FAQ’s for Online Requisitioning through SciQuest

General Information

General Functionality

What is SciQuest?

SciQuest is a web-based electronic requisitioning tool with catalogs designed to create purchase requisitions here at Yale.By offering a single point of access to thousands of hosted and categorized items, SciQuest allows you to search for products using a single user interface. This easy-to-use environment lets you wordview and compare details of products from preferred suppliers and highlights best buys. Selected products are placed in a "shopping cart" and then routed for approval as needed and order placement. Using SciQuest reduces redundant tasks and maintains data integrity throughout the cycle of procuring goods to increase efficiency, reduce costs and provide total spend visibility across the University.Because of its numerous benefits, SciQuest is the recommended Buy-Pay approach for placing an order.

Who can use SciQuest?

This solution is available campus-wide for institutional purchases by Yale faculty, staff and students.

Benefits

Why use SciQuest? 

Here are some of the benefits of using SciQuest:

For Yale University:

• improves management and planning capacity
• greater institutional savings by aggregating and leveraging University-wide transaction volume
• faster turn-around times for orders and payments to suppliers
• improves quality of service to Yale community and simplifies and streamlines the procurement process

For Yale Community:

• single log in and interface for all hosted contract supplier catalogs
• easy electronic requisition order form pre-populated with your profile information
• convenient shopping 24-hours a day
• excellent deals combining price, quality and service
• provides up-to-date catalog information
• quick and easy order placement
• efficient express orders using Favorites
• cross-supplier searches in catalogs to find best price
• faster turn-around times for orders and payments to suppliers

For Business Offices:

• review, routing and approval improves financial management
• accounting commitments created in Oracle financials to track real-time spend on grants
• easy split charging when required
• eliminates invoice errors with upfront collection and validation of charging instructions
• eliminates the handling of paper requisitions and paper invoices
• reduces the need for cost transfers

Getting Help

How do I get help?

Contact the ITS Help Desk with any questions 785-3200 or 432-9000

Getting Started

Access

How do I get access to SciQuest?

Your Business Office is responsible to set-up your appropriate SciQuest access.

Can students have access to SciQuest? - new 02/08

Any student may be granted access to SciQuest by their business office if they deem it is appropriate.

The student must have an active primary assignment in Oracle. (An assignment is basically a job within an organization).

Also, the student's Oracle HR record must have an office phone number and email address, but if this information is missing, simply follow these steps: http://www.yale.edu/procurement/eprocurement/
documents/Howtosetupstudentaccesstosciquest.pdf

Departmental Transfers - new 02/08

I have an employee who has transferred from another department, how do I re-establish their SciQuest access for my department?

When a Yale employee transfers to a new department or leaves the University, as part of your termination checklist activities, please be sure to delete the user's access to SciQuest via START. If access was not deleted by the old department, the new department can delete the old access and add the new access.

SciQuest access for transferred staff members must be re-established via START by the business manager of the new department. Please ensure that SciQuest users establish their profile defaults in SciQuest to reflect their move in the University.

Should you have questions regarding SciQuest user setups via START, please contact the ITS Help Desk at helpdesk@yale.edu, 785-3200 or 432-9000.

Training

Is training provided for SciQuest?

Yes. To best suit the needs of the Yale community, we offer two training alternatives, online training at your desktop or classroom training delivered through the Learning Center:

Approvals

Department Approvals

What should I do if my department requires internal approval on an order that I place?

One of the primary features of SciQuest is automated review, routing and approvals.  Your SciQuest access has been set-up with automatic departmental order routing.

Substitute Approvers

I am an approver and I am going to be out of the office. What should I do?

Using the Substitute Approver function, you can tell SciQuest to forward requisitions on to another approver in your absence. Please see procedure for details.

My approver is on vacation and did not assign a substitute approver. What should I do?

In the event that you have submitted an order to an approver that you discover is unavailable and did not provide a substitute approver, you will need to go back into SciQuest to withdrawal the requisition, copy the information into a new cart, select a different approver and complete your order.

Profile Setup

How can I change my SciQuest colors?

Click on the Profile button at the top of screen. Then click on the Personal Settings bar and the Edit button. In the color theme drop-down box, select a new color theme. You will not see the new color theme until you log out of SciQuest and then log in again.

My personal information has changed. Where do I update it in SciQuest?

Click on the My Profile button at the top of the screen. In the User Identification section, you may update your name, e-mail address, phone number.

Shipping

How do I setup shipping information in My Profile?

'Shipper-friendly' shipping information stored in My Profile is key to accurately and expediently receiving your orders. To ensure that you properly receive your orders, go to My Profile - Purchasing tab and select Shipping Address (May Edit). Make sure you have at least two addresses – one traditional receiving address that serves your location, and a Yale Direct (“desktop”) address which is the street address for your personal office, lab or business office.  The Yale Direct street addresses are prefaced with a ‘YD’ in the ship to location drop down list.

• Deliver To Dept - Shorten the department name to make it recognizable.
• Deliver To Building/Room # - Fill in this information to make the shipping information more specific.
• Attention - You may change this if you need your orders shipped to someone else.

Accounting

Commitments

Does SciQuest provide an accounting commitment?

Yes. Using SciQuest ensures that you always have accurate financial information even prior to invoicing. All complete SciQuest Purchase Order are imported into Oracle, the University's primary accounting system. At that point, a commitment is created. Commitment reports are generated by your Business Office.

Payment Method

What is the preferred payment method when ordering online through SciQuest?

Active VIP's associated with valid PTAEOs and active VIP owners will be available in SciQuest's list of values. Be sure that your VIP number is up to date. If it is not, please see your departmental VIP Manager (either your Business Manager or designee.)

Can I use a Yale Purchasing Card when ordering online in SciQuest?

No.

Can I use split-charging in SciQuest?

Ordering

Cancelling an Order

How do I cancel an order?

• Call supplier directly to cancel your order, then
• Submit a 'Close Purchase Order' form to Purchasing Services for completion:
  1) On the SciQuest home page, click on the Forms tab.
  2) Under 'Company Forms' section, open the 'Close Purchase Order' form.
  3) Follow detailed directions on the form for processing and submission.

Ordering Effectively

What is My Favorites?

My Favorites allows you to create and administer Favorite Folders to:

• Organize and keep track of all frequently ordered items
• Attach Favorite Folders to a specific research project or a specific budget/grant assigned to or within the organization
• Select products from a Favorites folder and move them to a requisition with one click
• Administrators can also use the Company Favorites folder located at this level to promote Yale's preferred suppliers, thereby increasing contract compliance to produce organization-wide savings.

How do I add items to My Favorites?

After you conduct a search that displays the item you want to add to My Favorites, click on the Select check box at the far right.Then use the drop-down box at the top right of the search results set to select Add To Favorite.A pop-up box will then be displayed showing existing folders in My Favorites.Select the folder you want the item to be added to and then click the Submit button.The item has now been added to the folder you selected under My Favorites.

When I try to add an item to My Favorites, I want to create a new folder to put it in. How do I do this?

The folder must be created under My Favorites before you can add items into it from the search results screen. However, you can add the item to one My Favorites folder and then later create a new folder and move the item into it.

Order Limits

Is there a dollar limit to orders placed in SciQuest? - new 02/08

Your dollar limit will be determined by your business office.  Orders that exceed your dollar limit will be automatically routed to the necessary departmental approver. You can check your limits by clicking on "My Profile", next click on the "Purchasing" tab, then click on "Purchasing/Approval Limits".

Order Management

How do I check the status of a previously placed order?

Go to Order History in Review Box on left side of home page and click on the PR Search button.

Enter search criteria such as Requisition Number, Supplier Name, etc. then click the Search button.

Click on Requisition Number for details of order and approvals. See tabs across page for different types of information associated with the requisition.  The PO number (SNP) that was generated for the supplier will appear on each line item.  This is the number that should be used when contacting the supplier with any order questions.

Will the Remove button in My Requisitions eliminate my requisitions?

No. Your requisitions automatically go on the list in My Requisitions and stay there for 90 days. This is your list. Clicking on the Remove button will only remove the requisition from your list. Your requisition will remain available through Order History. Use the Remove button to minimize clutter in your list and keep it to manageable size. You may want to consider using this list to make it quick and easy to see only your open orders. Ultimately, the choice is yours as to how you want to manage your data.

Quotations

What should I do if I receive a lower price quote from a supplier than one that I see in the SciQuest catalog?

If the quote that you receive outside of the SciQuest catalog is lower, use the Non-Catalog Request form to place your order in SciQuest. Indicate the price that you were quoted outside of SciQuest in the order description field along with any quote reference number. Electronically attach the quote in SciQuest to your order.

Restricted Items

How do I order Restricted items?

We recommend placing these items on a separate requisition from non-restricted items. This will expedite your non-restricted items purchases so that they avoid an unnecessary approval step by OEHS. Please see Guide 3220GD.01 Restricted Items Requiring Pre-Order Approval for a quick review of restricted items.

How do I order Radioactive items?

We recommend placing these items on a separate requisition from non-Radioactive items. This will expedite your non-Radioactive purchases so that they avoid an unnecessary approval step by OEHS. For the specific Radioactive Requirements, please click here: http://www.yale.edu/oehs/Documents/rad/Sciquest.pdf

Additionally, please see Guide 3220GD.01

Standing Orders

Can I use SciQuest to create a Standing Purchase Order for Recurring Services or Payments?

“Standing Orders” are purchase orders that allocate a specified dollar amount over a specified period of time for the purchase of particular goods or services.

Suppliers who deliver goods/services on a periodic basis and are candidates for this type of order include:

• Packaged Gases: Esquire Gas, AirGas, Techair
• Water Services: Poland Springs
• Laundry Services: Riverside Laundry
• Temporary Services: Bill May/Jackie Matchett, Randstad
• Equipment Maintenance Services (office copiers): BBI Technologies

Click here to view a PDF procedure including examples detailing how to create standing orders in SciQuest.

Service/Repair orders

How do I process a one-time service/repair call through SciQuest? - new 02/08

For a one-time service or repair request, please use the Non-Catalog form in SciQuest. For detailed instructions, click here: http://www.yale.edu/procurement/eprocurement
/documents/Howtoprocessaonetimeservicecall_000.doc

Returns

How do I return an item that I purchased through SciQuest?

There is no special process or ability to make a return of an item through SciQuest. Please continue to use your current business process. If you are unsure of this process, please check with the appropriate supplier.

Suppliers - new 02/08

Supplier Basics - new 02/08

How can you check to see if a supplier is in SciQuest? - new 02/08

From the Product Search page within SciQuest, you can click  to access the supplier search tool.

Also, a complete list of suppliers active SciQuest suppliers is updated weekly and available here for download:  Complete Active Supplier List (pdf) or (excel)

What are the different types of suppliers and how do you search for their products? - new 02/08

What do the flags and icons represent? - new 02/08

The flags and icons represent a Supplier’s Preference.   For example,

The  button in the upper right hand corner of the Browse by Supplier Search Results and Product Search Results includes the definitions for all preferences displayed.

What do you do if an item is not listed in a Supplier’s catalog? - new 02/08

Use this  to create and add a non-catalog item to your shopping cart. The non-catalog item popup window is a free form entry screen where you can create an item not found in a catalog.

What do you do if you have a quote from a Supplier? - new 02/08

Use this  to create and add the quoted item(s) to your shopping cart.   Be sure to include the quote number in the product description when completing the non-catalog form.  Whenever possible, attach an electronic copy of the quote.

What do you do if you cannot find a Supplier? - new 02/08

Within SciQuest you can click on the link located under the Quick Links with SciQuest or you can access the form here:  SciQuest Supplier Request

To ensure that purchase orders generated through SciQuest are processed correctly and that invoices can be paid properly through Yale’s Accounts Payable Department, we take several important measures prior to activating a supplier in SciQuest.

First, we validate that your requested supplier can comply with Yale University Purchasing requirements.  In some cases, we may find that the supplier is not suitable for SciQuest.  We will promptly inform you if that is the case.

Next, we verify that the supplier has an active vendor record in our Yale financial reporting system (Oracle).  If there is no Oracle vendor record, we must initiate this process.  Once the Oracle Vendor Set-Up Request is complete, the supplier will be activated in SciQuest. 

Please anticipate a 2-3 business day completion time for suppliers that have an active Oracle vendor record and 5-7 business days for suppliers that require an Oracle vendor record set-up.

How does a supplier get my order? - new 02/08

Suppliers chose the method that they will receive their purchase orders. They can choose fax, email or cXML (electronically).  Please note that cXML suppliers will receive order for non-catalog items via fax.

You can view when and how an order was sent within the status tab of the Purchase Order. 

What do you do if there is a Pricing Discrepancy? - new 02/08

SciQuest Hosted Catalog suppliers periodically provide SciQuest with price updates. Occasionally, the timing of price updates in the SciQuest application may vary slightly compared to supplier price updates. Contact us at procurement@yale.edu with any price discrepancies. We will research the issue and provide you with guidance.

What are the Competitive Bidding procedures and Single/Sole Source Justifications? - new 02/08

For SciQuest contract suppliers, the competitive bidding has already been completed. As described in the video above, you can identify these contract suppliers by noting the #2 and #3 flags using the 'Browse by Supplier' feature in the application. For large orders with all suppliers (including our contract suppliers), we recommend that you consider competitive bids. Please refer to the guidelines on single/sole source justifications and competitive bids as well as the appropriate forms: Single/Sole Source Justification, Verbal Quotation Record.