Procurement Card Training on IT Purchases

Nancy Portner — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 18:42:53 +0000

Procurement Card Training on IT Purchases Nancy Portner Wed, 07/23/2025 - 12:42

On July 11, the new required Skillsoft Percipio training course for Procurement Card (Pcard) holders and Approving Officials (AOs) went live. This new training requirement is related to IT purchases, and all PCard holders and AOs will be expected to familiarize themselves with the change. The updated training is designed to reduce risk, strengthen alignment with university IT security standards, and make IT purchasing more efficient across campuses.

What’s Changing – and Why

The PSC is updating guidance for IT purchases made with the Procurement Card (PCard). We’re working closely with campus leaders to ensure these purchases align with university policy, IT security standards, and strategic sourcing—while keeping things practical and efficient for departments.

Our goals are to:

Clarify what can and can’t be purchased using a PCard.
Help departments stay compliant while maintaining efficient operations.
Provide updated policies, targeted training, and helpful reminders in Concur on procurement policies and procedures.

Action Required

In support of these changes:

New applications for cardholders and AOs will be required to complete the new, additional IT Procurement Percipio training course beginning on July 11, 2025. Log in to Percipio via the employee portal to access the course.
All current Procurement cardholders and Approving Officials (AOs) will be required to complete this course by September 1, 2025.

This short course will address the most compliant and efficient ways to purchase IT at CU.

Important Dates

July 11, 2025
- New CU: IT Procurement training course available in Percipio
- Preview of PCard Handbook updates
- Preview of Concur warning messages
September 1, 2025
- New IT Procurement Card purchase policies take effect
- Deadline for all Cardholders and AOs to complete new training
- Update to PCard Handbook is official
- Concur warning messages on all IT Expense Types go live

Trainings

Percipio Skillsoft (all available now):

Pcard Training - This course has been updated for the new IT purchase guidance. While the revised policy is effective for existing cardholders on Sept 1, new cardholders should be prepared to begin exercising this guidance immediately.
Approving Official - This course has been updated for the new IT purchase guidance. While the revised policy is effective for existing cardholders on Sept 1, new cardholders and their Approving Officials should be prepared to begin exercising this guidance immediately.
New IT Procurement Course (u00282) -– Required course for all Procurement Card holders and Approving Officials. Log in to Percipio via the employee portal to access the course.

Tools & Resources

IT Procurement – The PSC’s IT Procurement page provides detailed information on how to procure IT goods and services including links to existing agreements, campus specific resources, and How-To guides for various commodities.
Master Service Agreements (MSAs) – This Commodity Listing page contains the most up-to-date information on available agreements for campus departments.
Campus-Specific IT Procurement Information – Each campus has additional guidance on IT Procurement for campus employees. Please visit your campus page at:
- 91PORN: Standard Computer Hardware and Available Software
- UCCS: Computer and Software Purchasing for Faculty and Staff
- Anschutz and Denver: IT Procurement | Fiscal Compliance
- System Office: Office of Information Security
Procurement Card Handbook – Beginning 9/1/2025, the following guidance will be added to the Violations and Prohibited Transactions section of the Procurement Card Handbook:

IT PURCHASES (INCLUDING HARDWARE, SOFTWARE AND SERVICES)

Effective 9/1/2025: Cardholders are prohibited from using the Procurement Card to purchase IT goods or services that are covered under an existing university agreement. This could be an enterprise-wide or campus-wide agreement, a mandatory price agreement, or a master services agreement. Additionally, cardholders cannot use the Procurement Card to make any IT purchases further prohibited by their campus.

Existing IT agreements can be reviewed on the PSC’s IT Procurement page as well as on the campus-specific page links listed below. Cardholders are expected to review existing agreements as well as information on campus-specific restrictions and allowability when considering making any IT purchase on their card.

Any IT purchase that is eligible to be made on the Procurement Card must have all associated security, compliance, or contractual components reviewed before payment is completed. Refer to the PSC’s IT Procurement webpage for additional guidance.

Anschutz Medical Campus
91PORN Campus
Colorado Springs Campus
Denver Campus
System Administration
Concur Warnings on IT Expense Types - Beginning 9/1/2025, when Procurement Card expenses are reconciled using an IT Expense Type in Concur (i.e. Software, Computers, etc.), the following message will appear in the expense entry screen reminding cardholders of the limitations on IT purchases using a Procurement Card:

Procurement Cards are not to be used for the purchase of IT goods or services that are covered under an existing enterprise-wide or campus-wide agreement. Additionally, cardholders cannot use the Procurement Card to make any IT purchases further prohibited by their campus. Existing IT agreements can be reviewed on the PSC’s IT Procurement page and campus specific guidance can be found in the pages linked below:
Office Hours – If you have questions, come chat with us on Zoom.

How to Buy IT Goods and Services

21.01 IT Consulting & Developers How-to-Buy IT Consulting and Developers

21.02 IT Staff Augmentation How-to-Buy IT Staff Augmentation

21.03 IT Services – Other How-to-Buy IT Services Other

Have Questions or Feedback?

Email the PSC or join an upcoming office hours session (Zoom details coming soon). We're here to support you with this Procurement Card policy update designed to increase IT purchase compliance across the campuses.

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AI Tools for Facilities Management: Efficiency and Security

Nancy Portner — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 20:55:53 +0000

AI Tools for Facilities Management: Efficiency and Security Nancy Portner Fri, 03/21/2025 - 14:55

We want to clarify the difference between O365 Copilot Chat and M365 Copilot. Both Copilot tools have been reviewed by FMIT and OIT for security, privacy, and CU contract terms.

O365 Copilot Chat is a web-based AI chat tool that generates answers from web content. All CU staff members have access to O365 Copilot Chat. It's included in our Office license. To access O365 Copilot Chat, visit Microsoft365.com/copilot.

Examples of tasks you can complete using the free O365 Copilot Chat:

Summarize long email threads
Generate ideas for documents

M365 Copilot is an upgraded version of Copilot which is integrated into Microsoft 365 apps like Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, offering personalized support based on your work data. M365 Copilot is a subscription-based product that requires an annual fee. The annual cost is approximately $400 per individual; that amount can be prorated for partial year use. Members of our IT and I&R leadership team have been testing out the M365 Copilot product for the past couple of months and have seen many benefits of using the tool. If you are interested in M365 Copilot, please speak to your supervisor for approval first, then reach out to fmit@colorado.edu to get the process started.

Examples of tasks you can complete using the upgraded M365 Copilot:

Email Management: M365 Copilot can help you stay on top of your inbox, draft responses quickly, schedule meetings, and set up rules to organize your emails in Outlook.
Meeting Preparation: It can assist in scheduling meetings, preparing agendas, and creating automatic replies for upcoming vacations.
Time Management: M365 Copilot can create daily schedules, prioritize tasks, and optimize your weekly schedule using tools like Viva Insights.
Document Creation and Editing: Integrated into Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, M365 Copilot can help draft documents, analyze data, and create presentations based on your work data.

You can find additional details on both products on the OIT Copilot page: Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot | Office of Information Technology

More AI Explorations

For more information on approved AI tools at 91PORN, please visit the CU approved AI tools list. Be sure you use approved tools logged in under your university account to ensure protection of university data. Review the approved data level to determine what type of data should be shared with each tool. Both the add-on licensed version of Microsoft 365 Copilot and the free Copilot Chat are now rated for non-public data. You should always redact confidential information when using tools rated for public data only.

Creative solutions can help you work within these parameters and still receive the great work benefits and efficiencies offered by using AI tools. For example, you can save a Zoom meeting transcript and later use O365 Copilot Chat to summarize it. Before sharing AI generated content, always review the output for accuracy and tone, and double check to ensure correctness and watch for bias.

What's Next?

We encourage you to get familiar with the technology by using it. CU system offers several free, self-paced online Copilot trainings through Percipio/Skillsoft to help you get started. If you get stuck, feel free to ask any member of the FMIT team questions or request a follow-up. We'd love to hear what you find useful or any limitations you encounter. May your AI adventures be as smooth as a well-buffed Kubota.

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