|
Supply Chain Management News
July 2023
| |
|
Dear Campus Community,
Supply Chain Management (SCM) would like to inform you of important updates and events.
This month's features:
- UPDATED! BearBUY Landing Page
- BearBUY: 23.2 Upgrade Release
- NEW DATE AND TIME FOR JULY: Bears that Buy Open Office Hours: Here to Make Purchasing BEARable
- Accounts Payable July 18th Training Session
- UPS in the News: Potential Strike
- Upwork Reminder
If you have any questions, please contact the BearBUY Help Desk at
510-664-9000 (options 1, 2) or bearbuyhelp@berkeley.edu for immediate assistance.
Thank you for your continued support,
Supply Chain Management
| |
|
UPDATED! BearBUY Landing Page | |
|
The BearBUY landing page has had a FACELIFT to provide you with new tools to navigate across your tasks and find ways to make purchases. When you log into BearBUY today, you will notice the following NEW tiles in the left-hand column:
| |
This is a series of dashboards to provide guidance on frequent types of purchases to support daily activities in offices, labs, buildings, IT, and event management. These dashboards are a work in progress and content will be modified continuously based on your feedback over the next several months. | |
|
This is a one stop location for all of your pending tasks in BearBUY. You will be able to see your current approvals, draft carts, requisitions, purchase orders, invoices, and know which purchase orders you need to create a receipt of a pending voucher. This section is tailored to your BearBUY profile so it will look different for each user.
| |
Support/Training Resources: | |
|
This is where you will find all of the training and support resources you need for purchasing in BearBUY!
| |
|
Quick Links:
By popular demand, we have added a list of quick links to frequently requested information and forms that support BearBUY Purchasing from Accounting, Regional Services, Risk Management, and Vendoring.
| |
These guided dashboards will remain in a pilot rollout for the next 90 days and are intended to continually evolve in response to campus users feedback. So please do not hesitate to share your thoughts via supplychain@berkeley.edu. | |
BearBUY 23.2 Upgrade Release | |
|
The 23.2 upgrade release in BearBUY is live today, Monday, July 17, 2023.
To view the new feature releases, please visit the BearBUY Feature Updates webpage.
| |
|
Bears that Buy Open Office Hours:
Here to Make Purchasing BEARable
| |
|
NEW DATE AND TIME FOR JULY: Please join us at our next remote office hour next Tuesday, July 25, 2023, from 2:00 p.m. - 2:50 p.m.!
** Note that this office hour was rescheduled from July 18, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. to July 25, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. because of the schedule conflict with the Accounts Payable training session. If you signed up for the July 18th session, please be sure to sign up for the session on July 25, 2023 or any future session!
Supply Chain Management (SCM) is pleased to announce a new remote open office hour program based on the concept, Bears that Buy Open Office Hours: Here to Make Purchasing BEARable! Representatives from SCM will be on hand to listen to your questions and provide information about purchasing at Berkeley. This will be held every 3rd Tuesday of the month from 10:00 a.m. to 10:50 a.m.
Instructions and Zoom URL:
-
Please register to attend by using this link.
-
After registering to attend the open office hour, please add your questions or topics for discussion using the Google sheet so we can be sure that we cover your concerns or issue(s) during the office hour.
-
To attend the office hour, you MUST be signed in to your Berkeley Zoom account either via the browser and CalNet at https://berkeley.zoom.us/signin or in your Zoom desktop client. For additional instructions, please see How to sign in to your UC Berkeley Zoom account.
| |
Accounts Payable July 18th Training Session | |
|
The Accounts Payable Team is offering a new training session on Tuesday, July 18, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. This session will cover accounts payable and banking processes, including payment methods, payment channels, and helpful tips. This session will also include information on reimbursement, what is allowable and what is not allowable, common problems, and tips for completing reimbursements. If you previously attended one of the sessions you will automatically receive a meeting invitation to the next one. If you have not received a meeting invitation and want to attend a training session, please contact Accounts Payable at disburse@berkeley.edu and request the meeting information.
| |
UPS in the News: Potential Strike | |
|
There is a potential Supply Chain disruption to inbound and outbound shipping via UPS in the coming weeks. UPS employees and management are currently negotiating a new contract. Their employees, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, have voted to strike, effective August 1, 2023, if an agreement is not reached before the current contract expires on July 31, 2023.
If the strike occurs, it will affect all service lines of UPS, including package delivery of inbound orders and pick-ups of outbound shipments. Until the issue is resolved, we encourage our community to consider your delivery timelines carefully and evaluate alternative delivery for critical supplies – especially for those orders that you expect to be delivered in early August. If the strike does occur, we will also update BearBUY to remove UPS as an available option for our outbound shipments.
As of today, Monday, July 17, 2023, to avoid delivery problems with critical inbound goods, any orders/purchases should be routed through alternate delivery services like FedEx, USPS, DHL, etc. (Usually, suppliers determine shipping options but if there is a choice, please avoid UPS. If UPS is the only option, we advise you to find a different supplier or delay the purchase.)
As of today, Monday, July 17, 2023, to avoid shipping problems with outbound critical goods, campuses should set up accounts with and use these alternate UC-contracted shipping services:
Supply Chain is actively working with our contracted suppliers for contingency planning in the event of a strike. Please note if there is a strike, all suppliers and purchasing outlets will be transitioning to alternate carriers, so we expect delays will occur with them as well. In this case, we encourage faculty and staff to use suppliers with their own delivery services and reduce discretionary buying to avoid overtaxing these delivery services. Fisher Scientific, and VWR are able to provide most lab supplies via their delivery vehicles so we encourage you to use them as primary suppliers.
We will continue to update the campus on the status of UPS’ operations as new information becomes available.
| |
Skilled Freelancers through Upwork! | |
|
SCM has launched the Upwork Enterprise and UC Berkeley partnership which is available to use for all employees and faculty! This partnership gives you access to:
- A global talent pool of 20 million freelancers across 10K+ skill sets in over 180 countries.
- Source, engage and pay your global talent workforce in an easy-to-use solution.
- A dedicated program team that can set up your projects and guide you through future engagements.
- Work classification and work protection services for your projects to ensure you are compliant with labor laws.
- Paying your existing talent that you are working with today through Upwork’s Bring Your Own Talent solution.
The Upwork team is more than happy to come to your team meetings or meet 1-on-1 for a demo or to help you get started on your projects. You can learn more about Upwork through our Upwork website or reach out to our dedicated Upwork team to help get your project started at ucberkeley-programteam@upwork.com.
Have you recently used a freelancer through Upwork using this new partnership? We would love to hear about your experience! Please send any Upwork feedback, suggestions, and experience to riza@berkeley.edu.
| |
Order Status
Please note that your SCM assigned Buyer will not receive the requisition until it has been approved by the department Org Node approver.
| |
Expediting an Order
If an order warrants expedited handling, please change the priority on the requisition to "Urgent". If you have already submitted the requisition, please contact your assigned Buyer via email and be sure to include the requisition number.
| |
Who is My Department's Assigned Buyer?
If you are unsure of how to start your purchasing transaction, contact your Buyer for assistance by using your Org Node and Department Name to find your assigned Buyer located in this matrix.
| |
Splitting Chart of Accounts (COA) At Header Level Vs. Line Level
Splitting COA at the Header Level will apply the split to all lines on the PO.
Splitting COA by Line Level allows you to customize COA percentage allocated to that specific line.
BEST PRACTICE for Subawards
-
Line 2 should always be set at the Header Level Chartstring using Account Code 57810.
-
Line 1 should be overridden at the Line Level Chartstring using Account Code 57811.
| |
SCM Service Level Turnaround Times
Urgent requests will be handled on a first-in-first-out basis. Standard turnaround time (Service Level Agreements) for purchase and contract types are available on our Service Level web page.
Please be aware that contract negotiations with suppliers may cause delays.
| |
Ship To Address vs Final Destination
A Ship To Address is the address that is sent to the supplier. When the supplier is delivering items, they will deliver to the ship to address (which is also visible on the PO they receive).
A Final Destination code is an address only associated to UC Berkeley. Final destination code are used when departments have a central receiving location. The ship to address is the central receiving facility. When the packages are received, the department central receiver looks the PO up in BearBUY and looks for the final destination code. The final destination code is then the office/room number of where shopper needs the items. Final destination codes are never sent to the supplier and are NOT reflected anywhere on the PO.
| |
Below are links to the BearBUY homepage, instructional aids, training courses, and information on how to create Service Now tickets for BearBUY related issues.
| |
Whether you are an experienced or a new BearBUY shopper, it is always best practice to take the BearBUY: Basics for Shoppers training if you haven't already.
To take this ESSENTIAL training, please click on this course #: BEESS950-Online
| | | | |
