Purchase requests and approvals: the branch asks, the owner approves, and nobody approves his own

Four pharmacies, one owner

Dr Hany owns four pharmacies in Alexandria: Smouha, Sidi Bishr, Miami and Kafr Abdo. Every branch has a manager who knows his shelves better than anyone. The trouble is buying: a manager orders 30 cartons of baby milk because “the rep had an offer”, another orders the same cosmetics twice in a month, and at the end of the month Dr Hany finds supplier invoices he never saw.

He does not want to approve every box of plasters himself, and he does not want 30 cartons ordered without him. He wants a rule: small things go through, big things come to him, and big-big things need him and one more person.

The request

Anyone with the right to raise purchase requests opens Procurement → New purchase request and fills in:

• The lines: each product and its quantity, a preferred supplier per line (optional) and a note.
• The reason: “the Ramadan offer”, “the shelf is empty since Thursday”.
• Needed by: the date the goods must be in the branch.

Each line is priced at that supplier's latest price list (or the product's cost when there is none), so the request shows what it will cost before anybody approves it.

Approval amounts per branch

In Settings → Procurement → Approval amounts, each branch (or every branch at once) gets two amounts. Dr Hany set Smouha like this:

Leave both empty and every request needs one approval: that is how it starts. Sidi Bishr is smaller, so its amounts are smaller. These are fixed rules on the request's total, not AI.

Who approves

• The first approval: the people the owner ticks as first approvers — or, if he ticks nobody, anyone with the approve right and the managers.
• The second approval: the people ticked as second approvers; the owner always may.
• Never the requester. The manager who asked does not approve his own request. Never the same person twice: two approvals mean two people.
• Only the owner changes who approves.

Each approver has an inbox, Approvals: the requests he may approve now, the oldest first, decided one by one with a note. A rejection needs a note, so the manager knows why. The requester (or a manager) can withdraw a request that is still waiting.

Monthly budgets

Per product category, a monthly amount. Each request is compared with what approved requests of the same month already committed in that category:

• Soft: passing it puts a warning on the request; the steps stay the same. Dr Hany made cosmetics soft at 40,000 EGP a month.
• Firm: passing it needs two approvals, whatever the request's amount. Baby milk is firm at 60,000 EGP.

From request to order

An approved request becomes purchase orders with Make the purchase orders: one order to one supplier, or split by each line's supplier. Each line takes that supplier's latest price list; the delivery date is the request's “needed by”. A second click makes nothing twice. The orders are ordinary purchase orders: the supplier's link, receiving and closing work as always.

Not sure of the price? Ask several suppliers first — see quotes from several suppliers by link.

Nothing waits forgotten

• An owner alert when a request waits longer than the hours you set (24 by default), on the alerts list, Telegram or e-mail.
• A line in the daily summary: requests waiting, invoices to check, orders late.
• Ask your shop: type “what is waiting for my approval?” and you get the requests you may approve, with their step.

Setting it up

1. Settings → Procurement → Switch on procurement (a manager). It is off until you switch it on, and it needs Stock.
2. Approval amounts per branch: approved at once up to, two approvals above.
3. Who approves (the owner): tick the first and second approvers, or leave it to the approve right and the managers.
4. Monthly budgets for the categories that matter, soft or firm, and the hours before the alert.
5. On the team page, give each person the new rights: raise purchase requests for the branch managers, approve requests and invoice differences for the supervisor.

The full steps are in the manual; we go through it with you on a call or on WhatsApp.

What it does not do yet

Which plans include it

Procurement is available now in PosMasr Cloud: switch it on in Settings → Procurement, off until a manager turns it on. Everything procurement does is on the suite page.

Quick answers

Can the owner approve his own request?
On a one-approval request, yes. Where two approvals are needed, never as one of the two.

Does a cashier see the approvals?
Only with the right. The three new rights are given person by person on the team page.

What does the manager see when I reject?
The request marked rejected with your note. A rejection without a note is not accepted.

Is this AI?
No. Amounts, approvers and budgets are fixed rules you set; the same request always takes the same path. Ask your shop answers “what is waiting for my approval?” from its fixed list of questions, straight from your requests.

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