PS Procurement @ Queen's U

Winter is beautiful - but I’m ready for that snow to disappear!

The fact that we are approaching another year-end already, is blowing my mind a little bit. 

Has it really been a year?!

And so it begins… reminder notifications, procedure prep, document review, etttt-cetera..!

In some off-beat/warped kind of way, I look forward to this time of year. I can only assume it’s the anticipation of starting a big challenge and knowing there will ultimately be a feeling of accomplishment at the end of it. That’s not so unreasonable, is it?!

It takes an army, folks. Or a village. You choose. Either way, teamwork is KEY.

Ready!

P0001 Tips

We’ve posted some pretty handy tips on completing/submitting P0001 forms. Make sure you check them out here.

As always, let us know if you’ve got any burning questions!

I’m having one of those “oh *&$%” kind of afternoons. Maybe you’ve had one?

I’ll tell you why mine is occurring.

We ran some testing in one of our PeopleSoft environments (obviously because we were feeling ambitious, it is Thursday after all), which triggered a dispatch of SEVERAL very old purchase orders.

Maybe you’ve guessed this already, but I’ve spent my afternoon answering phone calls/responding to emails from vendors. 

Everything should be under control, so you don’t have to sweat about receiving unwarranted product from the FedEx delivery guy tomorrow morning!

I had to share the details with you - and request you direct any phone calls/emails from vendors (on this subject), my way.

I’m calm… Promise. :)

This week is one for reflection, celebration, regular routines and cramming.

It’s the last week before Queen’s Christmas break, and Christmas in itself!

Attendance is slightly lower than usual, which means some of those left to man the ship might have a few extra tasks on their plate this week.

Our group is 100% dedicated….. to keeping our lunch reservations this afternoon. This is where the celebration part of the week kicks in.

When we’re not lunching, reflecting on my PeopleSoft Procurement 2012 calendar year occupies some of my brain space. It’s been a productive 12 months, covering topics from requisition training sessions to year-end processing, exploration of improving business processes to solidifying new working relationships… It all has contributed to constant learning and growth within the working role I occupy.

As we gradually knock off the days this week, the time left before the break gets smaller. POs require quick approvals (in order to meet deadlines), invoices need to approve & release for payment, Requestor inquiries need to be answered and I need to finish my Christmas shopping….. one of these things doesn’t belong…?

I wish you a safe and happy holiday! Hoping you get a bit of a break from your busy work life, enough of one to enjoy celebratory moments with your family & friends.

Cheers to 2013 - I think it’ll be an exciting year :)

Found this candy haven tucked in a corner on campus the other day… Who knew about this and didn’t tell me? I don’t know whether to thank you or scold you… I might just have to rush off to this location (wallet in hand) when I need a break from PeopleSoft!

Even though this week has been a short one (coming off the long Thanksgiving weekend), it has been filled with challenge and entertainment!

There’s been one burning question I’ve been presented with on several occasions this week:

“Why do we need to submit a Purchase Requisition (PO)?”

I went on a slight rant about this topic in a previous post (Cheque Requisitions vs. Purchase Requisitions), but I think it deserves a second chat.

At Queen’s, we are fervently attempting to eliminate Cheque Requisitions for purchases of goods and services. In the efforts to acheive that lofty goal there are other options Queen’s departments have (and are recommended to utilize) in order to still acquire and pay for their departmental purchases:

Visa Procurement Card or Purchase Order

There are loads of benefits within each option (i.e. Visa Procurement Card purchases are typically instantaneous in the sense that you order the product and “pay” for it right away; PO’s are completed online as opposed to printing and having to obtain signatures on a form, and are considered a “contract/agreement” in a sense between Queen’s and the vendor).

In both scenarios, paying with personal cash/dealing with reimbursement is not something to worry about. What’s not to love about that?

I spent a couple mornings over at Botterell Hall this week, giving condensed training sessions on Purchase Requisition entry. The goal was to present another option to the attendants, for dealing with the purchasing of goods/services.

My hope is to have the above ramblings answer the question posed in this post.

If I haven’t, as always give me a shout - nicole.mundell@queensu.ca.

Happy procuring!

Yep - it’s coming…

The most anticipated time of year in Finance/Procurement’s world. From my view-point, that is.

Year-End.

We’ve been prepping for a few months now. How have I been gearing up for it?:

• Finalizing the Procurement/Budget close plan document - confirming dates, contacts, etc.
• Reviewing all open Purchase Orders/Requisitions, determining whether they qualify for closure
• Meeting with team members to discuss/clear up any pending PO/Req issues

Noting the above, there’s a very good chance that over the next month I’ll be coming to some of you to discuss your “open” PO.

I might also show up at your office with wine and snacks, as an advance apology for hounding you about the above topic.

My brain power is in overdrive during year-end. Isn’t it supposed to be that time of year where we’re all slipping into a more relaxed kind of mode? Spring has arrived… Summer is just a few blocks down the road… and some of us are heading to the liquor store more frequently because we like to sit on our decks after work with a drink in our hand, right?

I have to just admit it though, I dig it.

Year-End for me is like putting the final piece of tape on that well-wrapped birthday gift. Or washing the last dish in a mountain-high pile of dirty dishes. The ideals of a new fiscal year are in sight. Fresh ordering situations, conversations, and learning opportunities. It actually also symbolizes that summer can officially start, in my books. What’s not to look forward to?

I’m making it sound pretty and smooth… the year-end process can have its speedbumps. But one can dream for a smooth ride.

I may look a little disshelved, and take an extra minute phoning you back - but I will make sure to show up!

Under-promise, over-deliver?

Here we go!

PeopleSoft terms can be cryptic.

I kind of felt like I was learning a new language when PS came into our lives. Made me think back to highschool French class and wonder the same things I wondered then… Would it ever sink in??

Bad news? I still don’t know French that well… good news? PeopleSoft was much easier to learn.

A couple terms you will want to become familiar with as Requestors:

-          Requisitions (or Purchase Requisitions)

• These are the name for the orders you will actually create within PS. In our Legacy system, we were skipping the Requisitioning aspect and creating straight Purchase Orders.
• We now begin with submitting a Requisition, which will eventually turn into a Purchase Order
• The vendor won’t need to know the Requisition ID number, as they’ll get the Purchase Order ID instead

-          Requisition Defaults

• This section of the Requisition should be the first place you go when submitting your order – it will include the bulk of the information about your order

-          Header

• The header section of a Requisition will include your Requestor information and the currency you have selected for your order

-          Line

• Your line details will include descriptions of the product/service you are ordering
• It will also include your selected vendor
• You could have multiple lines on your order

-          Schedule

• This describes the Ship-to location defined for your order, your Due Date requirements and how you want to set the order up (by Quantity or Amount)
• You could have a One-time address in your Schedule (maybe you have someone working out in the field who requires the product/service – the location is not already loaded in PeopleSoft)
• You could have multiple schedules defined on your order

-          Distribution

• Distribution is the term to describe the chartfield layout you define on your order
• You could have multiple distributions (splits between accounts/projects/fund, etc.)
• Two sections for distribution information to reside – Requisition Defaults screen and the Line level 

-          Chartfields

• Chartfields define a string of accounts
• I.e. Fund-Dept-Account-Program-Class-Project

-          Purchase Orders

• The order we will actually send out to the vendor
• These are created from the Requisitions you submit
• Different ID number than your Requisition

-          Vouchers

• Accounts Payable creates vouchers in the PS system when they receive the invoice in for your order
• Voucher is the PS term for invoice    

-          Pre-Encumbrance

• Describes the amounts initially encumbered to your accounts when the Requisition budget checks

-          Encumbrance

• Describes the amounts committed to your accounts when the Purchase Order budget checks

-          Liquidate/Liquidation

• Liquidation occurs when we clear out any lingering commitments from your accounts
• In the purchasing realm, liquidation happens when we close your Purchase Order/Requisition (closing the order because everything has been fully received/paid)

This is just a small sample of terms we might come across throughout our PS Purchasing travels.

If you have a question about a specific term not mentioned above (or want further clarification on something mentioned here), please ask me about it!

It’s important for us to briefly chat about the P2P process before we delve into the nitty gritty details.

Maybe you’re wondering what P2P even stands for? You’re saying… “Nicki, slow down… English please”.

P2P  = Purchase to Pay. Let’s explore this process, in relation to Queen’s People Soft practices.

To kick-off, Requestors (yes, you!) determine a requirement for departmental goods or services – maybe you, as the Requestor, took a moment to look around your lab and realized you’re out of adequate DNA Kits… or you spent some time sitting in your office recently and realized you were actually lacking a desk, your computer was sitting on a couple of milk crates… or perhaps your entire office has noticed that the paint is peeling off the walls PLUS you’re all over the pale pink colour it is pretending to still be… or perhaps you are part of a substantial project that has been RFP’d, contracts have been awarded, etc. and you are expecting goods/services to be delivered/performed over months/years…

Good/service has been defined. Next step, determine the method to submit the order. Departmental Visa Procurement Card? Or Purchase Requisition in People Soft?

To be very basic, if the commodity is a restricted purchase on the Visa Procurement Card or surpasses your transaction limits, the best ordering method is through the Purchase Requisition avenue. If you mentally checked no to the previous sentence, typically you can carry on with ordering via Visa Procurement Card!

So the process goes like this:

Requestor submits a Purchase Requisition into PeopleSoft, the order goes through approval/budgeting stages so it can transition into a Purchase Order (yes, it is just like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly…). The Purchase Order then goes through more review/approval/budgeting stages to then be dispatched out to the vendor you have selected. Vendor receives the Purchase Order and processes your request. Once the request has been processed the vendor will issue an invoice (except in cases of required pre-payments), to Financial Services here at Queen’s University for the goods/service performed. Financial Services should then receive the invoice (perhaps you’ve approved the invoice first), and will enter the details into PeopleSoft, ensuring they tie those details to the original Purchase Order. The invoice will then release for payment to the vendor (all based on PayTerms, match exceptions, pay cycles, etc). When your original Purchase Order has been fully invoiced, it qualifies for closure within PeopleSoft (so we can make room for new POs, or give existing “open” POs the space they deserve). The process completes!

This overview is quite generalized… as many of you know, there are several holes within this process that can be filled in with multiple unique circumstances.

We had to start with the idealized process so that we now have a mental image of how the flow moves.

I’m positive you’re itching to hear more….!