PCards and DCards

Below is a helpful quick-reference guide to Procurement Cards (PCards) and Department Cards (DCards).

Applying for a PCard or DCard

Who is Eligible

  • To apply for a PCard or DCard, you must be a faculty or staff member. PCards/DCards cannot be issued to graduate students or a temporary employee.
  • You must have a home base OPR to match the PCard to. This means no AGY/RES/TRN.

How to Apply

  1. Download and fill out the PCard form or DCard form.
  2. Complete the first three sections of the form, print, and add the approver's original signature.
  3. Scan and send to the VP/Dean for their original signature.
  4. Scan and send to the Director of Finance for Student Affairs and the Provost so that they can sign the application as the Budget Director. It will then be sent on to the PCard/DCard Administrator.

If you have questions, please let us know.

After Submitting Your Application

If your application was submitted with all fields completed properly, it will be sent to Bank of America Merrill Lynch the same day it is received. They accept PCards and DCards by a batch process the next morning. It typically takes about 5-7 business days for them to print and mail the card after that.

In general, you can expect to receive your PCard or DCard about 14 days after Procurement receives your application.

Activating Your Card

Once you receive and open your PCard and/or DCard, find the sticker on the back that has a phone number to call or a website address to visit to activate. You will need the credit card number, the CVV as well as the last four digits of your EMPLID (employee ID). 

Accessing Your Online Account

After activating the card, you will receive a welcome email from David Stout with the following login information:

  • OrganizationID
  • UserID
  • Temporary Password
  • URL to log in to Works

Once successfully logged in, you will be prompted to change your temporary password to a new one.

When you have successfully logged in, David Stout will send another email with a PDF attachment that explains how to view, allocate, and approve transactions. Receipts should be attached at this time.

Using your PCard and DCard

PCard

A Procurement Card is a charge card for individuals to purchase directly small-dollar goods on behalf of the university. Items that are tangible and considered goods or commodities are acceptable to purchase.

Prohibited transactions are on this PDF document on pages eight and nine. There are a lot of questions on why transactions get declined and below is a list of the most common reasons:

  • Category Code aka MCC (Type of Vendor) 
  • Transaction Limit (< $4999 )
  • Monthly Limit Rate (< $20,000)
  • Invalid Expiration Date (using an expired card)
  • Wrong CVC Code (# on back of card)

DCard

The Department Card should only be used for low-dollar-value food purchases for on-campus events, including such items as plates, napkins, and cups as well as water and coffee for department meetings only. It carries a limit of $500 per transaction and $5,000 per month. The university is responsible for these charges, but cardholders must maintain a tracking log.

How to View and Allocate Transactions

It is important to note that PCard/DCard months usually close on the 25th. This can vary due to holidays, so please refer to the Procurement website for specific dates for each month.

This means that you have several days to reconcile all of the transactions that have an account code of 531990.

Why this is important: All Bank of America transactions should be reviewed and reallocated to appropriate SpeedTypes and account classifications. The 531990 account is not a valid expense classification and defaults into an error. Please reallocate all transactions off of 531990 prior to the reconciliation deadlines to prevent transactions from residing in this error account.

Learn more about 531990 transactions

Raising Your Transaction Limit

In rare instances, your transaction limit(s) can be raised if there is proper justification. This is on a case-by-case basis. Directors that manage a specific OPR can email David Stout at david.stout@case.edu with the user and reason, and the request will be evaluated in a timely manner.

Turning Off a Procurement Card

When an employee leaves their current position or university, it is important that any procurement cards that they have, be closed immediately. There could be a recurring payment that could happen either while they are gone or during their two week resignation period (a time when they may not be monitoring transactions).

Likewise, if an employee is on sick or medical leave, they may request their card be suspended for a specific time. This will prevent unexpected expenses (particularly forgotten recurring expenses) from hitting the account.

If you know of an employee leaving, email casepcard@case.edu and let him know the person and the OPR.

DO NOT PUT THE CREDIT CARD NUMBERS AND/OR SCREENSHOTS OF THE CARDS IN THE EMAIL AS THIS IS A SECURITY RISK.

Questions, Concerns, or Difficulties

Contact the PCard Administrator at 216.368.4474 or casepcard@case.edu with any concerns, declines, or general questions regarding PCard, DCard, or Works.