Important PO Reminders and Tips

PO Process for Educational Activities

Please remember to put the student’s name and student number into the description of a PO for an educational activity. Just selecting a “student” PO and choosing their name on to top portion of the PO Request form will not tell the vendor which student this PO is for, as that part is not sent out on the official PO that goes to the vendor.

If a student is planning on taking the class for the whole semester, go ahead and make the PO out for the whole semester and then e-mail poinquiries@ieminc.org if the student drops from the class earlier than expected. Be sure to include the PO number and family name in your email, so the wrong PO is not cancelled!

Ordering Computer Programs

When ordering computer programs please indicate on the PO which platform (windows, Mac or both) you are ordering. This will help insure that the proper items are received.

POs with long “descriptions”

Occasionally PO's are received in which the information wrapped around to the second line. When the PO is printed the vendor sees only the first line. Example is PO 25398 the vendor sees 9 ordered with the description being Washable paints: 1 each, red, blue, yellow, green what the vendor does not see is it continues to say is orange, violet, brown, black, and turquoise on the

wrap around line. The vendor sent 2 of the colors which printed out on the PO. Only those items written on the main line will show for the vendor, so when you need more space to write than one line will hold, move the cursor to the next line and continue typing... do not allow the typing to "wrap" as the wrapped portion will not show when the PO is sent to the vendor.

Always double-check Item numbers before marking a PO as “Done”

Vendors process PO's by catalog/item number. If the catalog /item number and the description on the PO do not match, the vendor will generally ship according to catalog/item number. When this happens you can email vendor relations stating the PO number and your error and they will attempt to get the correct item. Please note that the ES’s If account will be charged to pay any shipping costs and restocking fees if the vendor is willing to take the item back. Restocking fees could be up to 20% of the cost of the item shipped.

PO Process for Marking Orders In

To cancel an order, do not mark the “cancel” column of the PO. You will need to email poinquiries@ieminc.orgwith the PO number and parent name on the PO you wish to cancel.

Please check the packing list carefully to see if a missing item is a backorder or if the vendor cancelled the item. These are handled differently by the office, and you are the only one viewing the packing list! Payment is not made to a vendor until all items on the PO are received by you. Therefore if a vendor marked the item “cancelled”, and you check it in the “Backorder” column, no check will be sent out. This causes some vendors to not want to work with us any longer.

A PO that is received by you with some items cancelled are usually cancelled by the vendor for a number of reasons. Some of these are: Out of stock, no longer carry that item, wrong item number—unable to identify what you wanted, religious item they have been instructed not to send out. The IEM office is not able to help you with any of these types of problems with a vendor. We suggest you order the item from another vendor if you would still like to receive it.

PO Requests info and Family Budget info

You are able to view your families account balance on the PO Request layout in Webfiles. Please do not submit an order with a negative family balance.

Canceling a PO Request

If you wish to cancel an order that is still in PO Requests, just use the delete button instead of emailing the office to delete it for you. Once you have checked “Done”, you can no longer delete the PO. AFter a PO is no longer viewable under PO Requests, and has been moved into the PO files, it has been sent out to the vendor.

Equipment Serial numbers

Please remember that it is an important step for you to enter the serial number for all equipment on the PO after you receive the item in the space provided next to the item. Some of you are entering a model number. This will not be helpful if we are requesting warranty service for that item. Please review all of your POs to see if you remembered to do this, and make sure the number you are entering is indicated by either the words “serial number” or sometimes the abbreviation “s/n”. A model number is NOT the right number.

More reminders 10/2006

The ES does not need to mark a service PO complete, nor does the ES need to mark a service PO as "received". Those fields are for products only. When you look at your service POs, be sure to look at the “date signed off” field. If this file remains blank and you know the student finished the course please contact Accounts Payable at ap@ieminc.org. This will help in keeping your accounts current. If we have not received an invoice from a vendor and it has been 90 days since the service PO ended, you can be sure that something is wrong. Here are some helpful hints to expedite processing of payments and keeping your accounts up to date.

1. This year we will be processing payments exactly how the PO is written. If it is written per session, per month or if specific dates are designated we will be following your lead. Make sure the PO is written for correct dollar amounts per session or month. If classes fall between the PO dates and a student attends before the next approved PO then the student may end up having to pay for those dates attended without and approved PO.
2. When checking in product PO’s make sure that you mark an item Back Ordered or canceled in the packing slip layout. Do not mark the complete box until all items are marked correctly. We here in accounts payable use your information as a guide line when receiving and invoice to make sure that we do not pay for an item that has not been received or that has been canceled.
3. It is a good idea to check on all PO’s periodically for activity and if there has been none for 90 days and you have not received any postings this could be a problem. It could mean that the PO was never received by the vendor and you will not receive your items. It could mean that the Accounts Payable did not receive the invoice and you may have funds coming back to you.
4. Contact the AP office for any questions regarding payment of your accounts or postings the you feel are inaccurate.
5. Contact vendor relations for any processing , missing items or item return questions.
6. When creating a PO in please make sure that all information is correct before you select done. This saves time not having to back track and cancel POs that have just been faxed.

REVISED 9/2007