Business Process Changes for the 2008 Program Release

Closing Purchase Orders post Program Release

With the Program Release and the removal of Purchase Orders (POs), Requisitions, and encumbrances from the legacy system, a new process has been developed to close POs centrally. These criteria were designed in conjunction with campus representatives and attempt to capture all the common uses and needs for PO closure. In the legacy accounting system, Dean’s offices and certain other delegated units were able to close POs.  This process freed up the remaining encumbered balance on the PO. In SFS, the ability to close a PO cannot be easily delegated and needs to be managed centrally.  Once a PO is closed it is closed for good and can no longer be reopened.

POs that meet the following criteria will begin to be closed before the end of FY08 and monthly thereafter:

PO Closing Criteria

PO Types

Close Monthly

Close by Circumstance

Specific Orders

Automatically closes if 95% liquidated and no payments made for the past 4 months and the balance does not exceed $1000

Requested by approved Encumbrance and PO Management form

TC - $1 Blanket Orders

Automatically close after 15 months from order date and balance is less than $20

Requested by approved Encumbrance and PO Management form

TC – ASSAs, Leases, Maintenance

Automatically close if current date is at least one month past end date and 95% of the original balance is liquidated

Requested by approved Encumbrance and PO Management form

Grant Sub-agreements

Excluded from monthly close process

Close by specific request of RSP at the end of the life of the sub-agreement.

TC = time conditioned/date range dependent order that will produce a COR

How Does This Affect Campus?

  • Before fiscal year end 2008, POs fitting the closing criteria will be closed in SFS by Business Services.
  • During FY09, the PO Close Process will be run on a monthly basis according to the established close criteria.
  • Dean's Offices and Departments will NOT need to complete the PO and Encumbrance Management form for their POs to be closed according to these criteria, this will happen automatically when Business Services runs the close process monthly.
    • Dean's Offices and Departments will only need to complete the PO and Encumbrance Management form to close POs when they do not meet the criteria.
  • Invoices arriving for payment after a PO is closed will be paid as a Direct Payment referencing the PO number in the Description column.  This means that inquiries in WISDM for invoices against the PO number will NOT show the direct payment.  However, queries in WISDM looking for the PO number in the Description field will show the payment.  No one search method for an individual PO will capture both payments.  However, both payments will show up if you are viewing a summary report for an entire department or project, or if searching for all payments made from a specific vendor.

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