Automate purchase requests and approvals
Every request arrives complete – with cost centre, required date and quote. Who has to sign follows from the amount and the category, not from a PDF somewhere on the intranet. The decision is taken in Teams or by email, the log is written automatically.
Your signature policy lives on paper, not in the process
An order rarely begins as an order. It begins with a remark in passing: “We are out of cartridges again.” That turns into an email, then into a question about the cost centre, then into a request for a quote. Placing the order takes minutes in the end – gathering the information drags on for days.
The real difficulty is not the form, though. It is the question of who has to sign. Almost every company has a policy for that, and almost every policy leaves open exactly the questions that decide the working day: net or gross, a single line item or the whole request, and for a subscription the monthly charge or the value over the full term? From what point may a deputy decide, and who is allowed to approve their own need? On paper that can stay open, because a person will read it sensibly when it matters. A workflow has to commit.
The most demanding part of this project is therefore not a technical one. Together with procurement, finance and the management we write your thresholds down in a form a machine can execute – including the places where today’s policy contradicts itself. What follows is the easier part: one form per category, one ladder of thresholds, one target system.
The purchase request decides need and budget. If a new business partner must then be captured completely and approved internally, supplier onboarding automation takes care of master data, evidence and the controlled ERP handoff.
Which needs are worth it
We start with the category that occurs most often and has the simplest approval. Further categories later use the same threshold ladder, only with different mandatory fields.
Consumables and small purchases
The most common starting point: many small requests, a fixed cost centre, one signature. The relief comes from volume, not from complexity.
Software and subscriptions
The monthly charge sits below every threshold, the value over the full term rarely does. This is where you find out whether a policy has been thought through.
Materials for jobs and sites
With a project number instead of a cost centre, a delivery date and an address that is not the head office.
Spare parts and repairs
The urgent case: a machine is down and the approval comes over the phone. The workflow models that route and asks for the confirmation afterwards.
Investments and capital purchases
Several quotes, a justification, two signatures – one record with attachments instead of an email chain running for weeks.
External services
Consultancy, training, temporary staff: the need has no article number, it has an hourly rate and a framework agreement.
A look at the threshold ladder
This is what a signature policy looks like when a workflow has to execute it: the amount on the left, the people responsible on the right – with the deputy and the point from which two signatures are needed.
| Net order value | Approval | Deputy | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| up to €250 | Team lead | Deputy team leadafter 24 hours | one signature |
| €250 – €1,000 | Head of department | Team leadafter 24 hours | one signature |
| €1,000 – €5,000 | Head of departmentthenProcurement | procurement onlydeputy buyer, after 24 hours | two signatures |
| €5,000 – €25,000 | Finance directorthenManaging director | no deputydecided in person | two signatures |
| above €25,000 | Investment case | no deputyshareholder resolution | leaves the workflow |
- Two signatures run one after the other. The second request only starts once the first approval is in – otherwise both people decide without knowing about each other.
- The deputy steps in on a timer, not on request: after 24 hours without a decision and only where an absence has been recorded.
- Self-approval is ruled out. Where requester and approver are the same person, the request moves up one level.
The third row is the one that matters: above €1,000 procurement signs as well – afterwards, not at the same time. That order of events appears in hardly any written policy and is still how it works everywhere.
The amounts are an example. In the workshop we enter your real thresholds and settle the cases your policy leaves open today.
From reported need to placed order
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Report the need
A form in Teams, SharePoint or the browser asks for different mandatory fields per category. Cost centre and line manager come from the staff directory; above a defined amount the quote is a required attachment.
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Value the request
The net value is calculated – for subscriptions across the full term, not per month. Cost centre and budget position are checked, and similar requests from the past few days appear as a hint.
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Determine the approval route
Amount, category and cost centre produce the levels from your ladder. If the requester is the responsible approver, the request moves up one level.
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Collect the decision
The responsible person receives every detail and attachment in one card in Teams or in an email: approve, reject with a reason, or send back. Once the deadline passes the workflow reminds and brings in the deputy.
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Hand over to procurement
The approved request goes into the ERP as a purchase requisition, into the ordering list, or as a checked PDF to procurement. The number comes back and the log stays with the request.
What changes day to day
Today
- The need arrives by corridor, chat or email
- Procurement chases the cost centre and the quote
- Who may approve sits in a PDF on the intranet
- Approvals lie scattered across individual mailboxes
- Whether the budget still holds shows at month end
With an approval workflow
- Every request arrives structured and complete
- Mandatory fields per category are enforced upfront
- The approval route follows amount and category
- Decision, reason and time stay with the request
- The budget position sits in the form, before approval
What an approval workflow does not do
Automating approvals is quickly said. We settle these four points before the quote:
- At small volumes it does not pay. If you raise a handful of orders a month and sit in the same office as the approver, a form gains you nothing – asking across the desk is faster. The product only carries once several cost centres, sites or approval levels are in play. If we cannot see that case, we say so in the intro call.
- The workflow checks authority, not value for money. It knows who has to sign, but not whether the need makes sense and the price is reasonable. Anyone buying too expensively today buys just as expensively afterwards – only faster and fully documented.
- The budget position is only as good as the source system. Many ERP systems keep no record of open commitments, so they cannot tell the difference between ordered and invoiced. In that case the form shows guidance rather than a binding budget check – and it is labelled as such.
- Thresholds can be worked around. Three requests of €900 each stay below the same limit that a single one of €2,700 would break. We flag patterns like that, but whether it was intent or coincidence is for a person to judge. Anyone who deliberately bends the rules will do so with a workflow too – that is a management question.
Fits your system landscape
Scope and price
The entry price covers two categories with your threshold ladder and one target system. What moves the price, we say before the quote.
- Request form with mandatory fields for two categories
- Your threshold ladder with up to three approval levels
- Deputy rule with deadline, reminder and escalation
- Approval in Microsoft Teams or by email, mobile included
- Audit log per request, exportable as a file
- Handover to procurement: ERP import, list or PDF
- Documentation, handover session and 30 days of support
What increases the price
- More than two categories with their own mandatory fields
- Separate approval routes per entity, site or project
- Write access to the ERP instead of an import file
- Budget and open-commitment check in real time
- Framework agreements and supplier catalogues with prices
Several entities with their own approval routes and write access to the ERP typically land in the range of our Workflow Advanced package from €2,490. We quote the binding fixed price after the intro call.
All prices excl. VAT · operation and further development optionally via a support package
What you get
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An executable signature policy
Your thresholds, deputies and exceptions as an agreed rule set – documented and changeable later
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A production request and approval route
From the form to the handover to procurement, signed off with real requests
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An audit log per request
Who decided when and on what information, exportable for audit and review
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Training for both sides
One session for the requesters, one for the approvers – including absence and urgent cases
Frequently asked questions about purchase requests
These solutions fit alongside
Approval Workflows
The same approval logic for everything else: leave, contracts, exceptions.
Accounts Payable Automation
The step after: the invoice is checked against the approved request.
Expenses and Travel Costs
Thresholds and deputies on the same pattern, for what staff pay out of pocket.
Contract Management
For subscriptions and framework agreements: keep notice periods and renewals in view.
Does everyone know who signs from which amount?
In the free intro call we go through your thresholds and look at the cases your current policy leaves open. Afterwards you know whether a workflow pays for itself at your order volume.
Book a free intro callWhere automated purchase requests creates value in everyday work
The workflow guides requesters through required information, checks cost centres and thresholds, obtains approvals and hands a complete record to procurement or ERP.
Three concrete operating scenarios to compare with your own process.Request office supplies
Standard items and cost centre move through a simple threshold-based process.
Purchase software
Licence need, term, privacy and IT review are included at the right time.
Prepare investments
Quotes, justification and multi-stage approval remain in one record.
A strong fit when …
Recurring office tasks follow clear rules, consume small blocks of time every day and should run reliably without replacing existing systems.
- You handle recurring purchase requests using repeatable rules.
- The intake, target system and accountable business role can be named clearly.
- Exceptions are allowed to remain visible and move to people deliberately.
Deliberate automation boundary
Supplier selection, contract review, procurement policy and unusual or high-risk purchases remain with procurement and responsible business roles.
Explore the technical approach and platformsEstimate time savings with your own volume
The calculator uses 18 minutes today and 6 minutes after automation as fixed example assumptions. It does not replace process analysis.
Illustrative estimate based on the visible assumptions — not a guarantee.