MyFinance

New Students

As part of the enrollment process  the Finance Administrator (David Alabaster) will add you to the MyFinance system giving you access to both iProcurment and iExpenses.

The main system can be accessed through  http://www.ucl.ac.uk/finance/myfinance

Changing Preferences

Once you are set up on the system you will need to change your preferences before any orders are placed so that your purchases can be delivered to you. This is done by clicking' iProcurement' on the left hand side, followed by 'Preferences'.

It is essential that you change:

• PO Administrator - Please add yourself as the PO Administrator. This is so you receive all PO's and can forward them onto the supplier when necessary.
  
• Deliver-to Address - Change to 'F43 UCL-Chemical Eng. deliveries only, Bernard Katz Bldg, Rm 4.01, Gordon Street, London, WC1H 0AH, United Kingdom' Please note that all of your deliveries will be received by Elaine Briggs at the above address who will inform you of any parcels so that you can collect them from her.

You will only need to make these changes during your first login as they will be set as your default from that point onwards.

Access to Project Codes

To find out which Project codes to charge the items to, please ask your supervisor who will advise. Either the Finance Administrator or Senior Finance Administrator will grant your access.

Supervisor Approval

Your supervisor will automatically appear as an approver for all orders placed against their own projects/grants. This is different for orders on the 'Research Teaching Allowance' so please look below for further information.

Below is a brief step by step explanation of the process of ordering:

1.  Raise an order for goods or services against project code: Before the order is approved it is called a requisition.
2.  Order is approved: The requisition then changes into a Purchase Order (PO) with a unique number assigned to it starting with F43.
3. PO is sent to the supplier automatically or manually by yourself: Automatically if through market place and manually if a non-catalogue request. Further explanation below.
4. The orderer receives the physical items: Collected from Elaine Briggs.
5. The orderer tells MyFinance that the items have arrived: This is through the receipting process. Further info can be found below and by enrolling on a Moodle Course.
6. The supplier send an invoice to UCL for payment by us: Accounts Payable use the unique PO to pay that invoice ensuring it comes out of the correct project.

There are two ways to create a PO:

1.    Using the E-Marketplace. This is UCL's catalogue used for smaller orders such as stationery and lab consumables from a few frequently used companies. When you make a purchase through the E-marketplace, the PO is sent automatically to the supplier.
2.    Using a Non-catalogue request. This method allows you to use any of UCL’s listed suppliers that are not accessible via the E-Marketplace. The PO is sent directly to the Finance Administrator who will then forward onto you for passing onto the supplier.

You will need to make sure that the items you are ordering are charged to the correct Project, Task and Award numbers provided by your supervisor.

For the step by step course in purchasing please register on Moodle course ‘MyFinance I-Procurement’, which will show you how to use the systems basic functions.

You may also like to register for ‘MyFinance Expenses’ and ‘MyFinance Navigation’ although these may be irrelevant to your role.

Delivery charges

There are some important steps you need to take before placing an order internationally as delivery costs can be extortionate if not treated carefully.

• Check our UK suppliers in the first instance before you approach an international company.

• When ordering overseas you MUST inquire about all delivery charges with the supplier, including any tax and duty, BEFORE raising a PO.

• Be warned that the costs may be a lot more than the value of the items so think about if it is a necessary purchase.

• If you have tried the above  then please contact the Finance Administrator who will be able to assist you further but ONLY if you have gone through the above process. 

Please make sure you add the delivery as a separate line when raising a PO on MyFinance.

You will need to change the expense category to “Printing & Postage.Delivery charges excluding dry ice”

Receipting

When you receive or collect your purchased items, please make sure your receipt them in MyFinance. Many payments are being placed on hold due to items not being received in the system with companies not being paid.

For instructions on how to do this please take the following steps:

• Log into 'MyFinance'
• Click 'Help' in the top right corner of the landing page
• Search 'Receipting' in the help box

Under no circumstances should you receive in MyFinance in advance of actually getting the items. It is only at the approval of the Finance and Senior Finance Administrator, and in very specific circumstance, that this can be done i.e grant closure or with Ian Allan travel

Purchasing – Equipment over 50K (inc VAT) 

For all orders over 50k you need to provide at least three competitive tenders or quotations for the items you are looking to purchase. There are certain exceptions in cases of specialised equipment, but the Head of Procurement must approve the waiving of tender and quotation procedures in writing before an order is issued. In these cases, a single source justification needs to be submitted to Procurement.

You will also need to complete a 50k Checklist which can be found at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/finance/purchasing/po-over-50k

The checklist must be signed by the person completing the form, then approval signatures gained from Head of Department, The School of Finance Director, and Procurement.

Once the order has been fully approved, a PO will be raised.

Documents to add are:

• 50K Checklist
• Three competitive quotes - including winning company
• Relevant email correspondence
  

BOC

Please read the form in the right index under 'BOC ordering guide' for more details.

Every student is given an allowance each year to spend on consumables and conferences. This is known as your Research Teaching Allowance.

You can place orders and claim expenses against this account but before you do so, you will need to ask the Finance Administrator for access. Note that when you raise an order against the 'RTA' project number, you must manually add your supervisor as an approver in MyFinance otherwise your order will be rejected.

The project, task and award numbers for the RTA are:

525357.100.156780

This is the same code used for everyone.

These costs will then come off your yearly amount.

UCL has a preferred supplier list that you will need to refer to when placing orders.

However, in circumstances where a specialty item is required which cannot be provided by any of the suggested suppliers, you will need to do the following in order to add them:

1.    Forward the 'New Supplier' form to the company and ask them to complete as much as possible and return it in the same format it was sent. This form in on the right side menu of this page.

2.    Also obtain the company’s bank details on headed paper (a PDF file will be sufficient).

3.    Once returned, complete the remainder of the form yourself. You will need to use the Sub category code form to find the correct ‘category’ and ‘sub category’ codes as mentioned on the top of the form.

3.    Send both of the above to newsuppliers@ucl.ac.uk

Please note that procurement team will reject any incomplete  or handwritten requests.

New Supplier forms can take over a week to process and are sometimes rejected by Procurement so please be sure when putting the request through that you cannot find your items from any of UCLs preferred suppliers. You will be sent an email when the supplier is set up. 

Please note that procurement team will reject any incomplete or handwritten requests.

It is important that you read the expenses policy before you claim an expense as there are strict rules regarding items and services that you can and cannot claim for.

More importantly, equipment purchases, consumables, software and subscriptions WILL NOT be reimbursed. These WILL BE REJECTED by the Accounts team if submitted as an expense. All equipment needs to be ordered through MyFinance.

For both of the expense claim processes, original receipts will need to be sent to Accounts Payable along with any claim forms.

Subscriptions: There are also Faculty specific rules when it comes to the purchasing of subscriptions so please read under 'subscriptions' for further information.

iExpenses - Staff and Students

All staff and students who are registered onto MyFinance should use iExpenses for reimbursements. You will have the ability to delegate your claim to a colleague for completion if the charges are to come from a code that you do not have access to.

For a step by step guide on how to use this, you can either search for 'iExpenses' in Moodle where you enroll yourself onto CBT, or you can click on the help button on the top right hand corner of the iExpenses screen in MyFinance.

If you have assigned someone else to complete the claim for you, please provide them with the original receipts.

Funds will be reimbursed in approximately two weeks.

When purchasing subscriptions, by either claiming on expenses or through raising a PO, there are a few rules that must be adhered too.

1.    Subscriptions on the Faculty approved list should be purchased by PO ONLY unless they feature on the HMRC page AND fall within either point 1a or 1b below.

If they do feature on the HMRC list, you can purchase yourself and claim on expenses providing that either:

 1a.   Savings to UCL arising from membership, for example reduced         conference attendance fees, exceed the cost of membership, or

 1b.  Membership is mandatory in order to be able to teach on a professionally accredited course.

These can be paid for by the RTA or department funds if you do not have an RTA (Teaching Fellows for example) as Faculty and UCL agree to paying these.

2.    Subscriptions that are not on the faculty approved list, but are on the HMRC page, can be purchased and claimed on expenses if they fall within either 1a or 1b above.

However, you cannot use department/UCL funds to pay for these as they are not on the approved list.

These can only be paid for by grants.

3.    In all cases where you are claiming via expenses, you must have evidence that the subscription meets either point 1a or 1b in the justification section of your expense claim. Your claim will not be processed without this.

"

These are needed when you are purchasing or supplying services, from or to another department within UCL.

In Chemical Engineering IDT's are most commonly used for:

• Purchasing ethanol from Chemistry
• Paying for poster printing from ISD
• Use / hire of equipment in other departments

The cost of the goods/service need to be confirmed by email with the supplying department before an IDT can be raised.

Once you have this confirmation as well as the Project, Task and Award numbers, you can create the IDT and forward it onto the Senior Finance Administrator for approval.

If you do not have access to the IDT function, then please email all the necessary details to the Finance Administrator who will organise this for you.

IDT’s can only be raised using Internet Explorer and not Firefox.

IDJ - Inter Departmental Journal

This function is used to move costs from one account to another WITHIN the department. This is to be completed by the Senior Finance Administrator so please email the below information so that it can be processed.

•    Costs from account number
•    To account number
•    Amount
•    Reason

For more information relating to MyFinance go to http://www.ucl.ac.uk/finance/myfinance

General departmental queries:

Finance Administrator

David Alabaster d.alabaster@ucl.ac.uk ext. 33820

Senior Finance Administrator

Katy Le Lion k.lion@ucl.ac.uk ext. 33838

Technical queries:

MyFinance Helpdesk

myfinancehelpdesk@ucl.ac.uk ext. 53133

Invoices and expenses:

Accounts Payable 

apinvoices@ucl.ac.uk ext. 53234

apexpenses@ucl.ac.uk ext. 5324