POTs, PVAs, and Travel Authorizations

Introduction: The Purchasing department usually purchases our own equipment and supplies internally from our U Stores or other ISOs (internal service organizations). For any other external purchases, we use the POT in Financial Forms Nirvana (FFN) or our P Card (Purchasing credit card).

The documents below are prepared by the Receptionist for our department needs.

  1. POT - FFN Departmental Purchase Order

    2. The POT form is used to order from external vendors up to $10,000 (or up to $100,000 from U Wide Contract vendors). The information is entered into FFN and submitted for on-line approval. Once approved, the order is faxed and mailed to the vendor unless other instructions are provided.

    1. Entering POT Information

      1. Go to https://nirvana.fss.umn.edu/index.html/ Bookmark this site for future use.
      2. Click on Use Enterprise System Password to enter FFN.
      3. Enter Internet ID: and Enterprise Password - This will change every 100 days.
      4. Click on: Continue
      5. Choose the POT Template - POT Division Purchasing. The FFN POT Order Screen will display.
      6. Enter the details of the order into the screen fields. Some fields will already have information entered for you based on your sign-in ID.
      7. Order Date - will display the current date
      8. Accounting Period - will display the current period.
      9. Submitting Division Name - will display Purchasing Services.
      10. Unit of Measure - will display a quantity of each.
      11. Department Name - will display our department, Purchasing Services.
      12. Prepared by - will display the x.500 ID, full name and phone number for the person who signed in.
      13. Enter the Order number: 556 (our area number)
      14. Choose the Approver 1: Choose this from the dropdown list. (Currently this is the Office Manager)
      15. Payment Terms: usually 0.0%, 30 days (Select the appropriate term from the drop down box)
      16. Estimate: YES is the default. (Change to No if it is a firm price quote)
      17. Confirming Order: "No" is the default (Change to Yes if the order will be confirming an order already placed by phone)
      18. Vendor Information: ______ Key in the complete vendor number of 11 digits. If the vendor is not set up in CUFS, you will need to have Vendor Maintenance set up the vendor before the order can be completed.
      19. Contract Number: U ___ Key in the U Wide Contract number if ordering from a contract vendor.
      20. ILOC Information: 556 purch 560
      21. FOB: Usually use default - "Destination plus freight". Select the appropriate FOB from drop down box.
      22. Delivery date: Key in date if known. Otherwise, leave blank.
      23. Account Information: Key in all parts of the account number - area, orgn, obj, subobj. If you do not know the correct account, discuss with Office Manager. For additional account lines, click on "Another Account" and enter the next account line information.
      24. Complete the body of the purchase order. Enter in the quantity ordered, item description(s) and unit prices. The system will calculate the extended prices for you.
      25. To add additional lines of items or text, click on "Another 5 lines" box.
        26. This is the end of the purchase order information. The remaining information is used for tracking, routing and approvals.

        Summary Request: Key in any details you want to communicate to the approver about this purchase.

      26. Click "Submit Request" for a completed document. If there are no errors, the system will display a message of "Signed" "Looks good". If there are errors, correct them as directed and click Submit Request again.

    2. To Print the Order

      3. All purchase orders should be printed. Depending on the circumstances, some purchase orders are faxed/mailed to the vendor and others do not need to be sent to the vendor. A copy of all purchase orders printed are retained in our files.

      1. Click on "Status of Request"
      2. Click on the PO to be printed
      3. Scroll down the screen and click on "View/Print Acrobat PDF" button. This will print the POT.
      4. Scroll down to the end of the screen and click EXIT to get out of FFN.

  2. Payment Authorizations (PVA)

    3. This form is used when there will not be a vendor invoice. For example, subscriptions only have a subscription form - no invoice is usually sent. This is also used to process the buyer's Parking & Local Mileage expenses.

    1. Complete the paper form.
    2. Get approval on paper form. The Office Manager approves up to $1000. The Director approves $1000 and over.
    3. Complete a special handling/attachment form.
    4. Forward the approved PVA and any order form to Disbursement Services. They will issue a check and send it to the vendor along with the submitted order form.

  3. Travel Authorizations (TA/TP)

    4. We use two travel documents: the BA 1302 Travel Authorization (TA) and the BA 1303 (Travel Voucher), which is rarely used. The BA 1303 is used if a traveler forgets to prepare a TA before they travel.

    The TA is a 4-page, 2 part form. The first two pages of the form are the authorization part, the last two pages are the voucher (or reimbursement) part.

    Complete the TA before the traveler travels.
    Have Director sign the TA. If the form is for the Director's own travel, then Director signs as the Payee and the Director's boss, the Controller is the authorized signer.

    Complete any necessary PVAs to pre-pay for any registration fees related to the travel.

    Give a photocopy of the signed TA form to the traveler.

    Keep the entire TA form (and PVA copies) in the Office Manager's files.

    When the traveler returns from the trip, they will provide you with their expenses and appropriate receipts.

    Pull the TA form previously completed for this trip and complete the 2nd part of the form. Forward the form to Disbursement Services so the traveler can be reimbursed as soon as possible.

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Last Revised: November 8, 2001
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