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Supply Chain

Issue 2 – July 2023 – Newsletter

Image of UAMS hospital

Inside This Issue

  • New Procurement Website Coming Soon!
    • The website will be restructured and have brand new content. A new feature will be the new Procurement Help webpage which will house dozens of Help Pages to guide you through important procurement transactions.
  • Following Up With New P-Card Holders
    • In our last newsletter, we introduced an expansion of the P-Card program. We’re including some P-Card 101 info to help all the new card holders responsibly manage their P-Card.
  • Notes & Reminders
    • Quick notes and an important reminder about P-Card and T-Card task deadlines.

Coming Soon: New Procurement Services Website

Procurement Website Home Page

Website Rollout Procurement Services has been hard at work on the new and improved website. The planned rollout date is Thursday, July 27. We will send out an email the day-of so that you can take some time to check out the website.

Help Pages A new tool Procurement Services will use is called a Help Page. A Help Page will guide users through important procurement processes – not just by giving step-by-step instructions, but also by providing background information that will help users understand when a certain task is necessary, why it is necessary, and what the task accomplishes. You will only see a handful of Help Pages at first, but there will be dozens of Help Pages within a few weeks!

The Details The new website will still be accessed by navigating to supplychain.uams.edu/procurement. The website will have six main pages:

  1. Homepage
    • Landing page for the website
    • Will house links to the other five main pages
  2. About Us
    • Description of services and Mission Statement
    • Location and Department contact information
  3. Contact Us
    • Team directory
    • Instructions for contacting Procurement Services
  4. Forms
    • Links to download procurement forms
  5. Procurement Help
    • Links to dozens of Help Pages
    • Help Pages will be separated into helpful categories
  6. Resources
    • Information on service turnaround times
    • Links for Workday training
    • Links for recorded Brown Bag sessions

Following Up with New P-Card Holders

Let’s cover some basics. For a comprehensive education, refer to the Arkansas P-Card Manual.

THE P-CARD IS ESSENTIALLY A CREDIT CARD THAT DEPARTMENTS CAN USE FOR SMALL PURCHASES.
  • Unlike personal credit cards, there are very strict rules governing what can and cannot be purchased using a P-Card.
  • State-level “cannot” rules are summarized below, but a few other UAMS-specific rules exist as well so please refer to our website for a full list of non-allowable purchases.
  1. No Alcohol. Period.
  2. Do not buy anything that is available through our existing catalogs/contracts/agreements unless it is purchased from the contracted vendor.
    • E.g., do not buy pens from Walmart because we have a contract for office supplies with Staples. You can use your card to make a purchase at a Staples or you can use the Create Requisition task in Workday, Connect to Supplier Website, connect to Staples, and complete your purchase.
  3. No gifts for anyone – not employees, not patients, not research participants, not guest speakers – you get the point.
    • Gifts aren’t just trinkets wrapped in a box and donned with a bow. Think greeting cards, flowers, balloons, gift cards, meals, etc.
  4. Cash advances. This card is not a tool to get cash.
  5. Printing wet ink on paper.
    • This rule sounds strange, but it is related to an amendment in the state constitution that mandates the use of soy ink for printing when using state funds. As a method of control/enforcement, printing services cannot be paid for with a P-Card.
BY THE WAY: if you need something printed, reach out to UAMS Creative Services! They have an impressive 3-day turnaround time for most print jobs, and you won’t beat their prices.
  1. Travel expenses of any kind. Period. (Use a T-Card or personal reimbursement)
  2. Split purchase or other forms of incremental purchasing.
    • This is viewed as an attempt to work around procurement spending thresholds and is a severe violation of state procurement laws.
  3. Any purchase that would involve trade-in.
  4. Finally – maybe the most sensible and possibly the most important rule – do not purchase anything that could result in disciplinary action.
THE P-CARD IS POPULAR BECAUSE IT IS QUICK AND CONVENIENT.
P-Card Image
  • You can use the P-Card to obtain supplies (not services) directly from vendors without a purchase order. In other words, quick turnaround time on receipt of your order.
  • The rules on non-allowable expenses are strict, but allowable expenses still make this card very convenient for departments.
  • You CAN (i.e., allowable) use your P-Card for small purchases to help your day-to-day operations.

✓ Books

✓ Postage

✓ Subscriptions

✓ Catering for official functions

✓ Professional licens/certification fees

✓ Membership fees

✓ Virtual webinars and conferences

UNLIKE PERSONAL CREDIT CARDS, EACH TRANSACTION MADE ON A P-CARD COULD POTENTIALLY BE PAID BY A DIFFERENT FUNDING SOURCE.

THE P-CARD HOLDER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MATCHING EACH TRANSACTION TO A FUNDING SOURCE.
  • In Workday, this process is called Procurement Card Transaction Verification.
    • Verifying a transaction is how you match the credit card charge with the transaction that appears in Workday.
  • When you verify a transaction, you are:
    • Verifying that the dollar amount and merchant in Workday matches the dollar amount and merchant on your receipt.
    • Indicating which fund and cost center, or other financial worktags, will be used to pay for that credit card expense.
    • Uploading your receipt as an attachment.
  • It is best practice to verify transactions as soon as possible after the transaction is made.
  • Every single transaction on your P-Card statement must be verified within the month the statement was received.
    • Statements are issued on the 15th of every month so all the transactions on your July statement need to be verified no later than July 31.
  • To verify P-Card transactions, type Verify Procurement Card Transactions in the Workday search bar.

Notes & Reminders

Welcome Banner

Expense reimbursements are different from other payment methods and Procurement Services has a team of Expense Partners that deal exclusively with reimbursement transactions.

Well, that team now has a dedicated Manager! We are happy to introduce new employee, Katrina Williams, as the Expense Reimbursement Manager for Procurement Services.

As the Expense Reimbursement Manager, Katrina will manage the P-Card and T-Card programs and train Expense Data Entry Specialists (EDES). By having a dedicated manager, Expense Partners will be able to process expense reimbursements more efficiently. This new position is yet another component of the campaign to improve Procurement Services and we’re not done yet – you can look forward to other improvements coming soon!

Reminder For All P-Card And T-Card Holders
  • Credit card transactions must be either verified (P-Cards) or reconciled (T-Cards) by the last business day of the statement month.
    • For example, a transaction appearing on this month’s statement must be verified/reconciled by Monday, July 31st.
  • Failure to verify/reconcile transactions by the monthly deadline is considered an occurrence by the State of Arkansas and may result in suspension or closure of the associated card.

Your feedback is valuable. If you have any notes or questions about this quarter’s newsletter, please email Procurement@uams.edu with the subject line July Newsletter. Thank you.