AMS Launches Projects in Arizona, Florida

Arizona State University has rolled out an online procurement system provided by American Management Systems Inc., the company announced Sept. 27.

The system is based on a proprietary solution known as buysense developed by AMS of Fairfax, Va., for institutions of higher education and state and local governments.

Buysense is fully integrated into ASU's existing installation of the AMS Advantage financial solution, which links accounting and payments in what the company describes as a streamlined process.

The solution is designed to manage ASU's 100,000 to 150,000 annual transactions for a wide range of purchases, including office, scientific, maintenance and operations supplies.

ASU's hopes to process up to $50 million of its $245 million annual purchasing through buysense, AMS said.

The system allows the university's 2,500 authorized shoppers to search a wide range of online supplier catalogs for contracted and pre-negotiated goods and services. Shoppers then place orders directly from their desktops.

In a separate announcement, Florida's Orange County signed a $580,000 contract for AMS' Advantage financial solution, the company announced Sept. 24.

The county government plans to use this system to manage all of its major financial and procurement functions.

Orange County CIO Steve Smith said one of the reasons the county chose AMS is because of its amicable 13-year business relationship with the company.