Purchase Request - Purpose and Introduction

Purchase Requests serve as a record in documenting the organization’s approval process of a purchase proposal prior to the issuance of a purchase order. This is also intended to authenticate the procurement team of an organization to issue Purchase Order to the vendors. For eg, When a requirement arises in an organization, it normally reaches the Admin/Technician as a Service Request who will then send the Service Request for the approval process to the management of the organization. On occassion of the unavailability of the assets, the Admin/Technician will create a Purchase Order for the vendor. With the new Purchase Request feature the Admin/Technician will be able to create a Purchase Requests based on the Service Requests they receive and also attach various quotes for the requested items. It also enables the Admin/Technician to associate the Service Requests to a Purchase Request. Once the Purchase Requests are approved, Purchase Orders can also be created from them.

Purchase Workflow - an overview

The general overview of the Purchase Workflow can be seen by clicking on icon.
Requests can be created, submitted for approval, rejected, approved, closed from this Workflow by clicking on the respective icons.

Quick Links:

Accessing and Using the feature

This feature can be accessed from the Purchase module of the ServiceDesk Plus MSP.

Log in to the ServiceDesk Plus MSP application.
Click on the Purchase tab.
Click on New Purchase Request if it's the first time or click on the icon on top left of the Purchase Request list view. This will take you to the Purchase Request details page.

Enter the Purchase Request details such as the "Subject", "Suggested Vendor", "Requested Date", "Due Date", "Site", "Priority", "Cost Center", "Shipping Address" etc.
If you want to add more fields, click on "Add more fields".
Enter the Item Name, Description and the Estimated Cost details.

Note

Add more fields option will be displayed only for technicians with SDAdmin permission.

Approval Process

Purchase Request approvers and approval levels can be set for the Purchase Request to make sure the Purchase Requests are approved by the management.

To configure the Approval Details,

Click on the Enable Approval Process check box.
Select approvers by clicking on the icon.
You can add more approval levels by clicking on the icon.
Click on Save.
The created Purchase Requests will be listed in the Purchase Request list view.
Click on the Purchase module to view the list.
Current status info of the requests can be seen by hovering over the request in the Purchase Request list view.

Attaching the quotes

Different quotes for the requested assets can be attached to a Purchase Request by using the Attachment option.

To attach quotes,

Click on the Attach Files option in the attachments section.
Select the file and click Open.

Creating Purchase Requests from Service Requests

Purchase Requests can be created from the Service Requests.

To create a Purchase Request from a Service Request,

Click on the Request tab.
Select the Service Request for which you want to create a Purchase Request.
In the Request details page, click on Purchase Details menu and select New Purchase Request.
Fileds such as "Requested by" and "Item name" will be auto populated from the Service Request.
Enter the other details and click on Save.

Associating Service Requests to Purchase Requests

The Service Requests can be associated to a Purchase Requests.

For eg, if there is a Purchase Request for new laptop, say a Dell laptop, and there is a Service Request for a Dell laptop, then the Service Request can be associated to the Purchase Request.

To associate the Service Request to the Purchase Request,

Click on the Purchase tab.
Select the Purchase Request and click on Sevice Requests.
Click Associate Service Requests. If you have any similar Service Requests, they will be listed.
Select the Service Request(s) you want to associate and click on Associate Service Requests.

This association can be done from the request page as well.

Click on the Request Tab.
Select the Service Request you want to associate.
Click on Purchase Details menu and select Associate Purchase Requests.
Select the Purchase Request(s) you want to associate.
Click on Associate. The Service Request will be associated to the Purchase Request.

Creating Purchase Order from Purchase Request

Purchase Orders can be created from the Purchase Requests you have created.

To create a Purchase Order,
Click on a Purchase Request from the list view.

Click on Create PO.
If the Product type and item are not available, update them.
Once you update the Product type and item, it will take you the Purchase Order details page with the details partially filled in.

Enter a name for the PO.
Enable PO Approval List if you want the PO to go through the approval process.
Click on icon to add approvers from the list. You can also add more levels of aproval by clicking on the icon.
Disable PO Approval if the approval process is not required.
Click on Save Purchase Order.

Using the filters and other options in the Purchase Request page.

Purchase Request page comes with various utility tools such as quick action menus, request status snippet, filters, sort field options etc.

Using the Header menus.

Actions menu lets you to approve a PR, cancel a PR, mail a PR, close a PR and print preview a PR provided you have the permission for it.
Use the Edit option to edit or update a PR.
Use the Submit for Approval option to submit the PR for approval.

Using the filters and sort field option.

You can select the suitable filter such as "All Requests", "Approved Requests" etc to be displayed in the PR list view page.

Sorting the requests.

Select the field to be used in the sorting order of the requests.

Use the icon to sort the order of the requests i.e ascending or descending.

Switching over to the Purchase Order page.

Use the icon to swictch to the Purchase Order Page.

Request Status snippet.

The current status of the request will be displayed in the snippet. Hover over the request to view the status of the snippet.

Creating a Purchase Order for similar Purchase Requests

If there are similar Purchase Requests to create a P.O it can be found by clicking on
The similar Purchase Requests can also be searched by using the filter option provided.
Select Purchase Requests and click on Create PO.

Purchase Request Notification settings.

You can configure the notifications to be sent to the technicians, approvers, requesters at various stages of the Purchase Request process by clicking on the Purchase Request Notifications settings icon on the top.

Customizing the E- Mail notification content

The content in the notification mail can be customized. To customize content of the email,

Click on Customize template.
Type in the new content.
You can choose the subject variables such as "Requested items", "PR" etc and the content variables such as "Status" "PR Link" etc by clicking on them.