What is a Purchase Request?
A Purchase Request (PR) is a requisition raised by an individual from a department or cost center to purchase a specific item or service. Raising a Purchase Request plays an important role in the Product or Service Procurement Process. Basically, it leads to notify the Purchasing department or Procurement area on procuring products or services within a stipulated time frame. It contains a definite description of the goods or services needed, the unit of measurement, and quantity.
Figure: Purchase Request Flow Diagram
Purchase Request is used typically for the internal users within an organization. It is a method to ensure that supplies and expenses on purchasing are carefully controlled. Once the Requester fills in the Purchase Request form, it goes through an approval process. The purpose of this approval process is to ensure that the request is validated and verified by a set of users (Approvers). During the course of approval process, an Approver can approve or reject or send the PR back to any previous level or the Requester for a revisit.
Benefits
Centralized Procurement Process: All Purchase Requests get funnelled through a central procurement and purchasing department.
Moving out of the E-mail tracking era: Traditionally, e-mails are used to keep track of processes related to procurement of products or services. However, it has pitfalls like missed out communications, not sending communications to all the stake holders, tracking of mails, and so on. A dedicated PR process eliminates all these constraints and manages the procurement process end to end.
Automatic Routing: The PR is routed to the appropriate user in the procurement process. The Requester can also check the status of the PRs raised by them on one central platform.
Quick and Easy Approvals: The PR is routed to the appropriate Approver based on the configured Approval Matrix. The Approvers can approve or reject the PRs with a click of a mouse and also provide their comments. This eliminates the traditional process of getting approvals on paper and following up with the Approvers.
How to Raise Purchase Requests (PRs)?
You can raise a Purchase Request on the NEW PURCHASE REQUEST page (Path: SUMMIT Login > Procurement > User > New Purchase Request). For more information, see Raising Purchase Request.