Purchasing Process Team
October 8, 2004,
9 a.m. Board Room
All were present except
Terri Jacomet and Helen Wilcox who were unable to attend.
Dr. Salisbury and Dr.
Yowell are reviewing the teams in light of employees’ changing positions.
New members have been
invited to the Purchasing Process Team: Judy Hunolt, Darlene Cardinal, Chuck
Steel, and Michele Hertz. (Michele Hertz has resigned so will not be a
member.)
Purpose
The meeting was for
periodic review of Edison Community College purchasing process. The issues
were reviewed from last meeting’s minutes in April. Overall, things are
going well. Turn-around times are good. Recurring problems were discussed.
Recurring Problem Areas
Discussed with Solutions
□
Keith is
catching incorrect GL account numbers when he overviews incoming purchase
requisitions. The budget responsible person should be catching this.
□
Purchase
requisitions are still being created for invoices with payment enclosed or
personal reimbursements after purchases have been made. This bypasses the
approval process and is flagged by the auditors. Some arrangements are
acceptable (library, bookstore and maintenance open accounts), but many are
using this process as a loophole for laziness and lack of planning.
□
Multiple
purchase requisitions have been created to the same vendor by a requester,
but Datatel allows for multiple GL account numbers on the same requisition.
□
Some
purchase requisitions sit unapproved and the BRP must be reminded.
□
Sometimes
too many approval signatures are given. Keith approves with the minimum
required electronic signatures. Only the BRP (for the GL #) and Keith are
listed. If multiple GL #s are used and the BRP is different for each GL #,
each BRP must be listed along with Keith. Keith will not approve until all
BRPs have approved their GL #s.
□
The
usefulness of a college credit card was discussed for the “just-in-time”
urgent orders. The auditors will flag these because they bypass the
approval process. A person could speed the process by generating a purchase
order and hand carrying it to the store to make their purchase on site go
faster. Preplanning is still stressed as the solution.
Other Solutions
□
Diane will
send out a global reminder memo with the main problem areas.
□
For
problem PRs, Diane or Keith will e-mail a notification to the person for
them to fix the problem before proceeding with the order.
□
If a
purchase requisition does not get approved, the BRP should notify the
requestor since there is no electronic notification.
Teams Processes Analyzed
and Members Re-Grouped
Dr. Salisbury will meet
with the team leaders regarding putting their team processes in a hard copy
for everyone’s reference.
Closing
Will meet again next
semester. The meeting adjourned at 9:45 a.m.
