Managing purchase requests across spreadsheets, emails, or shared forms leads to approval delays, inaccurate invoicing, overspending, and limited spend visibility.
As your business grows, you need an automated system to handle your purchase requests, from creation to delivery. This helps you speed up approvals, reduce errors, and gain control over how each request is processed.
In this article, we’ll discuss how requisition management software works and how it helps teams move forward. We’ll also share how you can streamline purchase requests using ProcureDesk.
What is Requisition Management Software?
Requisition management software is a tool that automates the process of requesting, approving, and tracking purchases within an organization.
It allows employees to create purchase requests online, route them for approval, and track their status in real-time. The software uses preset company rules to help maintain financial control and compliance without slowing down operations.
Here’s how a purchase requisition management software works:
- Employees create and submit purchase requests online
- The system automatically routes requests for approval based on company rules
- Once approved, it generates a purchase order and sends it to the vendor
- All transactions sync with accounting software for real-time spend visibility.
Challenges of Purchase Requisition Management
Here are some common challenges small to mid-sized companies face in requisition management:
Manual Processes Slow Down Approvals
When purchase requests are managed through emails or paper forms, approvals often get delayed. Employees spend time chasing managers for sign-offs, leading to longer purchase cycles. This slows down operations and impacts productivity.
Missing or Inaccurate Information
Employees may enter incorrect critical details on the requisition form, such as vendor data or budget codes, which can cause delays and necessitate repeated corrections.
Each missing field or error leads to more back-and-forth emails, wasting valuable time.
Inconsistent Approval Workflows
Different departments may follow their own approval processes, creating confusion and errors. Inconsistent workflows can result in unauthorized purchases, duplicate requests, or missed approvals that violate company policies.
Lack of Spending Visibility
Without a centralized procurement system, finance teams struggle to see where money is going or which department is overspending. This lack of transparency makes it difficult to plan budgets, forecast cash flow, or identify cost-saving opportunities.
Limited Budget Control
Manual requisition tracking leads to budget overruns. Without automated budget checks, spending goes unnoticed until after payments are made. This leads to poor financial control.
Inconsistent Use of Purchase Requests
Without a structured system, employees often bypass the formal requisition process altogether. They may make direct purchases or use corporate cards without prior approval. This results in unexpected invoices and unchecked spending.
Compliance and Audit Challenges
When purchase approvals and documentation are scattered across emails or spreadsheets, preparing for audits becomes a nightmare. Missing records or unclear approval trails can lead to compliance risks and wasted time during audits.
How ProcureDesk Streamlines Purchase Requisition Management Software for SMBs
ProcureDesk is a procurement software for small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) that manage 50+ purchase orders or 100+ invoices per month.
The software serves industries like biotech, climate tech, educational institutions, construction, manufacturing, and non-profit organizations.
ProcureDesk’s requisition management software automates request creation, approval workflows, budget checks, invoicing, and reporting. It offers real-time visibility across all departments from a single dashboard.
Here’s how ProcureDesk helps SMBs streamline purchase requests, from creation to approval and beyond:
Customizable Requisition Forms for Faster Creation
When purchase requisitions are created manually, employees often waste time searching for vendor details, pricing, or budget codes before even filling out the form.
ProcureDesk simplifies purchase requisition creation through automation and smart defaults. The system pre-fills key details, like department, location, and budget codes, based on the requester’s profile, so users don’t have to hunt for information.
This reduces manual data entry and helps employees create accurate purchase requests faster.
All your purchase requests move through a single procurement system. When an employee submits a purchase request via ProcureDesk, the system automatically routes it further for approval based on your pre-set company rules.
If your organization has multiple types of purchase requests, such as office supplies, travel expenses, or petty cash, ProcureDesk can handle them all. You can define different requisition types with unique approval paths and workflows.
Here’s an example of the two requisition types (Standard and Travel):
This allows you to create custom request forms for each type so that the fields, approvals, and data captured differ by requisition type. Within each requisition type, you can set unique rules.
For example, certain types may convert automatically into purchase orders, while others may require buyer review.
This helps you prevent over-engineering small requisitions while giving full controls for higher-risk types.
Custom Multi-level Workflows for Faster Approvals
Manually approving each purchase request is time-consuming and slows down your procurement process.
ProcureDesk offers a custom workflow engine that automates approvals based on department, amount, GL (General Ledger) code, or project.
If you have a complex hierarchical company structure, ProcureDesk supports an approval hierarchy. This allows all your purchase requests to pass through multiple levels before being approved.
For example, if a marketing coordinator submits a $4,000 software purchase request, ProcureDesk will first route it to their manager for approval. If further review is needed, the request then moves to the finance controller and finally to the CFO for final sign-off.
This eliminates manual follow-ups and keeps the request compliant with company policies.
Vendor Catalogs to Standardize Purchasing
Without a vendor catalog, employees must manually look up item details, prices, and vendor information each time they create a requisition.
ProcureDesk supports 200+ vendor catalogs, including Amazon, CDW, Thermo Fisher, and Costco, that connect directly to the system.
The software allows you to add pre-approved suppliers and negotiated pricing under each catalog. Employees can browse approved suppliers and select the products they need. The system then automatically adds accurate item details, such as SKU, pricing, and vendor data, directly to their requisition cart.
For example, if an employee needs to buy supplies from Amazon, they can select the Amazon catalog directly from the ProcureDesk requisition screen.
The system connects to the company’s Amazon Business account and pulls items from the shopping cart into the requisition. It then sends the purchase order to Amazon once it’s approved.
If you have a small vendor that doesn’t maintain a website, you can create an internal catalog on ProcureDesk.
Here’s how you can create an internal catalog on ProcureDesk:
- Identify frequently purchased items: Review past purchases to find products your team orders regularly, such as office supplies, lab materials, or maintenance tools.
- Add items to the catalog: Enter item details like name, description, SKU, price, and preferred vendor directly into ProcureDesk.
- Set access permissions: Assign catalogs to specific departments or user groups so only authorized employees can request items.
- Link to budgets and approval rules: Connect each catalog item to the right cost center, budget, and workflow to ensure policy compliance.
- Publish and maintain: Make the catalog available in the system for employees to browse and update it periodically to reflect new items or pricing changes.
This prevents off-contract buying or maverick spend. It also reduces the time needed to prepare and submit a purchase request for employees.
Automatically Generate Purchase Orders
Managing 50+ purchase orders (POs) via spreadsheets and emails slows down your entire procurement process.
ProcureDesk’s purchase order software automatically converts approved purchase requests into POs based on your predefined templates and vendor details.
It then sends the purchase order directly to the vendor via three different channels:
- Electronic Data Interchange (EDI / cXML): ProcureDesk sends POs electronically in cXML or EDI format for system-to-system vendor integration.
- Email: For smaller vendors, the system emails purchase orders directly to the vendor’s registered address.
- Vendor Portal: Vendors using a portal can receive and acknowledge purchase orders directly within their designated platform.
Each PO is automatically tracked in a centralized dashboard where you can monitor its status from creation and vendor acknowledgment to delivery and invoicing.
This visibility helps finance and procurement teams stay informed about open orders, avoid duplicate purchases, and maintain a complete audit trail for every transaction.
Budget Controls to Prevent Overspending
Without automated budget checks, teams may approve purchase requests that exceed available limits. This leads to unplanned expenses and less financial control.
ProcureDesk simplifies budget control by providing flexible tools to plan, assign, and monitor spending across your organization. The system allows you to create granular budget structures tailored to your business needs.
This structure gives finance teams the visibility they need to track spending at a detailed level.
Once budgets are defined, ProcureDesk lets you assign them to specific departments or user groups using access controls. Only authorized users can view or use a particular budget.
ProcureDesk also performs automatic checks against budgets during the purchase requisition process. The system validates each request in real-time and alerts users if their purchase would exceed available funds.
You can also configure flexible rules, such as allowing up to 10% over-budget spending with a warning or blocking purchases that exceed limits entirely. These automated safeguards prevent rogue spending (unauthorized spending) before it happens.
For example, a biotech company used ProcureDesk’s budget control feature to monitor department spending in real-time. When employees submitted purchase requests nearing their budget limits, the system automatically flagged them. This helped managers make informed approval decisions and prevent overspending.
Role-Based Access for Control
Each user has a role to play in the procurement process. For example, some employees can only create a purchase requisition, while others can create and approve purchase requisitions.
ProcureDesk supports access management, so you can easily control who can do what in the purchasing system. You can set up roles and then group the actions that the role can perform.
Once you have set up the role, all you have to do is assign the role to a user.
For example, a finance user might not create purchase requisitions. But they still want to see all the spending that is going on in the company. At the same time, a marketing analyst might need access to create and manage her requisitions.
ProcureDesk’s purchase requisition tool can easily handle all these scenarios with access management.
Spend Analytics for Expense Management
Manual processes give limited visibility into where money is going, leading to budget overruns and uninformed purchasing decisions.
ProcureDesk provides built-in spend analytics that give finance and procurement teams real-time visibility into how budgets are being used across departments, vendors, and categories.
The system automatically captures every approved requisition, purchase order, and invoice. It then cleans and standardizes this data to remove duplicates and inconsistencies before turning it into actionable insights.
You can access 30+ report templates that provide detailed transaction summaries, top vendors/-buyers insights, and budgeting comparisons. These insights help teams forecast budgets more accurately and implement smarter cost-saving strategies.
Vendor Management to Evaluate Performance
Managing purchase requisitions across multiple vendors can become chaotic when supplier data is fragmented or outdated. This makes it hard for teams to choose the right vendors, validate compliance, or track performance during the requisition process.
ProcureDesk simplifies vendor management by consolidating all supplier information in one centralized platform. Employees can easily select approved vendors while creating requisitions, reducing errors and off-contract purchases.
The system helps your procurement department:
- Access accurate vendor data: Collect all vendor profiles, pricing, and product catalogs and link them directly to the requisition process.
- Maintain compliance: Update important documents, such as certifications or W-9s, in the system to prevent approval delays.
- Guide purchasing decisions: Tag and surface preferred vendors when users submit requests, keeping requisitions aligned with company policies.
- Prevent duplicate entries: Validate checks to stop users from adding duplicate vendor records.
- Track performance history: Monitor delivery timelines, order accuracy, and responsiveness to identify reliable vendors.
- Simplify approvals: Attach approved vendor information to the requisition, reducing back-and-forth validation.
- Support audits with complete records: Automatically log every vendor interaction, from requisition creation to order fulfillment, for transparency and audit readiness.
Invoicing Automation for Faster Payments
Paper-based invoices force accounts payable (AP) teams to reconcile every detail manually. This leads to delayed payments and data entry errors.
ProcureDesk’s invoice approval workflow software automates the entire process, from invoice capture to validation and approval.
When a vendor submits an invoice via email or the vendor portal, the system extracts line-item details using OCR (optical character recognition) technology. This reduces manual data entry and speeds up processing.
ProcureDesk performs a 3-way match, where it matches the invoice with POs and goods receipts. If an invoice doesn’t match or exceed defined thresholds, it is routed for review through the approval workflow.
All the approved invoices are stored in a centralized dashboard.
ProcureDesk integrates with your accounting systems like QuickBooks, NetSuite, and Sage Intacct. All your approved invoices sync automatically.
Centralized Dashboard for Real-Time Visibility
Without a centralized system, you lack visibility into your purchase requests, vendors, spending, and invoices accurately.
ProcureDesk offers a procurement dashboard that gives you real-time visibility into your requisition management. Users can monitor approval status, see spending by department, track vendor activity, view unpaid invoices, and more.
When you log in, ProcureDesk displays the most recent data in a clean, easy-to-read dashboard. As your teams create and manage requisitions, the system automatically updates data.
Every dashboard is customizable based on specific roles. This allows managers, CFOs, controllers, and business owners to get a unified view of insights that matter to them. This also helps teams stay aligned, improve accountability, and maintain full control over procurement performance.
You can run reports to track spending information or track what purchase requisitions are pending approval.
For example, the requisitions pending approval report gives you all this information without tracking every purchase request. Here is an example of a report that shows you all requests that are pending approval:
You can then export the report into a spreadsheet to further analyze the data.
ProcureDesk Integrations
Juggling multiple systems for requisition management slows down your process and leads to data entry errors.
ProcureDesk integrates with accounting, ERP, and management tools, so you can sync all your workflows into a single dashboard.
Key integrations include:
Book a demo to learn how ProcureDesk connects with your existing systems.
ProcureDesk Pricing
ProcureDesk offers three pricing plans, depending on your feature needs and business size.
| Plan | Price (Monthly) | What’s Included |
| Purchasing Automation | $598/month | 10 users included, onboarding support, and custom approval workflows |
| Purchasing & A/P Automation | $1,020/month | Includes all purchasing automation features, plus invoice approval workflows, 3-way invoice matching, and OCR for invoices |
| Enterprise | Custom quote | Includes all purchasing automation features, plus a dedicated account manager, vendor portal, and single sign-on (SSO) |
Benefits of Having a Requisition Management Software
Here are the benefits of requisition management software for SMBs:
Increased Productivity
A purchase requisition tool presents a single dashboard that allows users to see what is pending approval and with whom they need to follow up. Employees don’t have to print and fill out forms. Managers don’t have to continuously look up the pending items in their inbox to approve.
This allows your procurement and finance teams to focus more on strategic tasks, such as negotiating better vendor terms or improving cash flow.
Better Cost Control
Every purchase request is checked against available budgets before purchases happen. The requisition system gives you full control over your spending. This helps teams prevent overspending and maintain financial discipline.
Cash Flow Visibility
You have instant spend visibility into what is purchased and how much cash you need to satisfy open AP. The software helps view who’s buying what, from which vendor, and at what cost in real-time.
Error Reduction and Accuracy
The software automates data entry with prefilled fields and standardized templates, reducing mistakes in purchase details and coding. It also maintains consistency across all requests. This improves the accuracy of financial records and simplifies reporting.
Enhanced Policy Compliance
Built-in approval rules and vendor restrictions in the software keep every request aligned with company policies and contract terms. These controls also help maintain purchasing compliance with audit and reporting requirements.
Bottom Line
Requisition management can be challenging if you don’t have the right tools to automate tedious tasks, like creation, approvals, and invoice processing.
If you’re a small team that manages 50+ POs per month, you need a tool that combines requisition management with purchasing and AP workflows. This allows you to streamline your entire procurement process without manual workarounds.
ProcureDesk offers requisition management software solutions for teams that earn $10M – $100M+ in annual revenue. It offers requisition forms, custom workflows, PO management, budget controls, invoice automation, and reporting.
With our built-in tools, you get real-time visibility into your company’s spending, which allows you to streamline purchase requisitions, speed up approvals, and improve cash flow.
Book a demo to learn how ProcureDesk helps you create and manage requisitions in real-time.
FAQs About Requisition Management Software
What is the disadvantage of manual requisition management?
Manual requisition management creates inefficiencies, delays, and frequent errors that slow down the purchasing process.
Paper or spreadsheet-based tracking limits visibility into approvals and spending, making it difficult to manage budgets accurately.
ProcureDesk automates requisition management for SMBs. It streamlines purchase requests, approvals, and budget checks in one centralized system. This eliminates manual data entry, reduces approval delays, and provides real-time visibility into spending.
What are the three types of requisitions?
The three types of requisitions are:
- Standard Requisition: For regular, planned purchases like office supplies, equipment, or services.
- Travel or Expense Requisition: For business trips, conferences, or reimbursement-related approvals.
- Petty Cash or Emergency Requisition: For small, urgent, or unplanned purchases requiring immediate payment.
ProcureDesk allows you to set up workflows for each requisition type based on urgency, purpose, and budget category. This speeds up approvals and reduces data inaccuracies.
How can requisition management software streamline your workflow?
Requisition management software streamlines workflows by automating every step of the purchasing process. Employees can create, submit, and approve requests digitally.
With ProcureDesk, approvals are routed automatically based on company rules, and real-time alerts keep managers and requesters updated on status changes. This automation reduces delays, speeds up purchasing cycles, and improves cash flow.
What features should I look for in a purchase requisition tool?
Look for a purchase requisition tool with automated approval workflows, budget tracking, and vendor catalog integration. It should also offer real-time spend visibility, customizable forms, and seamless integration with your accounting or ERP system to streamline the entire procurement process.
With ProcureDesk, you get everything you need in one system. Book a demo today to learn more.
What is the best requisition management software?
ProcureDesk is the best requisition management software for small to mid-sized teams that manage 50+ POs or 100+ invoices per month. It offers features like automated purchase requests, approval workflows, vendor catalogs, budget tracking, and integrations.
How long does it take to implement requisition management software?
The implementation time for requisition management software can vary based on the complexity of the system and the specific needs of the organization. Factors such as system customization, data migration, user training, and organizational size all contribute to the overall timeline.
Generally, a well-planned implementation can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. ProcureDesk provides a white-glove onboarding setup. We’ll handle everything and get all of your custom workflows set up without disrupting daily operations.
