Purchases and Payments
Purchases
Authorized employees have the following options for purchasing goods and services for Wabash. To learn more about each, please review the Purchasing Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs) and Guidelines.
Purchasing Card (P-Card)
The Wabash College Purchasing Card program is designed to provide an efficient way to process low dollar (item value of $2,500 or less) orders of college business-related products and business travel expenses. Qualified department purchases within predetermined purchase limits can be charged directly to the purchasing card.
Please review the Purchasing Card Manual for more details about the card, cardholder responsibilities, and how to request one.
Purchasing Requisition (PR)/Purchase Order (PO)
A Purchase Order (PO) is a buyer’s official request to a seller to provide goods and services at specified terms. A PO serves as a legally binding agreement once accepted by the seller. To create a PO, one must first create a purchasing requisition (PR).
Please review the Purchasing Matrix to get an idea of when to use a PR/PO.
Please review the Purchasing SOPs and Guidelines for more details about approvals and documentation required.
Payment Request Form
A Payment Request form is used for non-PO related purchases. It is triggered when the requestor and the budget manager (or designee) has approved for the payment to occur. If on a grant, then the principal investigator serves as the budget manager.
This process requires a vendor invoice or a signed contract. Estimates, quotes, statement of works, and proposals do not qualify as an invoice. Those documents are appropriate for the Purchase Order process.
See Travel Payments and Reimbursements for details related to travel expense reports and reimbursements.
Departmental Charge
A departmental charge is a process to allow direct transfers of funds from one department to another via a journal entry. Click here to see a list of departments who offer services or goods to Wabash departments.
Contract
A contract is a promise or set of promises that the law will enforce. It usually involves:
- An offer by one party,
- Acceptance by another,
- Consideration (something of value exchanged),
- An intention to create legal relations.
On behalf of Wabash College, the Director of Auxiliary and Insurance Services (or designee) must sign all contracts. If over $25,000 then Chief Financial Officer (CFO) & Treasurer (or designee) must also sign the contract.
Please refer to the Special Commodities and Contracts section for more details about contracts and other types of agreements.
Letter of Agreement (LoA)
A letter of agreement is a written document that outlines the terms and conditions of a mutual understanding between two or more parties. It is typically less formal than a full contract but can still be legally binding if it includes the essential elements of a contract.
On behalf of Wabash College, the Director of Auxiliary and Insurance Services (or designee) must sign all LoAs over $2,500. If over $25,000 then Chief Financial Officer (CFO) & Treasurer (or designee) must also sign the LoA.
Questions about when to use a contract vs an LoA? Please refer to the Special Commodities and Contracts section for more details.
Please note the following items regarding purchasing goods and services for Wabash.
- The College has negotiated with various vendors and has contracts in place for the purchase of office supplies, catering services, vehicle rental, and other strategic commodities. Refer to Purchasing Matrix for more information.
- The College is a 501(c)(3) organization and is therefore exempt from sales tax in many instances. When making most purchases, vendors in the state of Indiana should be provided with a completed Nonprofit Sales Tax Exemption (NP-1). A list of local vendors who have received that form along with additional process information is located under the Purchasing Guidelines for Sales Tax Exemption for Local and Online Vendors section.
- Authorization to purchase on behalf of Wabash is granted to the President by the Board of Trustees and is subject to available budget resources. Further information about the guidelines for the appropriate delegation of approval and signature authority may found in the Signature Authority Policy document.
- The purchase of goods and services on behalf of the College, including the documents required, dollar limits established and approval process required are governed by Wabash policies and procedures. More information may be found on the Purchasing SOPs and Guidelines.
List of the Procure to Pay Step-by-Steps
The links below marked with a (unlink) icon are still under development.
Most links will require that you log in to your Wabash employee account to access.
Purchasing Card (P-Card)
(PDF link) Purchasing Card Application and Change Form
Use this form to request a new p-card or make a change to your current p-card limits or name on the pcard.
To complete the form electronically, please download the form to your machine, which will need Acrobat, Adobe Reader, or Apple Preview. If you need instructions on how to create a Digital ID, please click here. When downloading the form to your machine, please store the application in a secure location (like a Box folder that only you have access to) and add the applicant's first name and last name to the title of the form. (example: Purchasing_Card_Application_Fname_Lname.pdf)
Instructions on how to send the application securely for approvals are found here.
Instructions on how to create a Box folder that only you have access may be found here.
(PDF link) One Way To Submit Purchasing Application Securely
The purchasing card (Pcard) application has sensitive employee data on it (date of birth, mother’s maiden name, last 4 digit of SSN). Sending the form as an attachment to an email is not a secure data transmission. This process outlines a suggested process to obtain the necessary approvals.
The process leverages both the Adobe's Digital ID to lock down the form and Box's Signature Approval feature to obtain the Supervisor's signature.
(PDF link) Purchasing Cardholder Agreement Form
When you receive your new purchasing card, you will be asked to read and sign this form to acknowledge receipt and that you agree to the expectations of a Wabash Purchasing Cardholder.
(PDF link) How to access Smart Data
Once you receive your email that you are approved and you have your new purchasing card, follow these instructions to create your profile and answer your security questions for the Purchasing Card System.