About the Client

ProcureLinx helps government contractors implement procurement compliance for all aspects of effective supply chain management. They provide consulting and training services to companies under federal contracts, through support from initial purchasing system construction through system approval via Contractor Purchasing System Review (CPSR).

The Challenge

A CPSR is a comprehensive review of a contractor's enterprise system for purchasing goods and services on the open market for performance under certain types of contracts. They are issued by agencies of the federal government in accordance with FAR Part 15 requirements. Any government contractor exceeding $25M in annual revenue or acting as a prime contractor holder requires an approved purchasing system for performance and is subject to CPSR audits. However, approximately 99% of all government contractors FAIL their "first CPSR. As of February 2012, DoD Contracting Officers can withhold UP TO 5% of payments due to contractors who fail a business system audit, including a CPSR. To assist these contractors in preparing their systems to pass a CPSR, ProcureLinx sought to create a web-based compliance tool.

The Solution

Working closely with ProcureLinx subject matter experts (SMEs), Segue Technologies® developed ProcureLinx ProTM, the first ever Software as a Service (SaaS) CPSR compliant internal review system. ProcureLinx Pro is a web-based application that streamlines the CPSR process by providing proactive guidance and workflow reporting, which ultimately helps companies prepare to pass their next CPSR review.

In development of ProcureLinx Pro, Segue used an agile methodology, delivering subsets of the application through multiple iterations of design, development, and testing. This approach, supported by frequent product demos, provided the customer with visibility on progress and the ability to adjust as needed based on their feedback. Upon completion, the application was submitted to an extended beta testing period with real world CPSR reviewers to generate additional feedback and enhancements prior to public release. Segue developed the ProcureLinx Pro application using ASP.NET MVC 4, Entity Framework 5, JQuery 1.8, and SQL Server 2012. Key features of the application include:

eCommerce Integration: ProcureLinx Pro provides the ability for companies to setup a new account in real time using any major credit card, and supports real time license purchasing and automated monthly billing for existing customers. Segue used Authorize.Net and SSL to create a 24x7 real time payment solution while minimizing costs and risks to ProcureLinx.

Compliance Checklist and Rules and Feedback: ProcureLinx Pro provides the ability to track compliance status for over 40 compliance requirements customized based on over a dozen characteristics of the contract being audited. Segue built a custom business rules database and engine using Lync to dynamically apply business rules on the fly to provide real time guidance and show potential compliance issues using visual indicators. This solution supports easy updates to business rules while minimizing complexity and maintenance.

Dashboard and Reports: ProcureLinx Pro provides real-time visual dashboards and reports, showing aggregated audit tracking form data to identify potential contracting process issues. Segue used JQPlot to dynamically generate real time dashboards with pie charts and bar charts to show aggregate results in a visually consumable manner.

Reporting with Advanced Filtering and Drill Down: In addition to advanced reporting, ProcureLinx Pro provides the ability to customize and filter reports using over a dozen filters. Additionally, reports support drill down to view audit details to identify specific trends. Segue used Lync along with JQPlot to enable real time report filtering while minimizing complexity and maintenance.

Workflow: ProcureLinx Pro provides the ability to coordinate audit activities with co-workers by providing workflow actions and feedback tracking for peers and management. Using workflow rules determined by user reporting structure and user role, Segue provided the ability to limit workflow action to appropriate users and provide real time email notifications when workflow actions occur.

Security: ProcureLinx Pro provides the ability to manage user accounts, user license types, user roles, and user reporting structure, enabling granular security for audit tracking forms and reports. Segue created a custom security model and user administration controls to ensure granular security for organizations, managers, and peers.

ProcureLinx Website

As part of this project, Segue also developed the ProcureLinx website to provide sales and support information for the ProcureLinx Pro application and showcase their additional procurement consulting services. The website development effort also followed an agile development methodology and used a combination of low-fi and hi-fi wireframes to illustrate the layout and navigation. Segue's creative team then applied a new logo and overall look and feel to complete the site. To support the need of ProcureLinx staff to add and maintain website content such as blogs and product support information, Segue used the Drupal content management system.