Summary

GeM is now live and operational.    The contracts database is working well and the Supplier Adoption team have found that the interest of institutions in the marketplace is building.  Suppliers are also becoming more aware of the importance of the system via their contract managers and from their HE sector customers.  Users of GeM can already buy from any of the fully adopted suppliers on the system and are also able to search for specific contracted products in the line item data for more than 25 suppliers who have provided catalogues to the Supplier Adoption Team.

Logging on to GeM

Some institutions have experienced problems when trying to use the ‘login via institution’ which uses Open Athens technology.  If you are experiencing problems please either use the ‘login via GeM’ or contact JISC Procureweb (team@procureweb.ac.uk or 029 2087 0333) who will assist you.

Supplier Adoption

The Supplier Adoption Team have approached all suppliers who are on GeM giving them further information about the system and encouraging them to participate in the eMarketplace.  Following this initial contact we are now working very closely with suppliers who have shown an active interest and have product/service offerings that are particularly suited to eCommerce.  If your institution would like to find out more about the GeM marketplace, or would like to start using it, please contact the supplier adoption team (supplieradoption@reading.ac.uk or 0118 935 7081) who will work with you to support the adoption process. 

Contracts Database

The GeM contracts database that has replaced CuPID is seen by users as being far better than the predecessor database and we are getting positive feedback.   However, we do recognise that the new system would benefit still from improved work flows, so we are programming some changes.

Training  

Training for GeM contract owners, GeM administrators and GeM buyers is now rolling out around the UK and further details are available on the GeM web site, including webinar sessions.   We did have a poor training session in the North West for a variety of reasons.   We have learnt!   The latest training sessions at LUPC and SUPC have both been positively received, so we are confident we have addressed earlier problems.   Please see the web site for further information on the training sessions.   

User Group

We are in the process of forming a User Group for GeM with the first meeting scheduled in London on 28th November.   We are conscious of the need to manage numbers, so will be asking the Heads of Consortia to nominate staff to attend from each HE and FE Purchasing Consortium and up to 3 member institutions from each Consortium.    If you have a specific interest, please contact John West at Procureweb (WestJ3@Cardiff.ac.uk or 029 2087 0333).

System Enhancements

We are actively defining and specifying system enhancements and agreeing the programme with our software supplier @UK.   Once we have a programme put together we will publicise it on the GeM website.  Clearly priorities may need to change, so we will look for feedback directly from the users and via the User Group to help us define the overall programme.

John West
Procureweb