During an organisational restructure, commercial, purchasing and financial processes relating to all vendor contracts, subscriptions and services were aligned under a single function. However, the inherited system wasn’t developed to handle the new workflows, nor provide the total visibility CalPERS needed across its inventory.
Based on a fit for purpose analysis, it didn’t make sense for CalPERS to move forward with their legacy system that wasn’t built for their new operating model. A third-party research and consultancy firm, Cutter Associates, recommended a enterprise subscription spend and usage management solutions from TRG Screen as the best available on the market, saving CalPERS from having to fund a re-engineering of their system estimated at an investment upward of $2m.
FITS spend management was prioritized in concert with ResearchMonitor for usage management and Quest for enquiry management. Phase two was to later include Xmon usage management products to build a total picture of their vendor environment.
As a result CalPERS has experienced significant workflow and process efficiencies, greater
visibility and control over vendor contracts and complete transparency over subscription cost and value. In just 8 months following initial implementation, around 600 contracts had already been set-up, including market data services, external investment manager and investment consulting services, and other subscription services.