TENTATIVE AGENDA

Compliance reporting is often treated as a time-consuming administrative burden, especially when reporting requirements depend on extensive data cleansing, transformation, and manual entry. This presentation will share a practical case study of how Vibe Coding and ChatGPT were used to automate a complex compliance reporting process at the University of Texas at Austin. The original process required a predecessor to manually enter compliance data into a reporting tool as a full-time responsibility. By using ChatGPT to help design, test, debug, and refine a Python-based automation script, nearly all elements of the reporting workflow were automated. The result was a reduction in monthly effort from a full-time manual process to approximately five hours per month. The presentation will explain how the automation was developed without traditional software development methods. Instead, the process began by documenting the logic for each data cleansing and transformation step, column by column. Source data was mapped to the required target reporting format, with ChatGPT assisting in translating business rules into Python code. After the initial script was developed, test cases were run, runtime errors were investigated, and bugs were resolved iteratively with ChatGPT s support. Attendees will learn how procurement professionals can use Vibe Coding to turn repetitive reporting workflows into automated tools, even when they are not professional programmers.

The keynote is designed to help participants build healthier workplace relationships, communicate more effectively under pressure, and gain practical tools they can immediately apply with colleagues and teams. The session draws on the Prevention and Relationship Education Program (PREP) and is delivered through an Emergenetics-informed lens, helping participants better understand how thinking and behavioral preferences influence communication and workplace dynamics.

Higher education procurement teams are under pressure to move faster, reduce administrative burden, and improve strategic outcomes without expanding staffing levels. This session explores how the University of North Texas System redesigned its sourcing intake process using AI-enabled triage, cooperative award intelligence, and a third-party sourcing partner model to rethink how competitive procurement opportunities are identified and evaluated. Attendees will see how intake requests are analyzed to determine whether needs can be fulfilled through existing contracts, cooperative awards, peer institution awards, internal sourcing pathways, or formal solicitations. The session will demonstrate how AI-assisted intake workflows and external market analysis support faster decision-making while maintaining public procurement compliance and transparency. The presentation will focus on the operational design of the intake process, including stakeholder engagement, intake standardization, sourcing pathways, and practical lessons learned during implementation. Attendees will leave with ideas for modernizing sourcing operations while improving consistency, visibility, and speed to service.

Most procurement professionals work in systems that were not designed to answer the questions leadership is actually asking. This session presents a practitioner framework for building analytical capacity from available data by imposing structure on what already exists - not by waiting for a new software or upgrade. Using real examples including a contract rejection coding taxonomy and first-touch approval rate tracking, the presenter will demonstrate how deliberate intentionality at the process level can produce transactional intelligence at an achievable level of effort.

Today's project leaders are expected to do more than deliver projects on time and within budge--they are expected to lead transformation, influence culture, and create measurable organizational value. This presentation explores how project managers can move beyond traditional project execution and embrace a framework to lead meaningful and sustainable change. Drawing from organizational leadership principles, real-world transformation initiatives, and change management strategies, attendees will discover how successful leaders navigate resistance, build trust, and adapt leadership approaches based on organizational environments and stakeholder dynamics. The session emphasizes that true success extends beyond deliverables and depends on how effectively leaders manage perceptions, foster ownership, reassess priorities, and expand strategic perspective. Participants will gain practical tools for strengthening communication during periods of uncertainty, increasing stakeholder engagement, and aligning project outcomes with long-term institutional and organizational goals. The presentation also highlights the importance of emotional intelligence, resilience, and adaptive leadership in today's evolving project landscape. By integrating the principles of M.O.R.E. into leadership practices, project professionals can transition from task managers to transformational leaders who inspire collaboration, create alignment, and deliver lasting value.

This session will begin with an overall view of how trust may erode on a college campus from various viewpoints, including student perception of University, faculty and staff view of the university, and ultimately focus on university on Procurement. This session will discuss these issues and present ideas and methods to strengthen trust between the procurement professional and the departments they work with. Emphasis will be placed on creating an environment of trust by empowering employees to make decisions. The positive aspects of creating an environment of trust will also be shared, such as creating transparent, collaborative spaces, and how high trust will accelerate decision-making processes and reduce costs.