System Access Request Form – Changes in Requesting Access to FTS

In order to simplify the way access is granted in Financial Transaction Services (FTS), Finance and ITS have made some changes to the System Access Request form. Here are the improvements you will see on the FTS section of the form:

Department IDs

When appropriate, users can now request access to a division, college, or service group. Requesting access in this manner grants the user access to all departments within the specified unit (e.g., College of Engineering – all DeptIDs under the 1234 DeptID).

Roles

Access in FTS is now granted based on roles, each containing a specific level of access to the various modules in FTS. Additionally, each role identifies the required training needed for access to be granted. Roles are now identified as:

roles table

The updated System Access Request form is available for use now. Information Technology Services will continue to accept the old form through Friday, November 1, 2013. Beginning Monday, November 4, 2013, the updated form will be required for all system requests.New FTS users will be required to complete all training associated with the requested role before access is granted. See FTS Roles Access & Training for more information.

University Travel – Enterprise Rental Car Policy Update

Enterprise Car Rental has made a change to the vehicle pick up process for State rentals. In addition to a valid California Driver’s License, travelers are now required to show a second form of identification when picking up a rental vehicle from Enterprise. This second form of identification serves to verify the traveler’s association with the state.

University travelers should be prepared to present their Tower ID card or SJSU business card when renting a vehicle from Enterprise. An authorization letter on San José State letterhead identifying the traveler and approving the individual’s use of Enterprise car rental services is also acceptable. Should the traveler not be able to provide identification which proves association with San José State, Enterprise will not honor the discounted state rental rate and may require the traveler to provide their own credit card for payment.

This policy update is applicable to all reservations made with Enterprise, including those made through the university’s official travel agency, Travel Consultants, or the university GoCard.

Purchase Order Set Up and e-Invoice

At the Finance Fall 2013 What’s Up? presentation held on October 4th, we announced some new changes to the way purchase orders are set up and how PO invoices are to be submitted.

A purchase order is issued for goods/services by Contracts & Purchasing Services based on a department’s requisition. Before submitting a requisition in FTS, departments are asked to review available Procurement Pathways for alternate methods of buying products/services. For example, many products can be easily purchased with the ProCard.

Receipt and/or Inspection of Purchase Orders
In the past, purchase orders were set up to require a receipt and sometimes, an inspection action. Receipts were primarily entered in CFS by Distribution Services, while an inspection was entered by the department end user.

Now, department end users:
1.  are responsible for entering receipts in CFS for purchase orders for itemized goods, printing orders, and Public Works.
2.  do not need to perform an inspection action in CFS for orders other than itemized, printing, or Public Works.
3.  may receive an emails notice from Accounts Payable to review invoices and respond to them with the CFS PO Receipt Number.

Blanket Purchase Orders
A blanket purchase order allows for multiple purchases from a single vendor when the quantity or frequency of delivery cannot be determined at the time the purchase order is initiated. A blanket PO is good for one year; however, the time period is not constrained by fiscal year. As with regular purchase orders funds are encumbered upon the issuance of a blanket PO.

In the past, departments did not factor tax and/or shipping on their requisition for a Blanket Order. These charges were added into the PO by the Contracts & Purchasing Services Buyer. The amount represented in the PO line was for the cost of products/services only. When a department performed a receipt entry in CFS, the amount they entered was only for products/services without the tax and/or shipping.

Now, department end users:
1. can determine the amount they wish to spend with a single vendor in their requisition. This amount will include the cost of products/services, tax, and/or shipping.
2. do not need to enter a receipt for blanket order POs in CFS.
3. may receive email notices from Accounts Payable to review invoices and respond to them with an approval to pay.
4. can modify a PO (e.g., decrease/increase amount or close entire PO) by submitting a Change Order Request to Contracts & Purchasing Services.

End users will perform the above mentioned receipt action for purchase orders issued in the current and past fiscal years.

Coming Soon e-Invoice
e-Invoice is a quick and convenient method for vendors and departments to sent purchase order invoices electronically to Accounts Payable. Department end users will be able to view submitted invoices in FTS by locating the original requisition. A dedicated portal for e-Invoice will be located in the Accounts Payable section of the Finance website.

e-Invoice is scheduled to go live in November 2013. Stay tuned for more info!!