Mission, Vision, Value, Operating Principles

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Mission
(ca. 1993) Our mission is to provide acquisition expertise and support for our clients to
obtain goods and services. We strive to meet our clients needs by providing highly
responsive, quality services.

(proposed) Supporting UW faculty and staff in successfully meeting the goals of the
University by providing high quality and responsive contracting and materials
management services to acquire goods and services in a highly ethical manner that
encourages a fair and open contracting process.


Value Proposition -- Organizations use a Value Proposition to summarize those core,
fundamental aspects of what they do or what they offer that sets them apart from others.
It is a short statement that focuses on the few key points which make the organization
unique and defines its essence, the reasons why someone would want to make use of
what that organization offers. It is a statement of “what” the organization does, not
“how” it does it, nor the underlying values which are important for getting the job done.
The following Value Proposition is proposed for Purchasing and Stores, as a focus for the
BSC plan:

        We use our expertise and knowledge of best acquisition, contracting and material
management practices, complex markets and supplier relationships, and external
regulations to acquire the goods and services our clients need to accomplish their
objectives.

        We collaborate with our clients in evaluating the risks associated with their
acquisitions, and achieve a timely and cost effective outcome.

       We set a high ethical standard for the conduct of University business, ensure a fair
and open acquisition process, and strive to protect the best interests of the University of
Washington.

        We are recognized and appreciated by our colleagues for the value of our
expertise and our client/customer relationships in acquiring the goods and services
needed to support a premier public research University.




Vision
We support our customers and clients in acquiring the goods and service that they need:
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   •   On a timely basis, offering clients the opportunity whenever possible to place
       orders directly with suppliers;
   •   Working with our diverse clientele in the ways that are best suited for their needs;
   •   Doing our part to ensure prompt payment to our suppliers.

In all of our activities, we strive to ensure high standards of ethics and integrity are
followed by all parties, through our own conduct and in our advice to our clients and
suppliers.

We recognize the diversity in our workplace and co-workers, among our institutional
colleagues, process partners, and outside suppliers. We appreciate the benefits and
strengths that diversity brings to our programs, and are attentive so that our
communications and behaviors support diverse cultural styles of interaction.

We are committed to conducting acquisition processes which are fair and open in order to
give all interested parties an opportunity to participate in our business. We are part of a
complex set of procurement and payment practices, policies and procedures, and we
show respect and mutual support in working with our process partners to ensure that our
systems and practices are working most effectively for our clients and customers.

We are an organization whose members are always learning, in order to:

       •     Build our expertise about acquisitions, contracting, and material management,
             especially new ideas and best practices that may benefit the UW, and for
             evaluation of risks that may apply to the items acquired;
       •     Increase our knowledge of diverse and complex markets from which our
             clients need to acquire a wide range of goods and services; and
       •     Stay current on the external rules and regulations that are stipulated by the
             funding source, or are applicable to specific commodity acquisitions.

We take responsibility for our own professional growth and development, and seek the
advice and guidance of senior staff and managers in identifying resources to assist us
with our learning. We recognize that each member of our department contributes to the
successful performance of our overall goals and operations, and we treat each other with
respect, sharing our ideas for how we can improve our own performance and that of our
team and department.


Strategic Themes
We will pursue our Mission and Vision by emphasizing three themes which guide our
day to day activities towards achieving our strategic goals:

Innovation
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       We will support the needs of our clients by developing and applying new
       purchasing methods and tools.

Relationship Management

       We will satisfy our clients by being accessible and non-adversarial, treating each
       client with courtesy and respect. We will focus on building relationships that are
       collaborative and win-win. We will provide exceptional customer service,
       working with each client to share our expertise in order to achieve the client’s
       need and objectives.

Operational Excellence

       We will offer cost effective solutions for all client groups, in order to support the
       achievement of our clients’ goals.


Basic Principles
Purchasing and Stores is part of the Business Service division, one of the units reporting
to the Executive Vice President. We will strive to make our goals and priorities to be
consistent with and supportive of those of the EVP and Business Services. Primary
sources for those basic, guiding principles include (and copies are attached):

       •   Executive Vice President Mission and Vision
       •   Business Services Mission
       •   USER Project Principles
       •   Operating Principles (formerly BPS - OIP)
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                             PURCHASING & STORES
                                OPERATING PRINCIPLES


The principles as stated are consistent with our goals and seem fairly timeless.

The current Operating Principles have proven worthwhile and have stood the test of time.
They have been useful tools when explaining to staff who we are and some of the thing
that are important to the department.

It is good to have ideals and be reminded why we continue to support the University.

Using the Client Focus principles in job interviews lets applicants know how important
these are for us, and has generated some thought provoking discussions.

The principles serve well for both internal and external standards. Internally, they give
staff a positive statement of why we are here and how we seek to serve our clients; they
are excellent to give new employees an understanding of our goals, and for all staff to be
reminded to strive for each day. Externally, they communicate the important qualities
that our clients may expect when they work with us.

Departments may wish to adapt or expand upon the operating principles/values of
Business Services group, provided that department values do not conflict with those of
Business Services.


CLIENT FOCUS

Our primary goal is to support clients in achieving their University mission. Our focus is
on our clients, not on ourselves or the external agencies that impose regulations on us.

We invest time to understand our clients’ needs and problems, and we work with our
clients as a team to meet their needs.

We endeavor to establish a rapport with our clients, and we aim to maintain long term
relationships with them.

We work to inform our clients so that they understand our systems, internal operations,
and external constraints; we actively seek solutions and new approaches to fulfill their
needs.

Client visits are an integral part of our activities, and we regularly meet with clients to
learn about their programs and exchange information.
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Client feedback is and important component in assessing our operations, and we regularly
include our client in the evaluation of our services.


STAFF FOCUS

Our success is dependent upon our staff, and we value and recognize their skills and
accomplishments.

We emphasize team work and communications--- within units, across departments, and
especially with clients--- in identifying problems, alternatives, solutions, and
implementing changes.

We are committed to supporting a learning environment for our staff, encouraging their
creativity, and promoting their ongoing professional development.

We recognize the importance for our staff to have an understanding of how the overall
systems and processes work; we strive to share knowledge about each work group with
others within our organization.

We value communications with our staff, and we appreciate that good communications
requires us to be active listeners in order to hear from our staff in a variety of ways:
regular meetings of the work groups; ongoing feedback and evaluation; information
sharing; daily verbal communication among co-workers.

We trust our staff to serve their clients and exercise good judgment.

We believe humor and fun are an essential part of work.


COMMUNICATION

We actively seek better communications with our clients and our peers throughout the
institution.

We communicate with our clients in a variety of ways, including:

       Advisory committees
       Working committees, project teams
       Written correspondence, emails, brochures, letters
       Large and small group forums
       Training sessions
       One-on-one conversations
       Printed media such as University Week
       New technologies, such as WebPages
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We strive for consistency in our responses to clients, and demonstrate that quality service
is important to us in our actions and communications.

We build effective working relationships and communications with external partners and
resources, participating in administrative groups and teams to benefit the University, and
with agencies whose regulations impact our clients.


WORK PROCESS

We make decisions based on our shared values, missions, principles and resources.

We focus on improving our systems, processes and procedures, by seeking out trends and
technologies in the business environment, especially best practices from other institutions,
of higher education, that will enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of operations for
ourselves and our clients.

We take action because it serves our clients, using our expertise to comply with external
rules without hindering or diminishing what our client needs to achieve.

We strive to reduce the complexity of our services and to simplify processes, and we
design new processes focused on client needs.

We expect that there will be crises, and make time for our clients’ unanticipated needs
and priorities.

We encourage innovation and creativity in development of new systems, challenging that
status quo and questioning assumptions in order to accomplish the client’s goals most
effectively.