Workflow Template

Purchase Order Approval Workflow

Captures purchase order requests, routes for manager or director approval based on amount, escalates out-of-budget purchases to finance review, issues the PO through procurement, confirms receipt of goods/services, and keeps the requester informed at each stage.

Purchase requests that get stuck in email threads or spreadsheets slow down approvals and make it hard to see who's waiting on what. This workflow captures each purchase order request, routes it to a manager or director based on the amount, escalates out-of-budget purchases to finance for a decision, and hands approved orders to procurement to issue and receiving to confirm. Operations, finance and procurement teams each pick up their tasks as the record moves through submission, approval, PO issuance and completion, with the requester emailed at every key stage.

Business Outcomes

Faster approval turnaround with automatic routing by purchase amount
Clearer visibility into which purchases are stuck in manager, director or finance review
Fewer out-of-budget purchases slipping through, since they're routed to finance for a recorded decision
Reduced back-and-forth with requesters through automatic acknowledgement, rejection, PO and completion emails
A full timeline per purchase order, from request through PO issuance to confirmed receipt

Workflow Steps

Steps

1
Create Purchase Order Recordcreate record
Registers the submitted purchase request as a purchase order record.
2
Set Status to Submittedupdate record
Sets the order status field to Submitted.
3
Email Acknowledgementsend email
Emails the requester an acknowledgement with their reference number.
4
Route by Purchase Amount
Routes purchases over $5,000 to director approval and smaller ones to manager approval.
total_amount: "5000"→Request Director Approval
Default→Request Manager Approval
5
Request Director Approvalrequest approval
Requests director approval for purchases over $5,000.
6
Route Director Approval Outcome
Branches based on the director's approval decision.
approval_status: "approved"→Check Budget Status
approval_status: "rejected"→Set Status to Rejected
Default→End
7
Request Manager Approvalrequest approval
Requests manager approval for purchases of $5,000 or less.
8
Route Manager Approval Outcome
Branches based on the manager's approval decision.
approval_status: "approved"→Check Budget Status
approval_status: "rejected"→Set Status to Rejected
Default→End
9
Set Status to Rejectedupdate record
Sets the order status to Rejected after an approval rejection.
10
Email Rejection Noticesend email
Emails the requester that the purchase order was not approved.
11
Check Budget Status
Routes to finance review if the approved purchase is not within budget, otherwise proceeds to PO issuance.
within_budget: "No"→Set Status to Finance Review
within_budget: "Yes"→Set Status to Approved
Default→Set Status to Finance Review
12
Set Status to Finance Reviewupdate record
Sets the order status to Finance Review for out-of-budget purchases.
13
Finance Budget Decision Taskcreate task
Assigns finance a task due in 2 days to record the budget decision and comments.
14
Save Budget Decision to Recordupdate record
Persists finance's budget decision and comments to the record.
15
Route Finance Budget Decision
Branches based on finance's budget decision.
budget_decision: "Approve"→Set Status to Approved
budget_decision: "Reject"→Set Status to Rejected (Finance)
Default→End
16
Set Status to Rejected (Finance)update record
Sets the order status to Rejected after finance rejects the budget exception.
17
Email Finance Rejection Commentssend email
Emails the requester the finance comments explaining the rejection.
18
Set Status to Approvedupdate record
Sets the order status to Approved once approved and within budget or approved by finance.
19
Procurement: Issue Purchase Ordercreate task
Assigns procurement a task due in 2 days to issue the purchase order and record its details.
20
Save PO Details to Recordupdate record
Persists the PO number, issue date and final amount to the record.
21
Set Status to PO Issuedupdate record
Sets the order status to PO Issued.
22
Email PO Number to Requestersend email
Emails the requester the issued PO number.
23
Receiving: Confirm Goods or Services Receivedcreate task
Assigns the receiving team a task with no due date to confirm receipt and record details.
24
Save Receipt Details to Recordupdate record
Persists the received date, notes and supplier invoice to the record.
25
Set Status to Completedupdate record
Sets the order status to Completed.
26
Email Completion Noticesend email
Emails the requester that the order is complete.

Fields

Show all 20 fields

FormPurchase Order Request

Requester Name*· Text
Requester Email*· Email
Department*· Text
Cost Centre*· Text
Goods or Services Required*· Long text
Supplier*· Text
Total Amount (incl. tax)*· Number
Within Approved Budget?*· Choice
Required-By Date*· Date
Business Justification*· Long text
Supplier Quotes· File upload

TaskFinance Budget Decision Task

Finance Budget Decision*· Choice
Finance Comments*· Long text

TaskProcurement: Issue Purchase Order

PO Number*· Text
PO Issue Date*· Date
Final Amount*· Number

TaskReceiving: Confirm Goods or Services Received

Received Date*· Date
Receipt Notes· Long text
Supplier Invoice*· File upload

Other fields

Order Status· Choice

Requester Name*
Requester Email*
Department*
Cost Centre*
Goods or Services Required*
Supplier*

Forms

Purchase Order Request

11 fields

Data Views

Purchase Orders

requester_name, supplier, total_amount, cost_centre +2 more

Dashboard Widgets

Purchase Orders by Order Status

Recommended integrations

Setup the following integrations to extend workflow capability.

Send email in the workflow
AWS SES

purchase orderapprovalprocurementsupplierbudgetpurchasing

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FAQs

How do I set up the approval amount threshold?

The workflow currently routes purchases over $5,000 to director approval and $5,000 or less to manager approval. You can change this threshold, or add more approval tiers, by describing the change in plain English or editing the routing step directly in the workflow editor. Earlier versions are kept, so you can always see what the threshold used to be.

What happens if a manager or director rejects a purchase request?

The record's status is set to Rejected and the requester is emailed a rejection notice automatically. There's no separate rejection reason field captured at this step, so if you want reasons recorded you'd need to add a task or form field for that.

Who reviews out-of-budget purchases and how long do they have?

When a request is marked as not within approved budget, it's routed to a finance task due in 2 days. Finance records a Budget Decision and Comments, which are saved to the record, and the workflow branches to either issue the PO or reject the request and email the finance comments to the requester.

Does procurement need to log in to issue a purchase order?

Procurement team members are assigned a task inside the workspace to issue the PO and record the PO Number, PO Issue Date and Final Amount. Since they're workspace members, they work from their assigned tasks directly — no separate system is needed for this step.

How does the requester know what's happening with their request?

The requester is emailed at each key stage: acknowledgement on submission, rejection if declined, the PO number once issued, and a completion notice once receipt is confirmed. They submit their original request through a public form and never need an account to follow along.

Can I customise the request form fields?

Yes. The form currently captures details like Requester Name, Department, Cost Centre, Supplier, Total Amount and Business Justification, and you can add, remove or reorder fields by describing the change or editing the form in the workflow editor. Changes take effect the next time the template is published, with no development project required.

What gets recorded when goods or services are received?

The receiving team is assigned a task with no due date to confirm receipt and record the Received Date, Notes and Supplier Invoice. Since the workflow waits for this task, those details are saved directly to the purchase order record, and the status is then set to Completed.

How long does it take to get this workflow running?

A workspace can publish this template and start running live purchase order requests within minutes, since it's ready to use as-is. If you want to adjust approval thresholds, task due dates or form fields first, those changes can be made in the workflow editor before or after you go live.

Can I see the status of every purchase order in progress?

Yes. Each purchase request is a record with a reference number, current status (like Submitted, Finance Review, Approved, PO Issued or Completed) and a timeline of everything that's happened. Table views and dashboards let you see records grouped by status across the whole workspace.

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