In February 2026, a workgroup of campus departments and Supply Chain Management representatives evaluated UC Davis pre-purchasing processes, including how departments request, review, and approve purchases before they are entered into Aggie Enterprise.
Although some campus units use other processes and solutions, the primary focus of the review was the Online Pre-Purchasing (OPP) system.
Workgroup Goals
The goal was to identify ways to make the OPP process:
- More transparent
- Easier to use
- Better integrated with Aggie Enterprise
- Clearer regarding governance
Items Reviewed
The committee focused on each of the following as it applied to pre-purchasing systems:
- Documenting and evaluating existing UC Davis pre-purchasing systems
- Recommending improvements to Online Pre-Purchasing (OPP)
- Identifying workflow approvals and best practices
- Improving reporting and communication
- Recommending training improvements
- Clarifying governance and access management
- Improving the overall end-user experience
- Developing centralized website guidance
Key Challenges Identified
The review revealed several key issues, including:
- Integration gaps between Aggie Enterprise and OPP
- Limited transparency and process status visibility for end users
- Workflow complexity and the potential for duplicative (redundant) approvals
- Inconsistencies with access and oversight
- Gaps in communication and training
- Lack of standardized reporting and service turnaround expectations
Workgroup Recommendations
System Integrations
The committee recommended improving connections between OPP and Aggie Enterprise in each of the following ways:
- Link OPP ticket numbers to Aggie Enterprise Requisitions.
- Link the Aggie Enterprise Requisition number to the OPP ticket.
- Link the Aggie Enterprise Purchase Order (PO) number to the OPP ticket.
- Enhance data feeds between Aggie Enterprise and OPP to allow OPP to pull central supplier data from Aggie Enterprise.
- Improve sales/use tax accuracy in OPP, either by pulling calculated tax from Aggie Enterprise or developing a separate tax engine.
- Allow Purchase Agreement numbers, Supplier information, and (purchasing) Category names to be edited in Aggie Enterprise for Requisitions imported from OPP.
Workflow and Setup Recommendations
- Any approvals added in OPP should demonstrate and provide measurable value above and beyond the approvals secured in Aggie Enterprise.
- Publish a decision matrix for when to use additional approvers.
- Provide standardized "best practice" workflow templates.
- OPP team should grant read-only access to buyers in SCM Procurement & Contracting Services to OPP tickets, to help support questions.
Training and Reporting Recommendations
The workgroup recommended the following:
- The OPP team lead an evaluation of notifications and identify potential enhancements or trainings to ensure users have the appropriate level of notifications.
- Departments leverage existing Knowledge Base Articles (KBAs) and training modules for training users on how to find information about their requests in Aggie Enterprise, such as Searching for Requisitions or Purchase Order Status
- Departments should follow best practices for training users in OPP. Examples include:
- IT Purchases for Departments from the College of Letters and Science
- Reimbursement Request video from the Food Chain Cluster
- Create Orders video from the Food Chain Cluster
- Purchasing Overview for New Users from the Food Chain cluster
- New User Guide for OPP from the BFTV cluster
- PrePurchasing Guide from the Shields Library
- Campus departments and/or the OPP team consider an end-user survey to assess feedback.