ModeratorJulianne Britt

Bentley University

Overview Introductions Boston College Discussion Yeshiva University Discussion University of North Texas Discussion Questions

Paul McGowan

Boston College Procure to Pay Evolution

Boston College

BOSTON COLLEGE AT A GLANCE

STUDENTS

9,000 undergraduate students UG Tuition & fees (FY10):

$50,970 Total applications: 29,290 Percent Receiving Financial Aid:

60% Middle 50% SAT scores: 1920-

2130 Percent AHANA: 24% Graduation Rate: 91%

5,000 graduate students

RESOURCES

Operating budget: $737.5 million

Endowment: $1.5 billion

Sponsored research: $58.5 million

Private gift support: $86.2 million

Total Acres: 386.2

708 full-time faculty

2,400 staff

Boston College Procure to Pay Evolution

Evolution of BC’s Financial System

42

Boston College Procure to Pay Evolution

General LedgerModule

Feeds legacy data

Pay a Pay a vendorvendor

Bill a sponsor

Billing/AR

Feeds Contracting Info

Travel and Expenses Module

PO Module

ePRO Module

APModule

Reimburse Reimburse EmployeesEmployees

Commitment Control

Perform Perform Budget Budget TransfersTransfers

Purchase Purchase from a from a vendorvendor

Project/Grant Module

Legacy & Other Systems

SIS

GRADFin Aid Auxiliaries

PS HRCashNet

Reports and Inquiry

38

Boston College

Project Overview History

• At the request of senior management, a consultant performed an analysis of current business practices surrounding the Procure to Pay Process at Boston College.

• The objective of the analysis was to identify potential process improvements as well as evaluate the pros and cons of implementing a merged Procurement Department within the Controller’s Office.

• The goals of such a unit will be to actualize the potential for:

• Cost savings from the pooling of resources;• Realizing efficiencies through methodologies achieved at other Universities;• Coordination of policies and procedures;• Enhanced assurance that sound business practices and compliant behaviors are in place; • Increased effectiveness of time utilization within BC's Accounts Payable and Purchasing departments.

Project Process

• Obtain a high-level understanding of the current procure to pay process.• Interview BC participants involved in the procure to pay process.• Collect and analyze data.• Summarize data collected from Procurement Survey of other Universities.• Identify opportunities to enhance payables business practices, policies and controls.• Identify opportunities to enhance purchasing business practices, policies and controls.• Provide comments related to BC's procure to pay process and organizational structure.• Present results of analysis.• Outline potential next steps.

Current Procurement Process Satisfaction

When asked what process improvements the operational areas of Accounts Payable and Purchasing would like to see, the most common responses were:

• Accountability for end users

• Increased use of the Purchasing card

• Travel authorization functionality

• Direct deposit for employees

• Change order functionality

• Continued training for end users

Boston College Procure to Pay Evolution

Merging Accounts Payable and Purchasing

• Consultant participated in a task force to assess the feasibility and potential benefit of combining the Purchasing and Accounts Payable departments into one functional department.• The task force analyzed the pros and the cons of combining the departments.

Pros ConsStreamlines the communication between the two departments.

The volume of purchase orders is such a small part of the total APvolume and so unrelated to the other types of work that AP performs.

Centralizing the help desk function for the Accounts Payable and Purchasing area will enable the FMS help desk function toconcentrate on technical issues rather than fielding basicoperational questions.

Combining the departments would not necessarily result in any time efficiencies or the elimination of any positions due to duplication of effort.

Since both Accounts Payable and Purchasing report to the same Vice President, goals and missions of the two departments are aligned.

Boston College Procure to Pay Evolution

Merging Accounts Payable and Purchasing

•When merging the two departments, the following concerns raised about the combination will need to be addressed;

•Accountability

•Internal controls surrounding separation of duties exist where the same department is responsible for entering orders and paying the bills,

•An individual entering vouchers could also have access to enter vendors, thereby presenting an opportunity to pay an unapproved vendor,

•Department entering vouchers also has access to generate checks. No third party verification exists.

Boston College Procure to Pay Evolution

Merging Accounts Payable and Purchasing

•Recommendations to Address these Concerns;

•Separate Roles and Functions•Continue to maintain separate roles within PeopleSoft for Accounts Payable and Purchasing.•Ensure that no one individual has a combination of roles which would grant access to enter vouchers, purchase orders, approve/dispatch purchase orders, vendor entry/approval and print checks.•Maintain a separation of the functions within a Department of procurement.

•Pay-cycle•An individual in Accounting should be given the responsibility of periodically reviewing paycycle•Using PeopleSoft security, ensure no individual with a Purchasing Role is granted a role with access to pay-cycle and•No one with access to paycycle should be granted a role as Buyer.

Boston College Procure to Pay Evolution

Summary of Current Procure to Pay Process Issues

• Current business practices are still transitioning.

• Many process improvements have occurred with the transition to PeopleSoft, yet the benefit of these improvements is clouded by the large learning curve for the users.

• Purchasing adds little value to the processing of small dollar transactions; yet the majority of purchase orders are under the $5,000 PCard threshold.

• Departmental end users do not take responsibility for transactions they enter into the system. Current expectations assume that Accounts Payable and Purchasing will correct their mistakes.

• Several day to day operational tasks require a significant increase in turn around time due to the execution of several processes.

• The lack of change order and travel authorization functionality causes rework for the Purchasing and Payables functions.

Boston College Procure to Pay Evolution

Jack D. Zencheck

JACK D. ZENCHECK, M.S., C.P.M., A.P.P.

$600 MILLION BUDGET

$450 MILLION EINSTEIN

$175 MILLION IS GRANT FUNDS

FEDERAL, STATE, & CITY

SMALL UNIVERSITY WITH A MAJOR RESEARCH OPERATION

Chief Procurement OfficerJack D.

Zencheck

Assistant to the CPO/

Departmental

AdministratorL.

Newman

ReceptionistA.

Basilone

Director of Purchasing

N. Alexander

Director of Energy

Management &

SustainabilityM.

Winkler

Director of Accounts Payable

D. Wasserm

an

E- Business Project

Coordinator

A. Butta

Purchasing AgentMROB.

Kirschner

Contract Administra

torPrint

J.Van Dyck

Contract AdministratorScientifi

c G. Tyson

Contract Administra

torEvents

E. Fontana

Contract Administra

torITR.

Gandolfo

Sustainability

Coordinator

Andrea Moore

Freezer Program

ClerkRita

Labrew

Contract Administra

torFoodT.

Ackerman

Acquisition Clerk

Natividad Franco

Purchasing Assistant

Joan Williams

Assistant ManagerS. Bucci

Book-keeper

H. Martine

z

AP Superviso

rT. C. Singh

Book-keeer

L. James

A/P Clerk

E. Teehan

A/P Clerk

K. Neufvill

Book-keeper

D. Lewis

Travel & Expense

J. Iurato

Director E-Business(P-Cards) (B-2-B)

A. Kerson

PROCUREMENTSERVICES

SYSTEMS & TECHNOLOGY

• SCIQUEST

• SETTLEMENT MANAGER

• EXACTRACT (SINGLE USE)

• P-CARDS

Travel Allowable Expenses Object Codes Close out of Payables timely Electronic Invoices Consultants etc

04/19/23

Debbie A. Reynolds

University of North Texas University of North Texas University of North Texas University of North Texas

Health Science Center at Fort Worth Dallas Campus Proposed College of Law

Procure to Pay…or as we like to call it…Req to Check

Debbie Reynolds, Director of Purchasing and Property Services

PURCHASING PAYMENTS Buyers (10) Bids & Contracts (4) Contract Specialists

(3) Purchasing Card (2) Property (10) Assistants (2) Administrative (1) Total of 26

Vendor Relations (3) Special Payments (3) Travel (7) Disbursements (2) Assistants (2) Voucher Entry (5) Voucher Submit (5) Voucher approval (3) Total of 30

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•Location, location, location – we can reach out and touch one another, face to face•Policy – we share in the same policy and procedures•Customer Service Expectations – we all hear the same message•Team Approach – customers know that PPS is one•Vendor Relations – improves as team works towards same goal of satisfaction

Thank You!