What Is A Purchase Order Requisition?

A purchase order requisition is a document an employee uses to request a purchase, product, or service.

Here is an example of a purchase order requisition:

A purchase order requisition captures the following:

1. The purchase requisition captures details about the person requesting the purchase—for example, name, cost center, department, etc.
2. Details of what the employee is requesting to purchase. For example, a product or service. 
3. What is the estimated cost? If the employees know the exact cost, they can mention it or just an estimated cost.
4. Who is the preferred vendor? Sometimes the procurement department identifies the preferred vendor for certain products or services. Employees who don’t have a preferred vendor can leave it blank.

What Is The Purchase Order Requisition Process?

Here is a typical purchase requisition process.

An employee initiates the purchase request. Employees can use a  purchase requisition software, or you can use a manual process. 

A manual process could be as simple as sending an email, or you can use an online requisition form. 

The employee fills in the purchase request and then sends it for approval. 

You can automate the approvals if you are using a purchasing system. The employees must determine the appropriate approval if you don’t have a purchase approval system.

Email approvals require constant back and forth with the approver.

Once the purchase request is approved, it might need a purchase order to complete the purchase. 

Implementation Considerations

If you are considering implementing a purchasing process, we recommend the following:

1. Use automation to simplify the purchasing process. Instead of using a manual process, consider implementing purchase requisition software. For further on this subject, read Best purchase requisition software.

2. Use catalogs to streamline the process further. With vendor catalogs, the employees enjoy the online shopping experience while using the purchasing experience. If you are curious about how catalogs can increase purchasing experience, we recommend checking this out:

Vendor catalogs and purchasing experience.

3. The purchase approval matrix should be automated so that the employees don’t need to determine who should approve a purchase request. It saves time, of course, but also avoids any potential compliance issues. If you want to know how to design a best-in-class purchase approval process, we recommend the following

How to set up a purchase approval process.