Purchase Orders

General

Department heads and other authorized employees are permitted to spend budgeted University funds. Most purchases will not require a Purchase Order (PO). This document will outline when a PO is required.

Purchase orders are required when:

• The vendor requires one, or
• The purchase is for equipment or software over a cost of $5,000, or
• When federal funds are used to purchase equipment or software of any amount.

The PO process consists of three steps: a request, an authorization, and a payment.

Purchase Requisitions

In Workday, complete a Purchase Requisition (Create Requisition) for all equipment or software with a unit cost of over $5,000.

If Federal funds are used to purchase equipment or software, a Purchase Requisition must be completed regardless of amount. Federally funded equipment or software purchases will be inventoried and tracked through the University Fixed Asset system as required by federal grant regulations.

If you elect to use your department number for purchases of $5,000 or greater from your operations funds, you must first request permission and have signed approval from the University Treasurer.

Purchase Orders (the authorization)

PO’s and PO numbers are generated by the Workday accounting system.

You will receive the approved Purchase Order from the Fixed Asset/Purchasing Manager, via your Inbox in Workday. You can access the PDF of the Purchase Order, and it can be forwarded on to your Supplier.

In a situation when time does not allow for the steps above, the department may take the following steps except when using the operating budget for purchases greater than $5,000:

• Make the purchase commitment directly with the vendor and give the vendor a unique PO number.
• Create the Requisition in Workday and explain the special circumstance.  A official PO will be generated in Workday for the department to send to the Supplier.

Payment

The Supplier will send the invoice to the department after the sale /shipment is final. The department should:

• Verify that the items have been received;
• Make note of any differences between the PO and the vendor invoice;
• Ensure the PO number is on the vendor invoice;
• Indicate payment approval by signing the invoice and providing the Spend Category, if different from the earlier PO and send to the Fixed Asset/Purchasing Manager for payment processing.

Assistance during any part of the purchasing process is available by contacting Jessica Vassar at jvassar@wlu.edu or the Business Office at businessoffice@wlu.edu.