Raising and approving a purchase request

What is this page about: A step-by-step walkthrough for raising a purchase request, routing it to an approver, and approving or rejecting it. Approval creates the purchase order.

# On this page

• Raise a purchase request
• What the request page shows
• Approve the request
• Reject the request instead
• If the request shows an error
• Best practices
• Related articles

# Raise a purchase request

1. Go to Spend management > Purchase requests.
2. Click Create purchase request.
3. Select the Vendor.
4. Add lines for what's being purchased, with quantities and amounts.
5. Submit.

A "Purchase request created successfully" toast confirms it. You can raise requests for the entities you have access to.

# What the request page shows

Once submitted, the request opens on its own page:

• General section: the header fields you entered, the status Pending, and a PR number in the PR-00001 format.
• Outcome section: what the request will create, with a Purchase order items block that mirrors the lines you entered.
• A right-hand panel with Activity and Documents tabs. Activity records each step of the request and links to the purchase order or card it creates. Once the purchase order exists, it appears in Documents with its status.

Approve and Reject buttons show on the page for the person whose approval is pending.

At this stage nothing has been committed to the vendor. It's a request, not an order.

# Approve the request

You can approve from your tasks or from the request's own page.

From your tasks:

1. Go to Personal > Tasks.
2. Open the approval task for the purchase request.
3. Review it and click Approve. A "Task approved" toast confirms it.

From the request page:

1. Open the purchase request.
2. Review it and click Approve. A "Purchase request approved" toast confirms it.

Either way, the request moves from Pending to Approved, and Light creates a purchase order with the same vendor, entity (the company or subsidiary the request belongs to), currency and lines. It appears in Spend management > Purchase orders. Light fills in the PO's coding and locks it automatically if it passes its checks, and it becomes Open once it syncs to your ERP. If the checks fail, the PO stays in Draft for someone to complete and lock. See The PR → PO → bill flow in Light for what happens next.

# Reject the request instead

From your tasks:

1. Open the approval task in Personal > Tasks.
2. Click Reject.
3. In the Add rejection reason dialog, enter the reason and confirm. A "Task rejected" toast confirms it.

From the request page:

1. Open the purchase request and click Reject.
2. In the Confirm purchase request rejection dialog, add a note under Add notes (optional) if you want, then click Confirm. A "Purchase request rejected" toast confirms it.

The request moves to Rejected and no purchase order is created. A rejected request stays editable: whoever raised it can fix it and click Save & resubmit to send it back to Pending, without starting a new request.

If an approval is stuck, for example because the approver has left, an admin can reassign or restart it.

# If the request shows an error

If Light can't create the purchase order or card after approval, the request shows a banner such as Purchase order creation failed or Card creation failed, with the specific reason. Archive the request and create it again once the issue is fixed.

# Best practices

• Fill in every line and amount before submitting. The purchase order is built from exactly what you entered.
• Check the lines in the Outcome section before you submit. It's your last look at what will be ordered.
• Approve promptly once you've reviewed a request. Nothing downstream exists until you act on it.
• Reject a request you don't intend to approve, with a reason, so the requester knows what to fix and can resubmit it.

# Related articles

• The PR → PO → bill flow in Light
• Purchase Orders
• Filing a Purchase Request
• Tracking Your Purchase Requests
• Setting Up Approval Workflows

Also searched as: raise a purchase request, PR approval task, approve a purchase request, reject a purchase request, purchase request to purchase order.