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nigp Conference

Equal Level Announces e-Procurement Marketplace Webinar with NIGP

January 22, 2021/in News, Press Releases /by Smiller

Rockville, MD, January 22, 2021 – Equal Level is sponsoring a webinar with the National Institute for Public Procurement (NIGP) on the benefits of integrating an ERP system with an e-Procurement Marketplace. The session will showcase how cities and other public agencies are achieving tangible process improvements and returning real dollars to their bottom line by maximizing the efficiency of their financial systems with an e-Procurement Marketplace.

What: e-Procurement Marketplace: Maximizing the Benefits for Your Agency

When: Thursday, January 28, 2021, at 2:00 pm ET

Where: Session Link

Who: Speakers include Bruce Collins, Purchasing Director at the City of El Paso, and Lourdes Coss, former Chief Procurement Officer for both Cook County, Illinois and the City of Houston. Collins and Coss recently shared their experiences of extending their ERP with an e-Procurement Marketplace in this NIGP article.

Cost: Free

Attendees will learn how to develop an implementation strategy to maximize the benefits of their ERP system as well as how to develop appropriate category-specific e-procurement strategies for their agencies such as three-bids and buy, and competitive shopping across approved suppliers.

About Equal Level

EqualLevel was founded with the goal of creating a straightforward procurement solution that helps public sector organizations streamline operations and optimize spending. EqualLevel combines the best e-procurement marketplace and e-invoicing capabilities into a single solution that is easier-to-use, faster to configure and deploy, and more cost-effective than any other procurement platform available today. With deep domain knowledge in e-procurement, a best-in-class cloud platform, a fast-growing community of customers, and industry-first innovations like ELSA (an AI-powered savings advisor) EqualLevel is leading the way in helping the public sector spend smartly and save more. For more information visit https://equallevel.com.

https://equallevel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/iStock-1208513259.jpg 1414 2121 Smiller https://equallevel.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1197025300847829.Oq83sobdrmEeVli8LKgm_height640.png Smiller2021-01-22 15:37:192021-02-15 12:25:25Equal Level Announces e-Procurement Marketplace Webinar with NIGP
cps-million-dollar-saving

Chicago Public Schools Utilizes AI to Uncover a Quarter Million Dollars in Savings

December 3, 2020/in News, Press Releases /by EqualLevel

ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, DECEMBER 2020 – Facing significant financial shortages and possible budget cuts, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has contracted with EqualLevel to utilize their e-Procurement Marketplace, featuring an AI-powered technology to unearth massive savings opportunities. With EqualLevel’s ELSA software in place, CPS has uncovered a staggering $250,000 in savings in just 180 days. These funds will be redirected toward the purchase of vital resources needed to ensure students and staff are supported.

“ELSA was designed specifically to achieve these types of returns,” explained Orville Bailey, CEO, and co-founder of EqualLevel. “We are proud to partner with CPS in their quest to support students and provide the highest quality education possible.” CPS has faced significant financial shortages in 2020 and announced the possibility of major budget cuts as recently as August. With AI-powered ELSA, CPS procurement has taken a major step towards ensuring that budget dollars for goods and services are spent wisely.

EqualLevel is a Rockville, Maryland-based technology company with over ten years of experience in e-procurement software development. EqualLevel’s ELSA (an acronym for EqualLevel Savings Advisor) allows CPS and other school districts to leverage the power of advanced data analytics and AI to achieve greater visibility into spending, unearthing critical areas where savings can be captured as employees shop. “But most importantly, ELSA captures the shopper’s justification for choices that don’t fall in line with established procurement protocols,” Eddie Potocko, EqualLevel CTO, explained. “It delivers that information in a structured report that provides just-in-time knowledge to managers.” The patent-pending, groundbreaking AI also learns and grows with the organization, offering additional insights and intelligence the more it is used.

EqualLevel was founded with the goal of creating a straightforward procurement solution that helps public sector organizations streamline operations and optimize spending. EqualLevel combines the best e-procurement marketplace and e-invoicing capabilities into a single solution that is easier-to-use, faster to configure and deploy, and more cost-effective than any other procurement platform available today. With deep domain knowledge in e-procurement, a best-in-class cloud platform, a fast-growing community of customers, and industry-first innovations like ELSA, EqualLevel is leading the way in helping the public sector spend smartly and save more. For more information about EqualLevel’s ELSA visit https://equallevel.com, or contact Anthony Blake at 800-818-5408 or ablake@equallevel.com.

https://equallevel.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/iStock-956406468.jpg 1414 2121 EqualLevel https://equallevel.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1197025300847829.Oq83sobdrmEeVli8LKgm_height640.png EqualLevel2020-12-03 08:30:262021-02-02 11:16:18Chicago Public Schools Utilizes AI to Uncover a Quarter Million Dollars in Savings
donorschoose opening supplies

Timely Support for Public School Educators

September 4, 2020/in Case Studies, News /by Brent Maas

If re-opening schools in the midst of a pandemic and reduced budgets weren’t challenging enough, school administrators and teachers are under added pressure to help students cope with and understand the issues of social injustice and racial tension that have drawn national headlines for the better part of 2020. Educators are challenged to better inform their students about the roots of racism in this country, how it is reflected in modern society, and help them gain the perspective and communication skills needed to advance institutionalized norms that strengthen social equity.

The need for funding and relevant materials to support these educational efforts is evidenced by the 2,600 “diverse books”-related projects currently seeking funding on the Donor’s Choose website, donorschoose.org. DonorsChoose is a non-profit organization that facilitates crowd-funding for public school teachers’ classroom needs, resource acquisition, and delivery. Since it’s founding 20 years ago, DonorsChoose has enabled almost $1 billion of funding for over 1.7 million projects on behalf of teachers in 85% of our public K-12 schools.

On August 7, Donor’s Choose welcomed their newest supplier, MahoganyBooks, an award-winning, Washington, D.C.-based independent retailer specializing in books written for, by, or about people of the African Diaspora. The announcement could not come at a better time.

Ramunda Young, co-owner and co-founder of MahoganyBooks, describes their offerings as “imperative for any student expanding their worldview and perception of other cultures. We’re thrilled to partner with DonorsChoose to ensure books with rich cultural content are accessible to teachers nationwide.”

The announcement noted that teachers can immediately choose from a curated list of books that are ideal for middle and high school students. More titles — including options for elementary students — will be added later this fall.

In less than a week following the announcement, 124 projects specifically seeking support for MahoganyBooks’ resources were posted to a dedicated funding page on DonorsChoose.  Thirteen of those requests have received combined funding totaling $1,534 through individual donations and the matching donations made by the Equal Justice Initiative in support of requests for a select list of books, including Just Mercy.

All of this was made possible through an introduction made by DonorsChoose procurement enablement partner, EqualLevel. EqualLevel and MahoganyBooks are both in the Washington, D.C., metro area. When DonorsChoose expressed their desire to enhance the diversity of their supplier base, EqualLevel’s CEO, Orville Bailey, recognized a win-win opportunity for his customer and the small, family-owned, mission-focused specialty book retailer that he knew.

The connection made would be more than the sharing of business contact information between the two potential partners. As the DonorsChoose-Mahogany Books relationship developed and was ultimately formalized, EqualLevel’s GO e-commerce platform provided Mahogany Books with a seamless connection with the DonorsChoose Marketplace.

In their August 7 announcement, DonorsChoose CFO and EVP of fulfillment, Geoff Hill said, “Our procurement partners at EqualLevel introduced us to Ramunda and Derrick Young and helped us launch MahoganyBooks as a vendor in record time this summer. We’re so proud to be able to offer our teachers the opportunity to request valuable classroom materials from MahoganyBooks, while at the same time supporting a Black-owned independent bookstore that gives back to the Washington, D.C. community. We can’t wait to see all of the teachers and students who will benefit during this back-to-school season.”

 

  • To learn more about DonorsChoose and support teachers’ educational resources needs, visit donorschoose.org.
  • Review the entire MahoganyBooks catalog at mahoganybooks.com.
  • To learn more about EqualLevel’s GO platform for suppliers and PunchOut enabled e-commerce functionality, visit EqualLevelGO, email info@equallevel.com or call (301)560-1492.
https://equallevel.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/DonorsChoose-1-scaled-1.jpg 1707 2560 Brent Maas https://equallevel.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1197025300847829.Oq83sobdrmEeVli8LKgm_height640.png Brent Maas2020-09-04 10:29:152020-11-23 12:51:16Timely Support for Public School Educators
chrome cookie update

Google Chrome “SameSite” Update May Impact ERP-Marketplace Functionalities

August 4, 2020/in News /by Brent Maas

If your ERP utilizes one or more PunchOut-based supplier catalogs or marketplace and you are experiencing interruptions to your normal browsing or shopping cart functionalities, this may be the result of changes to the Chrome browser engine that Google began a limited rollout earlier this year.

The update changes the way cookies are used to identify each user, sustain a user session, and maintain the connection between a user and their cart contents. This can result in users not being able to access their marketplace or seeing a login screen when they are expecting to see their shopping cart.

The outbreak of COVID-19 interrupted Google’s initial limited rollout activities that began early-2020, but as of July 14, Google resumed its update initiative.

What changes are Google making?

  • Virtually every site that you login to utilizes “cookies” to keep track of your session (this includes your bank, email, etc.)
  • Cookies may also be used for purposes such as tracking which sites you’ve been to so targeted ads can be displayed. These cookies are often referred to as 3rd-party cookies.
  • Google is updating Chrome to block 3rd party cookies in certain scenarios, starting with Chrome version 80.
  • In any Chrome version 80 or higher, it’s possible that blocking 3rd party cookies is enabled. Unlike a traditional rollout, Google is remotely changing the browser settings for some percentage of users and will gradually be making this change for more and more users.

NOTE: As dozens of browsers, including Microsoft Edge, rely on the Chrome engine for core browser functionalities, disruption to normal PunchOut functionality is not limited to Chrome users.

What does this mean for ERP and marketplace providers?

  • For organizations with an ERP integration, you must ensure that your ERP software is up-to-date to support “SameSite” cookie changes.
  • For a marketplace integrated with an ERP that does not support the Chrome cookie changes, the following issues may occur:
    • If the marketplace is displayed within a frame in the ERP, shoppers may not be able to access the marketplace.
    • Shoppers may not be able to return their cart back to the ERP after spending 2 minutes in the marketplace.

WHAT TO DO:

If you’re experiencing disruptions to normal marketplace functionality, notify your organization’s ERP, marketplace administrator or IT department. They will need to contact your organization’s ERP support team as the 3rd party cookie handling must be addressed by the ERP software provider.

At this time, most ERP software providers are aware of the issues related to the SameSite change, but the links below may help with the initial assessment.

  • Chrome 80 PunchOut Remediation Guide
    https://punchoutcommerce.com/guides/punchout/chrome-80-punchout-remediation/
  • Google Chrome SameSite Updates
    https://www.chromium.org/updates/same-site
https://equallevel.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/iStock-1126400302.jpg 836 1254 Brent Maas https://equallevel.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1197025300847829.Oq83sobdrmEeVli8LKgm_height640.png Brent Maas2020-08-04 17:36:222020-11-23 12:59:37Google Chrome “SameSite” Update May Impact ERP-Marketplace Functionalities
chicago procurement test results

Chicago Public Schools: Data-Empowered Students & Teachers More Successful

August 4, 2020/in News /by Brent Maas

REIMAGINING CHICAGO’S SCHOOLS

After 10 years strategizing with leaders in the Chicago Public Schools system, Melissa Zaikos (MBA 2000) turned to the data to create a new public education experience for the city’s students.
Back in 2011, when Melissa Zaikos (MBA 2000) began digging deeply into the standardized test scores of the Chicago Public Schools, she saw some concerning trends. Elementary schools, she thought, seemed to be getting better in the Chicago area. But once students reached middle and high school, the gap between the high-achieving students and those who needed academic support grew considerably. A few years later, Stanford University released a study that confirmed her observations. “Chicago had made a lot of progress in elementary schools,” says Zaikos, “but high schools were really hard to crack.”

At the time, Zaikos was working for the Chicago Public Schools system as part of the Broad Residency, a program created to bring management professionals into urban education, in an effort to provide leadership and organizational problem-solving skills. She had spent nearly a decade with the Chicago Public Schools system, building strategy and leadership projects for schools and their principals, and began to wonder what she might be able to accomplish if she branched out of the traditional public school model. What if she could create a new kind of school that could better personalize middle and high school education, closing the gap between students who excelled and those who needed support?

So, in 2012, Zaikos launched the Intrinsic School—a network of public charter schools with an innovative approach to the middle school and high school experience. Rather than using the data from standardized tests (which are unpopular with both parents and teachers), and applying it to a school or grade or classroom en masse, Intrinsic employs it to individualize student learning. “You’ve got to figure out how you differentiate for all and make sure that the students at the top are still being challenged and those who aren’t yet at grade level are getting the support that they need,” says Zaikos. “We put the right data in front of the right people and gave them the skills to look at it and adjust.”

The result was a pilot school on West Belmont Ave in the Hermosa neighborhood of Chicago made up of large, open-classroom spaces called Pods for traditional class periods, with up to 60 students, and broken into subjects based on personal learning data. Three teachers support each Pod, and the setup allows them to be flexible with student learning without having to create individualized lesson plans for each of the 1,000 students enrolled at Intrinsic. The data can tell the staff, for example, to group the students one way if they’re teaching statistics, but another way if they’re looking at algebraic function. “Different students are at different levels for different things,” says Zaikos, “so students spend some of their time working independently, some of their time working in small-group instruction with a teacher, and some of their time working collaboratively with peers.”

Yet even tailoring the Pods to students’ strengths and challenges can only go so far, Zaikos admits. So Intrinsic also encourages self-agency by asking students to set their own schedules one day a week. “We know that, at two-year colleges, the students who tend to be more successful are the ones who seek out the writing lab, or go to tutors, or talk to the professor.” The students, in other words, identify their own educational gaps and seek ways to address them. “Do you need study halls? Do you need office hours with your math teacher because you’re struggling? Do you need time in biology because you’re stuck? Or do you need time to work with your peers on a group project?” Zaikos explains. “We’re trying to force them to make decisions about their own learning, about what they need.”

The organization wants more Chicago high schoolers to apply and succeed in college, and Intrinsic’s own data supports that mission. Last year, 92 percent of the class of 140 students graduated, and 91 graduates of Intrinsic’s Class of 2019 took that step into postsecondary education—with 43 percent of the class graduating high school having already earned early college credits.

Intrinsic’s success led Zaikos and her team to open a second campus in a downtown Chicago high-rise with 90 students in the fall of 2019. This fall, they will have 360—on their way to 1,000—mirroring the numbers at the West Belmont campus. Ultimately, says Zaikos, Intrinsic will give 2,000 Chicago students every year the chance to experience a tailored high school public education.

For Zaikos, Intrinsic is personal, having spent most of her life in Chicago and raised her own kids there. She’s passionate about making the city better, she says, and knows education is one of the primary ways to improve it. “I was very much drawn to working in education. It’s been incredibly gratifying to be able to bring the leadership and management skills I learned at HBS to help grow this inspiring, innovative, and tight-knit community of students, families, staff, and other partners,” says Zaikos. “I am proud of our collective efforts and how we tackle challenges and celebrate wins. There is no place I’d rather be.”

Originally published July 24, 2020, on the Harvard Business School Alumni Stories page.  Chicago Public Schools is an EqualLevel customer. 
https://www.alumni.hbs.edu/stories/Pages/story-bulletin.aspx?num=7318&cid=alumninews-august2020a
https://equallevel.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Screen-Shot-2020-08-04-at-12.09.51-PM.png 479 722 Brent Maas https://equallevel.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1197025300847829.Oq83sobdrmEeVli8LKgm_height640.png Brent Maas2020-08-04 12:15:142020-11-23 13:02:04Chicago Public Schools: Data-Empowered Students & Teachers More Successful
chicago summer press release

EqualLevel and Amazon Business Featured Speakers at Chicago Public Schools’ Supplier Education Event

June 22, 2020/in News, Press Releases /by Brent Maas

Event Focuses on Critical Importance of eCommerce Capabilities for Success in an Accelerated Digital Economy

Rockville, Maryland, June 2020 — EqualLevel, the innovation leader in public sector online marketplace and procure-to-pay solutions, will co-present with Amazon Business as co-presenters at Chicago Public Schools’ Virtual Outreach Education Event on June 25, 2020.

To succeed in today’s accelerated environment, businesses need a multi-channeled sales approach and an ability to navigate a digital economy for enhanced growth. The CPS Office of Business Diversities’ event will provide small, local, and diverse businesses with the continuing education and tools to grow their businesses in a digital economy. In addition to the education portion of the event, CPS will review its needs in the current environment, how to do business with CPS, and avenues to open new sales opportunities within CPS.

The CPS supplier event, expected to draw hundreds of small business owners, is part of the school system’s supplier diversity, engagement, and continuing education program.

“Driving small and diverse business participation should be a priority for procurement in all organizations.  As both public and private sector organizations move to e-procurement, small and diverse businesses must engage business eCommerce to successfully compete in a fast-moving, data-rich contracting environment,” said Orville Bailey, EqualLevel’s CEO. “Being present and able to transact effectively in online marketplaces is part of the new normal.”

***

About EqualLevel

Founded in 2010, Rockville, Maryland based EqualLevel provides a leading cloud-based business purchasing platform that makes business shopping consumer-like, compliant, and measurable. EqualLevel is designed for organizations who want to empower their employees, create order-to-payment online connections with their suppliers, and deliver real-time savings. The unified platform reduces transaction costs, maximizes efficiency, and improves business margins while delivering powerful insights into buying patterns and user behavior for highly referenceable buy and sell-side customers across the public and private sectors.

For more information, visit www.equallevel.com.

https://equallevel.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/CPS-OBD-Event-062520-e1592838498983.png 561 775 Brent Maas https://equallevel.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1197025300847829.Oq83sobdrmEeVli8LKgm_height640.png Brent Maas2020-06-22 11:11:492020-11-23 13:17:47EqualLevel and Amazon Business Featured Speakers at Chicago Public Schools’ Supplier Education Event
higher education profile

Smart Strategies to Manage the Costs of College Education

April 24, 2019/in News /by Edward Potocko

The rising cost of a college education isn’t just a concern for parents and students, it’s an issue that preoccupies college administrators too. To control rising tuition, college administrators focus on managing operating costs to mitigate significant tuition increases while still being able to offer students the educational and social experiences they expect from college in the twenty-first century.

According to Lyen Crews, President of the Coalition for College Cost Savings, college presidents and administrators face no easy solutions. “Colleges are capital- and labor-intensive environments,” he shared in a recent interview. “In order to save money while still delivering a quality educational experience to students, retaining academic staff, offering the amenities expected by today’s students, and meeting government regulations, colleges need to find and reduce spending in those few cost areas where price is negotiable.”

As a former college financial officer and now President of an organization that helps over 900 not-for-profit colleges and universities save money and maximize operational efficiencies, Crews has a unique perspective and has identified some best practices for administrators who are just beginning this journey. One of the first things that colleges should do is to collaborate on purchasing. “Unless you’re a large institution, you have no leverage to negotiate discounts and competitive prices when it comes to buying everything from basic supplies to major technology purchases,” Crews noted.

By using an e-procurement platform or Marketplace, colleges can access a wide range of products and solutions at the best available price. Moreover, as Crews pointed out, a well-designed purchasing platform brings additional advantages like visibility and transparency that enhance governance for the finance office and other administrators. Crews shared that “there’s no more concern that shadow, or unauthorized, purchases are being made, or that unsophisticated buyers who are not procurement professionals are adding to the cost burden of running the institution because a Marketplace platform provides visibility through easy to run reporting.”

As colleges seek to thrive in a competitive and ever-changing educational environment the ability to manage costs will continue to be a top priority for administrators. Putting measures in place like collaborative purchases via a Marketplace platform that can help rein in costs quickly and easily will become a strategic advantage.

Learn more about the Coalition for College Savings and about the benefits of e-procurement platforms by subscribing to Today’s Modern Educator.

https://equallevel.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/shutterstock_621332873.jpg 1333 2000 Edward Potocko https://equallevel.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1197025300847829.Oq83sobdrmEeVli8LKgm_height640.png Edward Potocko2019-04-24 06:00:142020-12-04 16:50:15Smart Strategies to Manage the Costs of College Education

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