September 2024

RSVP for the Fall Travel Supplier Showcase at Michigan Stadium!

Mark your calendars for the Fall Travel Supplier Showcase at the Big House! The showcase will feature representatives from a variety of UM-preferred travel suppliers, such as CTP, Delta Airlines, Southwest, and JP Morgan Chase, who can answer your travel-related questions. You’ll also have the opportunity to talk one-on-one with members of the U-M Travel Program Team. If you are interested in TSA PreCheck enrollment, IDEMIA will be returning to conduct onsite enrollment interviews.


The show is open to all U-M employees, and we encourage anyone who travels or books travel for university business to attend. All attendees will be entered into a drawing to win one of several fantastic prizes, with winners randomly chosen live during the event. 


“U-M employees will be able to interact with many suppliers that offer a wide variety of travel-related services to the university community,” said Karin Feher, assistant director travel & expense and business operations. “And beyond that, our team will be at the show to answer questions from attendees and tell them about the many benefits of U-M’s Travel Program.”


Details for the show appear below: 

  • Tuesday, October 15
  • 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
  • Jack Roth Stadium Club, Michigan Stadium
  • Employees must bring their Mcard to enter the show

Although an RSVP is not required to attend, your response will assist us in planning. Use this form to let us know if you plan to attend or not.


More information, including parking options and a list of exhibitors, is available on the Travel Supplier Showcase webpage. We hope to see you there!

Useful tips for Chrome River approvals

Chrome River, U-M’s new expense reporting system, uses a one-approver-per person model, which aligns with expense reporting best practices. This approach allows organizations to:

  • Establish clear responsibility, accountability, and consistency.
  • Minimize fraud risk.
  • Promote responsibility among expense report approvers, since they’re solely responsible for approvals.

This model minimizes redundancy, offers a more streamlined process, and expedites reimbursement.


Read more to learn more about these topics:

  • Appropriate Default Approvers
  • Expense report approval options
  • Delegating temporary approvals 
  • Approver responsibilities

DeadlineSeptember 15 for all Concur PCard/Travel Card/CTA transactions

All PCard, Travel Card, and CTA transactions pending in Concur must be submitted through Concur and approved by a unit approver by September 15. As the deadline approaches, employees may be contacted on an individual basis to resolve any outstanding transactions. 


As of September 10, there were 965 card transactions that needed to be cleared from Concur. Please review this Outstanding Card Transaction Dashboard and submit any transactions in Concur as soon as possible.

Limited edition national championship PCard/Travel Card

Procurement Services has partnered with JPMorgan Chase to offer a limited edition PCard and Travel Card that celebrates the football team’s 2023 National Championship. 


Apply for a new national championship PCard or Travel Card

You can find the detailed steps, including links to training, resources, and the application form on our website.


Read more to understand:

  • Why use a PCard or Travel Card?
  • Who should apply for a PCard or Travel Card?

Enhancements coming to Jaggaer this November

U-M is upgrading its purchasing system, Jaggaer (M-Marketsite), with a targeted go-live of November 4. The enhancement is a part of the broader Procurement Optimization Program that launched in 2023.


The upgrade includes:

  • Streamlined access to Sourcing and Contracting request forms via Jaggaer
  • Customer-facing dashboards with improved visibility to request status
  • Enhanced look and feel to landing pages
  • Improved navigation and quick links
  • Ability to add favorites for frequently used pages
  • A name change from M-Marketsite to Marketsite+

The enhancement will also include a number of resources to improve U-M’s socially responsible procurement practices, with an immediate focus on increasing engagement with diverse, small, and sustainable suppliers.


For more information about the upgrade please visit the Jaggaer project webpage, which is updated on a regular basis and features key announcements and updates. If you have any questions about Jaggaer, please fill out this TDx eform.

Now live: Procurement Services Status page

Procurement Services has launched a Service Status webpage to better serve our U-M customers across the various systems we operate. The Service Status page can be found on the Procurement Services website, under the “About Us” dropdown menu or in the site footer.


The top of the page lists the various teams or areas of service. If you hover over any of the names, the systems that are managed under that umbrella will pop up. The symbol to the right indicates whether there are no known issues, scheduled maintenance, urgent maintenance, a service degradation, or a service outage for that group of services.

Open issues will appear below the border, with details about the specific system and nature of the issue. There is also a calendar link to view scheduled maintenance or outages. There is a TDx form link so that end users can report any service issues with Procurement Services systems.


Visitors can also use a direct link to the ITS Status page to view or report issues for systems outside of Procurement Services. We encourage you to take a look at the Procurement Services Status page to familiarize yourself with the layout.

Coming soon: eShipGlobal platform for university shipping needs

eShipGlobal is a “one stop shop” shipping platform that will streamline the university shipment process. The service is currently used by the HITS M-Ship program for the shipment of hazardous materials. By expanding the program to the shipment of non-hazardous materials, the broader university can take advantage of the many benefits of using eShipGlobal.


With eShipGlobal, individuals and departments shipping materials can:

  • Eliminate the need for creating individual FedEx and UPS accounts
  • Compare rates across multiple carriers in one place
  • Utilize reduced shipping rates
  • Verify shipment compliance
  • Pay by shortcode
  • Track shipments
  • Report on shipping history
  • Opt for mailroom pickup

The program will launch to the broader university later this fall. Watch for additional information in the coming weeks!

DYK? Easily identify PCard transactions in Chrome River

You can easily determine if items added to your expense report are PCard or out-of-pocket reimbursement items. 


All PCard transactions in the expense report have a card icon next to the expense-type image. 


An expense report creator can also confirm if an item was added to the expense report correctly by reviewing the “Pay Me” column. 

  • PCard item: The “Pay Me” column displays $0.00. This means that $0.00 is due to the Expense Owner. 
  • Out-of-pocket: The “Pay Me” displays a positive dollar amount that will be reimbursed to the Expense Owner.
  • Personal PCard item: The “Pay Me” column will be negative. The negative amount will be payroll deducted.

Read more.

Buyer's Corner

Procurement Services has conducted a competitive bid for lab supplies and services. We’re pleased to announce the first award resulting from that effort is a sole primary contract with Fisher Scientific. Benefits of the new contract include:

  • Significant additional savings compared to previous pricing
  • Free standard ground shipping including Life Technologies items ordered through Fisher
  • Expansion of dedicated customer service team to three site specialists
  • Free white glove delivery on equipment
  • Free returns
  • Expansion of Dock Management and Lab Services program

New faces on board in Procurement Services

Procurement Services is excited to introduce our newest team members! Read more about the new faces that have joined the team.

Want to know more about what’s happening in Procurement Services?

Don’t forget to join the #Procurement-Services channel on Slack! This channel shares a variety of content including new contracts, highlights of existing contracts, tips and tricks, employee spotlights, and upcoming Procurement Services events. If you haven’t heard of Slack, we encourage you to check it out! Creating an account is easy and we hope to see you on Slack soon!

Contact Us
Please contact us with any feedback, comments, questions, or concerns at (734) 764-8212, option 2, or procurement.services@umich.edu.  
We enjoy hearing from you and welcome your feedback.

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