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Vanderbilt Software Store Blog

ITS Software Store Pilot Program

Posted by on Thursday, November 6, 2008 in Blog.

ITS has begun rolling out an enhancement to its online system (http://its.vanderbilt.edu/softwarestore) for purchasing software. Roll out dates for the new service vary by school unit:

  • October 8, 2008: Law School, Owen Graduate School of Management, Division of Administration
  • November 3, 2008: University Central
  • December 1, 2008: Medical Center

Employees and students have used this system for several years to purchase software for personal use. Now, departments will use it to buy and download software for use on Vanderbilt computers. The following provides a workflow overview for the new service:

  • The customer logs into the ITS Software Store with a VUnet ID and password.
  • The customer clicks the “Department” tab to browse the product catalog and add items to his shopping cart.
  • The customer provides the center number he wishes to use for the purchase.
  • The Software Store pushes an order confirmation email to the customer.
  • The customer notifies an order approver (i.e. a person with eProcurement Executor status) in his department that a pending order needs to be approved. Alternatively, if the order approver has elected to receive automatic notification from the Software Store, the Software Store will push an email alert to the order approver.
  • An order approver logs into the Software Store and approves or rejects the order.
  • For approved orders, the Store pushes an email to the customer with information on how to download the software. The customer may either assign download and installation rights for the products he has purchased to his local IT support provider/LAN Manager, or, if he has administrative rights to his machine, download and install the software himself. Customers should contact their local IT support staff for installation help if needed.
We have configured the new storefront with our top selling products. Discounts are available for many more less popular titles. See http://its.vanderbilt.edu/software/DepartmentPriceListToday.xls for a complete product price list. Complete the Product Request Form to request that a product from the price list be added to the storefront.

We have developed several guides to get you started with the new online ordering system. Everyone should read the user’s guide. If you approve software orders or install software for others now, you will continue to do these things. Guides have been developed for these roles as well.

We welcome your feedback on this pilot program. Please fill out the feedback form located on our website. For help, please contact software.store@vanderbilt.edu.