How do I request materials for a project, price them with a supplier, and approve paying for them?

What you will do

A purchase request records the materials a project needs. Then it's priced with a supplier, then approved and paid to the supplier. It goes through three steps:

1. Create the request: the project, the BoQ item, and the materials with their quantities. No receipt or payment is recorded.
2. Prepare the supplier and prices: the supplier, each material's price, and how much of it is charged to the client.
3. Approve or reject: Approve and pay supplier creates a paid supplier payment voucher for the request total. Reject closes the request with a reason you write, and no money moves.

Before you start

• Add the supplier first from Suppliers. The supplier list in the request shows suppliers only, not contractors.
• Approval pays at the same moment. The supplier voucher is created Approved and Paid. It doesn't go through Pending, even if your payment vouchers need approval. So approving the request is the payment approval itself.
• It's paid in cash from the default treasury, the one with the Default badge in Treasuries. A balance that isn't enough doesn't block approval: the balance goes negative.
• The BoQ item decides what's charged to the client. A request linked to an item lets you charge the client all, part or none of the materials. A request without an item counts only as a cost on the project.
• If inventory is turned on for you, approval goes through purchase orders and receipts, which this article doesn't cover.

Steps

Create the purchase request

1. Open Procurement in the side menu, then New Purchase Request. The "New Purchase Request" form opens at the side of the page.
2. Pick the project in Project Name.
3. Pick the item in Main item, then in Sub item if it appears. If the purchase is for the project in general, leave the item empty.
4. In Requested items, pick the Material and type the Quantity. If you can't find the material, choose "+ Add New Material" at the end of the list, type the Material name and pick its unit, then click Save. "Saved successfully" appears, and the material is picked in the same row.
5. For another material, click Add item.
6. Type Notes if you want, then click Save Data. "Saved successfully" appears, and the request page opens with the status Awaiting assignment.

Prepare the supplier and prices

1. Open Procurement → Purchase Requests, then click the request's row.
2. In the Requested items table, type each material's Unit price under From supplier.
3. Under Charged to client, the supplier's price and quantity are copied automatically unless you change them. So review them for each material:
   • To charge the client more than the purchase price, type a higher Unit price.
   • If the material is on the company, not the client, type 0 in Unit price under Charged to client.
   • If the request isn't linked to an item, "This request is not linked to a BoQ item, so it is not charged to the client." appears, and nothing is charged.
4. Pick the supplier in Supplier Name under Prepare supplier and prices, then click Save supplier and prices. "Saved successfully" appears, and the status becomes Awaiting approval.

Approve or reject

1. Under Next step, tick "I want to record payment of the request total to the supplier now.". Until you do, the approve button stays disabled.
2. Click Approve and pay supplier, then confirm in the message "A supplier payment voucher will be created for the request total. Continue?". "Supplier payment voucher created" appears with its number, and the status becomes Approved.
3. Or click Reject, type the Rejection reason, then click Confirm rejection. The status becomes Rejected, and the reason shows on the request.

What changes after you save

Saving the request, and saving the supplier and prices, don't move any money. After Approve and pay supplier:

• A supplier payment voucher for the Total under From supplier, Approved and Paid, with the request number in its description. Open it from view on the request page.
• The treasury goes down by the amount.
• Materials Cost in the project summary goes up by the amount.
• What the client owes goes up by the Charged to client total, which is added to the item's value. If the charge is zero, or the request has no item, what the client owes doesn't change.
• The request is locked: its supplier and prices don't change after that.

Where to find your requests

• Purchase Requests: all requests with their project, item, supplier, Total, Charged to client and Status. You filter them by status, with the number of requests next to each status. And you search by project or supplier.
• View Reports → Purchases report: PDF or Excel for the period between From Date and To Date. Its value comes from the request lines, not the voucher amount, and the net is after returns.

If you made a mistake

• Before approval: change the supplier and prices as you like, then save. The materials and their quantities don't change after the request is saved. If you got them wrong, prepare the request with a supplier and prices, then reject it with the reason, and create a new request.
• After approval: click view on the request to open the supplier voucher, then click Cancel / reverse voucher, type the reason, then click Confirm cancel. The voucher stays with the status Cancelled, the amount goes back to the treasury, and the charge is removed from the client. The request goes back to Awaiting approval, so you correct its prices and approve it again, or reject it.

Permission you need

You're the account owner, so you have every permission. If you want an employee to act on your behalf, grant their level these from the Procurement group:

• View Purchase Requests to see the list and open the request.
• Add Purchase Request to create the request. With it, Add Material to add a missing material from inside the request.
• Assign Supplier & Prices to prepare the supplier and prices.
• Approve Purchase Request to approve and reject. This one alone pays money out of the treasury, with no need for a payment voucher or treasury permission. So grant it to someone you trust with payments.

For approval to mean something, don't grant the same employee both preparing the prices and approving them.

If you can't find the button or saving is refused

• You can't find Procurement in the side menu: the section is turned off in the company settings, or your account has none of its permissions.
• You can't find "+ Add New Material": your account doesn't have Add Material.
• "Select a project first": pick the Project Name before saving.
• "Add at least one item with a quantity above zero": no row has both a material and a quantity.
• "Row …: complete the material and quantity, or remove the row.": a row has a material without a quantity, or a quantity without a material. Complete it, or remove it with the × next to it.
• "Select a supplier first": pick the Supplier Name before Save supplier and prices.
• "Row …: enter a unit price above zero.": every material needs a supplier price.
• "Unsaved changes — save supplier and prices before approving the displayed details.": you changed a price and didn't save it. Click Save supplier and prices, then approve.
• Approve and pay supplier or Reject doesn't appear: the request hasn't been prepared with a supplier and prices yet, or your account doesn't have Approve Purchase Request. Rejecting only comes after preparing.