL number associated with your account.
Resolution
If the GL number specified does not exist in Colleague, the ESM user will need to submit a budget amendment to allocate funds to that account. Once this is done, the GL number and object will be created, allowing for successful ordering.
Please note: if the GL number does not exist, that means it has no budget and will fail to order.
Error: Vendor ID Message
If you receive an error message, you must ensure your Vendor ID corresponds to a valid vendor record.
Resolution
Firstly, ensure that the vendor in question is accurately registered within the Colleague system. This involves checking all relevant details to confirm that the registration process is complete and up-to-date. Secondly, investigate any potential caching issues that may have impacted the system’s performance. According to our previous analysis, these issues should now be resolved. However, it is advisable to re-evaluate the system to ensure that no residual caching problems persist.
ESM Training
Training is offered to further educate and enhance users' experience using ESM. To schedule a time for training and validation, please reach out via esmlive@kean.edu