FAQ | Procurement Services

Frequently Asked Questions

The cyBUY Contract Marketplace is an e-procurement system available through AccessPlus where ISU employees can browse and shop online catalogs with ISU’s contracted vendors. Shoppers can create online carts, which are routed to releasers (typically administrative personnel in your department) for review before being submitted to the vendor as an order.

Why should I use cyBUY?

As a cyBUY user, you have:

Access to university contracts and pricing.
One password access to multiple vendor catalogs.
Online tracking of orders and order history.
Paperless direct‐to‐vendor orders.
Increase order accuracy by submitting electronic orders.
Simple and easy online shopping for scientific equipment and supplies, computers, books and office supplies.
Placing orders through cyBUY allows procurement services to get an accurate picture of how much is being spent with each vendor, and because of that volume, negotiate better pricing agreements.

Who has access to the cyBUY catalogs?

All ISU employees, including graduate assistants and hourly employees, are able to access cyBUY under the uBusiness tab in AccessPlus. If you are an employee and you have lost access to cyBUY, especially if you are a graduate assistant or a student employee, you might lose access around winter and spring graduation if your employment term has expired. Access will be automatically restored when your employment term is extended.

What to do if it is not restored

Contact the staff person in your department responsible for human resources issues.

Can I be both a shopper and releaser?

Yes. The shopper selects the items to purchase and submits the cart to the cyBUY marketplace to the releaser to review. The releaser reviews the order and submits the order to the vendor. The shopper and the releaser can be the same individual.

How were these vendors chosen to be on cyBUY?

Procurement Services chooses the vendors on cyBUY based on competitively bid contracts, sales volume, and the vendor’s ability to provide online catalogs that are compatible with the cyBUY Contract Marketplace. Prcourement intends to continue to add vendors over time as they are able to provide online catalogs and if significant value can be realized.

Can I still purchase items from vendors that are not on cyBUY?

Yes, but if the items are available from vendors in cyBUY and you find equivalent products with lower pricing elsewhere, contact procurement services for assistance. We may be able to work with our contracted vendors to match or quote a lower price, especially for larger quantities. If you need items not offered equivalently through these vendors, you may go outside the cyBUY marketplace. Procurement services can also help with sourcing items if you are not sure where to find them.

Is there a dollar limit for cyBUY orders?

Orders totaling $50,000 may require written competitive bids to be obtained. Any orders below this amount may be purchased through a cyBUY vendor. Orders over $50,000 may still be created and routed in cyBUY, but will be reviewed by Procurement Services to determine if bidding should take place.Because the contracts with cyBUY vendors are competitively bid, spending limits for users are higher. If you are purchasing a large quantity of an item or a large dollar amount, contact the vendor representative or Procurement Services because the vendor may be able to provide a lower price for larger quantities.

Can I still order by phone or with my p-card?

If placing an order with a vendor that is available on cyBUY, the order should be placed through cyBUY on AccessPlus and not by phone or with a p-card.

If I have a vendor quote, how can I get the quoted price through cyBuy?

Some vendors allow the shopper to enter quote numbers on their catalog sites and add items from the quote to your cart. For information about quoted prices from other cyBUY vendors, contact procurement services.

Vendors that allow shoppers to enter quote numbers in cyBUY:

Airgas	Grainger
Bio-Rad	Graybar
CDW	Hewlett Packard
Complete Book and Media	Newark - Element 13
Dell	Sigma Aldrich
Eppendorf	VWR
Fisher

What information do I need to provide to create an order?

This may include information such as account number, business purpose, or project name. Additionally, where principal investigator approval may be needed, email communication to the releaser may be used.

How is the “ship to” address for orders determined or changed?

Each ISU employee will have a cyBUY user record, set up by procurement services. The initial “ship-to” address for orders placed through cyBUY will be the address on record for you with human resources (check the ISU Directory for your information). However, this address may be changed, either for all orders or for individual orders. The ship-to address on your record can be changed by a releaser in your department or procurement services. To change the ship to address on an individual order, the address can be changed by the releaser before the order is sent to the vendor.

How is the fund account assigned to my order?

When creating a cart in the cyBUY marketplace, shoppers have a Fund Account/Notes box to provide information to the releaser. The releaser enters the fund account number before releasing the order. The fund account may be changed when the payment to the vendor is processed by the department.

What is a release number?

It is the number that is associated with your order before it is sent to the vendor for order fulfillment. Once the order is placed with the vendor, the vendor recognizes this number as the customer purchase order number or "PO#".

How can I tell the status of my order?

All shoppers and releasers will have access to view their orders as they are processed through the cyBUY system and AccessPlus. Some of the vendor websites will also display order status information.

Vendors that display order information include:

Airgas	Hewlett Packard
American Education Supply	McKesson
B&H Photo	Medline
Bio-Rad	MWI
CDW	Newark
Cresent Electric	Office Depot
Dell	Perkin Elmer
Fisher	Sigma Aldrich
Thermo Fisher	Supply Works
Graybar	VWR
Henry Schein

How are orders released? Will there be a delay in the order getting to the vendor because it has to go to a releaser?

Once you submit a cart from the cyBUY marketplace, it will be sent to your releaser for review. Each shopper may be assigned up to three releasers to ensure timely processing of orders.

How are order confirmations received and who received them?

If the vendor provides order confirmations, they will email the confirmation to the individual placing the order (the shopper).

How do I change my cyBUY order?

If the order has already been released to the vendor, you must call the vendor sales representative or customer service department to change the order. The contact information for each vendor can be found on the cyBUY marketplace main page. If the order has not been released to the vendor, the order may be cancelled by a releaser but cannot be changed.

How do I cancel my cyBUY order?

If the order has already been released to the vendor, you must call the vendor sales representative or customer service department to cancel the order. The vendor needs to cancel the order in their system and procurement services needs to cancel the order in cyBUY. To have an order cancelled in cyBUY, email the release number to cybuy@iastate.edu.

How will payments be processed?

Payments for cyBUY orders are charged to a ghost card which is a virtual credit card, similar to a p-card, but issued to a vendor rather than to individual cardholders. Order payments are matched to the cyBUY release by the unique release number assigned when the order is created.

How is the payment approved?

Approvers (fiscal officer & delegates) log in to E-Forms Approval in AccessPlus under the uBusiness tab. Approved payment forms are posted to the Kuali Financial System (KFS).

What paperwork will I need for orders placed through cyBUY?

No paperwork is required for orders placed through cyBUY. However, it is recommended that departments retain the packing slips by attaching them to the release as a way of verifying the goods have been received. Other paperwork is not required because line item detail for each order and the electronic invoice information for payments, passed through the credit card system, are shown on each cyBUY order.

What do I do if I attached a wrong file to my release?

Not to worry, as long as you also have the correct files attached to the release it is not a problem.

Why is there a credit on my cyBUY order? How do I process credits?

A vendor may issue a credit for a price change or discrepancy. Or, the credit could be the result of a returned or exchanged item on the order. Credits are processed the same as payments.

How do I become a releaser?

For releaser access, the department must initiate an Administrative Systems Request (ASR) for the employee through IT Services and cyBUY user training is required. Enrollment in the monthly training sessions is available through Learn@ISU.

Can I set up hotlists or favorites?

Many of the vendor catalogs offer the option of setting up hotlists or favorites. The method of setting up hotlists and favorites may vary from one vendor catalog to another. If you currently have hotlists or favorites set up with a vendor through their direct website, they will not transfer to the cyBUY catalogs. Contact procurement services for additional questions about setting up or using hotlists or favorites.

Can I buy equipment thorugh cyBUY, and how is it approved?

Yes, equipment may be purchased through cyBUY. Once an order is processed by the releaser, any single item priced at or above $5,000 will be sent to the Procurement Services Department for review. Procurement will secure required approvals and release the order to the vendor.

How are hazardous materials charges handled for cyBUY orders?

The 5 percent hazardous material surcharge rate will be applied to orders to Bio-Rad, Perkin Elmer, Qiagen and Sigma‐Aldrich.

Orders to CDW, Dell, Fisher Scientific, HP, McKesson, Midwest Vet Supply, MWI Vet Supply, Promega, Rainin and VWR will be charged at the 1.75 percent rate. No surcharge will be applied to orders to other vendors.

Can I order materials requiring a DEA license?

cyBUY vendors which sell materials regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration may require input of your DEA license number at checkout, and a copy of the license to be faxed to them before materials are shipped.

What is the role of TechCyte, now that computers can be ordered directly from Dell?

TechCyte will still be available to assist in configuring computer systems and to provide technical support. Computers ordered by TechCyte will be placed through the Dell catalog on cyBUY and will be delivered directly to the “ship-to” address on the order.

What if the vendor site asks for a password?

A password is not required on any of the vendor sites in the cyBUY marketplace. If you are prompted to enter a password, you may need to clear your Internet cache and then go back to their site through the cyBUY link on AccessPlus. If you continue to experience issues with a vendor site, contact procurement services.

How do I set up a return?

Contact the vendor representative listed in the left-hand column of the cyBUY marketplace. Provide the order number, and the items you wish to return. The representative will create a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) which will be emailed to you. Repackage the items you wish to return according to their instructions and send it back through ISU postal and parcel. This is true for all external vendors except for Office Depot, those returns may be requested on this site or by calling the Office Depot customer service number. A return authorization email will be sent to you, forward the email to Logistics & support services (formerly central stores) LSS, at tawilson@iastate.edu. LSS will pick up the items to be returned.

What do I do when I experience technical difficulties on cyBUY?

Clearing your internet cache can correct a lot of technical issues experienced in cyBUY. Also, if you are using Internet Explorer 8 for your internet browser, you may need to change to Compatibility View. To do this, click the Compatibility View toolbar button:

Who should I contact if I have more questions?

For more information about cyBUY, contact:

cybuy@iastate.edu
Kaitlyn Carlson, customer relations, 294-4923
Ella Wichers, cyBUY program coordinator, 294-8577
Lesley Lackore, system administrator, 294‐4589
Procurement help desk, 294‐4860

Frequently Asked Questions

cyBUY Overview

Placing Orders on cyBUY

cyBUY Payment Process

Other cyBUY questions