Starting in January 2021, payments to postdoctoral students will go through Payroll. This is being done to benefit the postdocs, and to reduce the workload for the departments. The PDPA office, combined with Payroll and Payment services, will provide further information to all groups that employ post docs, as we get closer to this transition.

Payroll & Payment Services have partnered with Internal Audit to create a PowerBI dashboard to focus on Travel & Expense reporting.

The purpose of the dashboard is to provide schools and colleges with access to a Power BI dashboard that displays their own data using defined metrics to:

• Increase consistent monitoring of financial data and use of data to make strategic decisions
• Provide access to Concur detail that schools did not previously have
• Reduce duplication of effort w/ schools’ data analysts
• Increase collaboration between VPFA and schools

We will be piloting the program soon to work through any kinks or upgrades needed before rolling it out to all the schools and colleges.  

Over the past month, prompt pay discounts are up over 100%. This is due to the increase in invoices moving through the Ariba Network in a prompt manner. Please help us work with Boston University Suppliers to increase the adoption of this practice.

All discounts are passed back to the departments that did the ordering. Budgets are tight during this fiscal year, and this will allow you to have more funds to spend on needed items and services.

For information on how suppliers can work on the Ariba Network, please have them go to the BU Supplier Portal. For any questions or concerns please have them go to the web form. Please do not have them email Accounts Payable or Procurement – the web form is the best and fastest way for them to get assistance.

BU Employees should not attempt to act on behalf of a supplier; you must have the supplier follow the previously-mentioned steps. This process will ensure that the supplier can get the status of their invoices as well as all payment information right on the network, and will no longer have to ask you where an invoice or the payment is in the process.  

As of September 2020, Payment Services (comprised of Payroll, Travel Services, and Accounts Payable) is no longer located on the 1st floor of 25 Buick Street. Our offices will be moving to the 3rd floor of 25 Buick Street. We are currently working on a primarily remote basis, with a plan to be in our new space starting in early 2021.

In light of this, we would like to ask for your assistance in limiting the number of “Hold for pickup” check requests. This option will still remain available, but we would like to limit the reasons for our colleagues to ask for checks to be held.

Here are a few examples of when a check may still be requested to be held:

• Payment to the a State or Government agency for permits/fees
• Checks being mailed to international addresses that you need to mail out on your own.
• Subject Payments that MUST be handed to the individual

We ask that the remaining payments be sent through the mail by the Accounts Payable Office. 

As a reminder, training session for Ariba Guided BUying are available for Purchase Requisition/Approvals and Requisitioner Invoice Approval/Exceptions.  To view the available sessions and to sign up, please see the link here.