No. An invoice cannot be paid until the goods are received.

If the supplier is requiring the payment of invoice, we should make arrangements to have the goods delivered to the University and moved to an appropriate location for storage. Upon receiving the goods, we can then authorize the invoice to be paid.

Yes, but only if the items are required for the University’s essential operations and need to be received at home to sustain ongoing operations while we work from home.

For items that are not required for working from home, deliveries of those orders should either be deferred or directed to University Centre (UC) Receiving.

UC receiving is operating and receiving shipments on behalf of all closed buildings at this moment. The UC Receiving Team has put in place a process of receiving and distributing packages to departments on campus on a regular basis. Items not deliverable to departments will be held at the UC Receiving Dock for the time being.

Considering the limitations of storage and resources at UC Receiving, it is recommended that, wherever possible, departments cancel or postpone the deliveries of purchases that are not required at this time if the cancellation or postponement will not result in extra charges to the University.  Deliveries to UC Receiving should only be arranged for those orders that cannot be cancelled or rescheduled.

Yes, but only if it is for University business and is necessary. 

The University advises that all documents to be sent externally should be sent digitally rather than by hard copy.  However, if the receiver insists on a hard copy original then it is acceptable to ship from your home on the University account.

The University has arranged with FedEx and Purolator for shipping documents from an employee’s home.

To arrange shipping of a document, please follow these steps:

• Log in the carrier’s shipping portal using your login ID set up under your department’s account.
• Complete all fields for shipment information as you would normally, including GL coding. The only difference is that you must enter your home address in the shipper’s address field. 
• Once completed, print the shipping label. 
• If you have the carrier’s standard document envelope, affix the label to the envelope. If not, set aside the label.
• Call the courier to arrange for pickup from your home address.
• When the courier arrives, hand the document package with the shipping label to the carrier.

For information on how to create a shipment online or how to set up an account for the couriers’ online shipping portal, follow the processes at https://www.uoguelph.ca/finance/departments-services/purchasing-services/customs-and-transportation.

For non-document shipments, in light of the current State of Emergency, only shipments required for the operation of essential services should be considered.  Non-essential shipments are discouraged and should be minimized.

For essential shipments, if the package is destined for a location outside of Canada, customs documentation must be prepared as per CBSA regulations prior to shipping. Please complete Request for Shipping Documentation form and email it to purchasing.helpdesk@uoguelph.ca.  The University’s customs team will prepare the customs documentation and will email them to you along with related instructions.

If the package is destined for a domestic location, follow the same process as you would when shipping from your work address, except that you need to enter your home address as the shipper’s address. You will also need to call the courier to arrange for pickup from your home.

For information on how to create a shipment online or how to set up an account for the couriers’ online shipping portal, follow the processes at https://www.uoguelph.ca/finance/departments-services/purchasing-services/customs-and-transportation

To accommodate the current working-from-home arrangement, Financial Services has established Financial Services Guidelines  for various financial transaction processes, including deposits, invoice payments and purchasing.  Please follow the Guidelines to obtain or provide electronic approvals in place of wet signatures.

Images of signatures copied onto documents and digital signatures generated from software such as Adobe Fill & Sign or DocuSign are not consistent with these guidelines.  As such, they will not be accepted for internal financial processes at this time.  We are reviewing alternatives in an effort to improve processes going forward'.  Please note that this applies to internal financial processes only.

For certain external documents such as contracts, digital signatures or signature images may be acceptable. Departments should confirm with the external party who is seeking our signatures in such scenario.

In short, yes, but there is a specific process that you must follow.

Orders placed with the University’s SMC suppliers with GL Coding shall be delivered to university office locations only.

In order to support the current working-from-home arrangement, the University has arranged with several office supply SMCs to extend the University’s contract pricing to employee’s orders.  The process requires that employees order the supplies as personal purchases and submit those costs as expense claims to get reimbursed. Where applicable, employees should follow the existing approval protocol in your area to obtain approval for such type of purchases.

The process to acquire the supplies delivered to your home would be as follows:

Staples Advantage

• Log in https://www.eway.ca/en?CID=EM-EWAYWELCOME-en-shopeway to place order
• User ID:  UoGPersonalPurchase
• User password:  UoGPersonalP
• Proceed with your order.  At completion the system will ask you for a personal payment option.

Grand and Toy

• Contact Glenn Urquhart GlennUrquhart@grandandtoy.com | Cell: 416-271-9518, to set up a personal account
• Specific information will be provided with the account setup

PrintersPlus

• Contact either contract below to set up a personal account
  1. Ryan Dabros, Account Manager; rdabros@printersplus.net; 613-521-3212
  2. Jeff Syed: jsyed@printersplus.net
• Specific information will be provided with the account setup

Following receipt of the products, you can then submit a claim through the ECS system for reimbursement.

The following suppliers have reported supply interruptions and product shortages as a result of COVID-19. In many cases, these supplies are being prioritized to health care providers.

In addition, some suppliers expressed concerns over the border shutdown between the United States and Canada as this could affect their supply chain. As the situation evolves, we will provide further updates in this area.

Other than the noted exceptions above, many of our Supply Managed Contract (SMC) suppliers have indicated no anticipated negative impacts on their supply chains and inventories.