This Training Guide will walk a Requestor through the process of creating a Requisition for Capital Equipment (Asset).

Purchase of Capital Equipment Requisition – Getting Started

• Non catalog requisitions must have the appropriate Category and Account code fields for assets and capital equipment.
• Requesters need to make accurate selections for categories and account codes.
• Approvers need to review the chosen selections.

 

Definition of Capital Equipment

An asset is defined as Capital Equipment when it has the following two characteristics:

1. Life span greater than 1 year
2. Value over $5,000.00

 

Equipment Categorization

It is important to categorize purchases as capital equipment, if applicable:

• to maintain an accurate inventory of Northwestern’s capital equipment (physical existence and financial value)
• to process depreciation accounting entries to accurately reflect the remaining financial value of the equipment
• to accurately report equipment and values to sponsors who grant funds for purchases

 

Asset Requisitions

There are three specific details to include for asset requisitions:

• Category
• Requisition Header Comments or complete and attach the Capital Equipment Purchase Form (this can be found on the NUPortal)
• Account code

Step 1: Create a Standard Non-Catalog Requisition

Navigate to Standard Non-Catalog Requisitions

1. Log in to NUFinancials: nufin.northwestern.edu.
2. Click the Requisition tile.
3. Click Create New Requisition.

  

4. Click Special Requests to create a non-catalog requisition.

 

Step 2: Enter Non-Catalog Capital Equipment Information Fields

Order Details:

These fields provide information that NUFinancials includes in the purchase order after the requisition is approved. Fields are denoted by the asterisk *.

Note: The University does not use the Due Date Field.

1. Type *Item Description. The description you enter should match the source description of the product.
2. Type *Price. Zeros after the decimal are automatically added if you do not provide them.
3. Type *Quantity. The quantity must be at least 1.
4. Click the *Unit of Measure magnifying glass to open a Look Up window.

  

5. Type the first two letters of the unit into the Unit of Measure field.
6. Then, click Look Up.

 Note: You can also scroll through the units of measure to search. 

7. Select the unit of measure for your desired measurement.
8. Click the Category magnifying glass to look up the categories.

  

9. To select the category of Capital Equipment, select the appropriate asset category:

 

 

Note: Choose the best match; you will enter more detail later in Requisition Header Comments, or attach the Capital Equipment Purchase Form that can be found on the NUPortal.

Supplier Information

10. Click the Supplier Name magnifying glass to run a search for the supplier directly from this field.

  

11. Type the name of the Supplier in the Name field.
12. Search results appear in Supplier Click the Supplier ID link to select the supplier.

 

 Note: Select only the supplier with the address that matches your ordering form or source address:

• If the supplier is found but the address is wrong, update the address through Supplier Request Center on the NUPortal
• If no results are found for your supplier, you can request to add the supplier to NUFinancials using Supplier Request Center on the NUPortal.
• When you select the supplier name from your search results, this simultaneously populates both the Supplier ID and the Supplier Name fields.

13. In Supplier Item ID, type the supplier catalog identification, if applicable. This could be the catalog number, quote number, or other unique identifier provided by the supplier.
14. Not all suppliers utilize a supplier catalog ID, so you may not need to enter it.

Manufacturer Section - NOT in use.

Additional Information Section

14. If needed, type comments into Additional Information. Comments are applicable to the line item and not the entire requisition.
15. Click the Send to Supplier checkbox if the comments should be sent to the supplier on the purchase

• Show at Receipt box is not typically used or generally recommended.
• Show at Voucher is not used.

16. Click Add to Cart to add the item to your shopping cart.

 

 Note: The non-catalog item fields you entered are saved. When this happens, the fields go blank, so that you can enter another line item. To add another line item to the non-catalog requisition, follow steps 1-16 to enter additional items. 

17. Your item will appear at 1 Line next to the shopping cart icon at the
18. When you are finished adding line items, click Checkout at the top of the page.

 

 

Shopping in iBuyNU (Catalog Requisition) for Capital Equipment

1. Login to NUFinancials: nufin.northwestern.edu.
2. Click Financial > Purchasing > Access iBuyNU according to your role: (Requestor or Shopper).
3. Search for items and add to cart.
4. Adjust quantities (if you are searching in a punchout site, quantities cannot be adjusted when brought back into iBuyNU).
5. Enter a Name for the cart.
6. Click Checkout.

Your cart will be returned to Checkout - Review and Submit page of requisition. The cart name you entered should display in Requisition Name field in all caps (uppercase).

Important Notes

• After you click Checkout, iBuyNU item and supplier data automatically populates the requisition form.
  • If you change auto-populated data, processing delays will result.
  • Do not change any of the following auto-populated data: Item Description, Price, Quantity, Unit of Measure, Category, Supplier ID, Supplier Location, or Buyer.
  • Do not add non-catalog items to a catalog requisition or processing delays will result.

Step 3: Review and Submit

The Review and Submit step is where you enter ship to codes, chart strings, budget check, and save and submit the requisition.

1. Enter Requisition Name as determined by school/department naming conventions (maximum of 30 characters) if not transferring from iBuyNU.
2. Requisition Type defaults to Standard Requisition (ONL); no action is required unless you wish to Hold PO from Further Processing.

Note: Please refer to the Hold PO for Further Processing document in the Knowledge Base for more information.

 

Requisition Lines Section

Option: Adding Attachments

3. To add an Attachment, click the Add button next to the comment bubble.
   1. Click Add Attachment.
4. Once you have uploaded the attachment, click OK.

  

Ship To Codes

5. To view the hidden section that contains the Ship to and chart string fields for a line item, click the triangle next to that line item.
6. Click the magnifying glass next to *Ship To to look up the ship to code.

  

A Look Up window appears.

• In the Description field, type the first letters of the department name.
• Click Look Up.
• Click the Ship To Location code that matches your If there is more than one location for your department, select the one that designates the appropriate drop-off location / delivery point.

 

 Note: At this time, you can input the Attention To field, if it hasn’t already populated the correct name. 

Step 4: Enter Chart String Fields

Accounting Lines Section (Within Requisition Lines Section)

All chart strings utilize Fund, Dept, and Account codes, at minimum. If you do not know which chart string to use, see your manager.

1. To view the hidden section that contains the chart string fields for a line item, click the triangle next to Accounting Lines.
2. Then, click Chartfields2.

  

3. In Fund, type the Fund code.
4. In Dept, type the Department id.
5. Scroll right to view In Account, type in the Account Code. See Appendix for Capital and Non-Capital Account codes.
6.  To add another Chart String, click on the "+" sign at the end of the Chart String row.

 

Notes:

• • As an alternative to scrolling, press the
  • As an alternative to typing the chart string, you can utilize the magnifying glass to perform a look up.
  • As needed, to enter Project and Activity for Funds 170-199 or 300-899, first confirm that PC Bus Unit contains NWUNV.  If PC Bus Unit is blank, enter NWUNV.

Step 5: Requisition Comments

For Capital Equipment Requisitions, Requisition Comments are required.

1. Description of asset being purchased: List the name of the equipment or asset.
2. Custodian: List faculty or staff member and department that will be the custodian of (responsible for) the asset (contact person, principal investigator, ). The asset will be listed on the department’s inventory.
3. Location: List the location where asset will reside including building name and room number.
4. Cross reference: List that this REQ is a related to a prior REQ/PUR if the asset is a consolidation of multiple purchases or mention that it is anticipated there will be additional REQ/PURs which will be cross referenced (ex. multiple parts, multiple payments, installation costs, etc.).
5. Acquisition type: Indicate if the purchase is new, upgrade, replacement or a trade-in. If the transaction involves a trade-in or another asset has been disposed of as a result of this purchase, note Tag # of traded-in or disposed asset.

Note:

• If a current asset is being traded-in or disposed of, complete the Capital Equipment Retirement Approval Form and attach as support to the Request Asset Disposal or Transfer Self Service portlet.
• NUPortal > Finance tab > Financial Related links> Request Asset Disposal or Transfer Self Service
• If the asset being traded-in or disposed was related to a grant, contact ASRSP for proper recording on the grant for the sponsor records.

 

 

Step 6: Check Budget

2. Enter Approval Justification. It is not a requirement, but is available if you want Approvers to see your comment.
3. Scroll down to view Check Click Check Budget.
   • The budget check ensures the chart string(s) is valid and has no spending controls against it that would prevent you from submitting the requisition.
   • Successful budget checking pre-encumbers or earmarks the the funds.

  

4. A pop-up message appears regarding saving and budget checking the Click OK.

Note: A processing icon spins while NUFinancials performs a budget check.

  

5. When finished budget checking, a Budget Checking Status appears.

 

6. Click Save & Submit.

 Note:

• Valid All spending controls are successfully passed.
• Warning Some spending controls are encountered, but you are OK to submit the requisition.
• Error You cannot submit the requisition. Your chart string may not have been set up or budgeted.
• See Knowledge Base article Resolve Combination Budget Check Errors if you encounter errors. 

Step 7: Confirmation

 

 

2. Click View printable version if you would like to print or save a copy of the requisition.

 

Appendix: Capital and Non-capital Accounts for Equipment Purchase 

Equipment Description	Non-Capital Accounts < $5000	Capital Accounts > = $5000
Office Equipment	77070 & 77010	77550
Scientific Instruments	77080 & 77020	77560
Computers	77090 & 77030	77570
Fixed Equipment	n/a	75840
Furniture	75844	75841, 77510
Movable Equipment	75844	75842
Capital Equipment	n/a	75843
NTG Telephone Equipment	77060	77515
AV Equipment	77050	77545
Other Office Equipment	77099	77550
Government/Sponsor Titled Equipment	n/a	77505
Music Instruments	77040	77580
Other Equipment (capital)	n/a	77599
Athletic Equipment	77077	77577

  

For additional assistance please contact the IT Support Center at 847-491-4357 (1-HELP) or email servicedesk@northwestern.edu.