TU Today

Important info for TU vendors

TU is transitioning to an Oracle Cloud Financial System called Stratus on July 11, 2022. Vendors doing business with TU need to be aware of several changes that will be implemented as a result of onboarding to Stratus, including:

• the appearance of purchase orders
• how and where vendors submit invoices for payment
• how payments for orders are processed

Campus departments should share the information below with vendors as well as anyone in the department responsible for handling invoices. Vendors should carefully review this information and take appropriate action to respond to the changes.

Purchase Orders

Starting July 11, 2022, vendors can expect our purchase orders to have a new look. While the look and feel of the new TU purchase order will change, it will still include the same information (vendor name, details of good/service, cost of good/service, term of agreement (if applicable), delivery address, invoice remit information, TU contact person and tax exempt information).

Purchase orders will be communicated from a new central e-mail address, TUPurchaseOrders@towson.edu. The purchase order and any exhibits will be included as attachments to the e-mail; vendors will be asked to acknowledge receipt with a brief reply. Previously issued orders will not be replaced and vendors will still be able to reference the number for those orders. When invoicing against an existing order, please clearly reference your current TU-issued purchase order number on your invoice, (ex. 0000012345). After July 11, all new orders will have a 10-digit number starting with the prefix TOW. (ex. TOW0012345). Please clearly reference the newly formatted number, including the prefix, when invoicing against new purchase orders.

Additionally, pursuant to the University System of Maryland (USM) Procurement Policies and Procedures, a purchase order must be issued for the purchase of any good or service exceeding $5,000. Delivering a good or service in excess of $5,000 without receiving an authorized purchase order from the TU Procurement Office puts your company at risk of no or delayed payment.

Invoice Submission

As of July 11, invoices for TU will no longer be accepted to ap@towson.edu and must be submitted to StratusAPinvoices@towson.edu for payment. Please note that invoices will now need to reference a current TU-issued PO number when it applies to an invoice to ensure prompt processing and payment. Please update your records to reflect the new email address for future invoice submissions. Submit invoices to the new address in the following format:

Do:

• Submit single-page invoices in one attachment with a blank page between invoices
• Submit multi-page invoices in a single attachment with a blank page between invoices
• Credit Memos should contain the word “Credit Note” or “Credit Memo”
• Reference a TU- issued purchase order number when it applies
• Submit multiple attachments within a single email, as long as each attachment contains one invoice and/or multiple invoices separated by a single blank page

Don’t:

• Submit multiple attachments for a single invoice (i.e. one attachment as invoice and second attachment as backup to the invoice)
• Submit a single file with multiple invoices back-to-back (you must include a blank page in between each invoice)

It is important that all vendors working with TU understand the required elements of an invoice for submission. If all the required elements are not contained on the invoice, the system will not recognize the invoice properly and payment may be delayed.

For more information on invoices in Stratus, access Stratus Payables training or for general project info, visit the Stratus website. For inquiries and questions related to the payment of your invoices, please continue to contact TU’s Accounts Payable department at AP@towson.edu.

Categorised in: General

This post was written by Gorsuch, Pamela