Purchase, from the requisition to the receipt that closes it.
Requisition, RFQ, order, approval and goods receipt as one chain, with the three-way match done by the system rather than by memory.
Purchase is where a factory's money leaves, and it is usually the department with the least system behind it. Requisitions arrive as messages, quotations sit in an inbox, the order is a document somebody typed, and whether what arrived matches what was ordered and what was invoiced is established by a person comparing three pieces of paper.
That comparison — the three-way match between purchase order, goods receipt and supplier invoice — is the control that stops overpayment, and it is exactly the kind of work a system should do. When all three documents are records in one place rather than three files in three formats, the mismatch is flagged instead of discovered. That match is the one thing purchase management software has to get right; the rest is convenience.
The chain here runs requisition to RFQ to purchase order to goods receipt, with approvals where you want them and vendor performance visible at the end of it. Each stage carries the one before it, so a receipt knows its order, and an order knows the requisition and the work order that caused it.
What you get
Purchase requisition
The internal ask, raised by the department that needs the material and carrying the work order or shortage that triggered it.
RFQ and comparison
Quotations gathered against one requirement and compared side by side, so the decision is recorded rather than remembered.
Approvals that fit
Approval routing by value and by department, so a small consumable does not wait behind the same signature as a machine.
Purchase orders with history
Orders carrying their requisition and quotation, so six months later the reason for the price is still attached to the order.
Goods receipt with QC
Receipt against the order, inspected in the same action, with short and excess quantities recorded rather than quietly absorbed.
Three-way match
Order, receipt and supplier invoice checked against each other, so a discrepancy is a flag before payment rather than a write-off after it.
Approvals that speed things up instead of slowing them down
Approval workflows get a bad name because most of them are implemented as a single chain applied to everything. When a five-hundred-rupee consumable needs the same three signatures as a capital purchase, people stop using the system and start using the phone — and the approval record becomes fiction.
The useful design is thresholds. Below a value, the department head is enough. Above it, one more level. Above that, the director. Routing by value and by category means the control is real where it matters and invisible where it does not, which is the only version people actually follow.
Why the three-way match matters more than it sounds
Three documents describe every purchase: what you ordered, what arrived, and what you were billed for. Overpayment happens in the gaps between them — a short delivery invoiced in full, a rate that changed between quotation and invoice, a quantity received twice against one order.
None of those are dramatic, and none are usually deliberate. They are simply what happens when the comparison depends on somebody having the time to do it carefully on a busy afternoon. Making the match a property of the system rather than a task for a person is the difference between catching it before payment and finding it in an annual reconciliation.
Vendor performance you can act on
Once receipts are recorded against orders with dates and inspection results, supplier performance stops being an impression and becomes a number: how often this vendor delivers on the promised date, how much of what they send passes incoming inspection, how their rate has moved over the year.
That is the data that makes a rate negotiation something other than a conversation about relationships — and it is data you already generate, provided the receipt is entered against the order rather than as a standalone note.
Questions people ask.
What is the difference between a purchase requisition and a purchase order?
A requisition is internal — a department asking for material, usually because a job needs it or stock has hit its reorder level. A purchase order is external: the commitment sent to a supplier. The requisition is what justifies the order, which is why the order should carry it.
Does it support approval limits by value?
Yes. Approval routing can be set by value and by department, so low-value purchases clear quickly while larger commitments go up the chain.
What is a three-way match?
It is the check that the purchase order, the goods receipt and the supplier invoice all agree on quantity and rate before payment is released. Doing it in the system catches short deliveries and rate changes before money moves rather than after.
Can we compare quotations from several vendors?
Yes. An RFQ gathers quotations against one requirement and presents them together, and the quotation that won stays attached to the purchase order that followed it.
Does goods receipt update stock automatically?
Yes. A goods receipt against the purchase order updates stock and the purchase ledger in the same action, with inspection applied before the material becomes usable stock.
Related parts of the system
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