Purchasing & Disbursement Approval Procedure

Office of Information Services Purchases Made for Other Departments

 

Proposed by:	Information Services and Accounting & Budget Services
Approved by:	Associate Vice President for Information Services and Associate Vice President for Finance
Date approved or last reviewed:	August 15, 2002
Frequency of review:	Annually, in preparation for fiscal year end, or when purchasing or disbursement approval policies, or online PO or accounts payable systems are changed

 

Purpose of this procedure:

The Office of Information Services (OIS) provides technology services to the campus community.  These services may include advising campus departments on the purchase of software, hardware, and related services.  In the past, in addition to providing advisory services, OIS purchased software, hardware, and related services on behalf of the requesting departments and charged the appropriate department index and account for the purchase.  Campus departments have requested that OIS continue to provide advisory and purchasing services of the nature described above.  The following procedures have been developed for the Banner online purchase order (PO) system, to ensure compliance with the University’s purchasing and disbursement approval policies.

 

Procedure steps:

1.       The requesting department submits the request to the Purchasing Coordinator in OIS (Jodi Emblen-Morris) or another OIS staff member, depending on the type of technology purchase requested, and provides the index to be charged.

 

2.       OIS researches and recommends the appropriate software, hardware, or service.

 

3.       Jodi or her backup (Linda) creates a PO in Banner.  Based on the index (fund/organization combination) entered, the PO will automatically route to the appropriate Banner approval queue.  The appropriate approver will be notified via automated email that the PO is awaiting approval.  Queue approval levels are less than $500 and greater than or equal to $500.  Note: Jodi and Linda will not have electronic approval authority in department approval queues outside of OIS.

 

4.       The appropriate department approver approves the PO.  The PO .pdf file is created by the Assistant in Accounting & Budget Services or her backup (AP staff) and returned to the email address indicated in the PO or mailed to the PO creator (Jodi or Linda) via campus mail, if no email address is indicated.  Jodi or Linda forward the PO to the vendor, as appropriate.

 

5.       When the invoice from the vendor arrives it is routed to the office/person listed as the “ship to” address.  This will generally be the Purchasing Coordinator (Jodi Emblen-Morris) in OIS.

 

6.       Upon receipt of the software or hardware, Jodi or her backup (Linda) schedules installation of the software or equipment with the help desk, as appropriate.

 

7.       Jodi or her backup (Linda) matches the PO to the vendor invoice.  Jodi (Linda) may sign to acknowledge receipt of the goods or services.  Jodi (Linda) forwards the invoice and PO to the requesting department for disbursement approval (the “OK” to pay the invoice).

 

8.      The person(s) identified as having disbursement authority in the Division VP Approval Spreadsheet must be the person to authorize disbursement (“OK” payment) for the particular index(es).  It is important that the vendor be paid according to the vendor stated terms.  However, because payment releases the vendor from substantial responsibility to perform, the person authorizing payment to the vendor insures that the goods or services received are in good working order before approving the invoice for payment. 

 

9.       At the end of the budget/fiscal year (currently August 31), departments will need to provide Accounting & Budget Services with the appropriate accrual information.  Jodi (OIS) will no longer provide accrual information to Accounting & Budget Services for items purchased for and charged to another department.  Items that departments will want to accrue are expenditures for the current fiscal year, where either the goods are expected to be received, or the services are expected to be performed by August 31, and an invoice from the vendor is not yet in hand.  Departments will be asked to supply documentation to support accrual requests.  Reasonable documentation includes: a copy of the PO, contract for services or comparable written documentation, and confirmation that the goods or services have been or will be received by the University by the last day of the fiscal year (currently August 31). In these instances, a disbursement request has not yet been submitted because an invoice has not been received. For more information about accruing purchases or expenses at year end, including due dates please refer to the “End of Year Processing” document, posted on the Accounting & Budget Services Special Notices web site.