The length of time required to make a technology buying decision is a direct result of the size of the purchase and the number of people and departments that purchase will affect. By and large, academic procurement is comprised of many small purchases with specific impact, while administrative procurement is comprised of a few large investments with organizational impact. For instance, a chemistry professor may need a specific software program that analyzes molecular structure or a piece of specialized laboratory equipment, and an art professor may require image manipulation software or video editing equipment. On the other hand, administrative systems such as financial systems, student information systems, human resource systems, LANs or computer centers touch everyone in the university. Such systems require interoperability with legacy databases, existing software platforms and existing hardware.
Big projects require big planning.
Because most administrative procurements are large, a disproportionate amount of planning time is spent on administrative purchases. Because academic purchases are specialized, only the person or department for whom the purchase is made must worry about implementation, training and interoperability. For administrative purchases, everyone must agree. However, an increasing amount of university information infrastructure, like networks, computer centers, office software and others, is used for both academic and administrative purposes. Universities are organizing to offer both the flexibility necessary for academic purchases and to provide the centralization necessary for administrative procurement and building common information infrastructure.