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Required Information/Documentation:

1. Account(s) to charge (Cost Center or Internal Order number). Contact ems-fpac@psu.edu if you need help finding account number(s)
2. Justification/Purpose of Purchase for charging the account(s) including event agenda/itinerary if available)

Process:

1. Go to PSUBuy Buying and Invoicing page
2. Under Shop tab click on Category related to purchase (i.e., Scientific and Research).  This may take you to a subset of screens where you can click on subcategories that further define your purchase and provide you with companies available through punchout catalogs.
3. Click on Punchout Catalog tile followed by “Buy from Supplier” button.
4. Select the Search Bar and enter a product name, number, or keyword and click search
5. Once you locate the catalog item, you can “Add to Cart”
6. To add more items, repeat steps 2-5.
7. After you have added all desired items, click the shopping cart in the upper right corner and select the prompt buttons that take you to the checkout screen (varies by supplier).
8. A Purchase Requisition (PR) will be created, where you will complete remaining information.
9. Enter a "Title" for your Purchase Requisition (i.e., "2 boxes of pens")
10. Need-by Date: Enter Need-by date for overall order.
11. On Behalf Of: Will auto-populate to the name of person doing catalog order - update to someone else if buying for someone else
12. Enter a Deliver To contact and enter a "Delivery Contact Phone Number" for whoever this is to be delivered to.  Complete checkboxes as required.
13. PSU Purpose of Purchase: Enter business justification for why these items are being purchased and how they benefit the accounts charged (5 W’s)
14. Under each line item in the shopping cart, complete (at least the following):
    1. Account Assignment: (Cost Center (10 digits) or Order (12 digits)
    2. GL Account: Choose best that describes what is being purchased (i.e., Lab Supplies)
    3. Enter Cost Center or Internal Order number to charge this to
    4. ShipTo(Plant): From dropdown search for the building to be delivered to (make sure you are searching by “Name” and not “ID” if you do not know the building code.
    5. Deliver To: After the Delivery Contact name, in parentheses, add room number (i.e., “John Smith (Room 510)”)
    6. Need-by Date: Enter the date the specific line item(s) are needed by
15. Once you have completed all account/shipping information, click blue “Submit” button in upper right corner of the page.
16. Shopping Cart will go through approval flows.

Additional Catalog PSU Buy support can be found here.

IF you need to obtain PSU Buy Shopper Access:

Instructions on how to obtain “Shopper” Access in PSU Buy

1. Access training course in the Learning Resource Network (LRN)
   1. Log into LRN by accessing WorkLion Portal
   2. Click on the right tile to access LRN
   3. Log into LRN with PSU ID and password
   4. Search for “PSUbuy Initiator Training” and complete the self-paced module
   5. Complete the Final Knowledge Check 
   6. Save certificates of completion as proof just in case it is needed.
2. Request access to PSUbuy
   1. You will receive an email after completion of courses.
   2. The email will have the following instructions:
3. Now that you have completed this training, you will need to navigate to IdentityIQ (IIQ) and request access to PSUbuy.
4. IIQ can be reached at https://identityiq.psu.edu. Note: you must be on a Penn State network to access IIQ, so please connect to the PSU VPN first if you are on a remote network.
5. Once logged into IIQ, you will need to request the Shopper role. If you need guidance on how to request access in IIQ, please consult this KB article.  Please follow the instructions to gain access to the PSUbuy site. The system coordinators will match the training you took with your access request and give you access.
6. Some accounts show Manage User Access while other show Manage My Access – this is the button you want to select. 
7. Once all steps are completed, PSUbuy can be found in the same place as Shop OnLion – via SIMBA and by searching up the PSUbuy tile.

Before You Shop | Procurement

Version Updated: 9/01/2026