Introduction to Requisitions

This is an introductory article about the basics of Purchase Requisitions in PurchasePlus.

What is a Requisition in PurchasePlus?

A Requisition is a request for goods that a Purchaser wishes to purchase from their Suppliers.

In PurchasePlus, a User at a Purchaser Organization can Create a Requisition, add the Products that they want to purchase and specify the quantities of that Product that they want to purchase. Once the user is happy with their Requisition, they can submit it for approval by a Head of Department, an Operational or a Financial Manager within their Organization.

If the user’s Requisition is approved, their Company will send a Purchase Order (PO) to a Supplier (or multiple Suppliers) for fulfilment.

Creating a Requisition

Users are able to create a new Requisition by clicking [Requisitions] → [New Requisition] in the side navigation bar, or by clicking the [Create New Requisition] button at the top of the [Requisitions] → [View All] table. Both paths take the user to the Create a New Purchase Requisition page:

Depending on the Purchaser’s User Permissions and their Organization’s configuration settings, there will be a number of different Requisition Types available:

An All Suppliers Requisition, which provides the user with a list of all Products on offer from all of their Organization’s connected Suppliers. It is a great way to shop and compare quotes on a wide range of products.
A Single Supplier Requisition, which provides the user with a list of all the Products currently available to your Organization from a single selected Supplier.
A Buy List Requisition, which is a pre-defined list of Products. Buy Lists are a great way for Managers and Heads of Department to specify the exact Products they would like other users at their Organization to purchase when creating a Requisition. Quotes from each of their enabled Suppliers will appear on each item in the Buy List.
A Custom Requisition, which enables a user to order ad-hoc items from their enabled Suppliers. A Custom Requisition can be used when none of the other Requisition types are suitable.
An External Requisition, which enables users to create a Requisition by shopping a Supplier's external e-commerce website, if the Supplier has enabled this with PurchasePlus. The user will be able to use the full functionality of the Supplier's website to order their goods. Once they’ve completed shopping on the Supplier's website, they will be redirected back to PurchasePlus, and the products, prices and quantities they selected are automatically added to the Requisition in PurchasePlus.
A Re-order Requisition, which provides users with the option to re-order items from an previous Requisition, Purchase Order or Invoice.
A Stock Location Requisition, which allows users of our Inventory module to replenish the Stock Items in a specific Stock Location, with additional features to help purchase the right Products in the right Quantities, and so closely control their inventory levels.

Requisitions can also be created via Quick Create. When Quick Create is Enabled for an Organization, users that click the [Start Shopping] button on the [Home] page will be met with a streamlined Requisition creation experience, requiring only an (optional) Reference field. The Requisition will be created as an ‘All Suppliers’ type Requisition, and will be set to Basic Shopping mode (although the user will still have the option to create other types of Requisitions).

Requisition Settings

Each type of Requisition has various Settings applied to it. These Settings can be important to the Suppliers (for example, a Delivery Address or Delivery Date), or to the user's colleagues (for example, assigning the Requisition to a Department and Account Code).

The first time that these Settings can be defined is in the [Create New Requisition] form:

Once the Requisition has been created and is in the Open State, its Settings can be updated by users with the appropriate Permissions by (a) hovering over the Setting in question in the [Requisitions] → [View All] table:

...or (b) clicking into the Requisition from the table, and navigating to either the [Settings] tab or the [Information Panel]:

You will be able to find and update the Setting(s), and then click [Save Changes]:

Please Note: some Settings are System fields and are therefore unable to be edited by Users.

Basic vs. Advanced Shopping Mode

Requisitions can be created in Basic Shopping Mode or Advanced Shopping Mode.

Basic Shopping Mode is the default, card-based, highly-visual shopping mode that users experience when creating a Requisition:

If the user opts to [Enable Advanced Shopping] on the Requisition Creation page, they will be presented with a powerful, less-visual table with which they can create their Requisitions:

Approving a Requisition

When a Requisition is submitted for approval by a user, it is progressed to the Awaiting Approval state and is placed into the Approval Workflow that applies to the Requisition’s nominated Department and Account Code.

The users nominated in the first rank of the Approval Workflow will receive an email, informing them that the Requisition has been submitted, and that they can Approve the Requisition. These users are typically Heads of Department, Financial or Operational Managers at the Purchasing Organization.

The nominated Approvers can access the Requisitions that they can approve by clicking [Requisitions] → [Awaiting My Approval]:

Once the Requisition has progressed through all relevant stages of the Approval Workflow, one or more Purchase Orders are created and can be sent to the Supplier(s) whose products were included in the Requisition.

The newly-created Purchase Orders can be sent to Suppliers manually, but it is often the case that the user has either enabled the automatic [Send Purchase Orders to Suppliers] setting on the Requisition, or the same setting has been enabled as a User Preference, and so the Purchase Orders are sent by PurchasePlus to the Supplier's preferred destination as soon as the Requisition is Approved.

Requisition States

Requisitions can be in a number of different states, and this tells us some important information about the Requisition.

Open: A Requisition in the Open Status can be thought of as a Draft - in fact, the user that created the Requisition can view it in their ‘My Drafts’ section(s) in various places in the PurchasePlus application. While a Requisition is in the Open state, it can be edited, Products can be added or removed, or it may be cancelled. To progress the Requisition, it must be Submitted for Approval by clicking [Submit Requisition].
Awaiting Approval: A Requisition Awaiting Approval has been submitted for approval, but is yet to be granted final approval. All relevant users in the approval workflow must grant approval in order for a Requisition to become Approved. Please read our article about Approving a Requisition for more information.
Cancelled: A Cancelled Requisition is a Requisition that was Cancelled while it was in the Open, Awaiting Approval or Declined state. A Cancelled Requisition cannot be Re-Opened and is no longer in use at all at your Organization. There is no action that can be taken on a Cancelled Requisition.
Approved: An approved Requisition is a Requisition that was submitted for approval, then approved by the relevant users in the Approval Workflow. An approved Requisition will generate Purchase Orders for each Supplier included in the Requisition. An approved Requisition can be closed, or it can be left in the Approved state.
Declined: A declined Requisition is a Requisition that was submitted for approval, then declined by an approving user in the Approval Workflow. A declined Requisition can be cancelled, or shopping can be resumed and the Requisition can be re-submitted.
Closed: A closed Requisition is the final state that a Requisition can be in.