Set Up a Purchasing Card (PCard)

A Purchasing Card (PCard) is a type of charge card that allows organizations to take advantage of the existing credit card infrastructure to make electronic payments for a variety of business expenses, for example, goods and services.

Set up a payment method for purchasing cards

You must create a payment method that is to be used specifically for the purchase invoices that are created when employees report on their individual PCard lines.

To set up a payment method for purchasing cards

  1. Choose Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature., enter payment methods, and then choose the related link.

    The Payment Methods page opens.

  2. To create a payment method, on the action bar, choose New.

    A new row appears.

  3. In Code, specify a code to represent the payment method for purchasing cards.

  4. In Description, specify a description for the payment method for purchasing cards.

  5. In Bal. Account No., specify the clearing account that is assigned as the Default GL Account on the purchasing card vendors.

  6. Specify values for other fields as required.

    It is recommended that the Use in Payment Requests checkbox is clear.

Set up the Purchases & Payables Setup page for purchasing cards

A number of settings that are related to Purchasing Cards are configured on the Purchases & Payables Setup page.

To set up the Purchases & Payables Setup page for purchasing cards

  1. Choose Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature., enter purchases & payables setup, and then choose the related link.

    The Purchases & Payables Setup page opens.

  2. On the Expense Claims FastTab, in Purchasing Card Image Tooltip, specify the tooltip that is to be displayed to mySparkrock users when they hover over the purchasing card icon on an expense or expense claim line.

    If left blank, the default text of Purchasing Card is displayed.

  3. In the Purchasing Card Setup section, perform the following steps:

    1. In Card Payment Method Code, specify the Payment Method code that is to be used on a purchase invoice that is created based on purchasing card lines.
      It is recommended that the payment method code has a Bal. Account No. that is linked to the clearing account.
    2. In Expense Type Category, specify a category for which only expense types with this category can be assigned to purchasing card lines.
      If the field value is blank, all expense types that are allowed for expense claims can be used.
    3. In Personal Amount Expense Type, specify an expense type that is to be automatically populated on a purchasing card line when a mySparkrock user indicates that the line is a personal amount.
      A personal amount is an expenditure for which the employee is responsible for reimbursing the company.

Set up purchasing card vendors

You must perform some set up per purchasing card vendor.

To set up a purchasing card vendor

  1. Choose Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature., enter vendors, and then choose the related link.

    The Vendors page opens.

  2. Select the vendor for which you want to set up a purchasing card, and then on the action bar, choose Manage > Edit.
    The Vendor Card page opens.

  3. In Default GL Account, specify the purchasing card clearing account.

    This account is the account that is to default on the line of the invoice that is created to pay the purchasing card vendor and is used later in the reconciliation process towards the individual purchasing card expenses.

  4. In Purchasing Card Import Format, specify the format of the purchasing card import file that can be imported into purchasing card expense lines.

Set up an expense type category

You can have a separate expense type category for grouping and filtering expense types that can only be used for purchasing cards. This expense type category that is assigned on the Purchases & Payables Setup page, can be used as a filter, so that only expense types that are linked to this category can be used on purchasing card lines.

To set up an expense type category

  1. Choose Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature., enter expense type categories, and then choose the related link.

    The Expense Type Categories page opens.

  2. To create an expense type category, on the action bar, choose New.

    A new row appears.

  3. In Code, specify a code to represent the expense type category.

  4. In Description, specify a description for the expense type category.

Set up a purchasing card import

You can use the default format for importing purchasing cards that comes with Sparkrock 365. Alternatively, you can choose to modify the data exchange definition to map the format coming from the purchasing card vendor to the required fields. This alternative option removes the need to modify the data that is coming from the purchasing card provider to correspond to the predefined format that comes with Sparkrock 365.

The purchasing card import file process uses a Microsoft Excel template. To download the template, select the following link:

Import Purchasing Card Template

Using the default format

The data exchange definition template specifies the fields to be imported and how they map to the fields in Sparkrock 365. A data exchange definition is required to use the purchasing card functionality.

To import the default template

  1. To download the latest template, select the following link:

    Purchasing Card Import Data Exchange Definition and Map

  2. Choose Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature., enter data exchange definitions, and then choose the related link.

    The Data Exchange Definitions page opens.

  3. On the action bar, choose Import/Export > Import Data Exchange Definition.

    A dialog box appears.

  4. Choose Choose…, browse to the file that you downloaded, and then choose Open.

    The template appears in the list on the Data Exchange Definitions page with the code PCard Import and the name Purchasing Card Import. If more than one definition is required, you can edit the XML file and change the values. Typically, only one definition is required.

After you import the default template, you must link the data exchange to the vendor. For more information, see Set Up Data Exchange Definitions.

To import the file

The Microsoft Excel file that you can download matches the Data Exchange Definition template that is provided by Sparkrock. The Microsoft Excel file includes example lines to guide you. To use this template, export the data from your provider and copy the data into the columns that are provided in the file, under the corresponding heading. You do not have to delete the column headers in the Microsoft Excel file. Remove the one or more sample lines.

Note

Note:
Before importing the file into Sparkrock 365, you must save the Excel file in Comma Separated Value (CSV) format.

Creating your own mapping

You can modify the standard Sparkrock provided template to match your purchasing card provider’s format. You must ensure that the respective fields from your provider’s file are mapped to the columns in the field mapping. This setup must be performed on the Data Exchange Definition page for the PCARD IMPORT, from the Line Definitions FastTab.

The following table includes information about field mapping.

Column No. Column Caption Field ID Field Caption Optional Transformation Rule Overwrite Value Priority
1 Transaction Date 5 Transaction Date No No 0
2 Merchant 8 Merchant No No 0
3 Charge Description 7 Description No No 0
4 Transaction Amount 6 Amount No REPLACE$ No 0
5 Original Amount 10 Original Amount No REPLACE$ No 0
6 Original Currency Code 9 Original Currency Code Yes No 0
7 Card No. 20 PCard No. Without Separator No ONLYLAST8DIGITS No 0
Note

Note:
For privacy reasons, the purchasing card number is transformed so that only a partial value is stored and displayed.

As required, on the Data Exchange Definition page, you can change the column settings on the Column Definitions FastTab. For example, for Transaction Date, in the Data Format field, you can change the format to yyyy-MM-dd.

Note

Note:
For Sparkrock 365 to convert the transaction date correctly, the format for year and day must be in lower case and the format for month must be in upper case.

Understanding the fields in the import file

The following table provides information about the fields that are available in the purchasing card import file.

Field Name Details
Transaction Date The date of the transaction.
In the export file, format the value as text.
Merchant The vendor or the merchant name as provided in the file.
Charge Description A description of what is being charged.
Note This field can be left blank or mapped to a field as required.
Transaction Amount The amount in local currency.
Original Currency Amount The amount in the currency of the transaction.
This amount can be in local or foreign currency depending on the transaction.
Original Currency Code The currency code of the transaction.
Currency codes which are different from local currency must be pre-configured.
For local currency, this field is left blank.
Card No The purchasing card number.
This value is required to identify to which user each charge applies.
The value must contain exactly 8 digits, including leading zeros.
In the export file, format the value as text.
The user data is set up on the Purchasing Cards page.

Set up a purchasing card journal batch

You must configure one purchasing card journal batch per purchasing card vendor.

To set up a purchasing card journal batch

  1. Choose Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature., enter purch. card journals, and then choose the related link.

    The Purch. Card Journals page opens.

  2. In Batch Name, choose Review or update the value for Batch Name.

    The Purch. Card Journal Batches page opens.

  3. On the action bar, choose New.

    A new row appears.

  4. In Name, specify a name to represent the batch.

  5. In Description, specify a description for the batch.

  6. In Vendor No., specify the vendor number for which you want to link the batch to a purchasing card.

    This value ensures that the imported purchasing card lines go to the correct vendor's purchase invoice.

See also

Purchasing Cards
Sparkrock 365 Downloads

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