August 21, 2023

Supply Chain Management News

August 2023

Dear Campus Community,

  

Supply Chain Management (SCM) would like to inform you of important updates and events. 


This month's features:  


  • Neta Scientific: Preferred Small Business Supplier for Agilent
  • UPDATED! BearBUY Landing Page
  • Bears that Buy Open Office Hours: Here to Make Purchasing BEARable
  • Upwork Reminder



If you have any questions, please contact the BearBUY Help Desk at 

510-664-9000 (options 1, 2) or [email protected] for immediate assistance.


Thank you for your continued support, 

Supply Chain Management

Visit Our Website

Neta Scientific: Preferred Small Business Supplier for Agilent

Neta Scientific and Agilent Technologies have partnered to provide most of Agilent's product line through Neta Scientific with the same low costs and delivery times as going direct. Purchasing from Neta will support contract and grant requirements to purchase from small businesses. Agilent's Seahorse line will remain available from Agilent's new and smaller direct catalog.


See the following flyer for more details: https://supplychain.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/ucop_neta_flyer_10-2021.pdf

UPDATED! BearBUY Landing Page

The BearBUY landing page has had a FACELIFT to provide you with new tools to navigate across your tasks and find ways to make purchases. When you log into BearBUY today, you will notice the following NEW tiles in the left-hand column:


Guided Buying Pilot:

This is a series of dashboards to provide guidance on frequent types of purchases to support daily activities in offices, labs, buildings, IT, and event management. These dashboards are a work in progress and content will be modified continuously based on your feedback over the next several months.

My Orders and Tasks:

This is a one stop location for all of your pending tasks in BearBUY.  You will be able to see your current approvals, draft carts, requisitions, purchase orders, invoices, and know which purchase orders you need to create a receipt of a pending voucher. This section is tailored to your BearBUY profile so it will look different for each user.


Support/Training Resources:

This is where you will find all of the training and support resources you need for purchasing in BearBUY!


Quick Links:

By popular demand, we have added a list of  quick links to frequently requested information and forms that support BearBUY Purchasing from Accounting, Regional Services, Risk Management, and Vendoring.

These guided dashboards will remain in a pilot rollout for the next 90 days and are intended to continually evolve in response to campus users feedback. So please do not hesitate to share your thoughts via [email protected].

Bears that Buy Open Office Hours:

Here to Make Purchasing BEARable

Please join us at our next remote office hour next Tuesday, September 19, 2023, from 10:00 a.m. - 10:50 a.m.!


Supply Chain Management (SCM) is pleased to announce a remote open office hour program based on the concept, Bears that Buy Open Office Hours: Here to Make Purchasing BEARable! Representatives from SCM will be on hand to listen to your questions and provide information about purchasing at Berkeley. This will be held every 3rd Tuesday of the month from 10:00 a.m. to 10:50 a.m.


Instructions and Zoom URL:


Skilled Freelancers through Upwork!

SCM has launched the Upwork Enterprise and UC Berkeley partnership which is available to use for all employees and faculty! This partnership gives you access to:



  • A global talent pool of 20 million freelancers across 10K+ skill sets in over 180 countries.
  • Source, engage and pay your global talent workforce in an easy-to-use solution.
  • A dedicated program team that can set up your projects and guide you through future engagements.
  • Work classification and work protection services for your projects to ensure you are compliant with labor laws.
  • Paying your existing talent that you are working with today through Upwork’s Bring Your Own Talent solution.


The Upwork team is more than happy to come to your team meetings or meet 1-on-1 for a demo or to help you get started on your projects. You can learn more about Upwork through our Upwork website or reach out to our dedicated Upwork team to help get your project started at [email protected].


Have you recently used a freelancer through Upwork using this new partnership? We would love to hear about your experience! Please send any Upwork feedback, suggestions, and experience to [email protected].

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 Subawards
  • Line 2 should always be set at the Header Level Chartstring using Account Code 57810.
  • Line 1 should be overridden at the Line Level Chartstring using Account Code 57811.

For any questions on how to split a COA, please contact your regional purchasing team: 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. 
Whether you are an experienced or a new BearBUY shopper, it is always best practice to take the BearBUY: Basics for Shoppers training if you haven't already.

To take this ESSENTIAL training, please click on this course #: BEESS950-Online