Purchase Management for Student Teams

The Problem

As a junior, I started UC Irvine’s CanSat team. The CanSat Competition allows up to 10 students per team, and we were short-staffed trying to meet both university requirements and competition goals. We relied on software to free students of administrative tasks.

Purchase management is difficult for humans

• It was difficult to train new students to use the School of Engineering order forms. Errors often caused procurement delays.
• Each order had to be logged in a spreadsheet.
• When purchase orders were edited or returned due to errors, the log had to be updated. Students often forgot this step. The log contained incorrect records.

Existing software didn’t fit our team

• To ensure everyone can access the software, it should be web-based.
• Most students don’t have access to web hosting or the know-how to make it work.
• Students are reluctant to pay for expensive commercial-grade software they don’t really need.

The Solution

We developed a lightweight purchase management system for student teams.

The system is implemented using only Google Scripts, Spreadsheets, and Forms. Anyone can access these tools for free.

How it works:

• The student fills out a Google Form to make a purchase. The form provides error-checking and instructions for each field.
• The departmental order form is automatically generated and emailed to the team purchase manager for approval.
• The order is automatically posted in Slack.
• Finally, the order is automatically logged. Manual intervention is only required if the order is modified or canceled.
• The system can be configured as a plugin associated with a Google spreadsheet.

Results

• Procurement delays due to incorrectly completed forms were eliminated.
• Project spending was automatically and accurately tracked.
• Another senior design team adopted our system!