QU vice president and chief financial officer Dr Humaid al-Midfaa and QU vice president Dr Mazen Hasna meet with suppliers during the celebration of “Tsawaq Day.”

Qatar University (QU) has introduced an online shopping service during the celebration of “Tsawaq Day” on September 21 at QU’s library building.

Under the theme, “Shop at your office,” QU officials launched SciQuest, an online shopping service that delivers “business process automation solutions to enable greater visibility and compliance organisation-wide, to help end-users gain control, optimise efficiencies and reduce spending.”

The use of SciQuest was the first-of-its-kind in Qatar and the second in the Middle East after King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Kaust) in Saudi Arabia.

Kaust Purchasing and Strategic Sourcing manager Abdul Rashid Stapic explained that SciQuest is an electronic e-commerce hypermarket used by 200 universities worldwide.

“As a true ‘self-service’ portal, SciQuest is a state-of-the-art e-commerce platform displaying e-catalogues with over 3mn items, including a warehouse catalogue with pre-negotiated pricing,” he added.

“It is a valuable tool (SciQuest) for all QU members and we are pleased to serve them by providing products that are practical and user-friendly and can enhance their work professionally,” said Procurement Department director Mohamed al-Saadi, who noted that the online shopping service was launched in May this year.

The department’s IS Support Section head Tamer Mahmoud Mohamed Ibrahim pointed to QU’s development and expansion in all areas, which he said will require a new approach to bring efficiency to the procurement process.  “We needed to find the right tools to meet the demand of the huge development at QU. By implementing SciQuest, we are aiming to cover QU’s needs and improve existing services,” Ibrahim added.

“Tsawaq Day,” organised by QU Procurement and Administrative Services departments, was inaugurated by QU vice president and chief financial officer Dr Humaid al-Midfaa.The event was also attended by vice presidents, Dr Hassan al-Derham, Dr Saif al-Suwaidi and Dr Mazen Hasna, along with associate vice presidents, college deans, directors, department heads, faculty, staff and students.  

During the programme, Associate vice president for administration Sara al-Marri praised the efforts of the event organisers.

 

 

 

 

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