University of California, IrvineApplication for 2009 Larry Sautter Award

for Innovation in Business Technology

I. Project TitleThe UCI Surplus Property Sales Channel: Embracing Innovation

II. Submitters

Jacob GodfreyStrategic Sourcing CoordinatorMateriel & Risk ManagementUniversity of California, Irvine250 Public ServicesIrvine, CA 92697-4530jgodfrey@uci.edu(949) 824-7507

III. Project Team Members

Jacob Godfrey, Strategic Sourcing Coordinator (Project Lead)Helen Wessel, Equipment ManagerPeter Shore, Inventory CoordinatorSonja Elson, Senior EditorKatya Sadovsky, Programmer AnalystKarl Isenberg, Programmer Analyst

IV. Summary of Project Significance

The surplus property sales channel is a successful, simple, and innovative solution that integrates with our existing business portal technology to improve our environmental footprint, operational efficiency, and process accountability. The channel’s implementation is changing the way we think about surplus property sales management and how we use the University’s business portal. Today, for the first time, we see ourselves equipped to service the broader community beyond our walls, capable of generating significant revenue, and positioned as a community leader capable of adapting technology in new and innovative ways.

1

University of California, IrvineApplication for 2009 Larry Sautter Award

for Innovation in Business Technology

V. Summary Project Description

In the spring of 2008, UCI Equipment Management prepared to launch a new store for surplus property sales. The new facility was designed to attract a broader customer base and expanded line of inventory. To ensure a successful launch Equipment Management endeavored to overhaul and update the supporting infrastructure, including the surplus property sales channel.

The surplus property sales channel, an online catalog created in Microsoft Word, resided in the campus administrative business portal. The catalog was cumbersome to maintain, unattractive, and outdated. Loading updates to the catalog required the assistance of a programmer and programming resources were limited to monthly updates. This created disconnects between the catalog listings and actual inventory. Buyers called only to learn an item had sold and sellers waited for extended periods to list items or update listing descriptions.

The catalog, loaded with pictures, could be too large for some systems to render and too slow for users with slow connections. For some, printing the catalog was the best way to track of the inventory.

Equipment Management proposed to resolve these issues and improve the functionality of the catalog. With the assistance of Strategic Sourcing, a project framework was developed to resolve the infrastructure issues, quickly, before they could impair the operation and success of the soon to be commissioned surplus sales facility.

With these issues in mind a short list of goals was drafted. A successful solution:

Must leverage the existing business platform Must be easy to maintain and scalable to small and/or large catalogs

Must be accessible and easy to use

Must be transparent to inventory status

Must reduce/eliminate paper use

To identify and implement a solution, Equipment Management required the assistance of the IT group responsible for servicing the campus business portal SNAP (Simple Navigation Administrative Portal), Administrative Computing Services (Adcom). The web browser-based portal is central to the University's New Business Architecture and serves as the entry point for UC staff to access information, tools and training necessary to perform their job duties. Representatives from Adcom, aware of the problems with the existing catalog, were eager to collaborate on the project and partnered with Equipment Management to identify a viable solution.

2

University of California, IrvineApplication for 2009 Larry Sautter Award

for Innovation in Business Technology

The search for an interoperable solution yielded an open sourced channel known as “Classifieds”. Classifieds is an open source channel, capable of being implemented on uPortal (versions uP2.1.1-2.6.1). The channel, while not designed for surplus property sales, could be modified to fit the needs of the campus as well as be an easy, maintainable, and scalable solution that satisfied the project goals. Several focus groups were convened to understand the functional requirements of the application’s target audience. The discussions helped form the focus of the programming group’s specifications for application functional needs, aesthetic design, and accessibility.

Adcom collected the required functional specifications and successfully modified the channel. The open source Classifieds, now the Surplus Property Sales Channel, was released to the campus and is quickly becoming a focal point for surplus property sales advertising and communication.

The new channel allows buyers to search through all inventory listings by key word, sort listings by category, view detailed descriptions of the item, identify important contacts, request more information, initiate bids, and view linked resources like pictures or web sites providing product information and reviews. Sellers can create their own ads and view the sales status in real time. Most importantly, Equipment Management can secure the content using portal authentication, administer the content in real-time, review and post ads as they are placed, add content when needed, update inventory sales status, and automate the life cycle management of listings from keyed expiration dates.

The channel deployment is a successful project, achieving and exceeding all of the project goals. The application not only leverages the business portal as a platform, it also integrates with the portal web authentication to define user rights. The channel is easy to maintain, allowing an administrator to post/delete content with the click of a button. The channel can host a voluminous catalog of inventory, and allows sellers and buyers to quickly post, search, bid, and buy items. The channel allows real-time updates and efficiently organizes data so that older systems and slower data connections can access the inventory listings to reduce the dependence on printed catalogs. Most importantly the new channel can be modified to host a wide range of business needs and drive process efficiency. Several groups have submitted enhancement requests to adapt the channel to their unique business needs. The channel’s implementation is helping us change the way we think about surplus property sales, portal content development, application collaboration, and the environmental impact of business processes.

Today, we see ourselves equipped to service the broader community beyond our walls, serving the surplus property sales for UCI, and potentially the UC. We are generating significant revenue, up 24% since the channel was implemented. We also see ourselves as a community leader, leading by example; innovatively adapting a technology to meet our unique business needs and encouraging others might do the same.

3

University of California, IrvineApplication for 2009 Larry Sautter Award

for Innovation in Business Technology

VI. The Surplus Property Channel in Pictures

1. The SNAP Portal Buying Tab

The channel is located in the SNAP portal under the Buying Tab. The channel is located in the bottom left quadrant of the page. This is the view from the Buying tab:

4

University of California, IrvineApplication for 2009 Larry Sautter Award

for Innovation in Business Technology

2. The Surplus Property Sales Channel

Clicking on the channel will expand the channel to full screen view. You will note the search field and drop down menu allows you to filter content by category. Clicking on an ad will load the listing details.

5

University of California, IrvineApplication for 2009 Larry Sautter Award

for Innovation in Business Technology

3. The Surplus Property Channel – The Ad

The listing can include a link to a picture and other contact information. To initiate a bid, request additional information, or review purchasing procedures, simply click on an appropriate field.

6

University of California, IrvineApplication for 2009 Larry Sautter Award

for Innovation in Business Technology

VII. Technology Utilized

The channel integrates with the SNAP business portal, which consists of the following architecture:

Business Portal Architecture:

Functional Component Feature Product Name

Portal Personalization, Customization, Integration

JA-SIGS uPortal (Open source)

Authentication Single sign-on (using Kerberos) UC Irvine's WEBAuth.Directory and Security Services

User/Profile/Group/Role Management, Authorization OpenLDAP (Open source)

On-line TrainingMulti-media, quizzes, learning assessment, class self-registration and cancellation software

Macromedia's Flash

Content Management

Versioning, Concurrency Control, Workflow

jCorporate eContent (End user Source)

Content Authoring HTML, XML TemplatesDreamweaver, Mozilla Composer, Authentic (XMLSpy)

Document Management Imaging, OCR'ing.... Mobius - already bought

Business Intelligence, Reporting

EIS, Query and Reporting, OLAP, Charting

MS Excel, BLISS (Homegrown), Mobius, dataBeacon OLAP

Workflow and Routing

Java-embeddable engine, basic routing of forms, email notification DralaSoftware

Collaboration Threaded discussion, messaging, chat, survey, FAQ Management, Help Desk eForum (jCorporate)

Knowledge Management

FAQ Management, Taxonomy and Categorization Creation eFAQ (jCorporate)

Search engine Structured and unstructured material Inktomi/Verity.Link checker Search and report broken web links LinkScanPKI Java API Interface Verisign

7

University of California, IrvineApplication for 2009 Larry Sautter Award

for Innovation in Business Technology

Web Server HTTP server, servlets & JSP container Apache Webserver and Tomcat

Application Server Legacy and transaction integration None yet

Hardware Must support up to 1000 concurrent Web users SunFire 4800 Solaris box.

The Classifieds Channel code, installation instructions, and channel documentation can be located at JA-SIG

VIII. Implementation Timeline

The adaptation of the channel to the business portal was minimal. The total time from conception to deployment was less then six months, and required less then 80 hours of programming time.

Timeline:

April – May: Application for Surplus Sales Channel discussed/drafted/submitted

July: Project Approved for developmentProject Goals/Objectives/Scope definedChannel Enabled in test environmentPreliminary modifications documented

August/September: Focus groups review preliminary productAdditional modifications and testing completed

OctoberTechnical development completed Content created Product launched and announced

8

University of California, IrvineApplication for 2009 Larry Sautter Award

for Innovation in Business Technology

IX. Customer Feedback

The Surplus Property Channel is a relatively recent development (deployment October 2008) and metrics on customer satisfaction will not be available until after our annual year end survey. Anecdotally, we have significant positive feedback from the campus community. The Surplus Property channel has been hailed as the “Craigslist” of the campus, and has received significant attention from other administrative and student service units that would like to adapt the channel to their own purposes.

Our customers are happy and pleased with the easy-to-use customer friendly feel of the application, as demonstrated by the following quote Equipment Management recently received by email:

Having access to post excess property on-line at Peter's Exchange has been very convenient.  I've found the on-line posting feature to be easy to use and it's great to be able to post excess property in a day or two instead of waiting a whole month for the new list.  Also, looking for items to buy is a lot simpler since I can use the "search" field or just look in a specific category. ~Marla Purcell

I like that it's very simple and easy to use.  ~Kazuto Okayasu

Equipment Management experienced a 24% growth in sales since initiating the Surplus Sale Channel (7/1/08 – 4/23/09 vs. (7/1/07 – 4/23/08). Although the channel may not be the only cause for the rise in sales, the positive reception from the campus and the growth in sales, suggests the channel is successful and a potential solution for many groups.

9

University of California, IrvineApplication for 2009 Larry Sautter Award

for Innovation in Business Technology

X. Additional Information:

The following groups collaborated on this project:

Strategic Sourcing

Strategic Sourcing is a system wide initiative that promotes all University of California locations to come together to negotiate system wide contracts that benefit all UC purchasers. Strategic Sourcing is a disciplined process that reduces the total cost of purchased products and services, by fully leveraging the University’s combined purchasing power.

Equipment Management

The Equipment Management group oversees an equipment management and control program, based on sound and prudent management procedures. Equipment Management is an essential function of the University because of the large investment in assets, the University’s responsibilities to state taxpayers, and extramural sponsors that support the acquisition of equipment under their research awards.

Administrative Computing Services

AdCom provides the UCI campus with administrative applications that support UCI's research, teaching, and community service activities.

10