Procurement Newsletter

June 2020

Yearend Deadline Reminders

Departments are reminded of the remaining procurement deadlines.

Deadline	Description
6/25/20 (Thurs)	Deadline to submit and approve Punch-out Requisitions/Purchase Orders. Note: Links to the Punch-out Catalogs (Supplier Websites) will be removed.
6/26/20 (Fri)	-Department’s submission of change orders to non-catalog purchase orders. Note: Change orders cannot be created on punch-out purchase orders. -Department’s request to cancel/close punch-out POs that will not be delivered by June 30th. Requests must be made via email to purchase@lsu.edu* and include supplier documentation confirming order cancelled in their system.*
6/29/20 (Mon)	PO Change Orders “In Progress” will be denied. Note: Only POs in “Issued” status with an encumbrance balance greater than $0 will roll forward to FY 21.
6/30/20 (Tues)	Goods/Services to be paid with FY 20 (July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2020) funds must be physically received/rendered. Note: Receipts created must be dated on or before June 30th.
7/01/20 (Wed)	Access to Punch-out Catalogs restored.

COVID-19 Emergency Purchases

Departments are reminded that emergency purchases must be made within the University’s prescribed Emergency Purchases guidelines. While the Governor of Louisiana has proclaimed the State of Emergency, emergency purchases charged to the COVID-19 accounts should only be made if an immediate and serious need for supplies, materials, equipment, or services arises and it cannot be purchased by normal methods or through the mandated contractor and the lack of which would seriously threaten:

the functioning of state government,
the preservation or protection of property, or
the health or safety of any person.

Departments should attempt to follow purchasing guidelines as much as possible by utilizing master/existing contracts or obtaining competitive pricing (written, telephone, etc.). If not a punch-out catalog in Workday, a non-catalog requisition must be released to Procurement, with attached documentation of the competition that was obtained or attempted and the a business justification why normal procurement methods could not be used to make the purchase. Justification must be signed by the department head or the authorized representative. A separate email to the buyer including the requisition number and attachments can be sent to expedite the purchase if needed.

If the requisition/purchase order process cannot be followed, Procurement should be contacted when an emergency condition arises to obtain approval from the Assistant VP of Procurement or her designee. The department is responsible for providing documentation to justify COVID-19 related emergency purchases not done through a purchase order.

Remember…Poor planning does not constitute an emergency condition.

All COVID-19 purchases are subject to review by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and State of Louisiana Governors’ Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management (GOHSEP).

Basic Gifts (BG) Accounts
vs. Foundation Funds

Basic Gift (BG) accounts are University funding sources in Workday which are treated like any other state-funded account. All normal procurement rules apply. BG accounts can be established from any donor. The LSU Foundation is one of those “donors”. When a basic gift is received, the revenue is put into the BG account. The LSU Foundation’s account works a little differently…funds are not received until after they are expended. At the end of the month, the foundation sends one lump sum payment to “reimburse” the university for all foundation BG accounts.

“Foundation Funds” (formerly source F accounts in legacy) cannot be found in Workday. These funds are managed by the LSU Foundation directly. Foundation purchases are typically made with a credit card issued by the LSU Foundation or by submitting invoices to the LSU Foundation to have a check issued.

Procurement of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) Update

Click here to view the Update on Return To Campus Operations Relating to Sanitization Supplies and Personal Protective Equipment communication issued by the Division of Strategic Communications.

Punch-out Catalog (Supplier Website) Orders

The Punch-out catalogs (supplier websites) in Workday are to provide goods and/or services to maintain the operations for the University and the campuses/agencies we serve. Products available are for convenience, however, the product mix takes into account the needs of our institution based on purchase history and trends. Punch-out catalogs can be used to establish a standing order for items a department may need throughout the fiscal year. Departments are cautioned that the proposed term cannot exceed 1 year or the supplier’s master contract term, whichever is the shortest of the two.

Punch-out orders should not be used to enter into multi-year agreements (i.e. software) nor to procure enterprise-wide solutions (i.e. Microsoft 360). Purchases such as these should be requested as a non-catalog purchase so the requisition can route for buyer review for compliance and assurance that the proposed agreement is within the supplier’s master contract term. Multi-year agreements specifically must prove cost savings of 10% or more. Enterprise-wide solutions require review to ensure prior agreements do not already exist and if so is it in the University’s best interest to piggyback against the existing contract.

Draft Workday Receipts

In the September 2019 release, Workday revamped the functionality of receipts. One significant change was that much like Expense Reports when the “Create Receipt” task is initiated a receipt number is generated and the receipt is placed in “Draft” status. In a recent report, there are currently over 600 draft receipts. Draft receipts have several downstream affects such as:

preventing the creation of additional receipts
preventing the creation of change orders
preventing closure/cancellation of purchase orders

Departments are encouraged to use the “Find Receipts” report to identify draft receipts associated with their orders and canceled them. The “Find Receipts” report can be filtered by the PO number and Created By (Requester) name. Both the creator of the receipt and someone with the Accountant-Department role can cancel a receipt. Job aids have been made available and posted to the Workday Training webpage to provide step by step instructions on canceling receipts. Contact Procurement at purchase@lsu.edu if you experience trouble canceling a receipt.

Business System Orders

Departments are reminded that orders placed through the AmeriPrint catalog, as with all other punch-out catalogs, are not officially placed until a purchase order is issued. While the supplier can see the pending order in their system they cannot take action on the order until the Workday requisition/purchase order process is complete including obtaining department approvals. The supplier’s delivery deadlines do not start until after the supplier receives the issued purchase order. Prior to contacting the supplier to inquire about an order, the requester should check the status of the submitted requisition which should have a status of “Successfully Completed.” If not, navigate to the process history to determine what approval is needed to continue processing of the order.

Workday Line Splits

Workday allows the cost of a single transaction line to be split among multiple cost centers. By splitting the line cost, a purchase for the same item(s) but paid by multiple cost centers could be done as a single transaction as opposed to submitting multiple orders. Line splits are done by Amount or Quantity. Note: The “By Amount” option cannot be used for items charged to a trackable spend category (assets). The transaction routes to all cost center managers associated with the cost centers in the split and requires all approve in order to proceed to purchase order. Receipts for transactions with line splits require allocation of the quantity/amount received to ensure the appropriate amount is received per cost center.

New Shipping Address?

The shipment of University purchases should be made to University addresses. However, Workday addresses are tied to buildings and rooms and not to specific Cost Centers or Departments. Departments whose address cannot be located in Workday should request the addition of a new LSU address (building and/or room) or a non-LSU address for shipping purposes. Non-LSU addresses are addresses added in Workday to permanently allow shipment of University supplies/equipment.

A Request Framework has been created in Workday to allow departments to request the creation of locations that currently do not exist in Workday. To begin this process, type “Create Request” in the Workday search bar and select “Location Request” as the request type.

Create Request task screenshot

The initiator will need to provide the following details to submit the location request:

Address of the location
Name of employee(s) who works at this location
Is the location LSU owned or non-LSU owned
Is the location a business or residential
Is the location being enabled for shipping and if yes, why
Is the location related to an approved telecommuting arrangement.

The request will route to the appropriate parties (HRM, Procurement, & Location Administration) based on the information entered at the initiation step. Once the location has been created, the initiator will receive a notification in Workday letting them know the location has been created. Then the department should be able to select the new address in requisitions.