How to review open encumbrances
1. Once you have the printed Outstanding Encumbrances reports, you can start
researching these.
2. Go to the Vanderbilt ebiz page. ​
https://finance.vanderbilt.edu/ebiz/
3. Click on the BI Launch Pad icon. Log into this system.
4. Once into the system, double click on the APPO icon.
5. Then double click on the Quick Look Up icon.
6. Double Click on the PO Invoice Activity Status report.
7. A blank report will populate and a Prompt box should appear in the middle of the
screen.
8. Look at your outstanding encumbrances report that is printed out. In the reference
number column of this report is a po number (a 10 digit number starting with a 5). That
number will need to be entered into the Prompt section of the PO Activity Status Report
that is online. The Encumbrances are sectioned off into two sections. One is Reference
number Outstanding Encumbrances and the other is Account Summary Outstanding
Encumbrances. You do not need to do anything with the Activity Summary section.
They will not have a PO for you to use as a reference.
9. Once you have entered the PO number, hit enter to run the report. Sometimes it may
take several seconds to run depending on how many items were on the PO.
10. Data will be returned and more than likely a message stating “No data to retrieve in
Exception, Executor, etc”. Just click ok.
11. This report has several tabs of data. The tabs are located across the very bottom of the
screen. Click on the Combined detail tab.
12. This screen will show exactly what items were ordered along with the price and quantity
line by line. This is where we decide how to handle the item and what our next steps
are. You will need to look line by line to determine why this order is still open
a. Did we get all of the items ordered?
✓ If yes, then you need to move to step B.
✓ If no, we need to determine what happened. The PO Creator box
on the actual PO Activity Status Report will be the one to help.
They will determine if the item is still needed, has been received
and not invoiced yet or if it is coming soon. (instructions on how
to do this are below)
b.
If all items were received you need to look at the price. Typically
the price that is on the original Purchase order at the time of submission
is different than we actually pay. There may be a discount after purchase
or the price in the online catalogue may be different. For these items we
can simply close the encumbrance. (Instructions on how to do this are
below).
Actually Closing Encumbrances
1. You have to close encumbrances in two different systems. One is DMS and the
other is in the Purchasing System.
2. Log
into
the
DMS
System
from
the
Ebiz
page
https://finance.vanderbilt.edu/ebiz/
3. Click on the Non labor & other Encumbrances tab.
4. On the left hand side of the screen there is a search section. One of the fields is
labeled PO number. Using the Outstanding encumbrances report and the PO’s
that you have identified that need to be closed, you need to enter the
appropriate PO number (10 digit number that begins with a 5) in this field. You
can only enter one po at a time.
5. Once you enter the PO number, hit enter and the Encumbrance will appear.
Click on the Purchase Order hyperlink on the screen.
6. In the upper blue section of the screen, there is a box called Encumbrance
Status. Click the arrow in that field and chose Closed. You will get a warning
message each time you do this. Just click Ok to move on.
7. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the save button.
8. Now copy the PO number (10digit number that usually begins with a 5) and
paste it in an email to me. Keep adding to this email as you close out PO
numbers. At the end of the day before you leave, send the email to Kristen Riggs
or Bess Cahill so they can forward to the appropriate person.
9. Start with number 5 for the next PO on your list to close.
Researching Missing Items
1.
2.
For PO’s with missing items, you will need to print off the appropriate PO
Invoice Activity Status reports. Using the PO Creator field, you can group
these by person.
Give each person their stack of po issues to work. They will typically take
care of emailing purchasing to close or will return the pages to you with
notes on what action was taken. Just gather these together and you can
meet with Kristen or Bess to discuss.