Case Study: Defense Acquisition University achieves streamlined micro‑purchase processing and improved financial reporting with Appian

How the DAU reduced requisition processing time and automated policy enforcement with the Appian platform

The Defense Acquisition University (DAU) is the Department of Defense’s corporate university for acquisition education, serving over 126,000 AT&L professionals with mandatory and continuous learning. DAU needed a simple, web-based micro‑purchase management system with single sign‑on, easy administration, flexible reporting, and automation to replace manual finance and buyer tracking and demonstrate the value of web-based acquisition automation.

DAU selected Appian’s BPM platform to deliver a Micro‑Purchase Management System that uses web forms, policy validation, budget-code checks, routed approvals, notifications, document tracking, and data exports for integration. Implemented with Appian consulting, the system processes hundreds of requisitions, reduces processing time and repetitive data entry, improves visibility and reporting to identify bottlenecks, and provides consistent, accurate data to support continuous process improvement and strategic decision‑making.

Defense Acquisition University

Mark Whiteside

Director of Performance & Research Management, DAU