New Contract Management System - Cobblestone

Purchasing & Contracting has implemented new Contract Management System software, Cobblestone. We have trained some of you on its use and provided you access, and we will train others over the coming months.  In the meantime, every contract manager and contact person (as identified in the Contract Approval Form you submit with your contracts) can expect to receive the following system email notifications:

• An expiration warning email will typically be sent 90 days before a contract's expiration. 
• An expiration notice email will also be sent on the day of the contract expiration.
• On the first of each month, you will receive two separate Excel reports by email:
  
  • A report of all of your active contracts
  • A report of all of your contracts expiring within 90 days

These emails are all generated in Cobblestone so will come from Cobblestone or Contract Insights rather than from Purchasing & Contracting directly. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns about these notifications. We hope they are helpful.

NEW Mandatory Contracting Course

All principals, department directors, senior directors, confidential executive assistants, principals’ secretaries, school bookkeepers, business managers, and other District personnel who manage or work with contracts must take the Contracting at PPS: Requirements and Best Practices 2020-21 (PCP1010) course in Pepper PD. The course allows you to read and respond to quiz questions at your own pace; we anticipate that it may take 45 minutes. 

In response to recent audit recommendations, we are changing the course deadline procedure this year.  Effective July 1, 2020, the 2020-21 course must be completed before you submit a contract for the 2020-21 school year.  

Beginning July 1, Purchasing & Contracting will not process any contract unless the PPS contract manager, school/department contact person, and budget holder have taken and passed the 2020-21 course.  If you submit a contract, but have not taken the training, you will receive an email reminder to do so.  The contract will be returned unprocessed if the training has not been completed within one week of submission.

To access the course:

1. Log in to Pepper PD (pepper.pps.net)
2. Contracting at PPS: Requirements and Best Practices 2020-21 (PCP1010) is listed under “Available Courses” in the lower right section of the home page. More PPS courses are available by clicking “View All.”  (Once you start the course, it will be listed under “My Current Course” section.)
3. As you complete your training course, you can see your progress and completion certificate under “My Progress” and can click the Certificate icon to view your certificate.