All office supplies aside from toner and stamps are ordered through Staples Business Advantage.
Each office or division is assigned an annual budget, and has a person or persons responsible for placing orders and managing this budget.
You have access to the entire Staples Business site, yet Finance has created a shared list that you have access to in order to help finding those items CPCS has already received “preferred pricing” on – search in this list first or search on the general site and filter on “CPCS Preferred Items” to ensure that you, your unit, and the agency, all get the be:
If you cannot find something “preferred” that your office needs, please contact [email protected] to have that item sent over to our vendor for “preferred pricing” review and to see if we can get the price any lower. In most circumstances, this request will be approved, yet some items get a larger discount than others, all based on the contract that CPCS & Staples has together.
Finance does not require a purchase requisition for office supply orders, but we do require the packing slip be sent as soon as possible to [email protected] when the order is received – include your name or initials and the date along with any notes you may want to include. If this information is not included in your email, we will have to follow up with you.
When you place an order on the Staples Business site, your order will automatically be approved so long as it is within budget. If your order goes above your budget, a member of the Finance Team (currently Eric Collins, Jen St. James, Danielle Wong, or Sheppo Fisher) will review your order and have the option to approve, decline, or edit said order, as needed. Offices are expected to stay within budget.
FAQ
How do I check my budget?
There are 2 ways to review your current budget balance:
- Click your name/account to bring down some settings, which includes your budget balance (currently $0 since taken before new fiscal year):
- During the checkout process, you’ll be able to review the current balance, the current expenses in cart, and what your budget would be after purchase:
How was my budget determined? Can it be increased?
Office budgets were determined with a combination of past spending, number of staff in current unit, number of staff hired new, as well as the agency’s total overall fiscal year budget figure.
An initial budget will be loaded on/around July 1st and then additional funds will be loaded on/around January 1st. If going over your budget or requesting additional funds, the first question that will be asked is, “why is this office spending more this year than in previous years?” If Finance has a valid business reason, then we can figure out what an updated budget should look like and go from there.