Purchase Requests
A Purchase Request (requisition) is the internal document an employee uses to formally ask for something to be purchased, before any vendor is contacted. On its own it doesn't move inventory, doesn't post an accounting entry and doesn't commit the company to anyone; it's the earlier step you later follow up until it becomes a Quote Request to vendors or a Purchase Order.
What it is and what it's for
Use a Purchase Request whenever an employee needs to ask for items or services and you want a record of that need before committing any money to a vendor. It's useful to:
- Centralize in one place what every area of the company is asking to buy.
- Route it through an authorization workflow before the purchasing department acts on it.
- Track internally whether it's already being handled (pending, in process, completed), independent of whether a vendor has delivered anything yet.
- Serve as the origin for requesting quotes from several vendors or for generating a Purchase Order directly.
A Purchase Request has two independent statuses that are worth telling apart:
- The Authorization Status (Draft, Pending, Authorized or Rejected) shows whether it has been internally approved. When a request is created and is left pending approval, the requesting employee's supervisor gets a notification and, if they have an email on file, an email alert as well.
- The Processing Status (Pending, In Process, Completed) only applies once the request is authorized; you set it by hand from the detail screen to keep track of how far along the internal purchasing effort is.
How to use it
- Open Purchase Requests from the Purchases menu.
- Use the All, Pending Authorization and In Process tabs to quickly find the group of requests you need to review; you can also filter by date, subsidiary, department, project, location, division, item class, assigned purchasing analyst or item.
- Click New to create the request. You're set as the requesting employee automatically, with your user's default subsidiary, location and currency.
- Fill in the location and add the item or service lines with the quantity you need; the price and vendor on each line are only a suggestion to guide the purchasing department, not a commitment.
- Attach any quote, spec sheet or other supporting file from the document's file section.
- Save the document. If your user group requires authorization, the request stays pending until the user assigned as authorizer approves or rejects it from the detail screen.
- From an already-saved request you can click Request Quote at any time to generate a Quote Request to vendors, or Register Purchase Order once it's authorized, to generate the Purchase Order with the vendor, currency, payment terms, location, department, division, item class, reference, priority and notes inherited from the request.
- Once authorized, use the Mark as Pending, Mark as In Process and Mark as Completed buttons to keep track of how far along the request is being handled internally.
- To print, use the document's print button; you can choose between the predefined format or a custom HTML template configured by your company.
- Use Reports for a summary, a detailed view or a response-time analysis of your purchase requests.
Key fields
| Field | What it's used for |
|---|---|
| Requested By | Employee who needs the purchase; defaults to the user creating the document. |
| Purchasing Analyst | Purchasing-team employee responsible for handling and following up on this request; distinct from who requested it. |
| Location | Location the goods or service are needed for. Required, and must belong to the same subsidiary as the document. |
| Subsidiary | Only visible and required if your company has subsidiaries enabled. |
| Currency | Only required if you're going to suggest a price on any line. |
| Payment Terms | Suggested payment terms, carried over if you later generate the Purchase Order. |
| Priority | Urgency level of the request, optional. |
| Department / Division / Project / Item Class | Optional accounting dimensions to classify the request. |
| Reference and Notes | Free text to identify the request or leave internal instructions. |
| Items | Request lines: item or service, description, quantity, unit, attributes (if your company uses them), tax, suggested price and suggested vendor, to guide the purchasing department. |
Validations when saving
- The location is required and must belong to the document's subsidiary.
- The currency and the department, if provided, must exist and be active.
- There must be at least one line with an item, service, or description; you can't leave a quantity or price on a line with no item or name.
- Each line's discount percentage, if used, must be between 0% and 100%.
- If any line suggests a price greater than zero, the document's currency becomes required.
- No more than 500 lines are allowed per document.
- The document number can't be changed once created, and a voided document can no longer be edited (keep it only as a reference).
Availability and permissions
- This screen requires the Enterprise edition with the add-on Advanced Purchases module active for your company (along with Quote Requests to vendors and the proposal comparison).
- You need the Purchase Requests permission; the add, edit, delete and void levels are controlled separately within that same permission.
- If you don't have the privilege to see every request but do have the "Subordinates" one, you'll only see your own requests and those of the employees who report to you.
- Even without edit-level access, you can still edit a request that was assigned to you as the responsible employee.
Tips and common mistakes
"I don't see Purchase Requests in the menu." Check with your administrator that your company's Enterprise edition has the Advanced Purchases module active; without it, this screen isn't available.
"I can't register the Purchase Order from the request." Check that the request is already authorized; while it's in draft, pending or rejected, the button stays disabled.
The price and vendor on each line are only a suggestion for the purchasing department; they don't commit the company or affect the actual cost, which is set only once the Purchase Order or the Vendor Bill is recorded.
You can request quotes from vendors at any status of the request, even before it's authorized; that way the purchasing team gets a head start on negotiating while internal approval runs its course.
Use the Processing Status (Pending/In Process/Completed) so the rest of the company knows how far along your request is, without having to ask you directly.