Purchase Requests

Purchase requests are the primary way teams ask for goods, services, or equipment to be purchased on their behalf. Each request goes through a multi-level approval chain before funds are disbursed, ensuring proper oversight and budget control.

Creating a Request

Any user can create a purchase request. Each request captures the following information:

• •Title — a short description of what is being requested.
• •Department — the department the request is for (defaults to the submitter's department).
• •Priority — Low, Medium, High, or Urgent.
• •Line items — each item includes a description, quantity, unit price, and optionally a preferred vendor.

1. Navigate to Requests → New Request.
2. Enter the request title, select the department, and set the priority.
3. Add one or more line items with descriptions, quantities, unit prices, and vendor preferences.
4. Review the total amount calculated from all line items.
5. Submit the request to enter the approval chain.

Multi-Level Approval Chain

Once submitted, a request moves through a series of approval stages. The exact chain depends on the submitter's role and the organisation's plan tier.

Starter Tier

Pro+ Tier

On Pro and Enterprise plans, requests route through the procurement team after department approval, adding budget attachment and purchase order generation before reaching finance.

Approval by Submitter Role

The starting point in the chain depends on who submitted the request:

• •Staff — begins at Pending Dept Head.
• •Department Head — skips the dept head stage and begins at Pending Manager.
• •Manager — skips both dept head and manager stages; goes directly to Pending Finance (Starter) or Pending Procurement (Pro+).
• •Finance and Procurement roles — follows the same chain as Staff, since self-approval is blocked.

Editing Before Approval

A request can be edited by the submitter only while it is still pending at the first approval stage. Once the first approver has taken action (approved or rejected), the request is locked and can no longer be modified.

• •You can add, remove, or update line items.
• •You can change the title, department, or priority.
• •Changes reset the approval timer but do not change the request's position in the queue.

Notification Flow

Deskpadi sends notifications at every stage of the request lifecycle so that no request falls through the cracks.

Who Gets Notified

• •Submission — the submitter receives a confirmation; the first approver (Department Head) receives a new request alert.
• •Dept Head approval — the Manager is notified that a request is awaiting their review.
• •Manager approval — the Finance Officer (Starter) or Procurement Staff (Pro+) is notified.
• •Procurement approval (Pro+) — the Procurement Head receives notification to review the PO.
• •Finance review — the Finance Head is notified that a request is ready for disbursement.
• •Disbursement — the submitter is notified that their request has been fulfilled.
• •Rejection — the submitter is notified at any stage with the rejection reason.

Status Tracking

Every request displays its current status prominently. Users can track where their request is in the approval chain at any time from the Requests page.

• •Draft — saved but not yet submitted.
• •Pending Dept Head — awaiting department head approval.
• •Pending Manager — awaiting manager approval.
• •Pending Procurement — awaiting procurement review (Pro+ only).
• •Pending Procurement Head — awaiting procurement head approval (Pro+ only).
• •Pending Finance — awaiting finance officer review.
• •Pending Disbursement — approved by finance, waiting for the Finance Head to disburse.
• •Disbursed — funds have been released; the request is complete.
• •Rejected — the request was rejected at one of the approval stages.

CSV Export

The request list can be exported to CSV for offline analysis. The export includes all request fields: title, department, submitter, priority, line items, total amount, current status, and timestamps for each approval action.

• •Filter requests by status, department, date range, or priority before exporting to get a targeted dataset.
• •Exports are generated on demand and downloaded directly to your browser.
• •Only users with appropriate permissions (Department Head and above) can export request data.