March 22, 2021

Supply Chain Management News March 22, 2021

Dear Campus Community,    Supply Chain Management (SCM) would like to inform you of important updates and events.  This month's features:   BearBuy 21.1 Upgrade Release NEW: Moving Services Agreements Steelcase/One Workplace: Punchout Catalog Update and Scheduled Downtime Have you Been Relying on the Blu Portal to Access BearBuy? Need Contract Renewals, New Purchase Orders, and/or Assistance with Clearing Encumbrances? Start Using the Supplier Onboarding Portal to Set Up New Suppliers Preparing for Fall Instruction: Place Orders for Laboratory PPE and Plastics in March/April If you have any questions, please contact the BearBuy Help Desk at  510-664-9000 (options 1, 2) or BearBuyHelp@berkeley.edu for immediate assistance. Thank you for your continued support,  Supply Chain Management

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BearBuy 21.1 Upgrade Release

The BearBuy 21.1 Upgrade will be released on Monday, April 12, 2021. Stay tuned for the Special Announcement regarding the New Features in store for this upgrade! The New Shopping Experience will be enabled by default in the 21.1 release for all users. You may toggle back to the Classic Experience for the next few months, but we highly encourage you to leave the New Shopping Experience on as the Classic Shopping Experience will be eliminated in a future upgrade release expected later in the year. Instructions on how to toggle between the New and Classic Shopping Experiences and provide Jaggaer with any Feedback can be found here: https://supplychain.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/new_toggle_button_and_submitting_feed_back_for_new_se_in_bb_-_01252021rc.pdf

NEW: Moving Services Agreements

SCM is delighted to announce new system-wide agreements for Household Moving, Relocation Services, and Related Products for the following suppliers: UniGroup Chipman Corporation* Mayflower* North American Van Lines Inc.* APLPD HOLCO, Inc. (PODS) Alex Moving and Services Wheaton Van Lines, Inc. Suddath Relocations Systems *Primary Preferred Suppliers Chipman Corporation (Moving Services) is our primary preferred supplier as a local family owned business that supports Berkeley's sustainability efforts during move out days, helping to pick up and reuse furniture and distributing them to local nonprofits. They also support local initiatives to provide housing for low income populations. Please use the Moving Services: Household and Personal Effects form in BearBuy to use the contracts mentioned above and note that employees may also work directly with these suppliers for discounted moving costs for non-reimbursable moves.

Steelcase/One Workplace: Punchout Catalog Update and Scheduled Downtime

The Steelcase/One Workplace furniture catalog will be unavailable for ordering between March 29th and April 4th. Please place furniture orders prior to this timeframe or hold off on placing new orders until April 5th. On April 5th, a new catalog will be available with improved navigation and updated product offerings. If you have an emergency order, please email it directly to Melanie at One Workplace, mboggan@oneworkplace.com.

Have You Been Relying on the Blu Portal to Access BearBuy?

SCM is pleased to share that new staff and faculty are no longer required to sign into the Blu Portal to access BearBuy! ALL full-time employees can now log into BearBuy directly by going to bearbuy.is.berkeley.edu. Please bookmark this URL to your preferred internet browser for your convenience.

Need Contract Renewals, New Purchase Orders, and/or Assistance with Clearing Encumbrances?

In light of the upcoming fiscal year, we strongly recommend that departments start taking action now if the following is needed for the upcoming fiscal year: Contract renewals New purchase orders Clearing unneeded encumbrances The most efficient and helpful way to avoid after the fact orders is to work with your department buyer as soon as possible. Waiting last minute to work on such requests during the months (May/June) approaching fiscal close may result in a delay with purchasing teams being able to assist in a timely manner due to fiscal close responsibilities.

Start Using the Supplier Onboarding Portal to Set Up New Suppliers

As announced in June of 2020, the Accounts Payable Vendoring team created an online vendoring process available through BFS, called the Supplier Onboarding Portal.  Through this system, it’s possible to invite new suppliers to securely enter their information directly into the BFS portal rather than gathering paper signatures and faxing forms from the client to the vendoring team. This expedites the process from over 10 business days to less than 3 business days. Beginning on April 5, 2021, we’re retiring the option to fax supplier information when setting up a new supplier. If you’re setting up a new supplier, you’ll need to go through the Supplier Onboarding Portal in BFS. For now, if you’re updating records for an existing supplier, you can still use the fax option, but we are working on updating that process to also go through the BFS portal.  In order to access the Supplier Onboarding Portal, staff will need to attend a training session. Visit the Controller’s Office website to learn more and sign up for a training session. Please contact the Vendoring Team at vendoring@berkeley.edu with any questions.

Preparing for Fall Instruction: Place Orders for Laboratory PPE and Plastics in March/April

Purchases of disposable lab coats, shoe covers, booties, and nitrile gloves continue to experience extended lead times and increased costs with glove prices having doubled over the last year.  VWR, Fisher, and Medline have removed many of these products from restricted allocations to hospitals, but we strongly encourage academic departments to order Fall Semester class supplies of these products by mid April to receive by August.  Average lead times are 90 days for most products. Single-use plastic lab supplies are also in short supply.

Helpful Hints

Order Status  If you need assistance with determining the status of your order in BearBuy, visit the How to Find the Status of Your Order page on the SCM website.  Please note that your SCM assigned Buyer will not receive the requisition until it has been approved by the department Org Node approver.

Expediting an Order  If an order warrants expedited handling, please change the priority on the requisition to "Urgent". If you have already submitted the requisition, please contact your assigned Buyer via email and be sure to include the requisition number.

Who is My Department's Assigned Buyer?  If you are unsure of how to start your purchasing transaction, contact your Buyer for assistance by using your Org Node and Department Name to find your assigned Buyer located in this matrix.

Splitting Chart of Accounts (COA) At Header Level Vs. Line Level  Splitting COA at the Header Level will apply the split to all lines on the PO.  Splitting COA by Line Level allows you to customize COA percentage allocated to that specific line. BEST PRACTICE for Subaward: Put line 1 COA at the header and then edit each line with their own unique COA.  For any questions on how to split a COA, please contact your regional group: https://regionalservices.berkeley.edu/home.

SCM Service Level Turnaround Times  Urgent requests will be handled on a first-in-first-out basis. Standard turnaround time (Service Level Agreements) for purchase and contract types are available on our Service Level web page.  Please be aware that contract negotiations with suppliers may cause delays.

Ship To Address vs Final Destination A Ship To Address is the address that is sent to the supplier. When the supplier is delivering items, they will deliver to the ship to address (which is also visible on the PO they receive). A Final Destination code is an address only associated to UC Berkeley. Final destination code are used when departments have a central receiving location. The ship to address is the central receiving facility. When the packages are received, the department central receiver looks the PO up in BearBuy and looks for the final destination code. The final destination code is then the office/room number of where shopper needs the items. Final destination codes are never sent to the supplier and are NOT reflected anywhere on the PO.

BearBuy Resources Below are links to the BearBuy homepage, instructional aids, training courses, and information on how to create Service Now tickets for BearBuy related issues.

BearBuy Homepage Job Aids Training Courses Roles & Responsibilities Help Desk

Whether you are an experienced or a new BearBuy shopper, it is always best practice to attend an in person training session with a designated BearBuy trainer. If you are interested in attending a BearBuy “Basics for Shoppers Training”, please click the training courses link above to sign up for our next class. We look forward to your attendance and being of assistance to better serve you!