Purchasing Portal Instructions

Fill in the requestor info with your Net ID and your Phone Number and click Continue.

Fill in the relevant CFOP being used for this request. The CFOP being used will normally be provided by the person requesting the order. You can click on the View My Accounts button to view the CFOPs you are assigned as a user and/or have previously used. Only the Chart, Fund, Organization, and Program fields are required. But, if your department uses Activity codes, please be sure to enter them here as well.

In most cases, you will leave the Fabricated Equipment radio button selected to No. This is only changed if you are working on a fabricated equipment project, and that account number has been provided with the CFOP. If you select Yes, the account number box will change to a drop-down list, allowing you to select the appropriately provided account number.

• Fabricated equipment items cannot be purchased with split funding. If your order includes both fabricated equipment items and other items, please specify exactly which items are part of the fabricated project. However, best practice is to place separate orders for fabricated equipment items and other items.

In some instances, you may need to split a purchase between multiple CFOPs. In this case, you would enter each and then indicate an appropriate split.

• Splits are preferred in percentages, which allows for fluctuations in shipping charges and different account codes between line items if required.

Once you have entered your appropriate CFOP(s), click Continue.

Select your vendor for your order request by choosing either Used On My Previous Orders or Department List. If your vendor is not listed, then select Add a New Vendor and enter the information for the vendor. If, for some reason, you do not have the vendor address, that is ok; however, you must include the vendor’s name, and where possible, a URL.

Once you have entered your selected vendor, click Continue.

Enter the items you would like to have purchased. Please include the Quantity, Units, Price, Catalog/Part # information, Description of the item, and the URL for the item, if you have it. You will also need to answer the 3 questions at the bottom, based on the item. This will enable our business office to properly classify the request for inventory, accounting, grant compliance, and financial reporting purposes.

• If you don’t have a URL to verify item information and pricing, please obtain a quote from the vendor and provide it with your order request. You must include either a URL or a quote for each item requested, or the request will not be able to be processed. 
• If you have a quote, you can enter the quote number in the Catalog/Part # section and enter a quantity of 1 with the price entry as the full cost of the quote, as long as you are requesting to purchase all items on the quote. You will put the description of the job/service/item in the Description field. Then select Add.
  NOTE: If you will not be requesting to purchase all items from your current quote, please obtain a new quote matching exactly what you will be requesting to purchase before completing the Portal entry. 

Once you have entered all the details, hit Add. You will do this for each item you need to request.

You cannot add the item and upload the quote at the same time. You must enter the item information and Add it first, then click Upload a Quote. You can toggle between the Upload a Quote and Items screens as needed.

There are multiple options when uploading a quote. You can select from Reference Material, URL, Price Quote, Email, Contract, Sponsorship Agreement, and Small Purchase Waiver. Some orders will require multiple items. You will need to upload each item separately.

Once you have added your requested items and uploaded any relevant quotes or other documents, hit Continue.

This section will not appear if you have selected the "No Delivery Expected" checkbox for all items in your request during Step 4. You can use this checkbox to skip the Delivery Information step when you are requesting goods or services with no physical delivery component, such as software, virtual consulting services, etc.

Pick a location where you want to have the order delivered. Select your department from the drop-down list or check the box for Other (Off-Campus Address), where you can enter the address.

Shipping Type will default to 1-5 Business Days. Please change the default selection if you need the item sooner. For rush requests, please include a note in the Comments/Special Instructions box and email your assigned EBSC purchasing team member.

Any additional information that would be helpful to the EBSC dept processing your request can also be entered in the Comments/ Special Instructions box.

Once you have updated your Ship To and included any Comments/Special Instructions, hit Continue.

Please review all sections of your order request: Your Information, Delivery Information, Vendor Information, Comments/Special Instructions, Items, Documents Uploads, and Account Information. If any section needs any adjusting, you can click the Revisit button for that section.

In the Business Justification box, explain the University Business purpose for the order request. You must have 100 characters before you will be able to continue.

The request will be routed for approval to the name(s) listed in the yellow box at the top of the Review & Submit screen. Upon approval, the request will be routed to the business office listed in the 2nd yellow box for processing and purchasing.

Once you have reviewed your request and entered a thorough business justification, you can then Submit Order.

After submitting your request, you will be directed to a page that shows your completed request. The page will also display where the order went: Business Office or Account User/Owner for approval.

Please check your request periodically to make sure that it has been approved and is not waiting in the pending queue. Email your PI or one of the approvers listed if your request has not been approved after a few days.

For RUSH requests, you may want to email the approver after you have submitted the request to make sure they see the approval email.

Once your request has been approved, you will receive an email with the subject line 'Purchasing - Approved'.

• Purchasing approval indicates that your order has been approved for purchase, not that your order has been placed with the vendor. The order has now been routed to the appropriate business office for review and processing. If any additional information or documentation is required, a member of the business office will reach out. Otherwise, you will receive additional notice after further action has been taken on the order.

Click on the order number hyperlink to view order request details and the status.

Once the request has been approved, it will then enter the queue for processing. You will receive an email with the subject line ‘Purchasing - Processed Order# [dept order #]’ when your order has been processed.

• A processed request indicates that the business office has taken the necessary action to move the order along to the next level of review and approval required, not that your order has been placed with the vendor. Additional reviews and approvals may be required for a variety of reasons. You will receive additional notice after the order has been purchased.
• At this stage, any communication with the vendor about the order should be initiated through the business office. If the vendor contacts you directly about the order, please notify the business office. You may reply directly to this email to contact the business office personnel who processed the order.

You will receive a second email with the subject line ‘Purchasing - Purchased Order# [dept order #]’ once the purchase has been completed and sent to the vendor.

• A purchased order most often indicates that the order has been placed via University P-Card or that a Purchase Order (PO) has been issued to the vendor through the University's PO system. An order in purchased status in the Purchasing Portal does not necessarily mean that the order has been paid. If payment has not been finalized, additional charges (e.g., shipping & handling) may apply and will be billed back to the CFOP(s) used for the order accordingly.
• The business office may still need to coordinate with the vendor for order confirmation, payment details, etc. If a PO was issued, please note that the PO number the vendor received will be different than the order number listed above, and the vendor will not have a record of the order number above. If, within a week of the purchased date, an order confirmation with the estimated delivery date has not been uploaded to the order in the Purchasing Portal or you have not received an email with tracking information, please contact the business office to check on the status of the order.
• At this stage, any communication with the vendor about the order should be initiated through the business office. If the vendor contacts you directly about the order, please notify the business office. You may reply directly to this email to contact the business office personnel who purchased the order.

If the vendor sends you an order confirmation or acknowledgment of the order, or the order invoice, please forward it to the EBSC staff assigned to your order, so they can verify all the details.