Sale Requests

User's Manual


1. Procedure

1.1 Requesting a sale

Items can be offered for sale using the 'Sale Request' option. A sale request consists of two parts. First, the user has to specify the context:

  • The name of the seller, by default this is the name of the user.
  • The budget code (cost center) that will be credited once the sale has been concluded. Using this budget code, the system will automatically find the corresponding department/group/section.
  • A technical contact (optional)
  • A suggested buyer (optional), either an internal person (somebody known in our Personnel system) or an external person. In the latter case, the address and optionally the telephone and/or fax number of the person can be registered.

The system will automatically assign a unique number and the current date to the sale request. Note that since some users can use the system for different divisions, the system cannot check the correspondance between the user, seller, and the division selling the items. It is possible to offer any item in any division for sale. The DPO of the department to which the item belongs, can of course reject any such offer.

The second part of a sale request contains the list of items being offered for sale. In case an item is picked from the inventory, the system will make sure that the item is owned by the department for which the sale request is created, and that the item is not already on offer. Only active items, or items archived with one of the following suppress reasons can be picked from the inventory:

  • Items with low value (LV)
  • Obsolete items (OB)
  • Items that are out of service (OS)
  • Spare parts (SP)

Of course, if an item is bought by another department, that department can then later re-offer the item for sale.

As long as none of the items in the list are either agreed or rejected by the DPO, the sale request stays open, which means that items can be added to the list. At the end of the day the system will close any sale request for which one or more items have been agreed or rejected. In this case, the user will have to create a new sale request, if more items are to be sold.

To force the user to think about the danger of the item offered for sale, the 'Hazard level' field is left blank initially. The system won't accept an item if this field is not filled in by the user.

1.2 DPO Agreement/Rejection

The DPO of the division to which the item belongs will be informed by email of the sale. Agreeing or rejecting an item can be done in two ways. By clicking on the URL in the email message, the DPO is navigated direcly to the screen where the particular item can be modified. He/she can then either change the decision to 'Agreed by DPO' or 'Rejected by DPO' and click on the "Update" button. Clicking on the inventory number will display the information from the inventory database for that particular item. In this way, the DPO can verify that the data entered in the sale request corresponds to the data in the inventory. If he/she does not agree, he/she can modify the necessary fields before clicking on "Update" .

Another way of entering the decision is using the 'DPO Agree' option in the Foundation menu. The option will open with the list of all the items that need the DPO's agreement.

If it is the DPO himself/herself that created the sale request, no agreement is necessary.

1.3 The role of FI-PI

After the approval by the DPO, the item is routed to the responsible in FI-PI. He or she may change the price proposed by the seller and decide on the way the item will be sold. This can either be online by the system, or by Thursday's auction. All items for which FI-PI has fixed the price, are published in a catalogue on the Web giving information about the item and the way to buy it. In addition, FI-PI decides on the period during which only CERN departments can buy the item.

1.4 Bids

Electronic bids can be made through the 'Make bid' option or through the catalogue. Bids can only be made for items not sold via Thursday's auction, the date of which is mentioned in the catalogue. Note that bids are binding and cannot be withdrawn. A person who wants to make an electronic bid, must have a valid AIS login, to enable the system to identify the person. The bidder has to specify the amount he is willing to pay, and click on "Insert". If no 'Cost center' is filled in, the bid is a personal one. If it is another division that wants to buy the item, a valid cost center (budget code) must be specified.

During the period FI-PI has reserved the item for departments only, personal bids can already be entered, but they will not be taken into account if another department wants to buy the item, irrelevant of the price being offered.

If an external person without a valid AIS login (a person not known in our personnel database) wants to make a bid, he/she will have to contact the recuperation service in FI-PI, which can enter the bid for this him/her. The bidder must indicate his/her name and address, the reference of the item, and the price offered. External bids are accepted by:

  • Mail: Sales Office FI-PI, CERN, Meyrin 1211, Geneva 23, Suisse
  • Email: Sales@cern.ch
  • Telefax: + 41 22 767 93 00

1.5 Acceptance of a bid

Once FI-PI has closed the sale, the system will do the necessary to update the inventory, given that an inventory number has been specified for the item. If the item is sold to an external bidder, the item will be archived in the inventory with suppress reason 'Sold'. If another division bought the item, the item is moved to the active inventory of that division. In this case, FI-PI will not take a percentage of the price the item was sold for. Any transfer of money has to be done via a TID, which has to be created manually using EDH.


2. Usage

2.1 - How to connect to the application

The different options are available for those registered in the Foundation menu: http://found.cern.ch. To enter, you will be asked to type your AIS username/password (same as for EDH). To open the menu, you have to click on 'Sale requests', next to the folder. Clicking on one of the options will open that option on the right hand side of the window. The option to offer items for sale is also directly available: http://found.cern.ch/found211/owa/request_sale$.Startup. The catalogue can be found at: http://found.cern.ch/found-cgi/sqlreport?app=INVENTORY&s=SALESCAT&o=n.

2.2 - How to use the different screens

The options either start with a search screen, or with a list of the items concerned (the search is done automatically). To search, you can fill in one or more criteria, and click on the "'Find" button. If no search criterion is specified, all relevant data will be listed. The wild-char is the percentage sign %. E.g. to search for any person whose name starts with 'VAN', you can specify 'VAN%'. If the search result is not what you expected, you can go back to the query screen with the ''Query" button. The "Clear" button will undo any typing.

Once the search has been executed, you are presented with a list of items corresponding to the search criteria specified. By clicking on the first column of the list, you will see the full details of that item. It is here that you can modify the items as well. Simply change the values of the necessary fields and click on the "Update" button. The list is always displayed in chunks of 30 items. On the bottom of the list, the following buttons (sometimes not all) are displayed:

 
'First': Show the first 30 items.
'Previous': Show the previous 30 items.
'Next': Show the next 30 items.
'Last': Show the last 30 items.
'Requery': Execute the search again
'Count': Display the total number of items in the list
'Query': Go back to the search screen
'New': Create a new item

To insert new information, you have to click on the "New" button. Some information may already be filled in by default. You can change these fields, if they do not contain the value you want. Once all obligatory fields filled in, you can register the information in the database by clicking on "Insert".

In case of inserting new information, or updating existing infomation, the message SUCCESS! indicates a successful registration of the information in the database. In case of a problem, the ERROR! message is displayed, with an indication of the problem that occurred. In this case, you will have to correct the fields indicated, and click on "Insert" or "Update" again.

The "Delete" button allows you to suppress an item. You will be asked to confirm the operation. The "Revert" will undo any typing, and reset the fields to their initial value. Fields that have LOV next to them, can only contain values of the corresponding list (LOV: List of Values). By clicking on LOV, a dialog box appears to search for items in the list. The list will be displayed after clicking on the "OK" button. By simply clicking on an item in the list, its valued will be copied back into the corresponding field.


3. In case of problems

  • For problems/questions concerning the application, you can contact our help desk, either by telephone (79933), or by email (ais.support@cern.ch).
  • For questions concerning items in the inventory, you should contact the responsible for your division's inventory. A list of responsibles can be found here.