Working in PurchasePATH (PP)

Click on UW Pathology Administrative Resources

Click on PurchasePATH. Enter your UW NetID and password.

Click on the name of the department requesting the order.

For the roles listed under your name, choose Purchasing Agent. At the top of the page, click the tab Pending Orders. In the Pending Orders screen there are three links: All Orders, My Orders, and Unclaimed Orders. (If you do not sign in as Agent, only a Review Orders master list of pending orders for your unit will appear.)

Unclaimed Orders: Click this tab, and open the list. This opens the...

Pending Orders page

Status: This column on the far right will show information such as “PO Number Assigned (usually with a value from the PO Number field of the PP order screen),” “Awaiting Approval,” or “Submitted to Purchasing.” Status will also show a yellow Urgent message icon if the Requester has specified that this order is Urgent:

If the order is "Awaiting Approval," it is not ready to be claimed. If status is "Submitted to Purchasing," you can click the claim.

Unit/Attention: This will show the family name of the Principal Investigator in small print, and then below that the full name in larger type of the person expecting and receiving the order delivery. You will need this information later to fill in the Title field.

Menu/Details: These appear in a column to the left of each entry.

The Menu link allows you to Cancel an order; to read the History of how the order was processed, and by whom (to close History and return to the list, click Close); and to Throw Back the order if a Submitter or Requester asks to retract it for further editing.

Details: This shows the original PP order screen. To close the screen, click Details again.

Order ID: Under this column, choose an order to claim, and click a checkmark in the box to the left.

Print and Claim Selected: Clicking this opens the PP order screen. Scroll down to the Options box, and click Print Order. This will open a .pdf file, showing the screen aligned correctly in landscape mode. Then you can click the top left icon to open your usual Print dialogue box. Click your browser back button to return to the main PP screen. (When you obtain the printout, first check the Notes field on the top right for promotion codes, urgent shipping, or other messages from the Requester.)

Working in eProcurement

Open Ariba eProcurement .

Access eProcurement: Click this icon on the top left. This opens the Procurement Dashboard.

Common Actions: under Create, click the Requisition link. This opens the Procurement page for this order.

Note the S number below the Procurement tab; the S number shown in this image is S656608.

On your PP order printout, write the S number in the PO Number field at the lower left.

(Ariba Log-In Note: If you receive a message that you can not access the punchout catalogue, wait a few minutes and return to eProcurement Home. Try again. If the problem persists, see your PP administrator.)

 Vendor: Scroll down the page to find the icon of the requested vendor. Click that icon. When the vendor page opens, click the green icon Buy from Supplier.

On the Vendor ordering page:

Look at your order request printout. For the desired product, find the item number. Enter it on line in the Search field. Include any hyphens and spaces, as needed.

            Note: Sigma-Aldrich orders: This vendor allows you to select more than one item all on one screen. Enter only product number, and quantity. Skip the Reference Number. Then choose Get/Confirm Pack Sizes, and click the dropdown menu to choose quantity/price.

            Note: VWR, like Sigma, lets you order multiple items on a screen in a window on the left: Item number, Unit, and Quantity. The Unit column requires the correct VWR abbreviation; to determine that, click the hypertext word Unit to open a menu of abbreviations.

Entering a line number should open a list of similar items. For any item, to see a full description open the link. Before choosing one, check that its description matches the one on your printout!

Online unit price: Compare the price with your printout – the price before taxes, not the price which includes tax! If the price on printout is the same, write a checkmark beside it on the printout. If the price is different from the printout price, write the online price on the printout.

Click the Add to Shopping Cart button.

Handling or shipping fee: write this fee (if any) on the printout in the Shipping Charges field.

Tax: There is no need to enter this; it will be calculated automatically.

Backorder or other status updates: write any status notes on your printout.

Expected delivery date: write this on the printout in the Expected Delivery Date field, at the bottom.

Click Check-Out

Title
In the Ariba Title field: Enter "Lab Supplies for" or "Office Supplies for," then family name of the principal investigator (not necessarily the shipping recipient!), space, <PP#123456> (where 123456 is the six-digit ID# near the top of the PP order screen or the “Order #” at the top left of a PP order request printout. It is not the eProcurement S number!). Add your initials, and the date. Example: "Lab Supplies for Smith, PP#123456 ABC 1/1/2010" where Smith is the PI, and ABC refers to your initials.
Note: To find the name of the Principal Investigator, look at the PP screen for this order; under Delivery at the top, the Unit field lists the last name of the Principal Investigator of the unit placing the order.

On screen, checkmark the line item. (Or, checkmark the top box to select all items in the list, but do this only if they are all being paid on the same budget!) Click Edit.
Account code: this should usually appear already entered, by default.
Budget field: click Search More to see full list. On your printout, find the Budget # on the right, under Notes box. Type this in with no breaks and no hyphens: 635540. This is faster than selecting from the list. Select > Done.
Scroll down to
Ship To: Click arrow for the dropdown menu. Or, you can clear the shipping address field, and enter delivery address shown on printout. Ship To format is Rm 123/XLastname where X is first initial, and Lastname is the full last name as shown on your printout. This is NOT the PI. Instead this is the person who is the actual contact at that unit for receiving this order. 

Check your work! Once you Submit it can be difficult to retract the order (especially orders to Fisher).
Scroll down, click on yellow Submit button.

Print your Ariba order screen! Attach it to your PP printout.
Click on yellow Exit to leave Ariba.

Return to PurchasePATH

In PP, find this order in the list. Open the link with the ID# of that order. 

Approver email: In Approvals and Notes field, find the name of the approver for that budget. Click that person's mail icon, and request that he or she approve the order; always include the eProcurement S number. Checkmark the option to cc: the email to yourself.
Price: Refer to the price (before tax!) in your printout. If the printout price is different from the price on screen, edit the online price, click outside that field to save the change, then click the Recalculate link. Save.
Office Use: This is a link in the Options Box. Use this link to edit the following fields:

• PO Number
• Shipping Charges
• Expected Delivery Date: Enter any information about backorder or product substitutions.
• Vendor Contact: Usually we enter “online” here for online orders. If the order was placed by phone, enter the name of your phone contact. (Note: Later the vendor will email you a reference number. Enter this in the “Vendor Reference No.” field on your printout. Print out the vendor’s email, and staple it to your printout.)
• Vendor Reference #: Enter the Customer Purchasing #: This is the same as the EP number, also called the PO number on your printout, write this in the blank space above the Office Use box.

After you receive your confirmation email with EP#, write the number on the printout. Then open the PP order screen and enter your EP number under the Vendor Reference # field.

Continuing an Order Later

Sometimes you will need to save an order and complete it later, perhaps to inform the Requester about any updates (price change, backorder status, discontinued item), and to get his or her approval before completing the order. This requires extra steps both in Ariba, and in PP.

• In Ariba, Save as Shopping List. (Otherwise the order will remain in the PP unclaimed list, but the items will be deleted from eProcurement!) Be sure to write down the S number on your printout; that way you can find the order later to complete it. Once you Save as Shopping List, it is fine to choose Checkout > Close Punchout Catalog, Exit Ariba
• In PP, in the screen for that order, click the envelope icon next to requester’s name, and enter a message in the text box. Be sure to checkmark the option to send a copy of the email to yourself! You will get a copy of your inquiry email. The S # will appear in the subject line. (Then wait for a reply from the Requester. Sometimes you will have to follow up by phoning the Requester.)
  

(Note: A requester may ask you to choose another item yourself, or to order that brand from another vendor. But we need to ask them to search and choose, instead of making that decision ourselves.)

Later, when you obtain approval to resume the order, in the Ariba Procurement Dashboard, scroll down to My Documents, find the order with the S number matching your printout, and choose Resume Order > Vendor > Shopping Basket, complete the order, and Submit.

Additional Notes

Identifying Numbers for an Order:

• ID#    This is for finding the preliminary order in PP

• S#    This is for tracking an order before it is charged and sent.

• EP#    PO or invoice # after the order is placed, confirmed, shipped. When you receive the EP number, write it in the blank line above the PO Number field containing the S number and in PP

Credit card orders: these are placed over the phone.

Billing address for all PP is UDB site.

Purchase Orders: we use these only for an item which costs over $2,000; otherwise, we’d use a credit card.

Delete a cancelled order in Ariba: Home tab > Scroll down and choose the corresponding S# in the Composing list. Select, delete, confirm.

Purchasing Agent change: If another Agent is going to finish one of your online orders and is going to use a Pro Card for it – do open the PP order screen for that order, and change the Purchasing Agent field to show that person’s name instead of yours!