Organization: Northwest Shoals Community College
Savannah Liles, Assistant to Student Services & Coordinator of Student Life
Mandy Hall, Procurement Accountant
Mary Gonzalez, Administrative Support Database Specialist, Upward Bound Program
For Northwest Shoals Community College, procurement was time-consuming, inconsistent, and often frustrating.
Staff across departments were responsible for sourcing everything from basic office supplies to specialized equipment, often under tight timelines. However, the process required navigating multiple supplier websites, verifying contract eligibility, and ensuring compliance with state purchasing regulations.
As a result, teams faced several challenges:
Difficulty identifying which products were on contract
Time lost searching across multiple vendor sites
Uncertainty around approved suppliers and compliance requirements
Delays caused by back-and-forth with procurement and business offices
Limited visibility into pricing and supplier options
As Procurement Accountant Mandy Hall explained, “You would pull up a website and it would show a whole list of items, but you had no idea which ones were on a contract and which ones weren’t.”
Northwest Shoals Community College adopted OPUS, OMNIA Partners’ e-commerce platform, to streamline and simplify purchasing across the institution.
With OPUS, staff gained access to a centralized marketplace of approved suppliers and contract-based purchasing options, allowing them to:
Search across multiple suppliers in one place
Compare pricing and product availability instantly
Ensure every purchase aligns with approved contracts
Access contract numbers automatically for audit readiness
Request quotes from multiple vendors through a single workflow
For users like Savannah Lyles, who supports multiple departments, this meant a major shift in how quickly and confidently she could source what her teams needed. Instead of jumping between systems, she could now find everything in one place.
1. Confidence in Compliance
One of the most impactful changes was eliminating uncertainty around compliance.
With OPUS, every product available is tied to an approved contract, removing the need for manual verification.
No more guessing which items are compliant
Automatic visibility into contract numbers for audits
Simplified requisition processes
Mandy noted, “If it’s on OPUS, there’s no question about it. It’s an approved purchase.”
2. Significant Time Savings
Previously, staff spent hours searching, cross-referencing, and validating purchases. OPUS replaced that with a streamlined experience.
Search once across multiple suppliers
Save frequently ordered items with Favorites
Use Quick Connect to request multiple quotes at once
What once required multiple emails and calls can now be done in just a few clicks.
3. Greater Visibility and Better Purchasing Decisions
OPUS enables users to compare suppliers, pricing, and availability in real time.
Identify the best value quickly
Consolidate purchases with preferred vendors
Access a broader range of products
As one user described it, OPUS functions like “searching across multiple stores at once,” making it easier to find exactly what’s needed.
4. Improved User Experience and Support
Beyond the platform itself, customer support played a key role in adoption and satisfaction.
Fast, responsive assistance when items can’t be located
Help sourcing unique or hard-to-find products
Ongoing support that reduces friction for users
This level of service ensured that even new users could quickly become confident with the platform.
5. Reduced Stress Across Departments
For teams managing multiple priorities, OPUS removed much of the friction from procurement.
Fewer delays and approvals
Less back-and-forth with business offices
Greater ability to plan and respond quickly
Mary Gonzalez summarized the impact simply: the platform makes it easier to know “what you can buy and where you can buy it,” eliminating a major source of frustration.
The Impact: A More Efficient, Compliant Procurement Process
By implementing OPUS, Northwest Shoals Community College transformed its procurement approach from fragmented and manual to streamlined and confident.
Today, the institution benefits from:
Faster purchasing cycles
Built-in compliance and audit readiness
Increased efficiency across departments
Improved visibility into supplier options and pricing
A more user-friendly experience for staff
Looking Ahead
As Northwest Shoals continues to expand its use of OPUS and onboard additional suppliers, the college expects even greater efficiencies and cost-saving opportunities.
The goal is clear: simplify procurement even further while maximizing the value of cooperative purchasing.
For institutions navigating complex procurement requirements, OPUS provides a powerful combination of simplicity, compliance, and efficiency.
As Mandy Hall put it, adopting OPUS has been “one of the best decisions that we decided to take as a college in procurement.”