Business Operations Center

The Business Operations Center (BOC) is a unit within the College of Engineering responsible for providing expert knowledge and high-level customer service for the payroll and procurement needs of the College of Engineering’s faculty, staff and students.

Our mission is to uphold the University’s financial stewardship responsibilities through transparent, fiscally-sound operations that promote the academic, research and professional development initiatives of the College of Engineering while adhering to the policies of the University and all state and federal laws. We commit to delivering efficient and professional responses to service requests, and we strive to continually assess and refine processes to ensure best practices and excellent customer experiences.

Contact Info

216 Bevis Hall
1080 Carmack Rd, Columbus, OH 43210

Email the BOC for procurement questions
or travel questions and reimbursement submissions

Travel Information

Recent News

Process for Approval on IT Related Purchases-Updated

As we continue to navigate issues and concerns with IT purchases we have updated the Approval Process guidelines that will be effective immediately (March 1, 2024). 

The difficulties with terms and conditions and timeliness in adding new suppliers continue to be challenging, however it is important that we work together with ETS for review and approval of the items in the attached document prior to purchases occurring. 

ETS Approval Process 3.2024

Amazon Blocked Items

In our January BOC Office Hours, I talked about the BOC seeing a lot of Amazon orders on our Worklist recently. I expressed that the faculty, staff and students need to view BuckeyeBuy Suppliers first to see if any of the suppliers carry the good or service wanting to be purchased.  The BOC asks that if the items are not able to be found in BuckeyeBuy or if the price is more expensive in BuckeyeBuy, to make a note in the Requisition when submitting it as Amazon as the supplier. This lets the BOC know you checked BuckeyeBuy first.

The BOC has since run into something interesting when trying to place some orders via Amazon. We are finding a lot of items are being blocked by OSU. I have attached a screen shot to show you what we see when an item is blocked. Since the BOC gets Amazon links or screen shot attachments of what to be purchased, the BOC will not know it is blocked until we go into the Amazon Business Account to add the items to the cart. With finding out this new information, there will be times when the BOC has to send back your Requisition to inform you the items can’t be purchased though Amazon. The BOC recommends searching BuckeyeBuy suppliers you may not have search the first time around and external suppliers that have supplier ID’s in Workday. Remember, no Amazon purchases on your Department Pcard through a personal Amazon account.. Please forward this email on to anyone you feel will benefit from this information. If there are any questions please reach out to the BOC.

Mileage Reimbursement for January 2024

Effective January 1, 2024, the mileage reimbursement rate will increase from 65.5 cents per mile to 67 cents per mile for all business miles driven from January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024. 

Accounts Payable Reminder

The University check run during the December holiday week will remain as normal. The check run will be on Thursday, December 28th with pick-up between 1:00pm and 4:00pm.

Two New BOC Members December 2023

The BOC recently has hired 2 new BOC Members. We have welcomed Riley Bender and Angela Smalley. They both are excited to learn about the College of Engineering and get to work. 

Expense Reports related to Spend Authorizations to be processed by the BOC beginning August 1, 2021

Effective August 1, 2021 Expense Reports related to Spend Authorizations will be processed by the BOC staff in workday. 

Please send any reimbursement or Pcard expense receipt/documentation related to Spend Authorizations to General - ENG-Travel.

Important Information to be included in the email subject: SA#, Unit (ex. ECE), and the Traveler Name 

Workday Travel Process Workflow

BOC Office Hours

BOC Office Hours: March 19th, 2024

Click here to join the meeting

Deposits

The Business Operations Center (BOC) is now accepting deposits daily from 8am-5pm in Bevis Hall room 216 or you may drop them off in the drop box in the Dean's Suite in Hitchcock Hall.  Please be sure to have a signed deposit log when you come.  

Update on Record Cash Sale Form:

The deposit (Record Cash Sale) form was updated and will now be integrated with DocuSign.

The updated forms are available as templates in DocuSign.  Below is helpful information to identify the template when searching is listed below:   

  • Name:  Record Cash Sale Form
  • Created by:  Elizabeth Cumpston
  • Created on:  March 1, 2024. 

Please begin using the updated form / process effective immediately (March 1, 2024). 

Deposit Information 3.2024

 

 

COE Exception Explanation

The Exception Explanation form was revamped to include policy excerpts intended to be used as a tool for those who may not understand why an exception is needed. 

The updated forms are available as templates in DocuSign.  Below is helpful information to identify the template when searching is listed below:  

  • Name:  COE Exception Explanation Form 2024
  • Created by:  Elizabeth Cumpston
  • Created on:  March 1, 2024

Please begin using the updated form / process effective immediately (March 1, 2024). 

Exception Explanation Form Information

Fiscal Information

General Information

WorkDay

Workday supports the university’s business operations in finance, human resources, payroll and supply chain. Faculty, staff and student employees use Workday for procurement, travel, update personal information, request leave, select benefits and more. Many Workday functions can also be accessed on mobile devices through the Workday app.

Pcard

Units will continue to manage their Purchasing Cards as they currently do. Units will create an Expense Report in Workday and attach detailed documentation which the Business Operations Center will use to review for compliance. Each month the department is required to send over their pcard statements along with their pcard log of their monthly transactions.

Exceptions

University Travel and Expenditure policy provides deans and vice presidents the authority to approve, on an occasional, non-recurring basis, exceptions to established policies.

BOC Exception Process

All transactions identified as an exception will be captured in Workday and workflow to College Leadership for review.  Please be sure to document in comments or the memo field the reason for the exception and what actions will/have occurred to prevent similar exceptions in the future.

Department Responsibility

The unit Cost Center Manager is responsible for identifying the exception prior to submitting a transaction to the BOC for processing. Exceptions include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Increase in the dollar limits noted in policy for alcohol, business meal, and entertainment expenses. Exception MUST be granted prior to the incurrence of expense.
  • Missing required documentation, (i.e. itemized receipts) for personal or travel reimbursements.
  • Travel reimbursement is being submitted more than 60 days after the completion of the trip.
  • The traveler did not obtain prior authorization for the business travel along with estimated costs.
  • A request for purchase order after-the-fact

NOTE: Spouse approval should be obtained prior to the event occurring. Travel expenses exceeding estimated costs by 20% or greater require unit approval only.

BOC Responsibility

  • The BOC will be responsible for obtaining the appropriate College approval for exceptions when submitted for processing.
  • The BOC will get new suppliers added to Workday when needed.
  • The BOC will follow up with the unit Cost Center Manager to obtain the appropriate documentation to support the request.