DWP implements Zanzibar integration for enhanced shared services

New functionality in Zanzibar enables it to connect to the Government Secure Internet* (GSi), increasing security and allowing faster data flow between Zanzibar's eMarketplace and its users' back office ERP systems.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), an Oracle E-Business Suite user, is the first organisation in the Public Sector to use it. It was the first to adopt the ProcServe Zanzibar marketplace and is leading the way in the collaborative buying of goods and services by public sector bodies.

David Thorpe, Director of DWP's Shared Services Centre, said this is a significant leap towards the organisation sustaining efficiencies that the Department has been trying to deliver and drive out to other public sector bodies.

Thorpe said: "This makes using collaborative contracts more seamless to our thousands of users. Effectively Zanzibar fully replicates their personal internet shopping experiences but with all of the protections you would expect to find in an organisation spending billions of pounds of public money a year on goods and services.

Not only is it easy for our users but it means that we get control on our goods and services spend in our drive to deliver ever greater value for the taxpayer's pound. Collaboration is at the heart of what we do. This development will help DWP and others to meet the Operational Efficiency Review objectives for collaborative procurement."

Zanzibar is a core element of DWP's Shared Service that is now available to other central government organisations. The Department for Children Schools and Families, the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission and Cabinet Office are its earliest customers.

Nick Morris, Head of Procurement,said being able to offer Zanzibar to their Shared Services customers is key to spreading the benefits to a much wider community.

He added: "Zanzibar and its enhanced interaction with our ERP will be vital to the success of shared services. Now it is more straightforward to connect our customers to Zanzibar and the flow of information between Zanzibar at the purchasing front end and our Oracle back office promises a dynamic delivery of transactions and management information."

Veera Johnson, CEO of ProcServe, said: "We are dedicated to making the integration between the ProcServe Trading Platform and the Oracle iProcurement environment as seamless as possible.

The out of the box message integration is part of this as are features like Transparent PunchOut where users can search the Zanzibar Marketplace from within their Oracle environment, giving customers a consistent user experience for all types of catalogues in Oracle while allowing them to enjoy the benefits of externally hosted catalogues."