Procurement Case Studies » Enforcing Department Budgets with Purchase Requisitions

Enforcing Department Budgets with Purchase Requisitions

· 6 min read

Representative scenario — a multi-department organisation

In this representative scenario, a multi-department organisation tied every purchase to a budgeted requisition on Lapasar Mall. Requisitions check against the department's remaining budget before approval, so spend is controlled before it happens rather than discovered after — a published platform capability.

This is a representative scenario illustrating how the platform's requisition, budget and approval capabilities apply to a multi-department organisation — not an audited account of a named customer. It follows an organisation where several departments each own a budget.

The challenge

In a multi-department organisation, each department owned a budget but bought fairly freely, with finance only seeing the total after invoices arrived. Overspends surfaced late, and there was no consistent link between a purchase and the budget it drew against.

Approvals happened over email and were hard to trace, so it was difficult to say who had authorised a given spend, or whether it was within budget at the time.

The solution

Every purchase was routed through a budgeted requisition on Lapasar Mall. Each department is a cost centre with its own budget; a requisition checks against the remaining budget and the right approver before it can become a purchase order.

Control moves upfront — spend is checked before it is committed — and every requisition, approval and drawdown is recorded automatically.

Implementation

Departments were set up as cost centres with their budgets loaded, and approval chains were built to match each department's real sign-off authority. The most common goods were placed in a catalog so requisitions were quick to raise.

Departments moved onto requisition-based buying in turn, with early attention on the biggest spenders. Finance gained a live view of budget consumption instead of waiting for month-end.

Targeted outcomes

Targeted outcomes, consistent with the platform's public ROI assumptions: overspend caught before it happens rather than after, every purchase tied to a budget and an approver, a complete audit trail, and recovered pricing as buying shifts onto the controlled catalog.

Key takeaways

Results at a glance

Targeted savings

Target: 3–6% recovered as spend shifts to the controlled catalog

Upfront budget control plus more buying on negotiated catalog pricing recovers margin at the rate our public ROI calculator assumes. A target, not an audited result.

Illustrative timeline

  1. Weeks 1–2 — Load cost centres & budgets: Set departments up as cost centres with budgets and approval chains.
  2. Weeks 3–4 — Stand up the catalog: Place the most-bought goods in a catalog so requisitions are fast.
  3. Weeks 5–8 — Roll out by department: Move departments onto requisition-based buying, biggest spenders first.
  4. Ongoing — Monitor live budgets: Finance tracks budget consumption live and adjusts as needed.

Key takeaways

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a purchase requisition?

A purchase requisition is an internal request to buy something that is checked and approved — against budget and policy — before it becomes a purchase order. It moves control upfront, so spend is authorised before it is committed.

Are these figures audited results?

No. This is a representative scenario. Outcome figures are targets consistent with our public ROI model, not audited results from a named client.

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