Once an order is placed or a Change Order submitted in the McGill MarketPlace (MMP):
- Fund Financial Manager(s) of the FOAPAL(s) charged and/or any approval delegates* they have named, will receive email notifications to approve orders.
- Clicking on the link in the email will bring them to the Approve Documents menu option in Minerva (view the How To Use Minerva page).
- This notification occurs at 10am and 2pm daily.
- Email notifications are sent in the order of the approval queue - once the 1st approver approves the requisition, the "next" approver receives the notification email.
If the individual who placed the order in MMP is also the FFM/PI or Approval Delegate of the fund charged, approval is automatically recorded upon "placing the order" in MMP.
It is important to perform approvals at a minimum twice daily (before 11 a.m. and before 3 p.m.) to ensure catalog orders are placed with vendors in the same working day.
Note:
Once a requisition or a change order is submitted in MMP, the system will add GST & QST to the requisition amount, regardless of whether or not the supplier collects taxes. When approving a document, the total amount to approve will include these taxes. When payment of associated invoices are processed, the Supplier will be paid the amount displayed on the invoice.
* Approval delegation records are created in Minerva using the Finance > Procurement Administration Menu > Delegate Approval of Purchase Requisitions, Change Orders and PCard Transactions menu option (view the How To Use Minerva page).
Email Notifications and Approvers
If an FFM/PI has no delegates, the Purchase Requisition (PR) or Change Order always goes straight to the FFM/PI for approval.
If an FFM/PI has set-up approval delegates, the delegate need not approve PRs and Change Orders which are over the "Subsequent approval required over" limit. However, in these cases, this means that the FFM/PI will never receive the email notification to approve the PR or Change Order since they are not the "next" Approver.
Frequently Asked Questions
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| I received an email to approve a purchase requisition and I do not know what it is for. What should I do? | Click on the link provided in the email. You will be prompted to log in to Minerva and it will bring you to the Approve Documents screen. Click on the Submit Query button and then click on the hyperlinked document number - document details such as commodities ordered, the originator of the requisition and their contact information will be displayed. You may then contact the originator of the requisition for more information. |
| I came back from vacation and see there are numerous documents to approve. I want to approve all documents in my queue, but, the system does not let me. Why? | Based on the transaction date, a document must be approved before the fiscal period (month) closes. Should the month close and a document has pending approvals, the Originator will need to re-submit the document. |
|
I received an email to approve a purchase requisition but the amount and document number do not match the information I have received from my colleague. Why is that? |
Amount - Once a requisition is submitted in MMP, the system will add both GST & QST to the requisition amount regardless of whether or not the supplier collects taxes. In addition to GST and QST, you may be charged additional fees relating to shipping, brokerage (international purchases), and gains or losses on exchange rates. Your authorization of this order confirms your acceptance of these additional fees. Document Number - The reference number generated in MMP is 8-digits, i.e. 45307527 and the requisition number provided in the email starts with R0, i.e R0444351. This is the number generated in Banner for the same order. |
| I received the notification email that there are pending purchase requisitions waiting for my approval, but the amount in the notification email is different from the amount displaying in Minerva when I am querying the requisition in the View Document menu. Which is the correct amount? | Refer to the amount displayed in the Total field when querying the document in Minerva. This is the total amount of the purchase requisition, including taxes. (The amount appearing in the notification email is the rounded dollar amount). The amount in the Total field is in CDN dollars, regardless of the currency in which the payment will be issued. | In cases where a requisition is being charged to more than 1 FOAPAL sequence (split-FOAPAL), scroll down to the Requisition Accounting section and refer to the amount that appears in the Amount field for your FOAPAL line. |
| I submitted a purchase requisition in MMP and I see that it is still pending. Why has a Purchase Order not yet been issued? | All approvals must be completed before a Purchase Order is issued. Use the Approve Documents menu option to query "All documents which you may approve" and then click on the History link, OR, use the View Document menu option to query the MMP requisition and click on the Approval History button (view the How To Use Minerva page). Approvals that have been recorded as well as approvals that are still pending/required will be displayed. |
| I followed the instructions in the notification email and received a message saying "Query returned no records". Why is that? |
This means that the document is no longer pending your approval. This happens for one of two reasons:
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| What happens once a document is disapproved? |
The document is removed from all approval queues and the system sends an email to the originator of the document - the email contains the explanation entered when the document was disapproved. To re-submit a disapproved Purchase Requisition, use the "Copy to New Cart" function in MMP. |
| I placed an order in MMP and want to cancel it. I followed the steps, but the requisition no longer appears for me to disapprove. I know it was approved. What do I do now? | You may only disapprove a requisition prior to the last required approval. Once a requisition is approved, a Purchase Order is issued and you must follow the instructions located on the MMP homepage, under Quick Links, in order to learn how to cancel your own PO. |
| I received an email to approve a purchase requisition, but I should no longer be an approver on the fund charged/I do not want to be an approval delegate. What should I do? | If you know that there are other approval delegates named for the same fund, simply contact the FFM/PI and ask them to revoke your delegation record(s) or contact the individual in your Unit who normally oversees these functions. Only the Fund Financial Manager (FFM) or Principal Investigator (PI) may revoke approved delegation records. The other delegate will then approve the order. If you choose to disapprove the purchase requisition, this means that the order will need to be resubmitted in MMP. Be sure to ask the FFM/PI to revoke your delegation record before a new order is submitted in MMP, otherwise, you will once again receive the email to approve the order. |