10.13 How to Approve a dPR

Overview

1. When a dPR is trailered, the amount is encumbered on your account and the approval requirements are determined. Three types of approvers may be required to review the dPR.
   1. Departmental/college approval is required on all dPRs.
      1. The number of departmental approvers is determined by the department.

      2. To establish or modify your departmental approval structure, complete the dPR Approval Setup Form.

      3. When approving capital purchases of $25,000 or more on federal funds, the approver is certifying that they have determined that the University does not have equipment in its inventory that could be used on the project. For items under $25,000 the departmental approver is indicating that existing equipment is not available to to meet the new requirement. The following procedure can be used to determine if equipment is available for use.

         Step 1 - Determine the Class Code (Screen 581)

         • Go to screen 581. The information on this screen can be viewed numerically or alphabetically.
         • To view the class codes numerically, TAB to the "ENTER STARTING CLASS CODE:" field. Enter the first number of the six digit class code where you want to start; press ENTER.
         • To view the class codes alphabetically, TAB to the "PARTIAL CLASS DESCRIPTION FOR ALPHABETIC LIST:" field. Enter the letter you want to search by; press ENTER. The class codes will display alphabetically starting with the letter selected.

         Step 2 - Search for Available or Surplus Property (Screen 539)

         • Go to screen 539.
         • TAB to CLASS:
         • Enter the Class code (from screen 581) which identifies the type of capital property.
         • TAB to AVAILABILITY:
         • Enter AV (Available to use) or EX (turned into Materiel Management). Press ENTER.
         • If there is any property available to use or purchase interdepartmentally within this class, the equipment and its A Tag number will display.
         • The equipments acquisition date and custodian can be viewed on screens 503 and 504 respectively.

   2. Fund accountant approval is required any time the dPR in total equals or exceeds $1,000.

   3. Special approval may be required in certain instances (see section 10.11, Table 1).

2. Approvers use screen 29K to list and approve dPRs. This screen provides SEL options to review dPRs prior to approval. You may set optional displays on screen 29K (for example, viewing dPRs that are ready for your approval).

3. After approval, the dPR is removed from screen 29K for that approver. When all approvals are complete, the dPR is ready for Purchasing.

4. Departments can modify a dPR until it is fully approved. To change dPRs that are fully approved, refer to section 10.12. If the funding changes (account number, object code, quantity or unit price), the dPR must be retrailered and is routed for approval again. If funding is not affected, the retrailered dPR returns to Purchasing for processing.

5. You can view dPRs on screen 29S to determine who has and has not approved a dPR.

   Approval Passwords

6. An authorized approver is a person who has been delegated the authority to approve requisitions at the departmental or fund accountant level.

7. An approval password is required to approve dPRs. To approve a dPR the approver must enter the authorized approver's FRS user ID and approval password on screen 29K, dPR Approval.

8. Use of the Approval Password:
   1. The authorized approver is responsible for setting the approval password and informing the alternate approvers as needed. Approval passwords are limited to 8 alphabetic and/or numeric characters.

   2. The approval password should NOT be the same as the authorized approver's sign-on password.

   3. The approval password should be changed periodically. The approval password should always be changed when there is a change in staff or if there is reason to believe that an unauthorized person has access to the approval password.

9. To change your approval password, see 10.13, Screen 29U, par. 2.

   Alternate Approvers

10. An alternate approver is a person who has been given signing authority by an authorized approver. To approve a dPR the alternate approver enters the authorized approver's FRS user ID and approval password on screen 29K.

    Changing dPRs as an approver

11. If you are reviewing dPRs using the SEL option H, notice that the message "INQUIRY ACCESS ONLY; PRESS ENTER TO CONTINUE" appears at the top of each dPR create screen. This message means that you are in inquiry mode and cannot make any changes to the dPR.

    If you want to make a change, type the screen number in the SCREEN field and press ENTER. The message now displaying at the top of your screen is "DPR IS PENDING APPROVAL." Make the required changes; and, if you change the amount of the dPRs or the account number(s) or object code(s), trailer the dPR (screen 29T) to adjust the encumbrance.

For example, if you type S in the SEL column next to a displayed dPR on screen 29K and press ENTER, you are routed to screen 29S. When you press ENTER again, you are returned to screen 29K.

To use an SEL option, TAB to the SEL column next to the dPR you wish to review or approve. Type one of the letters listed at the bottom of the screen and press ENTER. The selected dPR appears in the DOCUMENT field at the top of the screen.

If the action takes you to linked screens, continue pressing ENTER until you return to the original screen. The dPR listed in the DOCUMENT field on the original screen is highlighted in the body of the screen and appears at the top of the list. To refresh the screen, press PAGE FORWARD or PAGE BACKWARD.

SEL Option	Linked Screens	Purpose
A (Approve)	Not applicable	To approve a dPR.
H (Header)	29H -> 29E -> 29V -> 29L -> Original screen	To review a completed dPR.
S (Signature Status)	29S -> Original screen	To review who has and has not approved the selected dPR.
N (Notepad)	22N -> Original screen	To review existing notepads or to add notepads.
P (Print)	Not applicable	For Purchasing office use only. Purchasing can use this option to print a dPR in the Purchasing office.
W (Route Tracking)	29W -> Original screen	Displays the key milestones in the life of the dPR.
E (Funding Summary)	29E -> Original screen	To review the dPR's funding.
B (Requisition Status)	29B -> 29C -> 29D-> 29E -> 29F	Displays summary information for the dPR. If the dPR has been transferred to a PO or PPO, pressing ENTER will route you through the listed PO/PPO screens. This SEL option does NOT return to the original screen.

1. An FRS ID is required to review dPRs in an authorized approvers in-basket. When a user accesses screen 29K, their user ID and name or the default user ID and name automatically fill in. Press enter to view dPRs requiring approval.
   • AUTHORIZED APPROVER (FRS USER) ID: To review dPRs requiring another user's approval, type the user's FRS ID.

   • APPROVAL PASSWORD: To approve dPRs, type the authorized approvers' approval password.

2. The following fields can be used to limit the number of dPRs that display based on selected criteria. The user may manually type in the selection criteria or may define defaults using screen 29U.
   • DEPT: Type a five digit department number to review dPRs for a specific department.

   • CLASS: Type the one digit class number to review dPRs assigned a particular class. This field is not table defined and definitions may be assigned as appropriate within fund accountant teams or departments. This field is tied to the FRS User ID.

   • DISPLAY PREFERENCE: Type C (Conditional) to review dPRs requiring your approval next. To review all dPRs requiring your approval, including frozen dPRs leave this field blank.

3. The SEL field allows you to choose an option for reviewing and approving a dPR. TAB to the SEL column next to the dPR you wish to review or approve. Type one of the letters listed at the bottom of the screen and press ENTER. If you choose A to approve the dPR, the message "DPR Approved" appears. Press enter again and the dPR is removed from the screen. Once a dPR is fully approved, the approval cannot be revoked on line. However, if the dPR is not fully approved, approvals can be discarded by untrailering the dPR, refer to 10.14, Special Processing.

4. The body of the screen provides selected information about the listed dPRs.
   • TYPE: Identifies the dPR type.

   • C/N: Identifies in which fiscal year the dPR is encumbered: C - Current, N - Next.

   • FRZN: F indicates a frozen dPR. Frozen dPRs will not display if there is a C in the DISPLAY PREFERENCE field.

   • DOC DATE: Indicates the date the dPR was created.

   • NOTES: Y indicates that notepads exist. Type N next to a dPR to review and/or add notepads.

   • ATTACH: Y indicates that attachments exist.

   • CL: Identifies the class code assigned by the above FRS user ID. When a dPR is trailered, the class code assigned is 1. To change the class code, type a number (0 - 9) in the SEL column next to one or more dPRs and press enter.

Use this screen to view and maintain a profile for each user and to change approval passwords.

1. When you access this screen, your FRS User ID and name automatically fill in. Press ENTER to display current user defaults.

   Change approval passwords

2. Type the current approval password. TAB to NEW APPROVAL PASSWORD, type the new approval password. TAB to CONFIRM and retype the new approval password. Press ENTER.

   Establish screen 29K display options

3. Screen 29K has been designed to allow approvers to view dPRs that meet certain criteria. This criteria can either be typed on screen 29K or, to save time, default display options can be established for the most frequently used criteria: authorized approver IDs, department, class code and display preference. Established defaults can be overridden by typing new information in the appropriate field. If you have overridden a default, the defaults will be refreshed the next time you sign on to FRS.
   • Authorized Approver ID: To review dPRs for a specific authorized approver, type in the authorized approver's FRS ID. His or her name appears in the NAME field after you press ENTER.

   • Department: To review dPRs for a specific department, type the five digit department number.

   • Class: To review dPRs assigned a unique class code, type a number 0 - 9. The class code (0 - 9) can be used to categorize dPRs. Class codes default to 1 when the dPR is trailered and are tied to an FRS user ID. When the class code is changed, the new class code is visible only when viewing with that approver's FRS user ID.

   • Purchasing Unit: Purchasing use only.

   • Display Preference: When a dPR is trailered, required approvals are determined and the dPR is placed in each approver's in-basket regardless of who needs to sign next. Therefore when you access screen 29K every dPR that at some point will require your approval displays. To limit the dPRs that you review to the ones that are ready for your approval, set the default display preference to C (Conditional).

maintained by: Floyd Roman
last reviewed: 6/30/04