eMars Q & A
1. Window envelopes in current use are too small to show the lines on mailed Contracts, MA’s etc. The type is now double spaced and won’t fully display in the window area. The due date on a contract etc. prints a string of extra zeroes all the way to the quantity field. It’s hard to distinguish the date field from the quantity field.
There is a case where a printed Contract shows a qty. of 5.00 M times a unit price of $410.00 = $2050.00. The correct unit price should be $0.41 in order to get a product of $2050.00. 5.00 M (5,000) x $410.00= $2,050,000.00. Please advise.
ANSWER:
We are open to revising the print-out template forms so that the vendor address will be visible in a window envelope. However, window envelopes are not consistently sized and we won’t be creating custom forms for each envelope available. Emailing the assembled PDF to the vendor is a cost effective alternative to regular mail.
2.
When correcting MOA cited authorities - from eMARS conversion -
the cited authority doesn't come up when you select procurement
type 13 - MOA. Why? What should I select MOA/PSC exempt 14? Also,
when choosing procurement type for special Authority - goods- the
cited authorities don't appear?
ANSWER:
Specific questions in regards to the use and availability of Cited Authorities should be addressed to OMPS directly on a case by case basis.
3. To extend a NPSC - do you have to change the service dates on each line item or is there an easier way to extend the contract?
ANSWER:
Your assumption is correct you must change the service dates on each line.
4. How do you change the UNIT on a converted MOA?
ANSWER:
The departmental UNIT may not be changed on a modification. The document may be copied and re-established in the new Department/Unit. The old document ID may not be preserved. The old MOA may be cancelled through the discard action.
5. What is the detailed payment procedure for these converted MOA payments? When doing entries that are 100+ lines (food orders) it is very important that the lines stay in the order that they are entered. This is for proof reading purposes to find errors better. In MARS when you entered the quantity you saw the total ($) of that line item, and the total ($) of the order before you went to the DO where you can not add lines. In eMARS you do not see the total of the lines as you enter them, you have to go line by line in the commodity or accounting fields (this is too time consuming) and to late in the process to add a line if you need to. We need to see the total of the line after the quantity has been entered before going to that stage. I think this issue is already being looked at, but it is deleting lines, duplicating lines to orders. This messes up the whole process, because when you get to the DO and the lines are not as you entered them it is wrong by items and dollar amounts.
ANSWER:
Functional enhancements will be considered on a case by case basis. A change order request can be submitted on your behalf through the CRC.
6. What is the "This is an inventory commodity." warning? It is on all food orders and some other items.
ANSWER:
This issue has been resolved in most situations. The remaining items that are marked as inventory items are items that are maintained in inventory by the Department of Corrections. This warning may be ignored and does not affect the regular processing of the document.
7. The eMARS document(s) look just fine until it is uploaded. Not only does the pagination change but funny looking bullets appear. Bold type or different font has appeared also. This needs to be addressed. Please advise.
ANSWER:
We are working to establish consistent output from the assembly process. In the short terms please keep your .xml documents as simple as possible and follow the assembly rules outlined in the training materials. Please also ensure that you have the latest version of Adobe Acrobat reader installed on your workstation.
8.
I have two responses (two vendors) for which to enter information
so that they can be evaluated in the system and the contract prepared.
I get the following error messages:
1. SO-DOC-HDR
Severe
Instance of the target document could not be created
2. DOC_HDR Error
Action not authorized
3. DOC_HDR Error
Not authorized to create new document
Is this a security issue? Or possibly we are doing something that doesn’t need to be done, or left off a step?
ANSWER:
These are security errors- you should contact your agency security administrator in order to update your user profile with the appropriate security roles for your job function.
9. Is there someone, well trained in eMARS, who would be willing to provide one-on-one training? I keep struggling along. I was one of the first few people to post an RFP in the new system; however the contract(s) for that RFP has yet to be completed. I also have a lot of MOAs to enter. (For a July 1 start.) Are the Finance Cabinet and the Governmental Contract Review Committee understanding the delay due to the time needed for learning and working out the bugs? Would they be willing to give signature approval of our MOAs/Contracts for continuing projects prior to entry into eMARS? I have folks (primarily universities) calling for their executed copy before work may continue. I don’t think that our new system should hold up work for a continuing project for which approval was already received once in last fiscal year.
ANSWER:
CRC is scheduling working sessions to help people through the process and open issues. eMARS training will begin again in the October 2006 time frame.
10. We purchase cooperatively from the state contracts and now I
can’t seem to figure out how to search for the details that
I need to make a purchase.
ANSWER:
On the Catalog search page there is a link that will bring you to the extended description and contact information for the vendor.
11. I created a Master Agreement (MOA) in PD and it did not convert. I called CRC and was told to do a stand-alone in eMARS. Which document will I need to create PON2 or PO2? My document is exempt from LRC.
ANSWER:
The PON2 is required for those documents that do require Proof of Necessity. Documents exempt from review should use the PO2 document.
12. An agency does not wish to renew a contract and it just expired. What steps should I take to remove contract from list? Several error messages are confusing (I don’t know what they mean). Is there a list of explanations that we can turn to for reference?
ANSWER:
Users will not be able to place orders against an expired contract. Both URSRCHMA and URCATS remove these contracts from consideration based on the expiration date in the Header of the Master Agreement.
13. Is it possible to print a RN document?
ANSWER:
Yes. The process for printing a RN is to click the Print –button. A PDF version of the document will be attached to the header of the RN which you can download and print to your local printer.
14. How does a buyer reject a RQS back to an Agency for further action? (such as adding specifications) This is vital, and so far I have not been able to find a way to do this. When you try to “reject” a finalized RQS from the tab at the bottom, you get a message that this must be done from the work-list. I do not have access to such a work-list. (I have “my workload” but it is static and I can not pull up a doc or approve or reject)
ANSWER:
You must enter the document from your worklist, take the task and use “reject all” to reject it automatically back to draft or “reject” to reject it to the previous approver. Please contact your agency security administrator for appropriate access to work-list. The worklist, is generally accessible from the Message Center in eMARS.
15. Departments aren’t able to access or print contracts that were created in other departments. For example KSFB can not print a contract that was created by Finance. Pease advise.
ANSWER:
Generally speaking, departments are restricted from accessing or printing documents from other departments. For one time purchases, OMPS will be using your department and unit in the header of the document so that you will have access. Master agreements are accessible by all departments.
16. I just created a RQS and status is Final. It is in procurement folder 56406. How do I find out what is in the procurement folder? RQS number is 530 0600000477.
ANSWER:
There are several inquiries in eMARS that will help you find the contents of a Procurement Folder. The Procurement Documents (prcudoc) page allows you to search by Procurement Folder ID as well as the Procurement Description. The Procurement inquiry is a listing of all Procurement Folders in the system.
17. Being a quasi governmental agency and not being connected to eMARS, it is extremely difficult to obtain the information I need. I spoke with someone, I think it was with COT, and the best they came up with is: via the Public Access, Catalog Search, Vendor Self Service System, Catalog Search, Vendor Self Service System, then Catalog Search again. All that's prior to typing in either a vendor name or product. I typed in computer equipment and a list of vendors that install computer equipment was displayed. By the time I did all that I was timed out. Really frustrating. Is the agreement# (MA....) the contract number we should reference? The commodity name appeared with (eMARS CMA Conversion) rather than the name of the product. The dates reference the date a discount is effective. Is that date the contract date? Is there a way I could obtain a list of the commodity codes and products or a list of vendors? Do you know of a better way?
ANSWER:
Once you have reached the eProcurement portal (https://eProcurement.ky.gov) you are three clicks away from our Catalog search page. Click: eMARS Catalog Search; followed by Public Access button followed by Catalog Search.
Clicking on the Help and Advice button at the top of the page will bring up a page with some helpful tips for searching the database of Master Agreements.
The Item Description field on the Search Page as well as the Catalog Line Detail page is the name of the Product.
The Agreement # field is the Document Code of the Master Agreement. If you are already familiar with the number you may type it into the Search box to find all items available on Contract.
The Discount Effective From and To are the effective dates for the Contract.
18. How do you search the vendor database in eMARS, for example to determine if a particular vendor is already registered?
ANSWER:
Users may access the Vendor/Customer page (VCUST) and search by many elements of the Vendor Record including Vendor/Customer Code, Legal Name, Alias DBA, TIN.
19. What are the format requirements for attachments for EMARS? What can you have and not have for an .xml document that will look good in EMARS?
ANSWER:
See Page 59 in the Advanced Procurement Training Manual. This manual can be found on the eMARS website as well.
20. How do you get the billing and ship to locations changed or updated so that you can show contact names? I know you can add the info in the document under shipping and billing but it does not print out.
ANSWER:
There are no contact names associated with shipping and billing locations. If you need to provide the information to the vendor you may enter it into the extended description of each line and it will be printed.
21. Please explain the correct way to enter contract items (Sysco, Clems, Flav-O-Rich, Earthgrain etc.). I have been doing UR documents and checking Create Payment box which creates a PRC document for our Accounts Payable person to create an Invoice document for payment processing. By doing this it eliminates the RC document. The merchandise has already been delivered by the time I receive paperwork to process.
ANSWER:
The approach you are using is correct- for further information please review the General Procurement training materials.
22. Why is that when validating on the accounting tab of a multi-invoice
PRC document you get taken back to the first invoice, rather than
remaining on the accounting tab for the
invoice you were entering?
ANSWER:
If you are referring to the fact that if you validate on funding line 3, it takes you back to funding line 1, that, unfortunately, is the nature of eMARS. I suggest saving instead of validating. Then validate at the end.
23. Why is it so difficult and time consuming to prepare a multi-invoice PRC document? You can copy and insert additional vendor tab pages, but you have to create new commodity and accounting pages for every invoice, otherwise you string multiple pages of information (commodity &/or accounting) to invoice #1? Is there not an easier way to accomplish this?
ANSWER:
If these invoices are for the same vendor, you should not be creating
multiple vendor line. Use only one vendor. You can then add multiple
Commodity lines for that vendor with the separate Vendor invoice
numbers. You can copy the Commodity line and change the fields needed.
You can also copy Accounting lines and past them under the multiple
commodity lines or better yet, use the accounting distribution area
to distribute like accounting to all commodity lines.