This article is designed to help you understand the key functionalities of Procurement Requests within Spendesk and how you can efficiently manage your procurement processes.
Procurement Requests are a central part of managing your organization's purchasing activities, whether you're initiating new purchases or handling renewals.
These requests are highly customizable and collaborative, ensuring that all necessary information is captured and that the process is streamlined.
A Procurement Request can lead to the creation of a Purchase Order and can also include the storage of related contracts, complete with important details about renewals.
1️⃣ Access Procurement Requests
You can access Procurement Requests in the Requests section of your Spendesk account. This is your go-to page for managing all your procurement workflows.
2️⃣ New request
To start a new request, simply click on + New Request.
There are 6 sections in a request:
Workflow Viewer - shows the workflow outline; you can move and zoom in/out, as well as click on any step to see that step's details
Comments - any comments people have made on the workflow
Details - overview data about the Request as a whole
Documents - any attached documents; document properties include:
Document Name
Document Type
Document Status (Draft or Final)?
Assignee/Uploaded By
Purchase Details - See Purchase Order and Agreement Details
Saving Details - Negotiation Steps and Saving Performance
3️⃣ View Requests
When you navigate to the Requests page, you'll see a default table view showing your "In Progress" requests. The filters for this view are automatically set to Status: In Progress.
You can adjust these filters as needed, but please note that refreshing the page will reset them to the default view managed by Spendesk Procurement.
There’s also a default view for your completed requests, which includes both approved and rejected ones.
4️⃣ Manage Procurement Processes
You're able to manage your Procurement Processes in the Settings > Procurement section of your account.
On the workflow templates page, you'll find three sections that indicate the status of your templates:
Active
Draft
Archived
Each workflow template card displays key information such as:
Name: Customize the name of your process.
Status: Indicates whether the template is "Published," "Draft," or "Archived."
Last Updated Date
Clicking on a template card allows you to view and edit that template in detail. Keep in mind that editing a Procurement Process will not affect any Procurement Requests that have already been started.
When creating a new process, you have the option to activate Vendor Selection: This toggle determines whether a vendor is required for the request. Deactivating this option is useful for scenarios where the vendor is not known at the intake step or for processes like NDA collection.
5️⃣ Manage Teams
Within the Settings section, you also have the ability to manage teams. This feature allows you to assign workflow tasks to a group of people rather than just one individual.
For example, if a legal review step can be completed by anyone on the legal team, you can create a "Legal" team and assign that review step to them. When the workflow reaches that step, everyone in the group will be notified, and anyone in the group can complete the task.