Purchasing & Accounts Payable

In this issue:

• Aged Irregular Invoices | Year-End Resolution Deadline
• Recent Enhancements | New Punchout Catalogs & Override Distribution Logic
• Winter Closure | 2024 Deadlines & Important Dates
• Next Week's Forecast | Office Hours & Other Events
• In Case You Missed It... | A Glance at Previous News

Aged Irregular Invoices | Year-End Resolution Deadline

On December 12, Chief Procurement Officer O.T. Wells II announced that irregular invoices with a BruinBuy Plus creation date of November 15, 2024, or earlier should be actioned by departments no later than end of day Friday, December 20. This deadline supports UCLA’s 30-day standard payment terms and lays the foundation for a future resolution calendar, an exciting new tool that will launch in early 2025.

To help reduce potential campus strain, UCLA Campus Purchasing & Payables is also working to centrally resolve irregular invoices caused by remittance address mismatches and invalid purchase orders.

Our team is committed to helping you meet this deadline! Live support sessions are available every day of the week*:

• Irregular Invoice Working Sessions: These one-hour sessions are dedicated to irregular invoice questions and resolution.
  • Monday, December 16, 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. PT
  • Wednesday, December 18, 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. PT
• Office Hours: Irregular invoice inquiries can also be brought to our Tuesday / Thursday Accounts Payable office hours.

Review the initial communication for complete details. 

NOTE: The December 12 message was only sent to the CAOs, CFOs, invoice owners, and legacy contacts of departments with irregular invoices created on or before November 15.

* Excludes December 20

Recent Enhancements

New Punchout Vendors

Based on your feedback, BruinBuy Plus has three new punchouts: Castle Press / Lithograph, Matheson TriGas, and Takara! As some of UCLA’s highest volume vendors, these new catalogs will streamline ordering and speed up processing. 

• Castle Press / Lester Lithograph: Offers a wide range of print and communication services
• Matheson TriGas: Delivers gas products and solutions, including gas-phase and liquid-phase products
• Takara: Provides various life science reagents and instruments

NOTE: The Matheson punchout supports quotes; however, the Castle Press and Takara punchouts do not. Continue to utilize the BruinBuy Plus Purchase Request Form when placing quote-based orders with Castle Press and Takara. 

Improved Override Distribution Logic

BruinBuy Plus’ Override Distribution feature allows you to change the email address to which a purchase order (PO) is sent. We’re excited to announce that new system logic will help ensure this functionality is used correctly!

Catalog Vendors

Catalog vendors have a set PO distribution method and are not eligible for email overrides. Previously, the BruinBuy Plus system didn’t prevent a user from erroneously enabling this setting, resulting in PO issues and invoice irregularities.

Users will now encounter an error if they attempt to submit a catalog order with Override Distribution enabled.

Override Distribution Email Address

In order for Override Distribution to work correctly, users must 1) enable the functionality and 2) enter the new email address to which they would like to send the PO. Moving forward, users will experience a hard stop if they try to submit their requisition without completing the Override Distribution Email Address field. 

Winter Closure | Important Dates

The 2024-2025 Winter Holiday Closure is scheduled from Saturday, December 21, 2024, through Wednesday, January 1, 2025. Normal operations will resume on Thursday, January 2.

Access the Winter Closure Deadlines & Services web page for important procurement details. Quickly add deadlines to your calendar through our dynamic Events page!

Next Week's Forecast | December 16 – December 20

Take a look at next week’s support opportunities and important events:

Legacy Invoice Submission Portal Sunset

The legacy BruinBuy Invoice Submission Portal was decommissioned at 5 p.m. PT Friday, November 22.

This portal was one of several invoice submission methods used for the legacy BruinBuy system and has been view-only since December 2023. Now that it’s been sunset, campus users no longer have direct access to its invoices.

If you need a copy of an invoice that was previously submitted through the portal, complete the Invoice Request Form. 

Need Help? | We're Here to Support!

The BruinBuy Plus hub continues to be updated with new resources! For Service Desk support, create a ticket:

• Email: help@it.ucla.edu
• Phone: (310) 267-HELP (4357) 
• ServiceNow Portal: tinyurl.com/bruinbuy-plus-support