Purchase Request in NetSuite

A purchase request is a transaction that records a purchase that needs to be made. The request details the item needed and the anticipated price of the item. After the purchase request needs to become an actual purchase, the request must be converted into a purchase order.

Employees with access to purchase requests can enter requests to purchase items, material or services from vendors.

Before we can enter purchase requests, we need to enable the Purchase Requests feature in our account. After we enable the feature, employees with the Employee Center role can enter purchase requests.

A purchase request might require approval by a supervisor or approver before it is turned into a purchase order if the Approval Routing feature is enabled.

To enable the Purchase Requests feature:

1. Go to Setup > Company > Enable Features.
2. On the Employees subtab, click the Purchase Requests box.
3. Click Save.

After we enable the feature, employees with the Employee Center role can enter purchase requests.

To enter a purchase request:

In the Employee Center, click Enter Purchase Requests.

Primary Information

1. Select the vendor who will provide the good or service being requested.
2. Select a location to associate with the purchase request.
3. The current date autofills the Date field. We can enter or select another date.

Classification

1. Select a department, class, and location to associate with this purchase.
2. The vendor’s primary currency is shown by default. If our company uses the Multiple Currencies feature, we can choose one of this vendor’s transaction currencies. This currency will be used through the entire purchasing process and cannot be changed later.

Items

1. On the Items subtab, click the Items subtab to request an item to be purchased.
2. In the Item column, select the item.
3. Select a department to associate with the item.
4. Click Add.
5. Repeat the steps above for each item to be entered for this purchase.
6. Optionally complete information in the remaining fields on the form.
7. Click Save.

On the Purchase Request form, an employee can select a vendor and select a value for the Ship To field, representing a customer. Note the following details about available Ship To field values in OneWorld accounts:

• For employees using the standard Employee Center role, available Ship To values include all customers, unrestricted by subsidiary or sales team.
• For employees using a customized Employee Center role, available values are restricted to customers associated with any subsidiary to which the employee has access. If the Team Selling feature is enabled, available values are restricted to customers assigned to any sales team of which the employee is a member.

If we use the Approval Routing feature, a purchase request may require approval before it is converted to a purchase order.

We can set the To Be Emailed and To Be Faxed fields on purchase requests prior to supervisor approval. If a purchase request is submitted with the To Be Emailed or To Be Faxed box checked but still needs approval, note the following. The box remains checked but the email or fax is not sent. At the time of approval, the email or fax is sent and the To Be Emailed and To Be Faxed fields are cleared.

Approving Purchases Using the Approval Routing Feature

A supervisor or approver must have a purchase approval limit greater than or equal to the amount of the purchase request. If the amount is greater than the purchase approval limit, the request is sent to the next level of management. This process continues until it is approved by an authorized supervisor or approver.
If a purchase approver is specified for an employee, the supervisor is not part of the approval hierarchy.
If we use the Approval Routing feature, we must first log in to the Employee Center to approve a purchase request. We must have the Employee Center role to access the Employee Center. An administrator can add the Employee Center role on our employee record.

To approve a purchase request using approval routing:

1. Log in to the Employee Center.
2. Click Approve Purchase Requests.
3. Select the name of the employee who submitted the request.
4. Check the box next to the purchase request we want to approve.
5. Click Save.

Supervisors can automatically be notified when they have requests to approve. Only an administrator can enable supervisor notification. To enable this preference, go to Setup > Accounting > Preferences > Accounting Preferences. Check the Automatically Notify Supervisors box.

In the Employee Center, our employees can view the status and approval history of their purchase requests by clicking View Purchase Requests/Orders.

Approving Purchases Using SuiteFlow

If we use SuiteFlow for purchase approvals, the steps to approve a purchase are dependent on the way the workflow is set up.

Creating Purchase Orders from Requests

A purchase request turns into a purchase order when it is approved.

When an employee enters a purchase request, it is routed to the employee’s immediate supervisor. A request entered by an employee who does not have a supervisor automatically becomes a purchase order.

Supervisors can automatically be notified when they have requests to approve. Only an administrator can enable supervisor notification. To enable this feature, go to Setup > Accounting > Preferences > Accounting Preferences. Check the Automatically Notify Supervisors box.

If our company does not use Approval Routing, the request automatically becomes a purchase order as soon as the immediate supervisor approves it.

A supervisor or approver must have a purchase approval limit greater than or equal to the amount of the purchase request. If the amount is greater than the purchase approval limit, the request is sent to the next level of management. This process continues until it is approved by an authorized supervisor or approver.

In the Employee Center, our employees can view the status and approval history of their purchase requests by clicking View Purchase Requests/Orders.