Business Office

All purchases, reimbursements, PCard transactions and travel authorizations require a
public purpose per FIN119.

A public purpose should explain how a purchase benefits the university or aligns with
the intent and guidelines of grant and/or research funding—it is not simply a description
of the item being purchased. Tools like ChatGPT can be helpful in drafting clear and
effective public purpose statements.

Purchasing

Example
Toner cartridge needed for the research office in order to print out research-related documents, proposals and other department-related correspondence and forms. This
purchase benefits the school by allowing me to provide accurate, necessary
documentation.

Reimbursement

Example
Lunch meeting with NAU Research Director, Bob Miller. This meeting was required during the lunch hour due to conflicting schedules and provided valuable interaction to promote research findings pertinent to ASU-funded projects.

Travel

Example
Traveling to Los Angeles, CA to present autism research findings at the National Science Foundation conference. Will help promote SEMTE and ASU and benefit the school by presenting the latest research to colleagues and other researchers.

Submit a purchase request via email

Email [email protected] with the following information:

• Quote or list of items to order — links or stock numbers are preferred
• Complete business purpose — not description of items being purchased
• PI, cost center manager or director approval
• The cost center and the appropriate account, gift or grant to be charged

Note: Missing or incomplete information will delay order processing.

Delivery requirement: All items purchased with ASU funds must be delivered to Central Processing (ALMDBR).

PCard purchase requests

For conference registrations or purchases requiring login credentials:

• Contact your SEMTE Business Operations representative
• Schedule an appointment to complete the transaction in the office using the PCard

Order processing timeline

• Requests are processed within approximately 48 hours, depending on volume
• Please allow sufficient time for processing and shipping
• Avoid submitting last-minute requests

If a vendor is not listed in Workday, additional time may be required to onboard the vendor, which can delay the order.

Computer or software purchases

Please contact [email protected] prior to making any computer or software purchase requests.

Purchases exceeding $1,000 (excluding tax and shipping):

• If the item is for research purposes only, it may qualify for tax exemption
• Include a completed tax-exempt PDF form with your request

For purchases exceeding $10,000:

• Contact the business office in advance
• Additional documentation may be required, depending on the vendor and purchase details

If it is necessary for you to make a purchase using personal funds, please submit the
original itemized receipt(s) along with the completed reimbursement form to the
business office.

• Reimbursement form

Reimbursements exceeding $1,000 require additional approvals from the Dean, Vice President and the Director of ASU Purchasing. It is strongly discouraged.

Conference registration fees should be included with travel requests and corresponding expense reports. As a best practice, use a PCard when possible or submit a purchasing request through the SEMTE business office — see purchasing tab.

Reimbursements must be submitted within 60 days of the receipt date, in accordance with the financial services policy FIN 420-01.

Meal reimbursements

Submit meal reimbursement requests to the SEMTE Purchasing inbox. Your request
must include:

• Itemized receipt
• Cost center and Program/Gift/Grant to charge
• Public purpose
• Approvals as necessary
• List of attendees

*Alcohol cannot be reimbursed with ASU funds.
** Maximum reimbursement is $40 per person per meal before tax and tip.

Faculty, staff and students needing a room for school-related meetings and events can use the Room reservation form.

Conference rooms and classrooms listed below can be scheduled through Outlook by our office and can be processed immediately since these reservations only involve our office. All other classroom requests take longer to process since our office is simply submitting a request on your behalf that needs to be approved through University Classroom Scheduling. Note that the Provost’s office asks for a MINIMUM of 72 hours to process requests to University Classroom Scheduling; thus, requests made within 72 hours of your event might not be scheduled.

Please know that our office will always do the best we can to complete your request in a timely manner. 

When your request is submitted, you will receive an automated notification. Once your request is complete, we will send you an email confirmation.

If you need to change or cancel your reservation, please provide as much notice as possible by contacting [email protected]. 

List of rooms which may be reserved

All Packages should be delivered to ASU Central Processing

All Tempe campus business-related small package deliveries from Amazon, FedEx,
UPS and other carriers will need to be delivered to Central Receiving, or ALMDBR, for
distribution by Supply Chain Operations to campus delivery centers, as indicated on
the shipping labels. The delivery center code, DC:6106, will coincide with the current
mail code locations for simplification.

For U.S. Mail:

Arizona State University
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy
Attn: (Receiver’s Name)
P.O. Box 876106
Tempe AZ 85287-6106

ASU mail services deliver mail and pick up outgoing mail daily at approximately
10:00 am. There is also a USPS mailbox located on the north side of the ASU Bookstore on
Orange Street. Pick-up for the bookstore mailbox is 12:30 pm Monday through Friday.

Federal Express Shipping/Mailing Labels

Shipments are not sent from the business office. Any requests for shipments and the FedEx
account number must be sent to [email protected]. The email must include the
following:

• Account number with cost center
• Approval from Pl or faculty
• Business purpose

All travel involving an overnight stay must be fully approved before any purchases are made. 

Your request must include estimated total trip expenses, such as: 

• Airfare 
• Hotel  
• Transportation, including Uber, taxi, parking, etc.
• Daily allowances, such as meals
• Conference registration fees

Required attachments:

• PDF of conference home page showing dates and locations
• Airfare comparison if the trip includes personal travel
• PI or faculty approval — as needed
• An authorized driver certificate if the request includes car rental fees

After your travel request has been fully approved, you may book and purchase airfare, lodging, rental cars and other business travel through the travel system, Concur, or through another booking platform. 

EXPENSE REPORTS MUST BE COMPLETED WITHIN 30 DAYS OF THE TRIP END DATE

For detailed travel assistance, please reference the My ASU TRIP Manual or contact your SEMTE business office delegate.

PCard Holder Responsibilities

PCard holders must adhere to the PCard Restricted List. PCard holders that purchase an item on the restricted list — without an exception from the PCard office PRIOR to purchase — will receive a written warning from the business staff. A second offense will be communicated to the school Director. A third offense will result in the cancellation of the PCard.

Submitting Supporting Documentation

After a PCard is used for a purchase, the PCard holder is responsible for submitting the proper documentation to [email protected] within 2 business days of the purchase. Proper documentation includes:

• Clearly stated business purpose
• Receipts or invoices — Quotes do NOT suffice
• Business Meals Form, including a list of attendees, for business meals only
• Account number with approval from the account manager, staff purchases require BOM approval
• Additional documentation as needed
• Students using PI PCard: Written approval from PI must be included in supporting documentation — A delegation of use form may also be used

*Failure to submit required documentation in a timely manner could result in the loss of PCard privileges.