UShop Training, Procedures & Resources

Policies Specific to MSE

COMMENT: PURCHASE & LOCATION.  You are making a purchase with university funds; you need to justify this to a university accountant (and possibly the sponsor’s accountant) who has maybe never done research, by explaining briefly (half a dozen words) how it will be used in your research (the ‘business purpose’).

During checkout, add an internal comment to the shopping cart. Click the comment tab. Click the plus to add a new comment. In the comment, put your advisor's or PI's name, the business purpose, and the location where the item will be used. Click the check mark to save.

Don't put this information in the product description; the supplier may be confused by it.

Quotes

If you have a quote from the supplier, attach it as an external attachment.

To Add a Default Address in UShop

• From the shopping cart, click “Proceed to Checkout”.
• Under “Ship To / Billing Options” click on either “Required” or the pencil icon.
• In the pop-up window “Edit Ship To / Billing Options” search box, type “materials 304”.
• Click on MATERIALS SCIENCE & ENGINEERING in the drop-down.  A box will open under “Ship To” with the address.  Verify it says “122 Central Campus Dr Rm 304.”
• Edit the ATTN  line if necessary.
• Click  the box “Add to my addresses”.
• In the new box “Nickname”  provide a name (for instance, “CME 304”).
• Click the box “Make default”.
• Click Save at the bottom of the popup window.
• Your future carts will have the address already filled in.

Separate Carts

Always make a separate cart for each supplier. Think of it like a real shopping cart: If you are buying corn chips and salsa at Smith's and screws at Lowe's, you can't put it all in the same shopping cart.

If you have a cart that hasn't been submitted and you do more shopping, UShop will put the new items in your existing cart. That's good if you are shopping from the same supplier but bad if you are shopping from a different supplier. It is especially likely to happen without your noticing if you are shopping from a punch-out catalog. If you already have a cart for another supplier, create an empty cart before clicking on the supplier button or the Purchase Request link. Click on the Cart icon on the left tool bar; My Carts and Orders; View Carts, then the button at the far right saying Create Cart. Doing this will keep the old cart waiting for you and begin a new cart to shop at another supplier.

If you forget and end up with two suppliers in the same cart, move all items from one supplier to a new cart. You may need to delete one order and redo it, especially if both suppliers use punchout catalogs; moving items to a new cart works for some punchout suppliers but not for others. To move items to a new cart, at either the shopping cart or the checkout screen, click the box at right on the bar with the supplier's name to select all items from that supplier. Click the down arrow (upside down triangle) above the box to open a drop menu. Select 'Move to Another Cart' then ‘Move to a New Cart’. The UShop program will create a new cart and move that supplier and the items to it.

Accounting Distribution

On the checkout screen, scroll down to the Accounting Distribution section. Click on the pencil or the word 'Required' to open a window for the chartfield. Type the number your advisor gives you in the Acct Dist Shortcut box.

Fill in the Account box. This number identifies what type of thing you are buying. Most of the time you will be buying lab supplies, for which the number is 62600. If paying for a service such as analysis or repair, the number is 66300.

If the chartfield is an activity (the shortcut is five digits), type a 1 in the A/U box. If the chartfield is an project (eight digits), leave the A/U box empty. The cart will remind you the A/U is empty; if it's supposed to be empty, that's okay.

Revising, Replacing, or Closing a Purchase Order

Once a purchase order has been issued, if you are canceling the order for any reason, always notify the company. Ask your requisitioner to close the purchase order.

If you need to revise a purchase order, consult with your requisitioner, who will submit a change request. For instance, if the prices shown on the purchase order aren't correct, the supplier may ask for a revised purchase order.  A revised purchase may or may not need to be sent to the supplier.  A purchase order to the wrong supplier or division of a supplier must be closed and a new purchase order issued.

If you want to add to your order after submitting your cart, it is better to create a new order.

International Purchases

Purchases from international companies tend to require a lot more work from the staff than purchases within the U.S., and there are a lot more things that can go wrong.  It can be difficult to contact customer service or to return an item. They typically require prepayment, which the University doesn't like. International shipping and customs charges can eat up much of the savings you think you are getting using an international supplier.

Check whether the company has a U.S. dealer or whether you can find the item or something similar from a U.S. supplier.

New Supplier

There are thousands of suppliers already set up in UShop.  Before entering a new supplier, always

1. Check whether you can find the item at a reasonable price from a supplier already in UShop.
2. Check the ‘pcard only’ list at https://www.purchasing.utah.edu/ushop/ushop-suppliers/. If they are on the list, check with me about using a purchasing card.
3. Consider how often you are likely to purchase from this supplier. If it will be just once or twice, check with me about using a purchasing card. (Please attempt #1 first. Using UShop is preferable to the card for a number of reasons.)
4. How close is the end date for your project? Setting up a new supplier almost always takes several days; sometimes it takes several weeks. A purchase cannot be placed after your project end date. See me about using a purchasing card, and warn me the project ends soon.

If

• there’s a reason to buy from this supplier rather than others already in UShop, for instance because the item must meet very particular or unusual specifications and you cannot find it anywhere except this supplier, or because it will save hundreds or thousands of dollars because all other suppliers’ prices are substantially higher, AND
• the supplier is not on the p'card only list, AND
• you are likely to purchase regularly from this supplier, AND
• your project doesn't end soon,

then it may be worth asking UShop to set the supplier up. Add a comment to the cart, explaining why similar products from other suppliers won't work and listing some of the other suppliers you have checked.