Arlington Independent School District (ISD) has completed implementation of its new eProcurement software. Arlington ISD worked with developer EqualLevel to implement the software with the goal of streamlining the district’s purchasing processes.
About Arlington ISD
Arlington ISD is the 11th-largest school district in Texas. It is located in Arlington, Texas, 13 miles east of Fort Worth and 20 miles west of downtown Dallas. The district serves 60,000 students spread among 76 campuses including 13 high schools, 10 junior high schools, and 53 elementary schools. They are the largest employer in Arlington, with a staff of approximately 8,500 and an annual budget of over $550 million.
In February 2022, Arlington ISD contracted with EqualLevel to integrate its eProcurement software with the district’s financial system, Frontline TEAMS. Working with district Director of Purchasing Lisa Phillips, set-up was completed in May 2022 and implementation was completed in August 2022. The district has already started seeing benefits, including capturing immediate savings that are being redirected back into the classroom.
One Marketplace for All Approved Contracts
Arlington ISD’s new marketplace brings together the catalogs of 28 district-approved vendors into a single, user-friendly interface. The new system provides a consumer shopping-like experience for teachers and staff. They will now utilize a single search box to comparison shop across district-approved contracts from both local and national vendors and add items to their cart, where they can then be transferred to administrators to approve and execute the purchase. Administrators no longer have to look up items for end-users, returning valuable time to their busy days.
Savings
Savings with the new eProcurement marketplace are projected to be significant for Arlington ISD. The system will put an end to non-compliant purchases and maverick spend by limiting purchases to only district-approved vendors. That alone will help them save by ensuring that every purchase is benefiting from contracted prices. However, the software also includes an AI-powered savings advisor, ELSA (EqualLevel Savings Advisor), that automatically identifies, in real-time, the lowest price for items, or best available substitute, from approved suppliers. Arlington ISD’s Executive Leadership is particularly excited about ELSA’s ability to uncover potential savings for the district.
Accounting
On the accounting side, seamless integration into the Arlington ISD’s financial system means requisitions and purchase orders will be automatically captured, eliminating the need for manual entry and thus freeing up district staff for more high-value tasks. The district is already processing hundreds of POs per month through their marketplace and plans to expand to service categories later this year. Leadership expects this number to grow as end-user adoption continues to increase.
