Selling departments and service center operations

In-house operations that provide goods and services are called service center operations. Authorization must be obtained from the Controller's Department (Financial Accounting and Reporting Office) before engaging in a new service center activity. Service center operations must follow established guidelines for rate development as well as procedures for doing business both on and off campus. In addition, rates must be reviewed at least annually and adjusted if necessary.

Sales of goods or services to other university departments or accounts within the university system are internal sales. All internal sales, including those to grant accounts, are considered internal service provider (ISP) transactions. Requests to process ISP journal entries in Workday should be directed to Finance Delivery.

Sales of goods or services to external or non-university customers are external sales. Students and employees of the university are considered to be external customers when purchasing goods and services for personal use. All external sales should be processed through the Accounts Receivable Office except when payment is collected at the point of sale.

Departmental non-cash sales and billable services to students, employees, and other external customers must be entered into the University Receivables (UR) System for billing and collection.

Accounts Receivable Billing Service

Fee for Service (FFS) Operations are established for the purpose of providing goods and/or services to University departments and/or external customers.  The Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) staff are available to provide guidance on establishing new accounts and developing appropriate billing rates that comply with University policies and procedures and federal cost accounting standards.

Contact the appropriate Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) staff for your department.

 

 

Please visit the Office of University Counsel for further information.

Internal Sales - Sales of goods or services to other University departments or accounts within the University system. All internal sales, including those to grant accounts, are considered internal sales. Internal sales should be processed by Finance Delivery in Workday.

External Sales - Sales of goods or services to external or non-University customers. Students and employees of the University are considered to be external customers when purchasing goods and services for personal use. All external sales should be processed through the ISU Accounts Receivables Office except when payment is collected at the point of sale.

At Iowa State University a cash sale is defined as any good or service that payment is presented at the point of sale. If you have any questions please contact the Accounts Receivable office for further guidance either by email at ubill@iastate.edu or by phone at (515) 294-7388.

Please be sure that you are following the University policy and procedures for cash handling provided by the Treasurer’s Office (515) 294-4363 or treasurer@iastate.edu.

 

Selling Agencies

A selling agency is a four digit number that maps to a departmental Program that is used to recognize revenue. An agency is required to apply charges in the University Receivables system in ADIN.

To establish a new selling agency, please login to AccessPlus > uBusiness > A/R Applications > Request Agency > Add Agency.  Identify the account number, if no selling agency is found, click “Request New SA”.

To be granted access to A/R Applications please request administrative access via this form on the IT ServiceNow Portal, which can be found under Administrative Systems > Request Access.

Upon approval, you will receive an email notification from Accounts Receivable notifying the designated departmental contact of the new four digit selling agency that has been established for billing purposes.

Upon review of the information submitting via A/R Application, an email notification will be forwarded to the designated departmental contact indicating that the selling agency has been denied and for what reason.

If there are changes to be made to the selling agency, please contact us at ubill@iastate.edu

The Accounts Receivables office requests all university departments review their selling agencies on an annual basis.  An email notification is forwarded to the university departments during the month of April. The review/update is performed on AccessPlus > uBusiness > A/R Applications > Update Agency.

File Transfer

Accounts Receivable offers the option for departments to upload tickets and credits into the University Receivables system via file transfer.

 

Please refer to the following calendars for the weekly and monthly file transfer upload cut-off dates.

FY24 File Transfer Upload Dates

If at any time there is a question about your existing file transfer, please contact Accounts Receivable at 515-294-7388.

Does your department have a need to upload tickets and credits to the University Receivables system via file transfer? Please contact us at ubill@iastate.edu.

New Accounts

A new customer account request is submitted if you are unable to locate an existing customer account in the University Receivables system.

  1. In A/R Applications>Request Customer>Add Customer, type a portion of the company name in the search fields. (Tip: because names may be abbreviated or listed differently, try a few different versions of the company/customer name when searching for an existing account).
  2. In the UR System in ADIN, use the NB function and type the beginning of the company/customer name.
  3. In the UR System in ADIN, use the SE function. Type in a portion of the name and the city, press enter. The results that match both the name and city will be highlighted in yellow.

In A/R Applications>Request Customer>Add Customer, search for an existing account. If no account exists, click “New U.S./Domestic Customer” or “New International Customer."

Upon approval, you will receive an email notification from Accounts Receivable notifying the designated customer account number that has been established for billing purposes.

Follow the instructions given in the reply e-mail. A comment will be noted within the body of the reply e-mail indicating why the new account request was denied. If there are additional questions, please contact Accounts Receivable at (515) 294-7388 or email ubill@iastate.edu.

The Accounts Receivable Office relies on the contact information that departments are collecting from their customers.  In order to efficiently collect and process a customer’s payment, we request up-to-date contact information for every Iowa State University customer.

System Access

The Accounts Receivable Office will establish your system accesses customized to your job responsibilities.  To acquire administrative access, your departmental supervisor will need to go to the Information Technology website. Please identify the system option of Account Receivable access, currently located under the "Other" tab.

 

To continue your Accounts Receivables access, your departmental supervisor will need to go to the Information Technology website. Please identify the system option of Account Receivable access, currently located under the "Other" tab. 

 

An email notification/form will be presented to you by our office, requesting further information pertaining to the type of access needed.

You will be contacted by a staff member from Accounts Receivables to initiate a training session for your University Receivables access. If at any time additional training is necessary please contact our office at 515-294-7388 to discuss your departmental needs.

Record Management

E-Reports are electronic financial reports stored in the university’s enterprise content management system.

The following e-Reports are available for departments billing through University Receivables. Please refer to our reference guide for more information about each e-Report:  e-Reports for Departments 

For questions or to inquire about training options, please contact us at ubill@iastate.edu

 

The e-Reports system can be found in Accessplus, under the uBusiness tab. Look on the left-hand menu under the General category. After clicking e-Reports, a confidentiality statement will be displayed. Select the ‘Continue’ button to agree to the statement and proceed to e-Content, which will open in a new tab. This is the screen you will utilize for searching and selecting the e-Reports you are utilizing.

The e-Reports are created on a daily, bi-monthly, and monthly basis depending on the report purpose.

Based on your original IT administrative services request you may already have e-Report access. However, if you need additional e-Reports please contact ubill@iastate.edu.