FinanceFinancial Management System (FMS) - Purchase Cards

Purchase cards - business processes

We have provided an overview of the business process for Purchase Cards and links to the various forms required to request a Purchase Card.

The key features of PCards on FMS are summarised below:

  • cardholders and their proxies will see new ‘Code PCard Transactions’ tasks in their FMS task list as transaction files are uploaded. Default Purchase Card budgets will reflect card transactions as commitments as soon as bank files are uploaded into FMS
  • to set up proxy arrangements for PCards, cardholders should contact finance-helpdesk@strath.ac.uk A proxy can check/code transactions and upload receipt images to FMS on behalf of a cardholder, but cannot submit the statement for approval
  • to complete each ‘Code PCard Transactions’ task, the cardholder or their proxy should:
  1. check the items on each statement
  2. attach any receipts
  3. submit the statement to the cardholder / for approval

Where costs are being charged to multiple sub-projects, it's helpful to approvers if receipts are attached. It's especially helpful if they are attached in a way that makes it easy for the approver to see which receipts relate to which sub-projects. For example, rather than attaching a single document containing receipts for multiple sub-projects, attach a separate document containing receipts for each sub-project.

  • if a proxy completes the reconciliation, the cardholder will receive a task asking them to send the statement for approval
  • sub-project managers will receive a ‘Purchase Card Transaction Approval’ task asking them to approve transactions that have been coded to their subproject

Purchase card documentation

Guidance for processing Purchase Card transactions can be found in two documents:

  • Purchase Card (for Card Holders)
  • Purchase Card Approval (for Sub Project Managers)

You can find the above documents and additional training guides on the Purchase Card SharePoint (login required).

The entire procurement-to-payment (P2P) process is described in detail in the following manuals:

Information on when it is appropriate to use a Purchase Card can be found on the Purchase Card SharePoint (login required).

Purchase card statement dates

Transactions will have a date reflecting when the weekly file from the bank was loaded to the system.

Purchase card training

Training courses on FMS Purchasing are run periodically. Go to the Course Booking site to put your name on a waiting list of this course.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Yes, the Purchase Card holder or proxy can do this within the task.

This is because the enquiry screen has data control applied at a Cost Centre level and you may not  have the permission to see the other Cost Centre.

This is because the enquiry screen has data control on the Cost Centre, you will not have access permission to see the relevant Cost Centre.

Please contact the Finance Helpdesk at finance-helpdesk@strath.ac.uk with details of the subproject.

Please contact the Finance Helpdesk at finance-helpdesk@strath.ac.uk with details of the transaction and subproject

  • each Purchase Card holder has a default Subproject and Activity set up on FMS
  • when an incoming Purchase Card file from the bank is loaded in FMS, the expenditure for each cardholder immediately appears as ‘Approved Amount’ against the Purchase Card holder’s default Subproject and Activity
  • this ‘hard’ commitment against the Cardholders Subproject/Activity can be viewed in the Budget report
  • within the workflow task the Purchase Card holder can change the Subproject for individual items on the statement as required – note, this change will not take effect until the transaction has been approved and is complete in workflow
  • if the cardholder splits a line between two or more Subprojects this won’t affect budgets until the transaction has completed in workflow
  • when the FMS processing for Purchase Cards is complete the spend will then move into the ‘Expenditure’ report column on the budget report

The product on the transaction lines should never be PCARD. If it is then the system will not allow you to progress and will keep returning the line to you each time you attempt to approve it.

You should be able to make this amendment and you will find guidance on how to do this on Account showing as PCARD (pdf) (SharePoint login required).

If you have difficulty please contact the Finance Helpdesk at finance-helpdesk@strath.ac.uk for assistance.

Where the lines have been split in the workflow it is possible to receive the same transaction twice. However it won’t be a duplicate, each task will refer to different lines on the transaction.

For instance, lines that include RESNO in the accounts string take a different path in the workflow because they require to be handled differently.

These are accounting lines that are used by the system. Since they are greyed out it means that users cannot do anything with them. Please ignore these.