Equipment Liaison Officer Training 6th February 2014

WELCOME!

Buffie Higgins Lorraine Stobo

Purchasing Systems Assistant Purchasing Systems Co-ordinator

Course Content:

•Equipment Overview

•Equipment Register

•Responsibilities Recap

Equipment - Overview

Equipment - Overview

• The purpose of the University’s Equipment Register is to record all equipment

owned by, or located within, the University.

• Equipment is defined as:-

All portable and attractive items over £500 (before VAT) should be recorded

All items over £1000 (before VAT) must be recorded

(NB. Items should be recorded net of VAT)

All items connected to the University network should be recorded regardless

of price, this includes iPads and Tablets but excludes photocopiers

Exclusions

• Fixed items such as lifts, boilers, fixed fume cupboards, furniture & furnishings

• Specialist items to include works of art, silver, books, periodicals, special

collections, manuscripts, library collections, fossils, antiques.

Equipment Register

Equipment Register – Main Menu

Add New Equipment that was not purchased via Qfis, i.e. Purchase Card

See, at a glance, what responsibility codes you are responsible for

See your current list of equipment

See the list of items from Qfis that may need to be registered.

Equipment Register – Enquiries Option

Enquiries - Responsibility Centres

What Centres am I responsible

for?

– “Responsibility Centres” details all

Centres you are responsible for.

– Details of the Centre name, code

and number of items within that

Centre will be displayed.

Equipment Register – Enquiries Option (cont.)

Enquiries - Responsibility Centres

General Maintenance – What can I do?

– Double clicking on each centre will display a list of individual items specifically

logged against that code.

– From this list you can do the following:

Delete Items Filter Items

Search Items Refresh Screen

See All items including Deleted items

Equipment Register – Enquiries Option (cont.)

Delete Items

Search Items

Filter Items

The info button allows you to see ALL equipment including those items that have been previously deleted (high-lighted in red). This is useful if you deleted an item by accident and need to reinstate it.

Refresh Screen

Equipment Register – Enquiries Option (cont.)NOTE: Should you need to re-instate an item, double click the deleted item to open the details screen and change the status from “Deleted” to “Found”.NOTE: Should you need to re-instate an item, double click the deleted item to open the details screen and change the status from “Deleted” to “Found”.

Should you need to re-instate an item, double click the deleted item to open the details screen and change the status from “Deleted” to “Found”.

Equipment Register - Equipment Registry Option

Equipment Registry - How can I get a complete list of ALL the

Equipment I am responsible for?

•The “Equipment Registry” Option will allow you to see a complete list of all the

Equipment you are responsible for.

•This is useful if you are unsure which responsibility code a certain item is recorded

against in your area.

•You can then make use of the Delete, Search, Filter and info buttons.

Equipment Register – Potential Items Option

Potential Items for Equipment Registry

I have items that need to be recorded, what do I do now?

By double clicking the “Potential Items for Equipment Registry” on the main menu you will

be able to access all paid purchase order lines that QFIS has identified as potentially being

equipment.

The following codes are automatically pulled through from QFIS:

6311 – Consumables & Lab Expenditure (monitored by Buffie)

6406 – Furniture & Equipment (Estates use only)

6881 – Small Value Equipment

6981 – Equipment Purchase/Hire

Equipment Register – Potential Items Option (cont.)

Equipment Register – Rejecting Items

Rejecting items that are NOT equipment

• Multiple lines on an order

– each individual line will display as a potential item.

– irrelevant lines should be deleted using the “REJECT” option

– All items that are rejected will require an explanation

– you can undo accidental rejections by clicking the information button

• All rejected items will be forwarded to Buffie for review.

• If a rejected item is deemed equipment:

– Buffie will contact the ELO to discuss and forward this item back if necessary.

– Redirected items will be identified with an “M” (Mandatory) in the first column

and the ELO will not be permitted to reject it again.

Equipment Register – Rejecting Items (cont.)

Equipment Register – Adding items

Adding Items that ARE equipment

• Right clicking an item in the “Potential Items for Equipment Registry” menu allows you to

select the “Add to Equipment Registry” option.

• Some fields in this screen will be populated with relevant information from the order

• This information should be ‘tidied’ up so that it is relevant and the department reference is

acceptable.

• The rest of the information will be completed the same as an EMS-1 form.

Building codes are available from you Building Liaison Officer and Classification codes are available on the Purchasing

Office website.

• You should endeavour to complete all fields.

Equipment Register – Adding items (cont.)

Equipment Register – Keying Multiple Items

Keying in Multiple Items

• When you insert an item into the Equipment Register and click “save” you will be asked if

all items on the invoice have been registered.

• If there are multiple items to be registered on an order, for example 10 PC’s have been

purchased, you will need to pay special attention to the following:

– The individual cost of each item – The system automatically populates the Purchase

value field with the invoiced cost (net of VAT). You will need to amend this value to

reflect the cost per item.

– Item Serial Numbers – You will need to ensure that each item has its own unique

serial number.

• A tick box has been provided to enable you to “Keep” fields that will be the same

information for every record.

Equipment Register – Items over £10,000

Items valued over £10,000

• As per the “EQUIPMENT SHARING INITIATIVE” equipment valued at £10,000 & over

require further information to be detailed.

• Items valued over £10,000 should not be input until certain information has been attained.

• If an item over £10,000 is not going to be added to the Equipment Sharing Database a full

explanation is to be given in the box provided.

• Any items over £10,000 that are not being added to the Equipment Sharing database will

be forwarded to the Purchasing Office in order for the reason to be verified.

* In response to the Wakeham Review, Research Councils (RCUK) introduced a range of changes to funding for research grants. The most far-reaching changes applied to equipment including the need for any application for new equipment over £10,000 to demonstrate that there is no similar equipment within the University that could be used.

Equipment Register – Add Equipment Option

2. Add Equipment - Adding New

Equipment NOT paid through Qfis:

•When equipment is donated, loaned or purchased

using the Purchase Card it should be added via the

“Add Equipment” option. 

•All fields on the “Add Equipment” screen are the

same as the fields previously completed using the

EMS-1 form.

Equipment Register – Recap

Equipment Register – Recap

Responsibility of Purchasing Office

• Overall responsibility for the Equipment Register

• Maintenance of list of classification codes - http://www.qub.ac.uk/po/invcodes.php

• Provision of an advisory service to Equipment Liaison Officers

• Annual audits of the Equipment Register covering each responsibility centre

within the University at least once on a five year rolling plan -

http://www.qub.ac.uk/po/Centres.php3

• Provide appropriate training for ELO’s

Equipment Register – Recap

Responsibility of Head of School/Director

• Responsible for equipment within each School/Directorate

• Each Head/Director should appoint Equipment Liaison Officer(s) to carry out day to

day tasks associated with the maintenance of the Equipment Register. Changes to

the appointed ELO should be advised to the Purchasing Office when necessary.

• Head/Director must sign off all EMS-2 forms or screen prints, authorising deletions

from the Equipment Register. These should then be filed for auditing purposes, they

do not need to be returned to the Purchasing Office

• Annual Review – list of items will be sent to Head/Director for validation of

School/Directorate Equipment List

Equipment Register – Recap

Responsibility of Head of School/Director

• In relation to potentially “Stolen” items the Head of School/Director should:

– investigate to ascertain the facts of the case.

– report the matter to the Director of Finance and the University’s Security Officer

• Under the University’s Financial Memorandum, with the Department for

Employment and Learning (DEL), the Director of Finance is required to report actual

and suspected frauds (including theft), to DEL as soon as they are identified.

Equipment Register – Recap

Responsibility of ELOs – New Equipment

• All items falling within the definition of equipment must be issued with and labelled

with a University Equipment Tag.

• If an equipment tag cannot be fixed to equipment, ELO should keep the tag in a

booklet with the details recorded.

• All items should be electronically recorded on the Equipment Register.

Equipment Register – Recap

Responsibility of ELOs – Amendments

• Amendments to existing equipment records can be made via the Equipment Register.

ELOs will only have access to their own Equipment Responsibility Centre(s).

• Amendments may include e.g. change of location, value, departmental reference etc.

• Records of amendments should be retained for audit purposes.

• ELOs are unable to transfer equipment between Responsibility Centres. This can only

be undertaken by the Purchasing Office.

Equipment Register – Recap

Responsibility of ELOs – Deletions

• All deletions can be made by the ELO via the Equipment Register. These may include

items of equipment deemed obsolete or beyond economical repair.

• If an item of equipment is suspected of being stolen the following should be done in

accordance with the University’s Fraud Policy (available on the University’s intranet:

www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/FinanceDirectorate/FPM),  

– The ELO should immediately report the suspected theft to their Head of

School/Director

– Liaise with the Insurance Section, within the Finance Directorate, as it may be

possible to have the item replaced or the cost reimbursed to the University.

– Notify the Security Office and the Insurance Clerk in Finance before the deletion is

undertaken as above.

Equipment Register - Recap

Responsibility of ELOs – General

• Maintain up to date equipment lists

• Reconcile equipment records on an annual basis in conjunction with the

Purchasing Office.

• Participate, when necessary, in equipment audits.

• All enquiries regarding all aspects of the Equipment Register should be sent to

equipment@qub.ac.uk

Any questions?

Thank you for your time