The purchase requisition is the first step in a company’s procurement process. It represents a key element in controlling expenditure, optimizing purchasing flows and promoting collaboration between different departments. When companies ignore the importance of good requisition management, they expose themselves to a number of risks: additional costs, inconsistencies in orders, delays, and even tensions with suppliers. Using purchase requisition system is a simple way of reducing these risks and eliminating multiple entries, non-value-added tasks and budgetary misunderstandings.
In practice, the purchase requisition consists of documenting and submitting a procurement requirement to internal managers, describing the quantities required, the potential supplier, the estimated cost, and the justification or purpose of the acquisition. Even before a formal purchase order is issued, the purchase requisition is an essential step in validating the relevance and conformity of an expense. Not only does it improve visibility of internal consumption (budgets, inventories, hierarchical approvals), it also facilitates financial monitoring, negotiation with suppliers and the ability to centralize information.
What is a purchase requisition?
A purchase requisition is an internal request submitted by employees to obtain authorization to purchase a specific good or service. It has no legal value vis-à-vis the supplier: it is the internal validation stage, a control mechanism within the organization.
- From an operational point of view: the purchase requisition clarifies the need, describes the specifications, identifies the quantity, the budget and the expected lead times.
- From a managerial point of view: the person in charge (manager, director) validates alignment with strategy and budget.
- From a financial point of view: it provides transparency on planned expenditure, making it easier to monitor and anticipate costs.
Depending on the company, this can take several forms: a simple verbal or e-mail exchange, a paper form, a simple online form, or one integrated into a purchase purchase requisition system. The latter solution enables you to track the life cycle of the requisition: Approval, Invitation to tender, Purchase order issue, Receipt and return, Compliance, Invoice reconciliation, Payment… A procurement platform then provides genuine monitoring, control and traceability for the entire company.
The benefits of good purchase requisition management
Reliable purchasing
Avoid late orders and tight delivery schedules. Avoid price mark-ups and unfavorable conditions. Reduce stock-outs.
Reducing costs
Delays are reduced, exchanges are more efficient, and bottlenecks are eliminated. Processing costs and order errors are reduced.
Structuring the process
If there’s no clear demand, there can be uncontrolled purchasing. This often leads to duplication, overstocking or unexpected invoices.
Control budgets
The purchase requisition requires us to ask questions about the estimated cost, the relevance of the expenditure, the cost center to be impacted, and so on.
Avoiding fraud
An internal validation circuit ensures that every expense is justified, preventing employees from ordering without follow-up.
Increasing transparency
The purchase requisition is the first link in the traceability chain for finance teams, the purchasing department and general management.
Improving collaboration
Standardizing practices makes everyone’s work more comfortable, and avoids complex, convoluted searches for information.
Compliance
Compliance with internal constraints and external standards. High-performance collaboration and reporting tools make it easier to prove each audit point.
The purchase requisition is the first step in the procurement process
The procurement or purchasing process consists of the following stages
1- Identify the need: an employee or department notices a lack of resources (raw materials, services, equipment, etc.).
2- Entering the purchase requisition: via a form or dedicated purchase requisition system, the employee enters his or her requirement, including quantity, budget, justification, preferred supplier (if any and not on tender), ideal delivery date, etc.
3- Hierarchical approval: the manager verifies relevance, urgency and budget compliance. Depending on defined conditions, for example if the amount exceeds a certain threshold, an approval circuit with other stakeholders is activated, sometimes including a call for tenders or negotiation with several suppliers.
4- If required, sourcing and invitation to tender with suppliers: Unless the purchase is direct, an invitation to tender is issued to several suppliers. The requester can then select the most suitable offer.
5- Conversion into a purchase order: once the request has been validated and the supplier chosen, a purchase order is issued, which is then sent to the supplier and has contractual value.
6- Receiving follow-up: product acceptance, conformity checks, stock updates, returns or disputes with the supplier.
7- Invoice/Purchase order reconciliation: ensure that the invoice sent by the supplier corresponds to the validated conditions.
8- Invoice payment: Payment in accordance with payment terms and internal company policy.
This series of steps, when properly equipped and formalized, reduces unforeseen events, smoothes collaboration and enables better negotiation of rates and conditions. purchase requisition system is designed to digitalize and streamline the entire procurement process:
- The right tasks, at the right time, for the right person, without unnecessary clicks
- High-performance information retrieval
- Self-guided approval circuit
- Mandatory verification of compliance
- Automation of non-value-added tasks…
Problems with manual requisition management -mail, Excel spreadsheet, etc-.
Companies often have manual requisitioning processes in place. The requisition is then carried out following clear steps, but using manual tools such as e-mail exchanges and Excel spreadsheets. This is already a good thing, but it is not optimal for the company. Indeed, many frictions can disrupt the company’s activity:
- Time wasted searching for existing information or finding the status of a current request
- Lack of visibility and control over requisitions
- Multiple Excel files with multiple versions
- Tensions in the teams and a noxious climate
- Duplicate and non-value-added tasks
- Etc.
What is purchase requisition system?
Beyond online form creation, purchase requisition system offers complete management of the entire requisition lifecycle (approval, order management, payment, etc.), including centralization, tracking and dashboard features.
This platform frees your teams from non-value-added tasks, and gives management the best possible visibility. This is made possible by numerous features such as intuitive interfaces, 100% customizable workflows, automation and connection to existing software – ERP, accounting software…-.
Key features of purchase requisition system
- Simple, intuitive user interface thanks to dynamic forms: applicants, who are not necessarily computer experts, can easily complete and submit the application.
- 100% customizable approval workflow engine: purchase purchase requisition system includes features for creating customized approval circuits. Some require technical skills, while others, like Lapala, can be set up in no-code, i.e. without writing a single line of code.
- Automation and integration with other software: ERP, CRM, accounting software, catalog of referenced suppliers. Automations are available to simplify the work of your teams in searching for information, updating databases, sending reminders and e-mails.
- Budget monitoring and reporting: generation of indicators (costs per department, approval times, rejection rates) to monitor the efficiency of the purchasing process and gain better visibility of budgets and business planning.
- Order lifecycle management: from the issue of a purchase order, to payment, to receipt control. Purchase purchase requisition system will help you keep track of your expenses and the progress of your orders.
- Supplier management: supplier integration, supplier evaluation, a Procure-to-Pay platform to improve supplier selection and relationships.
- Invoice management: Software include features for reconciling an invoice with a purchase order, managing invoice payment dates, and sending data and supporting documents automatically to management and accounting software.
In short, purchase requisition system is designed to standardize and automate repetitive tasks, while providing visibility for decision-makers.
The benefits of purchase requisition system
Automating the purchase requisition generates multiple benefits:
- Eliminate duplicates and errors: no more re-entering emails, Excel spreadsheets or scattered files.
- Reduced lead times: fewer round-trips, clear approval channels, automatic reminders.
- Saves time and productivity: the employee or purchasing department can concentrate on negotiation and market analysis, rather than on administrative tasks.
- Traceability and compliance: each validation is time-stamped, and communication between departments is logged, facilitating audits.
- Financial visibility: the company knows at all times which purchases are in progress, for how much, and what the budgetary implications are.
How to choose the right purchase requisition system?
To choose the right purchase requisition system, you can use different criteria:
- Adaptability: the software must be able to adapt to the structure and specific features of the company (multi-site, hierarchy, etc.).
- IT skills or no skills: Some software vendors offer solutions that don’t require the support of technical skills. Ideal, therefore, if you don’t have an IT department or if your IT team is not available.
- Ease of use: adoption by teams is very important, especially if the purchase request concerns almost all services. Favour intuitive platforms
- Scalability: flexible, customizable workflow, easy integration with other existing tools.
- Progress tracking: find an order or view the progress of all orders with a single click.
- Cost and billing model: SaaS, license, per user or per transaction? The choice must be in line with your company’s volume and budget.
Find the complete comparison of Procurement software by reading this article: the 9 best Procurement solutions for 2025
How to set up simple purchase requisition system?
- Standardize forms: avoid each department creating its own template, which would make the system inconsistent.
- Raise team awareness: explain how the purchase requisition protects both budget and service quality.
- Set up indicators: average approval time, refusal rate, average amount per request, etc.
- Automate as much as possible: interconnection with ERP and accounting software, automatic notifications…
- Regularly review the process: gather feedback from employees to simplify or adjust rules and circuits.
By including finance, logistics, production and even the legal department from the outset, you get a more robust process that is better accepted by all.
Find all the best practices for procurement management by reading this article: 11 Procurement Best Practices in 2025.
Why choose Lapala to manage your purchase requisitions?
Beyond simple digitization, the idea today is to fully integrate purchasing demand into a platform that offers :
A guided experience
Rather than leaving employees to juggle Excel, emails and oral approvals, Lapala software offers them a clear, guided path through each step.
Automation
Lapala connects your different tools (ERP, CRM, accounting, messaging) and eliminates multiple data entry. Information is retrieved, verified and sent.
No-code personalization
Companies configure their own forms and approval rules, without the need for a service provider or dedicated IT staff.
Global management
Centralized management of purchase requisitions, orders and payments, real-time indicators, greater visibility of consumed budgets…
Easy to install
Lapala’s teams will support you in setting up your project, thanks to the tool’s features. A project takes 2 times less time than with other software.
How much can you expect to save with purchase requisition system?
In general, any purchase requisition system can deliver a rapid return on investment:
- A 50% reduction in the time spent on administrative tasks around the requisition;
- Reduced data entry errors (no more copy and paste, no more incorrectly renamed or duplicated files);
- Enhanced budgetary control, thanks to multi-level approvals (hierarchy, purchasing department, management, etc.);
- Better negotiating leeway with suppliers, since the company has a broader vision and can group together requirements.
These gains in productivity and reliability translate into an improved working climate: managers no longer waste an inordinate amount of time tracking down who ordered what, and why.
Purchase requisition vs. purchase order: what’s the difference?
A common pitfall is to confuse the purchase requisition with the purchase order. Here’s the difference:
- The purchase requisition is an internal step, an act of approval and selection of a supplier within the company.
- The purchase order, on the other hand, is an external contractual document, sent to the supplier and legally binding on the purchasing company.
In other words, the purchase requisition precedes the purchase order and acts as a safeguard: it enables us to check that the requirement is in line with the budget, and whether or not alternative internal solutions exist. Without a formal purchase requisition, a department could potentially trigger a purchase order without prior control, generating budgetary drift or a lack of consistency in procurement.
| Purchase request | Order form | |
|---|---|---|
| Objective | Enable an employee or department to officially request a purchase, justify the need, and forward the request to line management or purchasing. | Issue a contractual document that commits the supplier and buyer to a good or service, a price, a delivery date, etc. |
| Legal status | Internal document, no contractual value vis-à-vis a third party. | Official document, binding the company to the supplier. |
| Target audience | Internal departments (operator, manager, purchasing manager). | Supplier (external to the company). |
| When to create it? | Upstream, as soon as the need is identified, before any formal discussion with a supplier. | After the purchase request has been validated, when the purchase conditions and budget have been approved. |
| Final manager | The requesting or initiating department, validated by the hierarchy, and sometimes management or the purchasing department. | The purchasing or sales department, depending on the company’s structure. |
| Evolution | If validated, triggers the process to the purchase order. | Places a firm order with the supplier and initiates the purchasing process. |
Purchase requisition system also integrates purchase order and order lifecycle management features.
What’s next for purchase requisition system?
The world of purchase requisition system is evolving rapidly. Several avenues are opening up for companies seeking to further optimize
- Artificial intelligence: predictive analysis of needs, detection of anomalies or fraud, supplier recommendations.
- Integration with IoT: for certain sectors (logistics, industry), stock sensors could automatically trigger requests.
In all cases, the purchase requisition remains the cornerstone of a controlled procurement process.
Conclusion
In short, purchase requisitioning is an essential pillar of procurement management and expense control. Three topics should be borne in mind
- The importance of formalizing requirements: securing justification and traceability ;
- The benefits of a well-structured workflow: control, transparency, time savings, error reduction;
- The need for purchase requisition system to automate the entire process and make it more reliable.
Whether you’re talking about a small structure or a multinational corporation, any investment in purchase requisition system quickly brings a return on investment. Errors are reduced, collaboration is improved, and teams can focus on what really matters: creating value.
That’s why digitization, automation and integration of purchase requisitions into a tool like Lapala is the best way to :
- Simplify administrative tasks
- Giving decision-makers visibility
- Centralize all information
- Reinforcing compliance and auditing
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