Highlights
Support Services Department highlights
Created a BSR Credit Listing by vendor separate from the drawdown purchase orders
Credits from vendors for returned merchandise are common throughout M&O departments and shouldn’t pose a problem. (M&O had a total of 28 vendor credits in 2015-16.) However, these credits have resulted in incongruity between the M&O financial database (BSR) and the District wide financial database (Lawson). When invoices are entered into Lawson, they are deducted from the allocated balance. However, when a credit is entered, it changes the encumbered balance in the BSR but does not affect the Lawson PO balance. All credits in Lawson are applied against the vendor, not the PO. As a result, it has been necessary to manually calculate credits at the close of every fiscal year and request a revision in matching Lawson’s balance to the penny and automatically close the PO. The newly created BSR Credit Listing by vendor now tracks entered credits enabling Support Services personnel to view true, matching PO balance(s) between the BSR and Lawson databases. The BSR Credit Listing has greatly simplified matching Lawson’s balance exactly and saves immeasurable time in solving inaccuracies between the two systems.
Purchasing Department’s District compliance change is expediting the payment process
This change shifted the contract compliance responsibility from the District compliance technician to the APS Division or Department level. Due to the vast number of purchase agreements (contracts) utilized throughout the District, it was concluded that as each APS division or department is thoroughly familiar with the specifics of their own contracts, invoicing should reflect the signed agreement and only correct invoices would be authorized for payment by each division/department head’s approval signature. This new procedure allowed M&O (as well as other divisions) to reject inaccuracies promptly. Previously, invoices moved through the many payment steps before mistakes were detected. With only one key individual reviewing the invoice for correct pricing and other details, bottlenecks are averted, employee time is saved, and vendors receive payment promptly − and for M&O, this means no delay in projects due to stalled payment of invoices and faster service to the schools!