Using Conduit

1. Sign in to the shared workspace

1. Open the shared workspace link your administrator gives you, select “Sign in” and use your own account. Shared records appear only after the service confirms your session.
2. Everything you save, submit or approve here is stored on the server. A request is visible to its requester, the people on its approval route, Procurement and administrators.
3. “Use browser-only workspace” switches to the browser-only review mode. Nothing you do there reaches the shared workspace, and its examples stay in that browser.
4. Select “Sign out” when you finish on a shared device.

2. Create a request

1. Select “New requisition” and choose PR (purchase), CR (change to an existing PO), SR (sourcing) or ER (emergency). The service assigns the requisition number when you first save.
2. Select an active project. Assigned projects appear by default. “Show all projects” shows other projects without granting approval authority. The project sets the approval route; you do not choose approvers.
3. For PR, select vendor and payment terms, add delivery details, attach a quote if available and select required deliverables. If “Holdback Applies” is checked, review its percentage.
4. Enter line descriptions, quantity, unit, price, budget, project cost code and delivery date. The first line supplies the default date for later lines; change an individual line when it needs a different date. Each line needs an explicit tax choice, or “Tax exempt”. Explain any over-budget amount.
5. For a vendor that is not set up yet, fill in its details and select “Record vendor setup request”. The request then shows “Recorded, pending accounting”, and your purchase continues while Accounting creates the vendor (section 9).
6. When the invoice is already in hand, check “After-the-fact purchase (invoice already received)” on a PR or CR and attach the invoice instead of a quote.
7. Review the request and select “Submit for approval”. A PR below the advisory amount (initially $1,000) is allowed. When no PO is requested, use the job number under your company policy.

3. Change an existing PO

1. Choose CR, select the project, then its PO.
2. Explain the change and attach its supplier quote. The original vendor, terms and requirements carry forward.
3. Add only new change lines. Existing PO lines remain unchanged. A negative unit price represents a credit. There is no $1,000 minimum for a change.
4. Review the current total, change and revised total. Reductions cannot go below a verified received balance. If the balance is unknown, Procurement must verify it first.

Each approved change keeps the base PO number and adds its own change label (CO 1, CO 2 and so on).

4. Emergency and sourcing requests

ER requires only project, vendor, reason and approximate spend. Select “Record emergency”; the PO number is reserved when the request is recorded. Until you complete the purchase details, the number is listed in “Purchase orders” marked “Details pending” and opens this request; it is listed as an issued PO once the completed request is approved. Complete the purchase details later on the same request and PO number, then select “Submit for approval”. Recording the same emergency again shows “This emergency is already recorded with its PO number. Complete the purchase details to continue.” Cancelling an emergency request is not available while that policy is pending. Conduit refuses it with “An emergency request cannot be cancelled, deleted or have its PO number recycled. Contact Procurement.”

SR describes the need and budget for Procurement and requires a Need-By Date. This is when you need the item, not a confirmed vendor delivery date. Select “Send to procurement”. Procurement emails its findings to you from its own mailbox, outside Conduit, then closes the request with “Close without a PO”. Closing never creates a purchase. You decide whether to buy: if you do, start a new PR with “New requisition”. A sourcing request cannot be turned into a PO.

5. Approve and track

Open “Pending approvals” and select the numbered request to inspect the details. Only the assigned current approver sees “Approve” and “Reject”. Rejecting requires the “Rejection reason (required to reject)” field; the requester can then revise and resubmit. Procurement can send a reminder with “Remind now”, or use “Procurement reassign” to move the current step to another authorized person.

Approval may be automatic within your assigned authority. Once approval is complete the PO number (seven digits) is issued and the request is “Under Procurement Review” until Procurement completes it (section 6). Approval notices are prepared in the test outbox and are not emailed.

Notices and reminders: Conduit prepares every notice below in the held test outbox. None is emailed. These are the starting notices. An administrator who saves notification workflows can change their wording, recipients and timing, within the limits below: delayed and repeating approval reminders go to the current approver only, and sourcing and emergency follow-ups stay paused.

• Current approver: when a step becomes yours, an approval notice is prepared for you. While the step is still waiting, a daily approval reminder is prepared for the current approver only, from the next calendar day (Vancouver time) and then once each calendar day. Reminders stop when the step is approved, rejected or reassigned to another person; a new notice and new daily reminders are prepared for the next approver, or for the person who takes over. Nobody else is reminded: reminders to other people (escalation) are not available.
• Remind now: Procurement’s “Remind now” prepares one extra reminder for the current approver only. The daily reminders are unchanged.
• Requester: a rejected request, shown as “Returned to requester”, prepares a notice with its reason for you and for the approvers who already approved it in that round. A fully approved request prepares a notice for you with the PO number and the remaining work: “Financial approval is complete. Procurement review and Spectrum entry are still pending; the PO has not been sent to the vendor.”
• Project manager: when the buyout reminder is turned on, one reminder to update the buyout master log is prepared for the project manager. It repeats the remaining-work wording above and adds: “Please update the buyout master log. Conduit does not maintain the buyout log.” It is prepared once per request, after the PO is created. A Procurement correction (“Return for approval” or “Save correction, preserve approval”), a reassignment, or approving the corrected request again never prepares it a second time.
• Edits: saving a draft, revising a returned request or saving a correction with “Save correction, preserve approval” does not prepare a notice for each edit and does not restart the daily reminders. Only a new approval step (a submission, the next approver, a reassignment or “Return for approval”) starts a new approver’s notice and daily reminders.
• Outbox: Procurement and administrators open it from a request with “View notification outbox”. It says “Test outbox only. No real email is sent.” and then lists the raw entries for every request. Each entry’s status is one of queued-test (prepared, not sent), queued, sending, accepted, cancelled or needs-review. These describe the outbox only, and none of them means an email was delivered: “Accepted means the provider accepted the message, not confirmed delivery.”

6. Spectrum entry, then procurement completion

Procurement only. Conduit is not connected to Spectrum, so each step below is a manual record.

1. Open “All requisitions” and filter “Spectrum not ready” to find approved POs that still need entry.
2. Enter the PO in Spectrum yourself.
3. Open the request, describe what you entered in “Spectrum entry note” and select “Record Spectrum entry”. This records your statement; Conduit does not check Spectrum. The request then shows “Spectrum ready”.
4. Select “Complete procurement”. The request shows “Procurement complete” and stays approved. As the screen says: “Queues the requester notice in the test outbox. No vendor or Accounting message is sent.”

A later change to the PO creates a new revision, which needs its own Spectrum entry and completion.

7. Documents and approved terms

Preview/print shows the vendor PO without internal approvals. Procurement opens the PO and selects “Assemble with supplied terms”, then either:

• selects “Download PO only”, then the file link that appears (named with the PO number and vendor), and emails it to the vendor from their own mailbox with the approved terms PDF attached; or
• selects the approved terms PDF in “Terms document” to assemble the PO and terms into one package.

Conduit never chooses terms automatically. Queuing a package places it in the held test outbox only, which is not delivery, so send the PO to the vendor yourself.

8. Follow up purchase orders

1. Open Purchase orders. Search by PO, requisition, requester, vendor or project.
2. Filter “Awaiting acknowledgment” and sort by earliest delivery to prioritize follow-up. Date sorting uses the earliest known line delivery date. Unknown historical dates show Not recorded.
3. Open the PO, record vendor acknowledgment, optionally add a confirmation reference, set the follow-up delivery date and save.
4. Use linked PO/requisition numbers to move between records. Procurement corrections require a reason and an explicit approval decision.

Acknowledgment means the vendor received the PO document. It does not record delivery of goods. Procurement or an administrator can use “Verify received amount” on the PO window to record the verified received subtotal, excluding taxes, with a note, or choose “Nothing received yet (verified zero)” after confirming that nothing was received, so a credit on that PO can be submitted; line-level receiving is still deferred.

9. Accounting and new vendors

Both handoffs are manual. Conduit sends nothing to Accounting.

• New vendor: the requester’s “Record vendor setup request” shows “Recorded, pending accounting” on the request. When the request is submitted, Procurement gets a “New vendor setup” notice in the outbox, and the request shows “New vendor setup pending” in All requisitions. Procurement passes the vendor details to Accounting outside Conduit. The request’s “Vendor setup” panel shows the recorded details with “Not yet handed to Accounting”, and Procurement or an administrator uses “Record manual handoff” there to note who passed them to Accounting and how; no message is sent. The purchase does not wait for the vendor setup.
• Accounting copy: Procurement gives Accounting the PO and any approved terms outside Conduit, following the agreed manual process.

10. Saved and pending work

• Typing changes only this tab. A draft with unsaved changes shows “Unsaved shared draft. Save now.”
• “Save now”, “Continue” or moving to another page saves the draft to the server. Conduit confirms “Saved to shared workspace.” and the status beside “Save now” changes to “Saved” followed by the time. Only saved work can be opened from another device or session.
• A submission, approval, Spectrum entry or completion is saved on the server once the updated request appears. If the connection drops during an action, open the request again to see whether it was recorded before trying again.
• If the service cannot be reached or your session expires, Conduit hides shared records and shows “Reconnect” and “Sign in”. The message “Your unsaved request values are kept in this tab only.” means those values are not on the server. Select “Download recovery copy” before closing the tab, then sign in with the same account to continue editing.
• If someone else changed the request first, Conduit shows “Another user changed this request. Reload before retrying.” Your action was not applied: “Your unsaved values are retained. Download a recovery copy before reloading; this action was not retried.”

11. Use Conduit on your phone

iPhone/iPad: open the HTTPS workspace in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. Enable Open as Web App if offered and tap Add. Launch the new Conduit icon.

Android: open the workspace in Chrome and use the browser menu’s Install app or Add to Home screen option when available.

No app-store download is required. Internet access is required for shared records. Offline use and push notifications are not supported. Menu wording varies by browser; if installation is unavailable, use the browser bookmark.

Phone check: before rollout, each tester completes these steps on their own phone and reports the phone model, browser and any problem to the training owner your administrator names.

1. Sign in and create a small PR, then select “Submit for approval”.
2. Sign in as the assigned approver on a phone and select “Approve”.
3. Add Conduit to the home screen, launch it from the new icon and confirm it opens Conduit.

12. Import master data (administrators)

Administrator accounts start imports. Procurement accounts can open Configuration › Import data to see the import history; other accounts see “Master data changes require workspace administration.”

1. Open Configuration and select “Import data”, then “Start an import”. Choose what you are importing: projects, cost codes or vendors. One file holds one type of record. “Download template” on each card gives the expected column headings. Select “Next”.
2. Upload: choose a CSV or JSON file, or drop it on the box. Conduit reads it in your browser and shows its name, size, row count and first five rows; nothing has been sent yet. Empty CSV rows are ignored. A column with a blank heading is never offered for mapping; if it holds data, the file is refused with “CSV requires unique column headers.” The sentence under “How to import” names the key that finds existing records: projects by Project number, cost codes by Project number plus Full Reference, vendors by Vendor code. “How to import” offers “Add new and update existing” (the default), “Add new only” and “Update existing only”; rows the choice leaves out are counted as skipped under Warnings.
3. Map: headings are matched automatically, ignoring case, spaces and punctuation, and the screen says how many columns matched. Matched fields are under “Matched automatically”, and optional fields the file does not have are listed as unchanged on existing records. Only a field that needs a choice is listed open: a required field without a column (“Needs a column”) or a field that two headings could fill (“Choose one”). There is one mapping for the whole file: each choice applies to every populated row, so you never map row by row. “Next” stays disabled until each of those fields has a column. Columns not imported are named, and budget, quantity and contract-value columns are reference text only. When no column is mapped to the ID, a project is matched by its project number and a cost code by project number plus full reference; when no column is mapped to the name, a cost code’s name is rebuilt from its full reference and description; and when no column is mapped to Active, a project’s Active or Inactive status sets whether it is active.
4. Review: Conduit checks every row against the saved records with the same checks it uses to save; nothing is written. Tiles show how many records will be added, updated or stay unchanged and how many rows have problems, and they add up to the rows in the file. Matching keys update existing records, new keys add records, and records missing from the file are never deleted. A mapped column with a blank cell clears that field, except a required one, and the Will update tile says how many rows clear a field; a field that is not mapped stays unchanged. Problems are grouped by reason, each row with its number, counting the first row under the headings as row 1, and at most 50 rows are listed per group: for example “stable id is required.”, “name is required.”, “duplicate id in this import.”, “email is invalid.” or “name already belongs to another id.” A cost code needs a configured project number. On Upload, “Projects not in Conduit” chooses what happens to rows whose project is not configured: “Create them as Setup required” (the default) creates each such project with its number and the first Project Name in the file only, inactive and refused for requests until an administrator completes its setup in Configuration › Projects (“Set up the new projects” on the result opens them); “Skip their rows” leaves those rows out; “Stop the import” groups them under “Projects not in Conduit” and keeps Apply disabled. A project number with no Project Name is never created. A project number that appears with two different names is listed under “Conflicting names for one project number”; Conduit never chooses a name for you. “Download the rows with problems (CSV)” saves them for correction; the file is built in your browser and never sent. Under “Outcome”, “Fix the file first (nothing is applied)” is the default: any problem keeps Apply disabled until you correct the file and upload it again. To save the other rows now, choose the second Outcome option, “Apply the valid rows and skip the”, followed by the number of rows with problems: Apply then ends with how many rows it skips, only the rows without problems are saved, and the result reads “Applied with” and the number of skipped rows, with “Download the skipped rows (CSV)”, which lists each skipped row with its reason. That file is built in your browser; only the number of skipped rows for each reason is sent and recorded. When two rows share one key, both are listed as problems, each naming the other row, and neither replaces the other. A problem with the whole file, “Stop the import” and any problem found by the shared service cannot be skipped; the Outcome then says why. If a re-check changes the result, the choice returns to “Fix the file first”. Warnings, such as an unrecognized status, which is kept as source text, do not block Apply, so read them before you apply.
5. Apply: the button states exactly what it will do, for example Apply: add 3 cost codes. Apply saves the records in that same step. Once the service confirms the save, the result shows the time and how many records were added, updated and unchanged, with “These records are saved and visible to everyone now. Nothing else needs to be saved.” Save other configuration changes first: while they are unsaved, Review shows “Save your configuration changes before applying this import.” and Apply stays disabled. If saved records change while you review, Conduit checks the file again on its own; if the result changed it says “The result changed. Review it again before applying.” and nothing is applied until you select Apply again. If saved records changed just before Apply, Conduit shows “Saved records changed just before this was applied. Nothing was changed.” Select “Review again” to check the file against the saved records. If the connection drops, Conduit tries once more and, if it still cannot confirm the save, says “Conduit could not confirm whether the import was applied. Check the import history before trying again.” Select “Check again” to re-read the shared records. “Cancel” asks before a chosen file is discarded.

Below “Import data”, the Import history table lists every applied import newest first: when, the record type, how it was imported, who applied it, the added, updated and skipped counts and the result; “Details” opens a sentence with the file name, the unchanged count, any projects created as Setup required and the skipped rows by reason. The table shows 25 runs per page.

September 29 review

Review the September 29 changes and agreed manual workarounds. Phone checks on real devices and an observed practice run are still required before rollout.

Training exercise

Between roles, select “Sign out” and sign in with the test account for the next role. In the test project, create a PR, review its assigned route, reject it with a reason, revise and resubmit it, approve it, then confirm the PO number appears. As Procurement, record the Spectrum entry, complete procurement and find the requester notice in the test outbox. Create a small CR and verify its original lines remain. Create an SR and have Procurement close it without a PO. As Procurement, try to submit a PR and read the refusal. Save a draft, note the saved time, and download a recovery copy. Nothing in this exercise is emailed.

Notice check: use only synthetic requests in the test project and the existing test accounts. Leave a PR waiting for approval; as Procurement, select “Remind now”, then “View notification outbox”, and confirm that the reminder is addressed to the current approver only and that no status says it was delivered. Approve the PR and confirm that the requester notice states the remaining work. The outbox lists entries for every request, so look only at entries with that request’s ID, or its PO number in the “Update buyout log” subject.

Mapping check: with the existing administrator account, prepare a small synthetic cost-code CSV from the downloaded template with three rows for an existing test project number. Use full references and descriptions that no existing cost code uses, so the new IDs and names do not collide (“name already belongs to another id.”). Rename the Description heading to Work label. Select “Start an import”, choose Cost codes and upload it. On the Map step, Description is listed with the optional fields not in this file: set Description to Work label once and confirm that it moves to “Matched automatically” and that Review counts all three rows. Repeat one row and confirm that Review lists both rows under “Duplicate key in this file” and that Apply stays disabled while “Fix the file first (nothing is applied)” is selected. Stop there: do not apply a valid file. Applying saves these cost codes to the shared sandbox at once, and an import never deletes records. Do not create accounts or use real files.