University of California, Irvine
Application for 2009 Larry Sautter Award
for Innovation in Business Technology
I. Project Title
The UCI Surplus Property Sales Channel: Embracing Innovation
II. Submitters
Jacob Godfrey
Strategic Sourcing Coordinator
Materiel & Risk Management
University of California, Irvine
250 Public Services
Irvine, CA 92697-4530
jgodfrey@uci.edu
(949) 824-7507
III. Project Team Members
Jacob Godfrey, Strategic Sourcing Coordinator (Project Lead)
Helen Wessel, Equipment Manager
Peter Shore, Inventory Coordinator
Sonja Elson, Senior Editor
Katya Sadovsky, Programmer Analyst
Karl 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.
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University of California, Irvine
Application 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unattractive, and outdated.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:




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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.
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
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University of California, Irvine
Application for 2009 Larry Sautter Award
for Innovation in Business Technology
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.
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University of California, Irvine
Application 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:
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University of California, Irvine
Application 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.
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University of California, Irvine
Application 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.
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University of California, Irvine
Application 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 Training
Multi-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 Templates
Dreamweaver, 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
LinkScan
PKI
Java API Interface
Verisign
Web Server
HTTP server, servlets & JSP container
Apache Webserver and
Tomcat
Application Server Legacy and transaction integration
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None yet
University of California, Irvine
Application for 2009 Larry Sautter Award
for Innovation in Business Technology
Hardware
Must support up to 1000 concurrent Web
SunFire 4800 Solaris box.
users
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 development
Project Goals/Objectives/Scope defined
Channel Enabled in test environment
Preliminary modifications documented
August/September:
Focus groups review preliminary product
Additional modifications and testing completed
October
Technical development completed
Content created
Product launched and announced
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University of California, Irvine
Application 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.
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University of California, Irvine
Application 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.
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