Check out eBuy!

eBuy, the University’s newest procurement tool, has now been in production for a little over a week!

A total of 650 Carts and 494 PO’s have already been processed in this new system.

Thanks to everyone who has used eBuy and contributed to this very successful start!

For those of you who have yet to try eBuy, please take the time to become familiar with this new system and all it has to offer. 

Be assured you get the best contract price from UI’s preferred suppliers. 

eBuy can be accessed via the University Self Service web site by clicking on the Administrative tab and navigating to the  E-Pro(E-Vouchers & PReqs) link.

Training Materials are available on the Purchasing Department’s web site @ www.uiowa.edu/~purchase/purchase/eBuy_Train.htm#train. If you have not already done so, we strongly encourage users to take advantage of these materials, particularly the Step by Step Scripts.

A few “Helpful Hints” are listed below based upon feedback from eBuy users:

Operating System/Browsers/Punch-Out Sites

Information on the supported Operating Systems and Browsers for eBuy is available on the Training Materials page via the link noted above. Most of campus is using Internet Explorer to access eBuy. A few people have encountered security issues, however. In these cases using Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer seems to resolve the issue. There have also been some isolated problems with a few of the Punch-Out catalogs, particularly Grainger, CDW-G, and Sigma-Aldrich.  Adding the following web sites to your trusted sites should resolve these issues. www.grainger.com, www.cdwg.com, www.sigmaaldrich.com. Documentation on many of the Punch-Out catalogs is also available in the Supplier Cataolog/Website Training section of the Training Materials page.

“Lost” Carts

To locate your cart in PReqs after it has been approved in eBuy, click on the Browse links in the eBuy Shopping Carts section of your PReqs Home page. Or you can search using the Catalog Order Search in the PReq Sidebar. It is important to remember that the process of creating a Purchase Order requires two steps once the Shopping Cart has been uploaded to PReqs from eBuy. The first step is to add the Accounting Information (MFK) to the Shopping Cart, review the Ship To and Line Item information, update as needed, and click the Submit button at the bottom of the panel. A PReq will then be created for each Supplier on the Shopping Cart. The Initiator/Requester must then access each PReq and send it to Workflow.

Changing Ship To Codes in PReqs

The Ship To Code field is updatable and can be changed on either the Shopping Cart or on the resulting Purchase Requisition in PReqs. It is important to make sure that the Ship To Code that defaults based on the Requester ID is correct. This Code determines where the items you have requested will be delivered.

Adding Initiators and/or Requesters

To add additional staff members in your department as either Initiators or Requesters, click on the PReqs Access Form in the PReqs sidebar.  Contact Chris Leichty @ 5-0384 with questions regarding this form.

Please direct comments, questions, or concerns to eBuy@uiowa.edu.