The Purchase Requests app was developed to help manage and track asset purchase requests and purchases within your organization. If you want to formally track and enforce a review and approval process for purchases, then this template is a great starting point.
The app allows you to organize and view requests by their associated department and categories. This way you can easily check how many requests you have across the organization or how many requests were made by the Sales department. The app uses a one or two stage approval process, depending on the asset category. All requests must be approved by an Approving Manager, and specified asset categories also require an additional review and approval.
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App Features
- You can record important information about your purchase requests and manage them through a review and approval workflow.
- In order to organize and report on your assets, they are categorized in the following ways:
- Department – A list of departments within your organization, such as IT, Sales and Finance, etc.
- Asset Categories – A list of categories to organize requests by, each with a radio button used to set whether or not requests in that category requires Additional Review, and if yes, the name/email of the Additional Review Approver.
- Requests are reviewed by the Approving Manager, and if the selected asset category requires Additional Review, then it passes to the Additional Reviewer for approval.
- Approvers get notified whenever a request is waiting for their review, and submitters get notified when an action is taken on their request.
- View and report on Purchase Requests as they process through the approval process.
App Details
- Department lookup records can only be viewed, created and edited by the App Admin role.
- Asset Category lookup records can only be viewed, created and edited by the App Admin role.
- Purchase Request records are the main records in the application, and can be created by members of User and App Admin roles. Security for the record is detailed in the workflow section below.
- Security Roles, and their general purpose, are:
- Purchasing – Can only read or edit Request records when they have been approved for purchase. This role is responsible for purchasing and moving the record into the “Purchased” stage.
- App Admin – Can read, create, edit and delete all records.
- Approving Manager – Can edit and approve/reject records at the Managers Review stage. This role is form-defined, meaning that a record’s approving manager is determined by the ‘Approving Manager’ directory lookup field on the form.
- Additional Review Approver – Can edit and approve/reject records at the Additional Review stage. This role is form-defined, meaning that a record’s Additional Review Approver is determined by the ‘Additional Review Approver’ directory lookup field on the form.
- User – Can create and read requests.
- Purchase Request Workflow stages are:
- Draft – The App Admin role and the record owner (creator) can edit and delete records at this stage.
- Managers Review – The App Admin role can edit and delete records. The Approving Manager and App Admin roles can Approve/Reject records.
- Additional Review – The App Admin role can edit and delete records and the User role can read records. The Approving Manager and Record Owner roles can read. App Admin and Additional Review Approver roles can approve/reject records.
- Approved for Purchase – The App Admin role can edit and delete the record. The Purchasing role can edit. The App Admin and Purchasing roles can both move the record to the Purchased stage.
- Purchased – The App Admin role can edit and delete the record. The Purchasing role can edit. The App Admin and Purchasing roles can both move the record to the Received stage.
- Received – The App Admin role can view and delete. The Record Owner, Additional Review Approver, and Approving Manager roles can view.
- Rejected – The App Admin role can view and delete. The Record Owner, Additional Review Approve, and Approving Manager roles can view.
- Workflow notifications are:
- Draft stage – On Submit, the Approving Manager role (i.e., the user selected in the ‘Approving Manager’ directory lookup field on the form) is notified that there is a Purchase Request waiting review. The email template is called ‘Manager’s Notification.’
- Managers Review stage – On Approve, if the selected asset category requires Additional Review, the Additional Review Approver role (i.e., the user selected in the ‘Additional Review Approver’ directory lookup field) is notified that there is a request awaiting review. The email template is called ‘Additional Review Notification.’ If the selected asset category does not require Additional Review, the record moves to ‘Approved for Purchase’ and the Purchasing role is notified that a request is ready to be purchased. The email template is called ‘Purchasing Notification.’ On Reject, the Record Owner is notified that the request has been rejected. The email template is called ‘Rejection Notification.’
- Additional Review stage – On Approve, the Purchasing role is notified that there is a request ready to be purchased. The email template is called ‘Purchasing Notification.’ On Reject, the Record Owner is notified that the request has been rejected. The email template is called ‘Rejection Notification.’
- Purchased stage – On Asset Received, the Record Owner role is notified that their requested asset has been received. The email template is called ‘Received Notification.’
Setting Up the Purchase Request App
Please following these steps to get the Purchase Request app ready for use in your organization:
- The Purchase Request form asks for the department(s) the request is related to. To supply this list of department names, you need to go to Lookup Lists > Departments in the left side navigation, and create a Department record for each department name you want to use: i.e. Sales, IT, Finance, etc. To do this, simply click the + Add New Record button to add a blank record, and then you may click directly in the view and type in the value.
- The Purchase Request form asks for the asset category to help organize the Purchase Requests. To supply this list of asset categories, you need to go to Lookup Lists > Asset Categories in the left side navigation, and create an Asset Category record for each asset category you want to use: e.g., PC – Laptop, Stationary, etc. To do this, simply click the + Add New Record button to add a blank record, and then you may click directly in the new record’s row/columns and type in the or select the value.
- You will need to assign the appropriate people to the security roles within the application. Go to Application Setting > Edit App in the left side navigation, and once the app design screen appears, select Security > Roles and Users in the left side design navigation. Then select each of the application roles (discussed in the App Details section), and use the right side panel, that appears when you select a role, to set who should be in the role.
Using the Purchase Request App
When requesting a new purchase, enter the details into the Request form. Once all the information is entered, click on the ‘Submit Request’ button at the top of the form. The request will then go through a review and approval process:
- Managers Review – The user selected in the ‘Approving Manager’ field on the form will be notified that a new request needs their review. If the selected Asset Category requires Additional Review, after the manager’s approval the record will then pass to the Additional Review stage. If the select Asset Category requires Additional Review, but the ‘Additional Review Approver’ field is cleared or blank, the Approving Manager may fill in the field, or use the ‘Approve & Skip Additional Review’ button to skip the additional review stage and move directly to the Approved for Purchase stage.
- Additional Review – The user in the ‘Additional Review Approver’ field on the form will be notified that a new request needs their review.
At each approval stage the reviewer can mark the Purchase Request record as Approved or Rejected. After all reviewers have approved the Purchase Request it is marked as ‘Approved for Purchase.’ The record will then go through a Purchase and Receival process:
- Approved for Purchase – After a request has been approved for purchase, users in the Purchasing role will receive a notification that a request is ready to be purchased.
- Purchased – After a request has been purchased, App Admins and users in the Purchasing role can mark the purchase as Received, and the Purchase Request record owner will be notified that their request has been purchased and received.
Updating the Purchase Request App
Don’t forget, as well as being a fully functional app that’s ready to go, the Purchase Request template app can also be a useful starting point for you to build from. If you want extra information tracked for your Purchase Requests, want additional views to sort the Purchase Requests in different ways, or any other changes, you can make those updates yourself.