Holman - March 20, 2024. This page information is for archival purposes only. This information is not current as of July 1, 2023. Now all procurment is completed in Workday (isc.uw.edu)
Please keep in mind with all methods of purchasing to check the exceptions list (Exception Items link below) and that all purchases over $200 need prior approval—except purchasing through Ariba, as the approval flow for Ariba satisfies the approval requirement. If the vendor you are ordering from requires payment via wire, please be sure to make a note in the Ariba comment section while entering your order. Any purchases over the Direct Buy Limit of $10K will need a sole source justification statement unless the purchase is being competitively solicited**.** Sole source justifications must be approved by a Procurement Services Buyer prior to an order being placed.
¶ eProcurement ARIBA (Preferred Purchasing Method)
These methods of purchasing can be used by anyone with a UW NetID.
In addition to the information on this page, additional UW documentation can be found at:
http://f2.washington.edu/fm/ps/how-to-buy
¶ Catalog Ordering
- This method of purchasing is used to make purchases from contracted suppliers listed in the eProcurement punchout or hosted catalogs. There is no dollar limit on purchases from contract suppliers. The approval flow for Ariba satisfies the approval requirement.
- eProcurement (Ariba) How To create a basic catalog order step-by-step instructions are located on the CENPA website: https://cenpa.npl.washington.edu/x/sgCl
¶ Non-Catalog Ordering
- This method of purchasing is used when goods and/or services are not available in punchout of hosted catalogs.
- Suppliers must be registered with UW and available in eProcurement.
- Foreign Suppliers who have been paid by UW in 2014, have a valid copy of an appropriate IRS form on file, and current order and remit-to addresses on file are also available.
- Ensure you have current, correct item pricing, item part number(s), commodity code(s), full item description, quote number (if applicable), contact name and email address/fax number for supplier.
- Attach quote, contracts (unsigned) or any other pertinent forms in the attachment section.
- http://f2.washington.edu/fm/ps/how-to-buy/non-catalog
¶ Blanket Purchase Orders
- For blanket or standing orders of goods/services to spend a specific amount of money over a period of time.
- This method of ordering should be used for recurring purchases.
- Department must perform Ariba receiving in order for invoices to be paid.
- Suppliers must be registered with UW, available in eProcurement and part of the Ariba Network.
- http://f2.washington.edu/fm/ps/how-to-buy/AribaBlanketPurchaseOrders
¶ Procard
- For faculty & staff who would like to make purchases under $3500 limit (unless single purchase limit permission is granted by ProCard Services). Prior approval is required.
- Travel, hazardous materials, personal services, weapons, machinery that qualifies for M&E Tax Exemption, facility maintenance & repair, goods/services from other UW depts. cannot be made with your Procard.
- Please login to the CENPA website for CENPA ProCard Procedure and associated reference documents: https://www.npl.washington.edu/documents-manuals
Procurement Cards, or ProCards, are issued by the university to individuals who have completed University Pro Card training. They work like credit cards and have a monthly billing cycle. An online interface, PaymentNet, allows holders to review purchases and generate some documentation on the Web. All CENPA ProCard purchases must be reconciled and documented by the ProCard holder before the CENPA Front Office can finalize the paperwork and authorize payment of the bill. In the past, this paperwork has amounted to a substantial burden for the Front Office.The following procedure applies to CENPA ProCard holders in addition to requirements imposed by UW.
¶ Procard Procedures
¶ Pre-Approval
Purchases of $200 or more (not counting sales tax) must be approved in writing prior to purchase. If you are purchasing on the DOE Low-Energy grant(s) please request approval by e-mail from Hamish. Please request approval for the ADMX budgets from Gray Rybka. If there is no response within 1 business day and the matter is urgent, ask approval from someone else with signing authority. If you can, use Ariba instead of a ProCard to simplify and streamline the documentation process. If you purchase via Ariba, advance approval is only required on the DOE-Low Energy grant for purchases over $1,000, although you may request approval, if desired.
¶ Budgets, Projects and Object Codes
ProCard holders should identify the appropriate budget number, project number, and object code for each purchase. See Budgets and projects for an overview of CENPA’s bookkeeping system. Object codes are required by the university for tracking the type or category of purchases (e.g. laundry or instructional supplies). A reference to CENPA budget numbers for the current fiscal year, project codes, and frequently used object codes may be found on CENPA’s website (login required).
¶ Reconciliation and Billing Cycle
ProCard holders should review and reconcile ProCard transactions as orders are placed and documents are received throughout the month, and turn reconciled transactions in to the Fiscal Specialist. The ProCard billing cycle goes from the second business day of the month (transaction post date) through and including transactions posted the first business day of the following month. Payment is made on the sixth business day of the month at 10:00 a.m. At CENPA, all supporting documents must be received by the Fiscal Specialist no later than 2 business days following the ending post date of the ProCard billing period. For example, the November 2014 ProCard cycle began 11/4/2014 and ended 12/1/2014. All supporting documents were due by the close of business on 12/3/2014.
¶ Required Supporting Documentation
For each ProCard purchase, documents should be assembled in the following order, top to bottom, for each transaction:
- Invoice or Receipt with total dollar amount that matches amount charged in PaymentNet. This should show clearly whether tax was charged. It will be the top document for each transaction.
- Written approval for all purchases of $200.00 or more (for example, a printed email approval)
- Packing List signed with full name – not initials – and dated by person receiving the item
- If single transaction amount exceeds $3,500.00, include the approval email from the ProCard office for the single transaction limit increase
- Include Quote for item purchased, if appropriate—especially for single transactions above $3500
- If there is no invoice or receipt—some vendors provide an order document only which may indicate that it was charged to a credit card or that the item has shipped—which would not occur unless the shipment had been paid for. Sign and date this document to indicate that the purchase has been received.
¶ Single Transaction Limit Increase for purchases over $3,500.00
Email your request to CENPA Administrator and include the following information:
-
- Cardholder Name
- Item Description
- Merchant Name
- Transaction Amount
- Budget Number
- Object/ Sub Object Code
- Approximate Transaction Date
These Card Limit Increases are submitted in Ariba by CENPA Administrator.
¶ First Reconciliation (on PaymentNet)
Please refer to the ProCard website Reconciling ProCard: http://f2.washington.edu/fm/ps/how-to-buy/procard/reconciling-procard
Documentation: http://f2.washington.edu/fm/fa/internal-controls/documentation
After you have obtained the supporting documents for your purchase, log onto PaymentNet. For each transaction:
- Enter and/or verify the following information:
- Budget number
- Object code
- Sub-object code
- Project number to be charged. We must have an L1 – R20 project/category number for all CENPA DOE budgets and the Cost Center budget. Gravity Fabrication budgets require a P8A, P8C, P8E, P8H, P8I, P8N, P8P, or P8T project code. Here are some examples of how the project code is written in PaymentNet: 000000L01XXX, 000000P8AXXX, 000000P12TRM. ADMX budgets currently do not have project codes—the budget number is sufficient.
- Verify that dollar amount in PaymentNet matches amount on invoice/receipt
- Verify if tax was charged using the information provided on the receipt/invoice, as sometimes tax is charged by the vendor but it does not show as tax paid in the PaymentNet transaction.
- If tax was not charged, check the Add Use Tax box.
- If tax was charged but it does not show in the PaymentNet transaction, please add this to the transaction notes as in this example: Tax charged: $34.14. Please be sure that the Add Use Tax box is NOT checked in this case.
- Add a brief note in the Transaction Notes field that includes the project number, a lay person’s brief description of what was purchased, and for whom the purchase was made—if for someone other than the ProCard holder. The most important information should be entered at the beginning of the notes, as some information is truncated when certain reports are printed.
- After completing the review/reconciliation process, check the Cardholder box and click on Save at top of screen.
¶ Second Reconciliation (Hard Copy for Fiscal Specialist)
First, on the hard copy of the invoice/receipt, hand-write the following information. Do not use a Post-It note, which can become separated from the invoice.
- Transaction ID Number from PaymentNet (the first 10 digits are the transaction ID number—the last 3 digits of all transactions are 001, and can be omitted)
- Budget number to be charged
- Project number to be charged. For example: L1, P12TRM, P8A.
- Object Code and Sub-Object Code. For example: 05-40.
- Cardholder last name if not shown on the receipt. If the name is shown, please circle it in pencil. Do NOT use highlighter.
Next, you must turn in documentation to the fiscal specialist.
- For each transaction, once you have assembled all paper supporting documentation**,** paper-clip the papers together in the correct order: receipt/invoice on top, then approval if over $200, then packing list, then approval from ProCard Office if over $3500, then quote if applicable.
- When turning in documentation for multiple transactions at the same time, stack the transaction documents in order by transaction number, with the most recent transaction on top—the same order as in PaymentNet. In addition to the paper clip for each transaction’s documentation, clip the whole group of documents together so that they stay in correct order.
¶ Final Reconciliation (the ProCard Report)
Once the ProCard has paid for the month, the Fiscal Specialist runs the ProCard Report (UW Transaction Detail with Notes and Account Codes Report) for each CENPA ProCard holder. The report is placed in a signature folder and placed in the cardholder’s CENPA mailbox. This should be signed and dated by the ProCard holder as soon as possible and returned to the Fiscal Specialist.
¶ Eprocurement (Ariba) HOWTO create a basic catalog order
- Navigate to UW procurement website (https://f2.washington.edu/fm/ps/) and click on Eprocurement icon:
Login using your UWNetID and UW password.
In the top main menu, click on ‘Search->Catalog’:
Search page for the vendor you will purchase your item/s from (alternatively click on ‘Catalog’ dropdown menu)
Next, click on the ‘Buy from Supplier’ button.
- The supplier’s page will load in browser page lower frame (notice Ariba frame persists on top of web page):
- Add item/s to cart.
- When you have added all items from supplier, you need to complete purchase by completing order. This part varies per supplier as each supplier web page is different. For McMaster-Carr for example, I would click on ‘Current Order’ link. For other suppliers, it may be ‘View Cart’ or similar.
- Finally complete order in supplier frame.
This final step will close the supplier web frame and TRANSFER your cart/purchase to ARIBA Eprocurement requisition.
- Once the cart has been transferred, you will be in the ARIBA requisition page. There are three steps that must be completed on this page.
(1) Enter descriptive title.
(2) Check the all items checkbox. (only if a single budget/project number will apply to all items)
(3) Click Edit button to edit all line items.
- Once you click edit, you are will be in the line-item edit page. In this page, you need to add:
(1) Budget number. Note this is not a simple text field. You must look up the budget number by clicking the down arrow and then by searching for your budget number.
(2) Add project number. Append XXX to end of project number as in ‘L04XXX’
(3) Click
The next page will allow you to review changes you made to line items. If everything looks correct, click 
button.
FINALLY - to complete the purchase click 
button.
All Done, put your feet up and congratulate yourself for using ARIBA Eprocurement to create requisition.