Requisitions For Travel Reimbursements and for Blanket Purchase Orders
A Blanket order (sometimes called a Standing Order, or an IDIQ, or IDC order) is an agreement with a vendor that allows University personnel to order goods or services on an open account (order against a purchase order without payment in advance - the vendor will ship the goods and send an invoice (bill) to the University's Accounts Payable Department). A blanket order can be established for a vendor that will not accept the VISA Purchasing Card, or for a requirement that will exceed $15,000 expenditure in a year.
Unfortunately, blanket purchase orders often create payment problems because it is not always possible to anticipate the amount of a given invoice at the time the blanket order is created.
Payments in PeopleSoft are generally limited to payments authorized by purchase orders. The vendor's invoice cannot exceed, or be drastically lower, than the amount designated on the purchase order. The PeopleSoft system requires a three way match - a match between the amount on the purchase order, the amount on the invoice and the amount on the receiving report - before the payment voucher can be created to authorize the payment. If the amounts do not match PeopleSoft will stop the voucher process with an error message.
To work-around this problem, the quantity and price on blanket orders must be manipulated so that there will be adequate flexibility to create a voucher that will pass the matching rules. The most simple method to work around the problem is to set the unit quantity equal to the order's extended total, and set the unit price equal to $1.00. Here is an example:
EXAMPLE: In this example a requisition will be created for widgets. We use approximately $48,000 worth of widgets a year, but the amount we use each month fluctuates a lot. In the summer we only use about $2,000 worth of widgets, some months we use as much as $8,000. We cannot predict how many widgets we will need on any given order, or in any given month. Instead of setting up the order as 480 each at $100 = $48,000, or 1 LOT at $48,000 we need to set up this order in a special way. We will enter the quantity equal to the order's extended total (48,000), and set the unit price equal to $1.00. Quantity of 48,000 at $1.00 = $48,000. That will allow us to Receive the correct amount of widgets on each order, and will allow Accounts Payable to create a voucher that will pass the matching rules for each voucher/payment.
REQUISITION FOR TRAVEL RELATED EXPENSES
Likewise, when preparing a Requisition for travel related expenses, you must prepare the requisition well in advance of the trip in order to get the Travel Authorization “T” number from the Comptroller’s Office. Since you are preparing the requisition in advance of the trip, you must estimate the amount of travel expenses. Whenever you must estimate the amount of an expense, you should consider creating a blanket-order style requisition.
For example, if Jane Doe will be taking a trip out of state to attend a conference next month, a requisition for the travel should be created as soon as you have all the necessary information. If the airline reservations will be made through one of the University’s contract travel agencies, Globetrotter, Travel-On or Omega, the travel agency will use the University’s “ghost” account to charge the air fare. The traveler will not have to pay that cost “out-of-pocket”, the cost of the air fare will be paid directly by the University. However, the traveler will have other travel related expenses like food, hotel, parking, etc. Those business related expenses, which have been paid in advance by the traveler, can be reimbursed by the University. The payment of the reimbursement will go through PeopleSoft, very much like any other payment.
Since Jane Doe will have paid for hotel, food, parking, etc. during her trip, the Requisition and PO must be set up for her reimbursement. Since Jane will get the reimbursement (payment) she will be the vendor on the requisition and purchase order. Since we have to create the requisition well before the travel takes place, we must estimate the amount of expenses Jane will have. After you calculate the estimate, you will create a requisition, generally with one line, where the quantity is equal to the estimated total of her expenses, the UOM is EA, and the price is $1.00 (just like a blanket order). For example, Quantity of 400.00 EA @ $1.00 = $400.00
When Jane returns from her trip she will prepare an expense reimbursement form, attach the receipts, and have it authorized by her supervisor. The next step is to do the “Receiving” in PeopleSoft. You will create the receiver in an amount equal to the total of Jane’s authorized expenses. If Jane’s expenses are $380.25, you will create a Receiver with a quantity of 380.25. You should mark the Expense Report FINAL (so that the rest of the open encumbrance will be liquidated). If Jane’s expenses are $426.10, you will need to request a change order to increase the order by $26.10. Then you will be able to create the receiver. After the expense report with the receiver number is processed by Accounts Payable and a voucher is created, it will take three to four weeks for Jane to get the reimbursement (check) from the State.