This document covers the project budget, making purchases, getting reimbursed, and shipping.
Project Budget
Each team has a budget of $750 to purchase materials, supplies, and resources for the project.
Some materials will be provided in the team work space, but in general you will need to purchase most of the materials needed for prototyping. Budgets cannot be used for non project-related items, including food.
One person on your team should take responsibility for keeping track of purchases and managing your budget.
Purchases
There are three ways to draw funds from the team budget:
Use your own cash (or credit card). Buy what you need, keep the receipts and submit them to your financial officer. The financial officer will fill a request for reimbursement, file it with the course administrative assistant, and then you will be reimbursed (typically within a week or two).
Request a purchase order so that MIT purchasing office will buy the items for you. The financial officer will fill out a requisition (internal or external), the course administrative assistant will process the requisition, MIT will issue a purchase order number, and then you place your order using this number.
Use an internal requisition form to pay for work done within MIT.
Remember to use a tax exempt form. MIT will not reimburse you for tax. Also using the MIT tax-exempt number for non-class purchases is against the law!
If you are unsure about whether using your budget for a specific purchase is appropriate, please ask the course instructor.
All receipts must be turned in according to the instructions below no later than Monday, May 21, 2018. Receipts must be received by then to be reimbursed.
Use your own cash (most common)
You can use your own credit card or cash to buy items and then be reimbursed afterwards. If all stars align correctly, you might be reimbursed in as little as two weeks.
- Buy the needed items you need using your own funds. Remember to use the tax exempt form because MIT will not pay for the tax!
- Save your receipts showing proof of payment...no receipt means no reimbursement. Write your name and team name on the receipt. Circle the reimbursable amount (remember no sales tax). For example, Reimbursement, John Doe, MyTeamName, 04/09/18. Keep a photocopy for your records.
- Attach your receipts to a completed cover sheet (.pdf) and give your receipts to your team financial officer.
- If you have a direct deposit account with MIT, your reimbursement will be deposited into your direct deposit account. Otherwise, a check will be cut for you and sent to the course administrative assistant. She will let you know when you can pick it up.
- You can track the status of your RFP by going to atlas.mit.edu and navigating to "Track My Reimbursements" under the "Self-Service" tab.
Request a purchase order
If you are purchasing within MIT see the internal requisition section below. For outside purchses you can arrange to have MIT pay for the items directly.You need to provide the vendor with a purchase order number.
- Contact the vendor to obtain a price quote and detailed ordering information, including availability and shipping information. Remember the price quote cannot include sales tax! Ask the vendor if they will take a purchase order (called a PO) from MIT. (You do not have a PO number to give them yet. You just want to know if they will take such a number over the phone.)
- Have your team financial officer meet with course administrative assistant to prepare the PO. You will need all ordering information and the price quotation, including shipping charges (again no sales tax).
- The administrative assistant will then obtain the PO and email the PO number to the person named on the requisition form.
- If the order is not received within a reasonable amount of time, the course administrative assistant can check the PO status.
- When the package arrives bring the receipt/packing slip to 3-435. MIT will not pay the vendor until they receive the packing slip! The packing slip should have your name, team and date date received written on it. If the office is locked please use the envelope on the door of the office.
Use an internal requisition form
This is the method of payment to use when purchasing items within MIT (such as the central machine shop) or selected vendors. A vendor list is available at: http://web.mit.edu/ecat/.
- Obtain a requisition form from the course administrative assistant.
- Fill out the form, including the descriptions of the items that you need. Write down the estimated total cost at the bottom right hand corner of the form where it asks for an estimated quoted price. Include your name and team name.
- Drop the form with the course administrative assistant in 3-435 to obtain appropriate account numbers and signatures. When completed you can pickup the requisition. The course administrative assistant will keep the blue copy of the form.
- Obtain the goods and write down the actual prices for the purchased items on the form. Give the white copy of the form to the internal vendors at MIT and return the blue copy to the course administrative assistant.
Reimbursements (for financial officers)
If you made a purchase using cash (or credit), your team financial officer will submit a reimbursement on your behalf. Don't file it on your own!
To file reimbursements for team purchases, the team financial officer needs to file a RFP on Atlas and turn the physical receipts into the course administrator. These steps are described below:
File a reimbursement on Atlas
When a team member gives you receipts and a cover page, create an RFP using the RFP form on Atlas
- Navigate to atlas.mit.edu.
- Create a new RFP by selecting "Reimbursement" from the "Full Catalog" tab.
- Use the search box to find the team member who should be reimbursed for the purchases.
- Add a line item for each receipt and provide a brief description explaining what was purchased. Don't worry about the G/L account number or cost object, the course administrative assistant will fill these in.
- Press "Save and Continue" and upload a picture of each receipt.
- Send the RFP to "Chevalley Duhart-Richburg"
- Print out the RFP receipt and keep it for your records
Bring receipts to the course administrator
After submitting the online RFP, bring the cover sheet with original receipts to the 2.744 drop box in 3-435, located with the course administrative assistant. If the office is locked please use the envelope on the door of the office. Reimbursements cannot be approved until the original receipts have been received.
Check the status of RFPs
You can check the status of RFPs that you have submitted by navigating to atlas.mit.edu and selecting "RFP Inbox" from the "Inboxes" tab.
Shipping Address
For all orders delivered to MIT, use the following address:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
32 Vassar Street
YourName, c/o 2.744 Team YourTeamName
Pappalardo Lab Rm 3-044
Cambridge, MA 02139
Your order will be delivered to the Pappalardo shop.
When the order arrives make sure you save the receipt/invoice/packing slip and give it to your team financial officer. Please see the appropriate purchasing instructions for details.
Note: UPS typically delivers to the shipping room (in the Stata Center) by 10AM. It usually takes MIT an additional day to bring packages to the shop. Therefore, to get overnight deliveries in one day, you will need to pick up the materials from the shipping room yourself. You can call 617-253-4744 to see if your package has been received.
