To: University Business Managers, Research Administration Support Group, Res_Info Listserv
From: Purchasing Card Team
Procurement Services is excited to announce the redeployment of the Purchasing Card (P-Card) program. Starting August 16, the University’s P-Card community will benefit from an improved purchasing card program with more flexibility and an upgraded reconciliation tool, offering greater functionality and efficiency to campus users.
Procurement Services worked in cooperation with ITS and Bank of America Merrill Lynch to introduce the Works system as a replacement for the current in-house P-Card system. Works is a web-based application used for the management of P-Card transactions, offering a user-friendly P-Card environment for Accountholders (Cardholders) and Approvers.
What’s New
These are just a few key functional enhancements provided by Works:
- Ability to split transaction funding by percentage or dollar amount
- Electronic receipt capture and retention
- Greater reporting capabilities
Current P-Card user roles and responsibilities will be largely similar but will use new role names in Works. Following is the list of Works group official roles and responsibilities:
UNC-Chapel Hill will continue to receive a daily feed of P-Card transactions but starting with transactions that have a posting date of August 16, P-Card accountholders will begin reconciling in Works by reviewing, allocating, uploading receipts, and signing off on their P-Card transactions.
In addition to process changes, policy updates will be implemented which will enable the University to move low-value purchases away from currently-used campus voucher and purchase order (PO) methods and into the P-Card system for increased efficiency. The list of allowable P-Card expenses now includes:
- Lyft and Uber – service provided for clinical trial studies only
- Equipment and space rentals – requires contract review by Purchasing
- Travel – limited to athletics and student travel by request
- Professional Memberships – includes subscriptions and journals
- All Conference Registrations
What’s Next
In preparation for the August launch, the Purchasing Card Office is implementing a holding period for new P-Cards delivered to their office after July 31. To meet this deadline, applicants must submit a completed Purchasing Card Application by July 20, no exceptions. The P-Card Office will resume new card distribution on August 15 to those who have completed initial P-Card Accountholder training.
The P-Card redeployment will coincide with policy, procedure and form updates related to purchasing card use. Website updates will include links to all resource documents and links to policy documents. An updated P-Card Handbook will also be available to all users, in addition to frequently-asked questions with answers.
Additionally, a live webinar will take place on August 1 for Purchasing Card Accountholders, Group Proxy Reconcilers, and Group Approvers. We urge all users to tune into the webinar to learn more about the upcoming changes. Computer-based trainings and quick reference cards that provide specific instructions for using Works also will be available to employees.