Procurement Approval Workflows for Your Business

Good procurement approval workflow is a key component of the procurement process’s success. Inefficient approval processes can cause a variety of challenges ranging from delays to increased risk of unplanned expenses impacting procurement performance. 

This guide will explore everything regarding procurement approval workflows, including the best industry practices. Thus, let’s dive into it! 

Understanding Procurement Approval Workflow 

Before diving into the practical section of this guide, let’s first understand procurement approval workflow. 

Essentially, procurement approval workflow is a structured process with pre-defined steps, stakeholders, and conditions involved in authorizing a purchase in an organization. Approval workflows help ensure that purchases made within the organization comply with company policies, requirements (regulatory/law), and budgets. 

Key Roles and Components of Procurement Approval Workflow 

A typical procurement approval workflow will have a few key stakeholders: the requester (individual responsible for making a purchase request) and approver/s (insividual/s responsible for reviewing the requests and authorizing these). 

Key components of procurement approval workflow are approval levels, approval rules/thresholds, and documentation. Approval levels refer to the hierarchy of approvals that is based on factors such as the category of the purchase, risk assessment, and amount. 

Approval rules and thresholds are redefined criteria determining whether or not the purchase requires approval and who should approve it. Finally, documentation refers to any documents such as quotes, specifications, or other supporting documentation needed within the workflow. 

Types of Procurement Approval Workflows 

It is also important to know that there are a few main types of procurement approval workflow, such as linear, parallel, and conditional workflow. 

Linear workflow is an approval process where the request linearly moves from one approver to the next. On the other hand, parallel workflow is when multiple approvers review the same request at the same time (this helps reduce cycle times). Finally, the third type is conditional workflow, during which the approval route will be determined based on predefined conditions. For instance, if the purchase is below $5000, it will be a linear workflow. If it is over $5000, then it will be a parallel workflow. 

Benefits of Setting Good Procurement Approval Workflow 

Procurement approval workflows play a pivotal role in the procurement process. The main benefits of procurement approval workflows include the following: 

• Prevents unauthorized purchases. Prevention of unauthorized purchases is one of the key benefits good procurement approval workflow equips your team with, it helps to avoid overhead expenses or maverick spending. 
• Saves time. Efficient procurement approval workflows allow teams to save time by reducing the manual effort involved in the process. 
• Greater visibility and control. More visibility into the process leads to improved transparency and the ability to maintain clean audit trails, ensuring accountability for each team member responsible for the process. 
• Provides increased control over spending, investments, and budget. This leads to increased control over cash flow, thus less risk for fraud and rogue spending. 
• Increased operational efficiency. Approval workflows enhance transparency and save time, leading to enhanced operational efficiency and more time for employees to focus on more strategic procurement initiatives. 
• Automated approval workflows via software solutions decrease errors by minimizing risks associated with manual data entry, miscommunication, and oversight. 

Also, it is worth mentioning that a good approval workflow will lead to better supplier relationships. Automation provides more visibility, accuracy, and speed decreasing cycle time and minimizing risks of late payments. By paying suppliers on time and regularly placing orders while following contract terms and conditions you will be able to build trustworthy relationships with the vendors.

Key Considerations to Design a Good Procurement Approval Workflow 

When it comes to designing good procurement workflows, it is vital to take into account a few key considerations. 

Alignment with Organization’s Policies 

If you want the procurement approval workflow to be efficient, then make sure to design an approval workflow that is in alignment with the organization’s policies and overall structure. The approval workflow should reflect the organizational hierarchy, and the responsibilities should be assigned accordingly. 

To avoid miscommunication incorporate procurement policies and thresholds into the workflow to have the means of measuring compliance. It will also provide you with greater control over the process. 

Finally, ensure that the procurement approval workflow is compliant with any legal or regulatory requirements to avoid potential risks. 

Stakeholder Collaboration 

Efficient approval workflows cannot be designed without taking into consideration the stakeholders involved in the process. Before designing the workflow, consider the key stakeholders involved in the process (requesters/approvers and finance team) to design a comprehensive and logical workflow. 

Also, measures should be implemented to facilitate collaboration and communication between the key stakeholders. For instance, you can set automated notifications and reminders to streamline the process and provide real-time communication means for the stakeholders involved. 

Automation 

When it comes to procurement approval workflows, it is worth mentioning that automatic ones are the most efficient. Leveraging the power of e-procurement software will allow you to automate the procurement process, reducing cycle times and manual errors and improving visibility. 

So, take into consideration the importance of automation functionality and choose a cloud-based solution that offers such a feature. Making sure that the solution of your choice also offers mobile access will even further enhance the responsiveness and accessibility of the process. For instance, mobile approvals and real-time notifications will allow approvers to take action instantly, reducing potential delays. 

Risk-based Approach 

When designing an approval workflow, you can implement a risk-based approach, tailoring the approval process based on the level of risk associated with each purchase. For instance, factors determining the risk can be purchase amount, category, and suppliers. 

Implementing a risk-based approach allows for setting criteria to move high-risk purchases toward a more complex approval process requiring more attention to detail. It also allows the move of low-risk processes in faster cycles. 

Best Practices and Strategies for Optimizing Procurement Approval Workflows 

As far as we are clear on key considerations to design an efficient approval workflow, it is time to move on to the best practices and strategies for workflow optimization. The strategies range from standardizing procedures to achieve better flow to defining clear user roles and responsibilities of each of the employees. 

Simplify and Standardize 

One of the most efficient ways to set up procurement automation for success is to simplify and standardize processes across the department. Start by developing standard approval templates and set criteria that will help to ensure consistency while reducing confusion regarding any aspect of procurement. 

Finally, by standardizing and providing guidelines regarding the procurement process, you allow the employees to understand their roles and responsibilities clearly. It contributes to a more efficient and speedy process. 

Track and Improve 

Remember to track and improve when it comes to approval cycle times. Regular process audits and assessments will allow you to identify challenges and issues in approval cycle times that must be addressed. 

Define Clear Roles and Responsibilities 

To streamline procurement approval workflow, make sure to define clear roles and responsibilities for every employee. It will allow employees to work more productively and organized. 

Ensure Data Security and Privacy 

Ensuring data security is vital in this era of the digital world. Make sure to implement access controls and authentication mechanisms to protect data from unauthorized users. The safest bet is to incorporate e-procurement software with built-in safety features. 

Establish Clear SLAs 

SLAs stand for service level agreements. Setting measurable SLAs for approval cycle times allows your organization to ensure the timely processing of any requests. Make sure to communicate SLAs to approvers and other stakeholders to set clear expectations regarding the timelines. Also, regularly monitor and report on SLA compliance to improve the approval workflow even further. 

Regularly Review the Approval Processes 

As the organization expands, some changes in the process might be required to make to reach more efficiency. Thus, make sure to regularly review the approval processes to identify any potential issues and bottlenecks. Identifying procurement errors will allow us to eliminate barriers to reaching maximum efficiency. 

Improve Process Efficiency with Tradogram 

If you are looking for the best software solution to create approval workflows and reduce cycle times, then you are in the right place. Tradogram is an all-in-one software solution that offers all the features necessary for creating and optimizing effective approval workflows. 

The platform offers robust automation and analytics capabilities, allowing the creation of approval workflows to enhance process efficiency, track every stage of the process, and ensure transparency across the organization. 

To find out more about how Tradogram can improve your procurement process, schedule a free demo.