VWR Training Guide

VWR International Scientific Products is now Purdue University’s preferred scientific products supplier. The Big 10 Purchasing Consortium has entered into a preferred supplier contract with VWR. Please take advantage of the preferred pricing and services negotiated within this contract by utilizing VWR as your scientific products supplier.

The following are some instructions on how to access this new VWR punchout catalog.

Other features:

Edit (from Ariba requisition): Once you have “checked out” of your VWR punchout session and pulled the selected items back into your Ariba requisition, if you want to edit those items, click on the Edit button in the middle of the Ariba requisition screen which is to the right of the Catalog and Non-Catalog buttons. This will re-initiate your punchout session (open a new browser window), and you may then edit the catalog item from the VWR punchout catalog. When you are finished with your edits, “check out” again from the VWR punchout catalog and go back to your Ariba requisition.

Info: For approvers in the routing path when the requisition is submitted for approval, there will be a red Info button the middle of the screen on the Details tab. Clicking this Info button will re-initiate the punchout session in order for the approver(s) to be able to view the punchout catalog items from the punchout web site. Note also that this Info button will be viewable by the end user.

The info “globe”: For punchout catalog orders, the globe icon in the “Info.” field will appear to the right of the order number from the Details tab view of the requisition. Note that unlike CIF file catalogs, this info “globe” will not open a new browser window to display a photo of the selected item. In order to view the punchout catalog item, you must click on the red Edit button (if it is in Submitted status) or the red Info button (if it is in Ordered status). Clicking on the info “globe” will attempt to open a new browser window, but the page will not be displayed. You must re-initiate the punchout session via the Edit or Info buttons to view the punchout items from the punchout catalog.

Other items of interest:

Purdue pricing: Note that the prices that you see in the VWR punchout catalog are Purdue-specific prices offered to Purdue by VWR per the Big 10 Purchasing Consortium contract.

No Multiple Ship To’s or Deliver To’s: Please do not submit one order with multiple Ship To’s or Deliver To’s on one order to VWR. If you need to have different line items shipped to different campus locations or you have different Deliver To information for different line items, please create a new requisition for each Ship To and Deliver To. VWR’s ordering system cannot handle multiple Ship To’s or Deliver To’s on one order.

Ghosted Pcard: All orders to VWR will be sent using a university Ghosted credit card for payment. VWR will charge this credit card and the charges will automatically reconcile in Ariba. Therefore, all orders with VWR will be “PC” orders, yet the business office staff will not to have reconcile the transactions. The account number(s) listed on the order will be charged and posted to the general ledger. Accounting Services, West Lafayette campus, will handle any discrepancies in VWR’s Ghosted Pcard reconciliation.

No bookmarking: Note that there is no way to “bookmark” individual line items within the VWR punchout catalog in Ariba. If you are ordering something that you think you may order frequently, you may want to create a special folder in Explore for this order so that you may look up the product number from this order in the future.

Copied orders: If you copy a previous VWR punchout catalog order to create a new order for the same product, Ariba will copy the description of the item in the description field, but does not recognize the order as a punchout catalog order. In order to pass the appropriate information to VWR for punchout orders, it is necessary to re-initiate your punchout session and select the items from the punchout catalog, add them to your order, then “checkout” for every requisition.

Electronic Ordering: In the Supplier Location field of the requisition, note that the Order Method field will display “Electronic Ordering.” This means that the requisition is being sent to the supplier via the Ariba Commerce Services Network (ACSN) rather than via fax or email. The supplier may then pull the order in any of the following methods: HTML, EDI, cXML, fax, or email.

Comments: Because orders with VWR will now be passed directly to VWR’s ordering system via the ACSN, the Comments field on your Ariba requisition will be ignored by VWR’s system. This is so that orders can be filled immediately, without the human intervention of having to manually read comments on requisitions, which could hold up the order. If you have questions on an order or a comment to communicate to VWR regarding your order, please contact VWR’s customer service at (800) 932-5000.

Attachments: Because orders with VWR will now be passed directly to VWR’s ordering system via the ACSN, any Attachments that you add to your Ariba requisition for the supplier will be ignored by VWR’s system. This is so that orders can be filled immediately, without the human intervention of having to manually read attachments on requisitions, which could hold up the order. If you have questions, comments, or attachments for an order to VWR, please contact VWR’s customer service at (800) 932-5000.

Non-catalog orders: Note that because orders with VWR will now be passed directly to VWR’s ordering system via the ACSN, non-catalog orders cannot be read by VWR’s ordering system and will have to be handled manually at VWR. Therefore, non-catalog orders may take longer to be filled than catalog orders. If you cannot find the product that you seek in the VWR catalog, please call VWR customer service for assistance at (800) 932-5000. If you still need to place a non-catalog order to VWR, please note that this order will have to be manually processed at VWR. If you know the product number, please enter it at the beginning of the description field of a non-catalog order to VWR. If VWR cannot determine which product(s) you are attempting to order on your non-catalog order, they may have to call you (the end user) to clarify your order.

Cancel and change orders: Because orders, once sent to VWR, are processed and filled immediately, the products will be on their way to you and it will be too late to change or cancel the order. Go ahead and receive the order and then call VWR customer service at (800) 932-5000 for return information and credit if necessary.

History Tab: The History Tab of a VWR order in “Ordered” status will display “Order #__ was successfully sent to VWR Scientific Products.” This indicates that the order was sent via the ACSN, rather than via fax or email.

Shipping and Delivery: Orders placed before noon Central time will be delivered next-day. Orders will be shipped via UPS.

Contact information: