How the Purchasing Authorisation Process Works

Workflow is used to define how the procurement authorisation process should work in your establishment/organisation.

By default, a standard workflow is provided which offers the following setup:

  • Up to 3 approvers for requisitions (if required).

  • Up to 3 approvers for purchase orders.

  • Single or Tiered
    • Single – Orders are authorised by individual approvers with applicable authorisation limits. For example, if the first approver has an authorisation limit of £1000 and the purchase order is above this limit, then authorisation is sought directly from the second approver (bypassing the first).

    • Tiered – Orders are authorised by each approver up to, and including the approver with the correct authorisation limit. For example, if the first approver has an authorisation limit of £1000 and the purchase order is above this limit, then approval will be sought initially from the first approver and then sent to the second approver for authorisation.

  • Holiday authorisation.

  • The option to attach a purchase order to an email notifying that authorisation is required.

For each cost centre account, required approvers are set for requisitions and purchase orders via the User Fields tab on the Account Maintenance dialog (as described in the previous section). Approvers must exist as accounts on the USERS ledger.

  • When a requisition or order is posted, the system checks the cost centre account selected in the document. In the following example, AFEQ – Administration – Furniture and Equipment is the account.

  • The cost centre account is then checked to identify which approvers have been specified on the User Fields tab.

  • Each approver is then checked via the USERS ledger to identify their approval limits.

  • Where a single approval workflow is in place, orders can be authorised by an individual approver with the applicable authorisation limits. Any approver with insufficient limits will be ignored. In the previous example, John Morgan is able to authorise this order as his limit is £15000.
  • Where a tiered approval workflow is in place, orders must be authorised by all approvers up to and including the approver with the correct authorisation limit. In the previous example, John Smith will authorise first, then Maureen Watson then John Morgan.