Purchase Order Approval System & PO Workflow Use Case

Any organization that needs to streamline their procurement process can benefit from an automated, DIY purchase order approval system. These include:

• Operations teams managing vendor purchases, supply orders, and inventory
• Finance departments controlling spend approval and budget oversight
• Managers needing visibility into team purchase requests and approvals
• Growing companies outgrowing manual PO processes and spreadsheet tracking

A comprehensive PO workflow software offers significant benefits to small- and medium-sized businesses. To begin, it can eliminate problems such as:

• Purchase requests that get lost in email chains, causing delays and miscommunications
• Manual tracking of POs across different spreadsheets without proper approval trails
• Lack of spending threshold controls leading to unauthorized purchases
• Different departments being unable to see PO statuses or collaborate on procurement decisions
• Time-consuming manual creation of purchase orders and vendor communications
• Compliance gaps due to missing approvals or inadequate documentation trails

Unlike rigid ERP systems or basic approval tools, Knack lets you:

• Create role-based access: Requesters submit POs, managers approve within limits, and finance teams get full visibility and final approval authority.
• Build custom approval workflows: You can create customized workflows, such as: submitted → manager review → finance approval → vendor notification status tracking.
• Set spending thresholds: Configure automatic routing based on dollar amounts. For example, small purchases get single approval, larger ones require dual sign-off.
• Automate notifications: Send alerts via email or Slack for pending approvals, rejections, and status updates.
• Generate professional PO templates: Create standardized PDF purchase orders with your branding, GL codes, and vendor details.
• Track comprehensive data: Maintain centralized records of PO numbers, subtotals, delivery dates, shipping terms, payment terms, vendor performance metrics, and product catalogs with SKU and item descriptions.
• Import existing data: Seamlessly import your current data via Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets to get started quickly.
• Generate detailed reports: Create insights on vendor performance, order totals, weekly purchase trends, and spending patterns to optimize procurement strategies and identify cost reduction opportunities.
• Ensure security and compliance: Benefit from encryption for data in transit and at rest, two-factor authentication, GDPR compliance, and automated backups with disaster recovery.

Stop chasing approvals and manually creating purchase orders! Now, you can build your own custom PO workflow software in hours, not months, without hiring a developer or IT consultant.

Try Knack’s Purchase Order Approval Template → [Get Started for Free – No Credit Card Required]