Date Created:    May 23, 2024     

Last Updated:   June 5, 2024

Overview: 

SCL staff can make purchases on non-delegated spend through several methods, including e-shop, P Card, and IWant edoc requests. Payments to vendors are processed in KFS by the SCL FTC, SCL Procurement, or the central Shared Services Center (SSC) procurement team. Segregation of duties exists between purchasing, receiving and invoice/payment processing.

Criticality:  High

Frequency:  Daily

Turnaround:  Other

SCL Staff Member:  Initiates eshop order, p-card purchase or IWant request for goods or services.  Staff member is not allowed to sign vendor contracts but can sign as the unit on university contract templates.  Staff must initiate the buying process through one of the three approved methods.  In absolutely no circumstance should a staff member engage services or order goods outside of these systems.  This is an unauthorized purchase.  Unauthorized purchases skirt internal controls and may be considered fraudulent activity. In addition, they put the university at risk if insurance is not provided, and university terms and conditions requirements are not agreed to in advance with the vendor.

Vendor:  Fulfills orders and requests for services with reasonable accuracy, adheres to university terms in order/PO, provides proof of insurance coverage for all services, and delivers items to buyer or buyer’s location.  Ensures invoicing and any credits for returns are processed promptly if applicable.

Financial Transaction Center (FTC), SCL Procurement, or Shared Services Center (SSC) – based on customer serviced:  Reviews eshop orders over limit established by the university and approves if correct.  Processes IWant requests, places orders on Super Pcard (SSC only) if applicable.  Works with Procurement Services as needed to meet customer requests, participates in RFP’s, bids and works with customer to ensure all proper paperwork has been provided. Compares invoice received from vendor to PO and receiving for all PREQ edocs over $5K.

Procurement Services: Issues requests for proposal (RFP’s), issues bids, and awards orders as appropriate, reviews submission for appropriate completeness and follows up or rejects if any information has not been provided.

  • Kuali Financial System (KFS)
  • OAS Reporting Dashboard (KDW)
  • SpendViz
  • Procureware bidding software
  1. Credits and returns tracking
  2. Mismatch between PO/Receiving and vendor invoice
  3. After the fact purchases
  4. Units signing vendor contracts when they have no authority to do so.
  5. Conflict of Interest

Ordering Goods or Services (non-travel related):

(Note:  Certain types of purchases may require additional steps or procedures not outlined below including logo items, IT equipment/software/services, narcotics (Cornell Health), entertainment, buses, leases, etc.  Please see this link for more information Purchases with Special Procedures | Cornell University Division of Financial Services

  1. Staff first ensure that the order meets the business expense policy restrictions and is an allowable purchase.
  2. Staff identify if the funding for the order has any additional restrictions (example – restricted gift account spending must comply with donor restrictions on the gift).
  3. If the order is allowable for both #1 and #2 above, the staff member should identify if they can order through eshop.
  4. If the order cannot be placed in eshop either due to the nature of the purchase or the vendor, then next identify if unit Pcard can be used within the established transaction limit and allowable Pcard restrictions. Buying Manual: PCard Prohibited Transactions (cornell.edu)
  5. If the order cannot be processed through eshop or P Card, then the staff member should submit in IWant edoc through the procurement gateway Procurement Gateway (cornell.edu).
  6. Staff should allow sufficient time for purchases that cannot be processed through P Card or Eshop, a minimum of 3 weeks must be allowed if the request does not need to go out to bid. If the item/service will be bid, ($50,000 internal bid and quotes, over $50,000 requires university RFP and will take much longer, +/- 6 months, depending on scope).
  7. Staff member attaches all appropriate documents to the IWant document (may include service provider questionnaire (if a service), sole source, unsigned vendor quotes and contracts, additional forms for special purchases-see link above) and includes business purpose, vendor (if known), quantity, items, cost, description and delivery location.
  8. Once IWant is complete, the staff member routes for further unit approval if required, or submits.
  9. Once vendor returns the vendor packet, the FTC confirms the vendor is in KFS. If vendor is in KFS, FTC confirms if any updates are needed. If vendor is not in KFS, FTC sends vendor invite via PaymentWorks.
  10. If a bid is required, unit staff member must submit a bid solicitation request via email: Bid Solicitation | Cornell University Division of Financial Services

FTC/SSC Procedures:

1.       Eshop orders must be approved over established limits by the FTC or SSC based on SCL customer to place the order with the vendor.  Orders under this limit will be placed immediately.

2.       P Card receipts will be audited and approved by the SSC team for unit purchases made via P Card.

3.       IWant edocs will be routed to a queue for processing by the FTC or SSC as appropriate (disbursement voucher payment, SSC Super P Card, PO).

4.       FTC/SSC follows up with unit for missing information.

Procurement Services Procedures:

1.       Reviews and processes IWant requests needing PO’s

2.       Approves and/or rejects IWant if missing business purpose, documentation and attachments

3.       Issues RFP’s (request for proposal)

4.       Issues Bids on items or services over $25K limit

5.       Evaluates bid results and confers with unit to select appropriate vendor.

Key Risks

Key Controls

Risk of the same individual ordering and receiving product, allowing opportunity for fraud

1.       Ordering and receiving processes should be segregated.

2.       FTC reconciles PO and receiving document with vendor invoice.

Conflict of Interest (COI), when staff is working closely with vendors, there are some inherent risks. There is a risk that staff does not self-disclose relationship with vendor. There is a risk that once the risk is disclosed that a unit does not follow up with staff to investigate the COI further. 

1.       Unit trains staff on COI and self-disclosure; unit manages and investigates COI in accordance with University Policy 4.14, Conflicts of Interest and Commitment (Excluding Financial Conflict of Interest Related to Research): vol4_14.pdf (cornell.edu). 

2.       Annual certification is required by all regular staff effective for FY25.


Risk that invoice has been submitted to Accounts Payable by vendor, department, or Shared Services Center previously for payment (duplicate payments).

1.       Unit reviews accounts and checks for potential duplicate payments. Kuali Financial System requires purchase order number, invoice number, invoice date, and amount for all payment requests and automatically checks for potential duplicates for purchase order payment requests; KFS cannot check for duplicates across payment methods.

2.       Timely assurance audits identify duplicate payments made after the fact so reimbursement or credit memo can be requested.

After the fact PO’s - ATFPO’S

1.       This process has been widely shared with the entire SCL division.

2.       This process dictates that purchases of items outside of delegated spend are initiated according to this process narrative in eshop, on P Card or an IWant edoc.

3.       FTC/SSC must be diligent in looking at the invoice for after the fact orders to see if it shows PAID before processing.

4.       All violations are tracked and reported to senior management.

Unit signing contracts without delegated spend authority

1.       Unit trains staff on proper procedures for non-delegated spend per this process document and process flow diagram.

2.       In the rare instance that this happens, SCL AVP is notified of violations for further action.

Cornell Finance Staff

  • After-the-fact PO counts
  • Budget vs Actual expense
  • P Card transactions counts
  • eShop vendors paid via P Card or DV
  • Conflict of interest identified
  • Non-delegated spend – SCL Purchasing has delegated purchase authority for Dining inventory items. The Cornell Store buying team has delegated purchase authority for Cornell Retail Services inventory items.
  • KFS – Kuali Financial System
  • OAS – Oracle Analytics Server, financial reporting tool (formerly known as OBIEE)
  • GL – General Ledger
  • FTC – Student and Campus Life Financial Transaction Center that processes IWant transactions for Enterprise, Student Orgs and Affiliates, and works with SSC, SCL Procurement, or university Procurement Services to place orders.
  • SSC – Shared Services Center that processes eshop, P Card and IWant procurement transactions for all other SCL units, approves SCL P Card transactions and holds the Super PCards for purchases over individual cardholder limits. Works with Procurement Services to place orders.
  • SCL Procurement – Approves eshop orders for enterprise, student and affiliate orgs, uses procurement P Card to pay for orders within their limit.  Assists with requirements, RFP’s and bids for non-delegated spend for customers.

General Procurement Process Flow Chart