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Business Operations

The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Business Operations includes information regarding Governing Policies, Safety, Travel and more.

Lab Re-Opening Guidelines

New guidelines have been established to begin opening labs. Please read and follow the guidelines and best practices provided.

Purchasing

Purchasing Card

Obtaining an ID purchasing card

The University of Delaware uses a Procurement Card program (currently MasterCard) for day-to-day departmental needs. The Procurement Card program gives users the flexibility to purchase items on an as-needed basis and allocate those expenses to the appropriate University account.

If you are a graduate student or post doctorate, discuss with your faculty advisor your interest in obtaining a purchasing card. Not every graduate student must have a purchasing card. Your advisor may believe there are enough students in the group that have purchasing cards.

If your faculty advisor approves your request for a purchasing card, you will first need to complete the University’s Purchasing Card training, which is available on the web at TRAINING.

After viewing the training, please send an email to Kim Norem indicating that you have completed training. You should indicate how you would like your name to appear on your purchasing card. Kim will complete the Purchasing Card Enrollment Form and will put this in your mailbox. Please sign the enrollment form and return it to Kim. It will be forwarded to the Procurement Services. Kim will email you once your card has been received for pick up. It normally takes approximately two weeks for cards to be issued.

Use of the Procurement Card is governed by University Police 5-22. Please refer to the policy for specific requirements and conditions regarding the program.

To Report a lost or stolen purchasing car or fraudulent charges contact Kim immediately.

Purchasing Card Statement

A purchasing card statement will be sent to you each month that you have card activity. After reviewing the statement to verify that all charges are correct, please sign statement and submit it to Kim with the appropriate receipts.

The above procedure applies to faculty, staff, and students obtaining a purchasing card.

Purchases over $5,000

Request through Kim. Requisition sent to Procurement electronically for approval. A sales quote must be attached.

Purchases on UD Campus

University of Delaware Bookstore

You should use your UD purchasing card to make purchases at the Bookstore.

College of Engineering Machine Shops

The College of Engineering machine shop, located in Colburn 004, requires a COEG Machine Shop Request for Services Form to be completed and signed prior to any work being done. You may obtain this form from your administrator who will sign the form prior to submission of request to the machine shop.

Chemistry/ Biology Storerooms

You should use your UD purchasing card to make purchases at the Chemistry and Biology Storerooms.

UDMart

UDMart is the University of Delaware’s online shopping system. Members of the University community with Procurement Cards may use UDMart to purchase commonly needed items. Over twenty suppliers are represented on UDMart, providing goods from office supplies and furniture to computer software to laboratory and farm supplies.

Fabrication

Fabrication of Equipment

Fabrication means building permanent equipment with a useful lifetime of more than 2 years. It can include adding a new capability to an existing piece of equipment. Repair of equipment is accounted for separately.

We track the purchase to determine the value of the equipment and to make sure that overhead is not charged on the purchases. Excluding fabrications from overhead charges saves a substantial amount of money on sponsored accounts.

When the piece is completed a UD property tag will be attached to it.

After that, if the equipment is moved or disassembled, please tell Kim so she can communicate with Plant and Property Records.

Travel

General Information

All travel expenses are reimbursable expenses with the exception of airline tickets, train tickets and conference registration as long as the registration does NOT include meals and/or lodging. If meals and/or lodging are included in the conference registration fee, you will need to pay for this on a personal credit card and be reimbursed. Those expenses related to business travel are governed by the University Travel Policy. Any questions pertaining to the policy or procedures may be addressed to your purpose administrator.

Approval to Travel

When traveling for University related business, you will need to first obtain approval from your faculty advisor.

Reimbursements

Business Expense Reimbursement

When you return from your trip, you will need to reconcile all of your travel expenses by submitting receipts and funding information.

Following is the procedure to be used for processing the electronic BER in department. Please follow these directions so that your reimbursement will not be delayed.

  • Complete all information for your reimbursement- proved all required information for your trip. Items that were paid through the University system previously (i.e., airline tickets and/or registration fees paid with your Purchasing Card) should be listed on the BER as “direct bill”. These amounts are deducted from the amount you will be reimbursed at the bottom of the form. If you pay for meals for more than just yourself please indicate who the meal was for and the amount. Many people in the department are funded from separate projects and we need to charge the appropriate project for that person’s meals. If you pay for someone’s hotel room or if you drive separate people to a conference we will split the hotel and mileage costs among the participants so that the appropriate project can be charged.
  • Once the business office has completed their review they will then route it for approval.
  • For all graduate students and post docs – unless you indicate otherwise – your travel expenditures will be allocated to the same award/purpose on which you are paid. If you have a specific award/purpose to which this BER should be allocated, provide this information.
  • For all faculty and staff- you must indicate where you wish for your BER to be charged. You can request per item line where that item should be allocated or you can indicate that the entire reimbursement should be allocated to one award/purpose.
  • If you have problems completing the form or questions regarding the departmental procedure please contact your purpose administrator.
Vehicle Rental

Motor Pool

If needed for University related business travel, you may rent a car from the University of Delaware Motor Pool. Complete the UD Web Form “Request for Service – Motor Pool” to request a vehicle. You will need a project/purpose code to complete the form. This form will need to be completed and approved before you may pick up your vehicle from the Motor Pool. The expenditure will not be printed on your purchasing card blank statement because it is an internal charge. If you have questions regarding this procedure, please contact Transportation Services (831-1187).

Commercial Rental Cars

When a rental car is necessary, the University traveler should make every effort to book their transportation rental needs through Egencia, the preferred travel management company of the University. Car rentals should be charged to the traveler’s UD Credit Card or on a purchase order under a separate University contract. At the end of the travel, the original rental agreement and invoice must be maintained by the UD Credit Card Administrator for reconciliation of the business expense. The University does not currently provide full primary insurance coverage for vehicle rentals of automobiles by employees on University business. The traveler should accept car rental insurance offered by the commercial agency. For rentals by employees in countries other than United States or Canada, the minimum automobile liability insurance required in the country where the vehicle will be rented or where it will be utilized should be purchased directly from the car rental agency.

Floor Plans

Evans Hall and Dupont Hall

The Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering occupies the three floors of Evans Hall. Click on the links below to view the floor plans.

Evans Hall – First Floor

Evans Hall – Second Floor

Evans Hall – Third Floor

DuPont Hall
DuPont Hall – First Floor

DuPont Hall – Second Floor

DuPont Hall – Third Floor

Facilities

Room/Equipment Reservations

The Electrical & Computer Engineering Department manages 2 conference rooms: Evans Hall Room 204 and Evans Hall Room 210.

Conference Rooms can be reserved by contacting any of the following staff members:

Amber Spivey, 831-2405

Karen DiStefano, 831-6699

Key Requests

All key requests require the submission of a Key Request Form.

This form must be signed by a faculty member, typically an advisor, or an administration supervisor. A $15 deposit is required. When the key is returned on the employee’s last day, the deposit will be returned.

Safety

Safety Guide

ECE has an outstanding safety performance record and has had zero student injuries and zero incidents that impacted the environment. In line with Federal and State Regulations as well as UD policy, we insure that appropriate safety training is provided to students, Post Docs, faculty, staff and visiting scientists commensurate with their work, projects and assignments. It is the policy of ECE that, as appropriate, training in Right-to-Know, Chemical Hygiene, Chemical Waste Management, Compressed Gas Safety and Laboratory Ventilation (Fume Hood Safety) must be completed before access to commensurate laboratories will be granted; also that annual retraining is current. Additionally, all new graduate students must complete the UD New Graduate Student Safety Orientation regardless of field of study or work. Further details about the safety training required to be granted access to the labs are outlined in the following document: ECE Lab Access Requirements.

Commensurate with their work, projects and assignments, additional safety training in such topics as Toxic Chemicals, Lasers, X-Ray, Radioactive Materials, and Cryogenics (primarily Liquid Nitrogen) as well as HydroFlouric Acid safety (including annual retraining) and Clean Room Conduct and Safety is provided as required. Further
safety information is available at
http://www1.udel.edu/ehs/forms/downloads/Chemical_Hygiene_Cert13.pdf

All of this training is documented. As appropriate, original training documents are retained by Department of Occupational Health and Safety while copies are kept at ECE.

Since we have a variety of research techniques and protocols in the ECE laboratories, we also strive to provide a safe work environment on a daily basis. Through the use of Standard Operating Procedures, quarterly formal safety inspections, and additional informal inspections we are attentive to potential safety hazards and can proactively correct them before they may cause an injury. To this end, we also have an ECE safety committee which is comprised of students, faculty and staff. The committee serves as an extension of DOHS and meets quarterly with UD safety personnel. The Chemical Hygiene Officer for ECE also sits on the UD Chemical Hygiene Committee, which recommends chemical safety policy to the Provost’s office.