Sharon Scott, staff member, told trustees on Aug. 25 that Workday provides an opportunity to modernize procurement and that staff are preparing policy proposals to bring to the board.

"The primary shift is to really shift away from the use of credit cards, purchasing cards, as our primary means of making purchases," Scott said, calling purchasing cards an expedient but weakly controlled method of purchasing. Scott said the proposed approach favors a purchase order model to permit requisitions, encumbrances and budget control and to improve vendor integration and forecasting.

Scott cited vendor integration as a specific benefit: she said Amazon purchases currently exceed $500,000 a year in some instances and that Workday's punch‑out capability would allow requisitions to be issued against a corporate account while maintaining procurement controls. She said the team also plans to propose relaxed rules for the rare traveler who attends conferences infrequently so that staff are not forced to use personal cards when a corporate card is not practical; large purchases and bulk travel bookings would remain on corporate cards.

Scott said staff plan to consolidate current separate travel and hospitality policies to reduce confusion about which rules apply, and she emphasized the intent to limit purchasing cards for regular travelers only. Trustee Zeller supported the change, calling the purchasing‑card practice "a nightmare" and praising the proposed move to purchase orders.

Scott said the presentation was a preview and that staff will return with a formal set of recommended policy changes informed by Workday's functionality and the deployment timeline. No policy vote was taken at the meeting.