Creating a Purchase Request
- Note: Before starting, make sure to activate the Purchase Cycle app in your account.
What is the Purchase Cycle?
The purchasing cycle is understood as the steps followed to purchase a particular product or service needed by the company. The result is the creation of a document called a purchase invoice as documentation of the expense. These steps may be abbreviated to one direct step, which involves buying the product from the supplier only when needed. They may go through a series of steps, especially in large companies. For example:
In the case that your company’s marketing department needs to print some costly paper advertisements, the marketing department submits a “purchase request” that requires the approval of the person in charge of purchases in the company. Then, the purchasing manager requests “price quotations” from various suppliers. The suppliers then send their “Purchase Quotations”. After comparing them, the best price offer is selected. The approved “quotation” is then sent to the supplier. In turn, this becomes a “purchase order” and then a “purchase invoice”.
What is a Purchase Order?
A purchase request is a request submitted by one of the department heads in the company to the purchasing department. This department, in turn, evaluates the purchase requests to accept, reject, or modify them based on certain criteria. If accepted, the “purchase request” becomes a “quotation request”, and then the purchasing cycle is completed.
Creating a Purchase Request
- Click on “Purchases” from the main menu.
- Select “Purchase Requests”.
- Click the “Add Purchase Request” button.
- Enter the purchase request details.
- General Information
- Title: Choose a title for your purchase request.
- Code: It’s an automatically generated unique number for each purchase request by the system.
- Request Date: The date when you submitted the purchase request. It defaults to the current date.
- Required By: The expected delivery date for the product.
- Purchase Request Items
- Item: Choose the product you wish to purchase. Make sure it exists among the products stored in your inventory.
- For more details, you can refer to the guide “Add Product/Service”.
- Quantity: Specify the amount you want to purchase.
- Note: The quantity you choose is the exact quantity that will be issued in the purchase order to suppliers, and you won’t be able to change it afterward. So, be precise when specifying it.
- Add: Click the add button to include other products in the same purchase request.
- Item: Choose the product you wish to purchase. Make sure it exists among the products stored in your inventory.
- More Details
- Notes: Add any required notes.
- Attachment: If you want to attach a file or explanatory images.
- General Information
- Click “Save”.