Purchase order request form

This is the step before the order, and it is the only point where a purchase can still be stopped cheaply. Enter what is being requested and what it is estimated to cost, how many units, what is left in the budget line it draws on, the value above which a second approver is needed, the supplier's lead time and when it is actually needed. The sheet returns the cost a unit, what the budget line holds if this is approved, the share of the remaining budget it consumes, how far above the threshold it sits, and how many days of slack there are between the lead time and the date it is wanted. On the worked example a $1,200 request leaves $3,800 of a $5,000 line, takes 24% of it, sits $200 above a $1,000 threshold, and has 7 days of slack.

The budget after, not the budget before

Approvers are shown the request total and almost never the consequence. $1,200 against $5,000 remaining leaves $3,800 and takes 24% of the line. The same $1,200 against $1,300 remaining is a different decision entirely, and showing the after figure is what turns an approval from a rubber stamp into a judgement.

The threshold does the routing so nobody has to remember it

At $200 above a $1,000 threshold this request needs the second approver. The point of putting the threshold in the sheet rather than in a policy document is that the rule is applied every time rather than when somebody happens to recall it, which is how thresholds quietly stop existing.

Lead time turns a request into a deadline

A 14-day lead time against a need in 21 days leaves 7 days of slack, which means this can wait for the second approver. The same request needed in 10 days is already late, and knowing that at the request stage is what prevents the expedited shipping charge nobody budgeted for.