What Is a Purchase Request Form? Examples, Templates & Process

A purchase request form is a document or digital form employees use to request approval to purchase goods or services for an organization. It typically collects information such as what is being purchased, the estimated cost, the business justification, the department or budget responsible for the expense, and the approvals required.

A well-designed purchase request form helps organizations standardize purchasing, control spending, and ensure that requests are reviewed by the appropriate people before a purchase is made.

Many organizations still manage purchase requests through email, spreadsheets, paper forms, or disconnected systems. These manual processes can make it difficult to track requests, enforce approval procedures, and know where a purchase stands.

Automating the purchase request process provides a more efficient alternative. Digital forms and workflows can collect complete information, automatically route requests for approval, send notifications and reminders, and maintain a centralized record of each request.

This guide explains what a purchase request form is, what it should include, provides a purchase request form example, explains the purchase request process, and covers how organizations can automate purchase requests.

What Is a Purchase Request?

A purchase request is an internal request for permission to buy goods or services for an organization.

For example, an employee might submit a purchase request to buy:

• A laptop or other computer equipment
• Software or SaaS subscriptions
• Office supplies
• Professional services
• Furniture or equipment
• Cloud services
• Maintenance services
• Training
• Other goods or services required for business operations

A purchase request form is the form used to submit that request.

The purchase request generally comes before the actual purchase. An employee submits the request, the appropriate people review and approve it, and the purchasing or procurement team can then proceed according to the organization’s purchasing policies.

The exact process varies from one organization to another. Some organizations may require only manager approval for smaller purchases, while larger or more specialized purchases may require approval from finance, procurement, IT, security, or executive management.

What Should a Purchase Request Form Include?

The elements of a purchase request typically include the requester, department, item or service being requested, quantity, estimated cost, business justification, budget information, vendor information, supporting documentation, and required approvals.

A purchase request form should collect enough information for the appropriate people to evaluate and approve the purchase without making the form unnecessarily complicated.

Common purchase request form fields include:

Requester Information

The form should identify the employee submitting the request, including their name, department, contact information, and other relevant organizational information.

Purchase Details

The requester should describe what they want to purchase and provide relevant details such as:

• Item or service name
• Description
• Quantity
• Estimated price
• Required-by date
• Product or service specifications

Business Justification

A business justification explains why the purchase is needed and how it supports the organization’s operations, projects, employees, customers, or other business objectives.

Budget Information

The form may capture the department, cost center, account, project, grant, or other funding information associated with the purchase.

Vendor Information

If a vendor has already been selected, the requester may provide the vendor’s name and other relevant information.

Organizations may also use the form to document whether competitive quotes or other procurement requirements have been satisfied.

Supporting Documentation

Depending on the purchase, the requester may need to attach:

• Vendor quotes
• Statements of work
• Product specifications
• Contracts
• Pricing information
• Other supporting documents

Approval Information

The form should support the organization’s approval requirements. Different purchases may require different approvers based on factors such as purchase amount, department, category, vendor, or funding source.

Purchase Request Form Example

A basic purchase request form might look like this:

This is a simple example. Organizations should customize their purchase request forms based on their own purchasing policies, approval requirements, departments, and types of purchases.

For example, an IT purchase request may require technical specifications or security review, while a government purchase request may require additional funding, procurement, or compliance information.

Purchase Request Form Template

A basic purchase request form template can include the following sections:

Requester Information

• Employee name
• Department
• Contact information
• Request date

Purchase Information

• Item or service
• Description
• Quantity
• Estimated cost
• Vendor
• Required-by date

Business Justification

• Reason for purchase
• Business need
• Expected benefit

Budget Information

• Cost center
• Account
• Department
• Project or funding source

Supporting Documentation

• Quotes
• Specifications
• Contracts
• Other attachments

Approvals

• Manager approval
• Department approval
• Finance approval
• Procurement approval
• IT or security approval, when applicable

A digital purchase request form can make this process easier by requiring important fields before the request can be submitted and automatically displaying additional fields when they are relevant to the purchase.

What Is the Purchase Request Process?

The purchase request process is the series of steps an organization uses to submit, review, approve, and fulfill a request to purchase goods or services.

While the exact purchase request procedure varies by organization, a typical process includes the following steps.

1. An Employee Submits a Purchase Request

The employee completes the purchase request form with information about the item or service, estimated cost, business justification, department, budget, and other required details.

2. The Request Is Reviewed

The request is sent to the appropriate manager or budget owner.

The reviewer determines whether the purchase is necessary, appropriate, and consistent with the department’s budget and purchasing policies.

3. Additional Approvals Are Obtained

Some purchases require additional approvals.

For example, an organization might automatically route:

• Purchases under $500 to a department manager
• Purchases over $500 to a manager and finance
• Technology purchases to IT
• Certain vendors or categories to procurement
• High-value purchases to executive management

The exact approval rules depend on the organization’s purchasing procedure.

4. Procurement or Purchasing Processes the Request

Once the necessary approvals have been completed, the procurement or purchasing team can take the next step.

Depending on the organization’s process, this may include obtaining quotes, selecting a vendor, creating a purchase order, or entering the purchase into an ERP system.

5. The Purchase Is Completed

The organization places the order and receives the requested goods or services.

6. The Request Is Recorded

The completed purchase request provides a record of what was requested, who approved it, when it was approved, and what happened after approval.

Maintaining this information can help organizations with reporting, financial controls, audits, and internal reviews.

What Is a Procurement Form?

A procurement form is a form used to collect information needed to initiate, review, approve, or manage a purchasing or procurement activity.

A purchase request form is one type of procurement form. Other procurement-related forms may include:

• Purchase request forms
• Purchase order request forms
• Procurement request forms
• Purchase approval forms
• Vendor onboarding forms
• Supplier forms
• Contract request forms

The specific forms used depend on the organization’s procurement process.

A purchase request form generally focuses on the initial request for approval to make a purchase, while other procurement forms may be used later in the purchasing process.

Purchase Request vs. Purchase Order

A purchase request and a purchase order are related but serve different purposes.

A purchase request is an internal request for permission to make a purchase.

A purchase order, or PO, is a formal document issued to a vendor to authorize a purchase. It generally identifies the products or services being purchased, quantities, pricing, and other relevant terms.

A typical process might look like this:

Employee submits purchase request → Request is reviewed and approved → Purchase order is created → Vendor receives purchase order → Purchase is fulfilled

The exact process varies by organization, but a purchase request generally comes before a purchase order.

Common Types of Purchase Request Forms

Organizations may use different purchase request forms depending on what is being purchased, who is making the request, and which approval requirements apply.

Employee Purchase Request Form

An employee purchase request form gives employees a standardized way to request goods or services needed for their work.

It may capture the employee’s department, requested item or service, estimated cost, business justification, budget information, and required approvals.

Using a standardized employee purchase request form can help prevent informal purchasing requests from getting lost in email or bypassing established approval procedures.

IT Purchase Request Form

An IT purchase request form is used for technology-related purchases.

Common examples include:

• Computers and laptops
• Software licenses
• SaaS subscriptions
• Cloud services
• Networking equipment
• Cybersecurity tools
• Mobile devices
• Peripherals
• Hardware replacements
• IT services

An IT purchase request may include additional fields for technical specifications, security requirements, licensing information, compatibility, or IT approval.

Software Purchase Request Form

A software purchase request form is used to request approval for software, applications, SaaS subscriptions, and other technology services.

In addition to standard purchase information, an organization may want to capture:

• Software name
• Number of users or licenses
• Subscription term
• Estimated annual cost
• Business purpose
• Data requirements
• Security requirements
• Existing software that may be replaced
• IT or security review requirements

This can help organizations improve visibility into software spending and reduce unnecessary or duplicate applications.

Government Purchase Request Form

A government purchase request form may include additional information required by a government agency or public-sector organization’s procurement policies.

Depending on the organization and type of purchase, this may include:

• Agency or department information
• Funding source
• Budget or account information
• Purchase justification
• Vendor information
• Procurement category
• Required approvals
• Supporting documentation
• Applicable purchasing thresholds
• Audit or recordkeeping requirements

Government procurement requirements vary by agency and jurisdiction, so government organizations should configure their purchase request forms around their own procurement policies and approval procedures.

Why Automate the Purchase Request Process?

Many organizations still manage purchasing requests through email, spreadsheets, paper forms, or disconnected systems.

These manual processes can create several problems:

• Requests can get lost in email
• Required information may be missing
• Approvals can be delayed
• Employees may not know the status of a request
• Managers may have difficulty tracking pending approvals
• Procurement teams may spend time following up manually
• Reporting may require significant manual effort
• Approval policies may not be applied consistently

Purchase request automation replaces many of these manual steps with digital forms and workflows.

An automated system can collect required information, route requests to the appropriate people, trigger additional approvals based on business rules, send reminders, track status, and maintain an audit trail.

Faster Purchase Approvals

Automated workflows can immediately route a request to the correct approver instead of requiring employees to forward emails or manually determine who should review the purchase.

More Complete Purchase Requests

Digital forms can require important information before a request can be submitted.

Conditional form logic can also display different questions depending on the type of purchase.

For example, a software request could automatically display fields for the number of users, subscription term, security requirements, and IT review.

Consistent Approval Procedures

Automated workflows can apply purchasing policies consistently.

Instead of relying on employees to remember which approvals are required, the system can determine the approval path based on factors such as:

• Purchase amount
• Department
• Purchase category
• Vendor
• Funding source
• Other business rules

Better Visibility

An automated purchase request system gives employees, managers, finance teams, and procurement teams greater visibility into the status of each request.

Instead of asking, “Where is my purchase request?”, employees can see whether the request is pending, approved, rejected, or being processed.

Improved Audit Trails

Digital workflows can maintain a history of the request from submission through completion.

This can include:

• Who submitted the request
• What was requested
• When it was submitted
• Who approved it
• When each approval occurred
• Supporting documentation
• Comments or changes
• Final status

A centralized audit trail can make internal reviews and audits easier.

Less Administrative Work

Automating repetitive tasks such as routing requests, sending reminders, and tracking approvals reduces administrative work for managers, finance teams, and procurement staff.

What Is Purchase Request Automation?

Purchase request automation uses digital forms and workflows to automate the submission, routing, approval, tracking, and management of purchase requests.

A typical automated purchase request workflow might look like this:

Employee submits request → Form validates required information → Request is routed for approval → Additional approvals are triggered when necessary → Procurement receives approved request → Purchase order or ERP process begins → Request is tracked through completion

For example, a $200 office supply purchase might require only manager approval, while a $10,000 software purchase could automatically be routed to the department manager, IT, finance, and procurement.

This type of conditional workflow allows the system to apply an organization’s purchasing rules automatically.

Manual vs. Automated Purchase Requests

Automation does not necessarily mean replacing an organization’s existing ERP or financial system. In many cases, purchase request automation provides a simpler employee-facing request and approval process while allowing existing systems to continue handling downstream purchasing and financial activities.

How to Automate Purchase Requests

Organizations looking to automate purchase requests should look for a solution that can adapt to their existing purchasing policies and approval procedures.

Important capabilities include:

• Digital purchase request forms
• Customizable form fields
• Required fields and validation
• Conditional form logic
• Configurable approval workflows
• Multi-level approvals
• Automatic routing
• Notifications and reminders
• Approval escalations
• Request status tracking
• Dashboards and reporting
• Audit trails
• Document and attachment support
• Microsoft 365 and Teams integration
• SharePoint integration
• ERP integration
• Mobile access
• Configurable business rules

The employee experience is also important. If submitting a purchase request is complicated, employees may continue relying on email, spreadsheets, or informal processes.

Automating Purchase Requests in SharePoint and Microsoft 365

Organizations that already use Microsoft 365 or SharePoint can automate purchase request workflows within their existing environment.

A Microsoft 365-based purchase request process can provide employees with digital forms and approval workflows while using familiar tools such as SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, and Outlook.

For example:

Employee → Purchase Request Form → Approval Workflow → Procurement/Finance → ERP

This approach can provide a centralized location for purchase requests while connecting the employee-facing process with downstream procurement and financial systems.

How NITRO Purchasing Automates Purchase Requests

For organizations using Microsoft 365, NITRO Purchasing provides a way to automate purchase requests, approvals, and purchasing workflows within the Microsoft environment.

NITRO Purchasing provides customizable purchase request forms and configurable workflows that can be adapted to an organization’s internal purchasing procedures.

Key capabilities include:

• Customizable purchase request forms
• Configurable multi-level approval workflows
• Automated notifications and escalations
• Purchase request tracking
• Approval routing based on business rules
• Real-time dashboards and reporting
• Integration with SharePoint
• Integration with Microsoft Teams and Outlook
• Support for organization-specific purchasing procedures
• ERP integration capabilities

Rather than requiring employees to learn a separate purchasing interface, organizations can provide a familiar Microsoft 365-based experience for submitting and tracking purchase requests.

NITRO Purchasing can also connect the purchase request process with existing ERP systems, allowing approved requests to flow into downstream financial and procurement processes.

Depending on an organization’s ERP licensing model and implementation, using a separate employee-facing purchasing workflow may also reduce the number of employees who require direct ERP access. Any licensing impact depends on the specific ERP agreement and deployment.

Common Purchase Request Automation Use Cases

Purchase request automation can support purchasing processes across many departments and industries.

IT Departments

IT teams can use automated purchase requests to manage hardware, software, licenses, cloud services, and technology equipment while ensuring appropriate IT and security reviews occur.

Finance and Accounting

Finance teams can use automated purchase request workflows to improve budget visibility, enforce approval requirements, and maintain centralized records of spending requests.

Procurement

Procurement teams can centralize incoming requests, standardize purchasing procedures, track approvals, and reduce manual administrative work.

Facilities Management

Facilities teams can use purchase request workflows for equipment, supplies, maintenance services, and other operational needs.

Education and Nonprofits

Schools, universities, and nonprofit organizations can use automated purchasing workflows to manage departmental purchases while maintaining appropriate approval and documentation requirements.

Government Organizations

Government agencies and public-sector organizations can configure purchase request workflows around their procurement policies, funding requirements, approval structures, and documentation needs.

How to Choose a Purchase Request System

When evaluating a purchase request system, look for software that can adapt to the organization’s existing purchasing procedures rather than forcing every department to use the same workflow.

Important capabilities include:

• Customizable purchase request forms
• Purchase request templates
• Configurable approval workflows
• Conditional routing
• Automated notifications
• Approval reminders and escalations
• Request tracking
• Reporting and dashboards
• Audit trails
• Document management
• Microsoft 365 integration
• SharePoint integration
• Microsoft Teams integration
• ERP integration
• Configurable business rules
• Mobile access

The best purchase request system should make the process easier for both employees submitting requests and the teams responsible for reviewing and approving them.

Final Thoughts

A purchase request form may seem like a simple administrative document, but it plays an important role in an organization’s purchasing process.

A well-designed form gives employees a consistent way to request goods and services while capturing the information managers, finance teams, and procurement teams need to make an informed decision.

A well-defined purchase request process ensures those requests are reviewed and approved appropriately.

And purchase request automation connects the two by automatically routing requests, enforcing approval rules, sending notifications, tracking status, and maintaining a complete digital record.

For organizations using Microsoft 365, automating purchase requests with a solution such as NITRO Purchasing can provide a familiar experience for employees while helping finance, procurement, IT, and other departments gain greater control and visibility over purchasing.

If your organization is managing purchase requests through email, spreadsheets, or manual forms, automating the process can make purchasing faster, more consistent, and easier to manage.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a purchase request form?

A purchase request form is a document or digital form employees use to request approval to purchase goods or services. It typically includes the requester, department, item or service requested, estimated cost, business justification, budget information, vendor information, and required approvals.

What is a purchase request?

A purchase request is an internal request for permission to purchase goods or services. A purchase request form is the document or digital form used to submit that request for review and approval.

What should be included in a purchase request form?

A purchase request form commonly includes requester information, department, item or service description, quantity, estimated cost, business justification, budget or cost center, vendor information, supporting documentation, required-by date, and approval information.

What are the elements of a purchase request?

The main elements of a purchase request include the requester, department, requested item or service, quantity, estimated cost, business justification, budget information, vendor information, supporting documentation, and required approvals.

What is the purchase request process?

The purchase request process typically begins when an employee submits a request. The request is reviewed and routed for the required approvals. Once approved, procurement or purchasing can process the request, create a purchase order if necessary, and complete the purchase. The request and its approval history can then be retained for reporting and audit purposes.

What is a purchase request form template?

A purchase request form template is a standardized starting point for collecting information needed to request and approve a purchase. It commonly includes sections for requester information, purchase details, business justification, budget information, supporting documentation, and approvals.

What is the difference between a purchase request and a purchase order?

A purchase request is an internal request for approval to make a purchase. A purchase order is a formal document issued to a vendor authorizing the purchase. A purchase request generally comes before a purchase order in the purchasing process.

What is a procurement form?

A procurement form is used to collect information needed to initiate, review, approve, or manage a purchasing activity. A purchase request form is one type of procurement form. Other examples include purchase order requests, vendor forms, procurement requests, and purchase approval forms.

What is an employee purchase request form?

An employee purchase request form gives employees a standardized way to request goods or services needed for their work. It typically captures the employee’s department, requested item or service, estimated cost, business justification, budget information, and required approvals.

What is an IT purchase request form?

An IT purchase request form is used to request technology-related purchases such as computers, software, licenses, cloud services, networking equipment, cybersecurity tools, and other IT products or services. It may include additional fields for technical, security, or licensing requirements.

What is a software purchase request form?

A software purchase request form is used to request approval for software, SaaS subscriptions, applications, and other technology services. It may capture the software name, number of users, subscription cost, business purpose, security requirements, and licensing term.

What is a government purchase request form?

A government purchase request form is used by a government agency or public-sector organization to initiate and document a purchase request. Depending on the organization’s procurement policies, it may include funding information, department or agency details, purchase justification, vendor information, required approvals, and supporting documentation.

How can purchase requests be automated?

Purchase requests can be automated using digital forms and workflow software. Automation can collect required information, route requests to the appropriate approvers, trigger additional approvals based on business rules, send notifications and reminders, track request status, and maintain an audit trail.

What are the benefits of automating purchase requests?

Automating purchase requests can speed up approvals, reduce manual data entry, improve visibility, enforce purchasing policies consistently, reduce administrative work, and provide a centralized record of requests and approvals.

Can purchase request automation work with SharePoint?

Yes. Purchase request workflows can be built around SharePoint and Microsoft 365 to provide digital forms, approval routing, notifications, tracking, and centralized records. The specific capabilities depend on the workflow and software being used.

Can a purchase request system integrate with an ERP?

Yes. Purchase request automation software can provide an employee-friendly front end for submitting and approving requests while connecting approved requests to an organization’s existing ERP and procurement processes. The exact integration capabilities depend on the software and ERP system.