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| Frequently Asked Questions — Supply Chain |
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| Below are some recent frequently asked questions about supply chain, along with links to questions from the To-Be Process Briefings, held in the summer of 2005. You can also find archived responses to past questions. |
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| Updated August 2006 |
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Please explain how the Low Value Purchase Order shopping cart works? |
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The LVPO document type will be available to JHU users only. LVPO stands for “Low Value Purchase Order” and was designed to replace the DCPO (Department Confirming Purchase Order) in use by JHU today. LVPO Shopping Carts are designed for situations when the requisitioner is placing an order with a vendor (usually by phone) and needs to furnish the vendor with a purchase order number immediately. The LVPO shopping cart therefore will not require approval from the department or Supply Chain Shared Services. In addition, the SAP system will not transmit the Purchase Order to the vendor, because the order has already been placed (usually by phone) by the requisitioner. The LVPO document type can only be used if: a) the value of the shopping cart is under $2500; b) the vendor is not an independent contractor; c) the product being purchased cannot be a special commodity like animals or radiation materials and the online vendor catalogues cannot be utilized. |
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Is there a way to limit the LVPO document type to only certain employees? |
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No, all JHU users will have access to LVPO. Departments may want limit use by departmental policy and monitor this with reporting in the Business Warehouse.
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Will employees still be able to use Procurement cards? |
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Yes, SAP will not change the use of Procurement cards. There will be an interface from the Procurement card company (Citibank) so that financial postings can be made as well as payment to Citibank. |
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Will blanket purchases orders be allowed? |
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Yes, there is a shopping cart document type called BLPO which is used for blanket purchase orders.
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Are all shopping cart document types available to all users? |
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No, certain document types like ANPO for animal purchases or LVPO will only be available to JHU end users. Other document types will be for JHHS, and some will be available to all end-users.
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Are there any restrictions on which cost centers can be charged in a shopping cart?
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No, a requisitioner can enter any cost center in the cost assignment field of any line item in the shopping cart. However, approval for that line item will be done by the designated approver of the cost center being charged.
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How will approvers of shopping carts be notified that a shopping cart needs approval? |
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An e-mail is sent to the approver’s Groupwise/Outlook e-mail account with a hyperlink to the approver’s SAP Inbox. This Inbox will list shopping carts awaiting approval. |
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What if my approver is on vacation, how will shopping carts get approved? |
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Any approver has the ability to appoint a substitute approver. The substitute approver must have the same roles & security as the regular approver.
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Regarding online external vendor catalogues in the shopping cart, will all of the vendors’ items appear in the catalogue? |
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No, the online catalogues will have a limited view of items, as they do today. In many cases, items available in the catalogues may be limited to what’s been negotiated in a purchasing agreement or contract with the vendor.
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Will existing Material numbers be brought over from Pathways? |
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Yes.
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Can multiple people be assigned as shopping cart approvers for one cost center?
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Yes, in that case all approvers will be notified of items that need approval. The first approver to approve or reject will cause the work items to be automatically removed from the other approver(s) SAP inbox(s).
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Can a requistioner of goods or services also be the receiver? |
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Yes, anyone with the SRM requisitioner role will be able to receive the goods and services they ordered. Someone with the role of SRM Receiving Central will be able to receive goods and services on behalf of others.
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Do I need to use the shopping cart to order services from an Independent Contractor? |
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Yes, procuring the services of an Independent Contractor will require a shopping cart to be created. |
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What if a vendor I need is not in SAP? |
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There will be a form to fill out on the Accounts Payable Shared Services website to add new vendors to SAP. Please note that all vendors that have done business with Johns Hopkins in the past 18 months will be available in SAP at go-live (Approximately 40,000 vendors).
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What if I need to pay a one-time vendor? Is there another process? |
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The use of one-time vendors in SAP will be for very limited circumstances such as student refunds. All other one-time vendors should be set-up as stated in the previous question, just above.
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Will I be able to do a partial receipt of goods in SAP? |
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Yes.
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What happens if I don’t receive the goods in SAP? |
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If there is no goods receipt in SAP, Accounts Payable Shared Services will not be able to perform the three way match and pay the vendor. If the goods receipt is not done, a series of escalating e-mail reminders will be sent out, both to the person failing to receive the goods and to his or her supervisor(s).
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How will freight charges or other unplanned charges on an invoice like Hazmat fees be handled in SAP? |
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Freight and other ancillary charges on an invoice will not cause a price discrepancy. The additional charges will be entered into SAP by Accounts Payable Shared Services based on policy and guidelines.
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Can a Goods Receipt be corrected in SAP? |
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A good receipt can be reversed and re-received in SAP as long as the invoice was not paid.
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For shopping carts in JHHS that do not need approval (under $500), is the limit by shopping cart or each line item within a shopping cart? |
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The limit is based on the value of the shopping cart. For example, if a shopping cart contains 2 items each for $300 being charged to 2 different cost centers, the total value of the shopping cart is greater than $500 so each line item will require approve from each shopping cart cost center approver.
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If I create a shopping cart for six toner cartridges (from one vendor), each one as a separate line item being charged to a different cost center with different approvers, with each line item costing $100, do all line items need to be approved before the purchase order can be created or will each line item approved create a separate purchase order? |
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In this case, because the order is from one vendor, the shopping cart would need all six approvals before the purchase order is created.
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What is the turnaround time for processing Purchase orders, online payment requests, travel & business expense reimbursements to employees, creating new vendors, creating new materials, etc.? |
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The Shared Services Organizations will each have a service level agreement which include expected processing times for each of their services. There will be a Shared Services Advisory Board that will be monitoring the performance of each of the Shared Services Organizations. The Service Level Agreements will be communicated before the go-live date.
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Do all items requested in a shopping cart require that the goods or services be received in SAP? |
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Yes, with one exception. Items ordered from Office Depot will be automatically received in SAP.
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For Deliveries at the East Baltimore Campus Loading Dock, What will be the receiving process? |
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The boxes will be opened at the loading dock, items will be counted/inspected and the goods receipt transaction will be done in SAP by the receiving dept personnel who are part of the Supply Chain Shared Services Organization. The items will then be delivered to the requisitioners’ final delivery location.
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