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Purchasing Information

Departmental purchases are handled through the EPSS Orders app. Every order follows the same approval path: the requester creates and submits the order, the assigned Supervisor reviews it, the assigned Fund Manager approves the funding, and the Purchasing team completes a final review and issues the Purchase Order. Once a Purchase Order is issued, the order is locked.

The diagram below shows each stage of the workflow, where an order goes when it is returned for changes, and the internal controls built into the system. Click the diagram to view it at full size. If you have questions about the process, please contact the Purchasing team at orders@epss.ucla.edu.

Flowchart of the EPSS Orders approval workflow. A requester creates an order as an editable draft and submits it for Supervisor Review, then Fund Manager Review, then Purchasing Review, which issues the Purchase Order and locks the order. Each review stage can return the order for edits: a supervisor return re-runs the full approval chain, a fund manager return skips the supervisor, and a purchasing return goes back to purchasing only with no re-approval. The diagram also lists internal controls: assigned approvers, separation of duties, an audit log of every status change, and locking on issue.