Purchasing Roles
Departments and schools should adjust their internal business processes to be appropriately aligned with the functionality of NUFinancials. Departments and schools also need to assess the core responsibilities of staff and make sure they assign the right roles (Requester, Shopper and Approver) to the right individuals.
The following purchasing roles can be assigned to staff:
| Role | Purchasing Tool | Assigned to |
|---|---|---|
| Requester | iBuyNU and NUFinancials | Determined by school/department |
| Shopper | iBuyNU | All employees |
| Approver | NUFinancials | Determined by school/department; PPS, ASRSP, Research Safety |
Advantages of assigning roles
- The system works best when the Requester role is assigned to individuals deep into the organization. Requesters then have the ability to initiate a requisition for anything they need to purchase, such as:
- Annual blanket order for bottled water service
- Non-catalog order for annual maintenance agreement on a piece of laboratory equipment
- iBuyNU order for routine products (web-based ordering experience, contract pricing, electronic ordering, invoicing and payment)
- Eliminate double-entry of information related to purchases. A requisition that is initiated by a Requester can still go to the business office through workflow.
- Segregation of duties and responsibilities in the purchasing process provide proper controls. As the dollar value and complexity of a purchase increases, so does the level of authority and responsibility required to obligate the University for a purchase.
Training for roles
End users should be appropriately trained based on the roles assigned to them. Training information is available on the .