FAQs

The short answer is always. If a department wishes to serve alcohol at a university event in a non-permanently licensed campus site (such as a holiday party or reception in an atrium or conference room), prior university approval must be obtained. The requirement to gain this permission does not apply to events held at on-campus licensed facilities, such as the Blackwell or the Faculty Club. For more information, see the Office of Legal Affairs web information on Alcohol on Campus.

Arts and Sciences Guidelines for Purchase of Alcohol

Pre-approval is not necessary to purchase alcohol at licensed facilities, such as off-campus restaurants. Approval may occur either before or after the event.

However, ALL ALCOHOL purchases must receive College approval on the Expense Report in WorkDay. The Cost Center Manager must add the appropriate College Finance Manager for approval.

The amount of alcohol purchased may not exceed $25 per person in attendance.

If the PCard was used for the purchase the cardholder who authorized the purchase will reimburse the college for the overage amount including tip adjustments. If the purchaser is seeking reimbursement, the reimbursable amount will not exceed $25 per person in attendance along with the tax and tip adjustment.

Alcohol may never be charged to general funds or sponsored research projects. Alcohol purchases must be charged to discretionary funds. Adding the College Finance manager in WorkDay on the Expense Report certifies that he fund used is a discretionary fund or an eligible conference(earnings) fund.

Anyone in the department can initiate the request.

Yes. Find a PCard tracking log form here for non-travel and here for travel.

All transactions will be reviewed by the cost center manager and will workflow to the department leader when necessary.

Yes., There is no limitation on how many vendors or transactions can be submitted on an Expense Report.

Yes.

Yes, create a new expense report with the credit documentation and include the original ER# in the comments.

No. You can only reallocate with OSP funding and GET card.

A pre-approved Spend Authorization(SA) is required for all travel.

All Ohio State employees are required to purchase airfare with the CTP travel agency either through Concur or working with a service agent. Rental cars must be procured via the Ohio State contracted agencies Enterprise, National or Hertz. Group travel (10 or more individuals sharing the exact same itinerary) must be arranged with ScholarTrip travel. To ensure the rental car contract pricing and included required insurance they can be reserved in Concur as well. Please refer to the Travel FAQ for details and links.

Student employees traveling for academic reasons not related to their employment are exempt from the initiative, however it is strongly encouraged for duty of care purposes to use CTP.

Travel exceptions are but are not limited to: lack of pre-approval(After the Fact travel approval/ATF), non-contract rental car procured, lack of rental car insurance purchased, cash advance not reconciled within 30 days of return from trip, reimbursement not submitted by the traveler within 60 days of the travel expense purchase, non-commercial housing was not pre-approved.

The cash advance is reconciled in an expense report which has been linked to the SA. The department will need to contact the BSC when there is a deposit for unused funds. Here is the job aid.

If the contracted agencies are NOT available, or vehicles available do not meet business needs at the time of booking, screen shots need to be pulled at the time of booking and provided to avoid an exception.

If rental car is for domestic travel and is not rented under the contracted agencies, LDW/CDW PLUS liability need to be purchased.

International rental cars rented on contract do NOT include the necessary insurance.  Insurance options need to be explored prior to the trip and vetted through Risk Management to ensure coverage is enough to meet Ohio State University guidelines.

International rental cars rented outside of the contract need to have insurance options vetted through Risk Management.

Learn more about rental car discounts.

Business purpose should be written so an individual, unfamiliar to the organization’s operation can understand why the transaction occurred and how it benefits the mission of the University.

Using words such as “for,” “on behalf of,” “at the request of,” etc. help the reader to understand the justification of the transaction or expenditure.

Examples of Poorly Written Business Purposes

• Purchased 50 boxes of granola bars
• Lunch with donor
• Attend ASEE
• Gift card for research participants
• Airfare
• Research collaboration

Examples of Properly Written Business Purposes

• Purchase of granola bars to feed monkeys used in cancer research
• Lunch with donor, Joe Smith, to discuss giving opportunities to the college in support of the building campaign
• Attend American Society of Engineering Educators seminar to present paper on student retention
• Gift cards given to research participants according to protocol
• Invited to University of China to collaborate on chemical refinement processes on behalf of OSU
• Various trips throughout South America to research rural irrigation systems to provide data for journal publication titled “Improving Rural Irrigation Systems”

*Standard office supplies is an acceptable business purpose for typical office supply purchases(i.e. pens, paper, notebooks). However, you do need a specific business purpose for unique office supplies that are not purchased regularly(i.e. DVD player).

Please provide item/catalog numbers along with your item description. 

Important: Please provide quote # in the Quote ID box along with an attachment. If you do not have a quote number but an email from vendor then attach that to your requisition. If verbal or web pricing then mention that in Additional Information. 

It is the responsibility of the department to attach completed vendor set up forms to requisitions for both individuals and companies.  

University units that sell goods and services ex: FOD, Tech Hub, The Blackwell, UniPrint, TTM Charter Bus. Some of the Internal suppliers are available in BuckeyeBuy. Examples would include The Blackwell, FOD, UNIV Print, TTM Charter bus. Internal supplies such as Tech Hub, ASC Machine Shop, OCIO, ESL, BuckID, OIA, University Registrar need to be submitted as non-catalog.

It is an online store integrated with Workday, loaded with contracted suppliers for streamlined checkout and approval process. ex: Fisher Scientific, Adriatico’s Pizza, CDWG, etc.

Buckeye Buy order for services often carry over on a Goods line, please do not adjust the cart. 

When orders cannot be fulfilled through Internal or BuckeyeBuy supplier. 

Purchases made through non-catalog suppliers increase operating costs, delay your purchase, and negate the cost-savings negotiated by purchasing. Orders for non-contracted suppliers often include Terms and Conditions which need to be reviewed by purchasing and countersigned by vendor. 

Non-catalog requisitions must use existing suppliers whenever possible.  If a new supplier needs to be added to Ohio State's vendor list, it will require additional paperwork and approvals which will further delay the purchase and increase operating costs.

External supplier orders should never be submitted under BuckeyeBuy requisition type.

No. It will not result in a valid BuckeyeBuy requisition.   

No. One vendor per requisition.

No. One service line, one chart field. 

Updating the name of “Ordering For” would allow the blanket order invoice to workflow to that individual for approval instead of who entered the requisition. 

Purchases over $1,000 for external non-contracted vendors. 

The quote will allow the procurement staff to compare external pricing to existing contracts to ensure best prices associated with educational discounts offered by suppliers.  The quote also provides documentation that can be used during the payment process to ensure that we are billed for the amounts quoted.

A purchase order must be issued prior to the purchase occurring or the purchase is considered an After-the-Fact exception. All After-the-Fact Purchase Orders must follow the Exception policy within the Expenditures policy.

When Internal vendors issue an Internal Service Delivery (ISD) to charge the department, they also close out the PO. This type of PO will not show “paid” but will be closed by the vendor nonetheless.  

However, vendors such as The Blackwell, which is listed as external vendor in Workday, will not close purchase orders. In this case, department is responsible for verifying payment and completion of services and asking the BSC procurement associate to close the PO as for any other external vendor. 
 

External vendor contracts over $250,000 should be submitted by the Cost Center Manager to OLA for review and signature. Model Agreements should be signed by your Finance Manager. All other orders under the threshold should be submitted to the BSC for processing. When submitting terms and conditions to the BSC please include supplier contact email.