Lesson 1 of 6
Purchase requisitions
9 min
A purchase requisition (PR) is an internal request to buy something. It says what is needed, how much, by when and where, but it commits Contoso Motor Co. to nothing. Requisitions are how demand reaches purchasing in an orderly way: from planning, from production, and from employees who need something for their work.
Three ways a requisition is born
| Source | Who or what creates it | Typical tool | Contoso example |
|---|---|---|---|
| MRP | The planning run, for externally procured materials with a shortage | MRP Live (MD01N) or the planning apps | Rotor CMC-RTR-200 stock in plant 1710 will fall below demand next week |
| Manual (professional) | A planner or buyer | ME51N, Manage Purchase Requisitions | A planner requests 200 extra rotors for a pilot build |
| Self-service | Any employee, from a catalog or free text | Create Purchase Requisition app | An engineer orders a torque wrench for the test bench |
MRP is the high-volume source. For a product with procurement type external, the planning run compares demand with stock and incoming supply and creates a requisition for the shortage, with a delivery date calculated from the planned delivery time. If a valid, MRP-relevant source exists, MRP can assign it straight away, which makes later automatic conversion possible.
Self-service requisitioning
Self-service requisitioning lets employees who are not buyers request goods and services in a shopping-cart style app. They search a catalog or describe a free-text item, add it to the cart, enter quantity and delivery date, and the app proposes the account assignment (often their cost center). They track their requests in My Purchase Requisitions. The purchasing department then handles any items without a source.
- ShopEngineer opens Create Purchase Requisition and searches for a torque wrench
- CartAdds a catalog item, quantity 1, needed by the 30th
- Account assignmentCost center of the test lab is proposed
- OrderThe requisition is created and, if rules apply, sent for approval
- TrackMy Purchase Requisitions shows status: approved, ordered, delivered
Approval: flexible workflow or release strategy
Most companies want approval for requisitions above a value or for certain account assignments. SAP S/4HANA offers two mechanisms. Classic release strategies use classification characteristics (for example value, plant, material group) and release codes; approvers release in ME54N or collectively in ME55. Flexible workflow is configured by key users in a Fiori app for managing requisition workflows, with conditions and approver rules; approvers act in My Inbox. Private Edition and on-premise can use either; Public Edition uses flexible workflow. Use one mechanism per document type, not both.
- Is the requisition below $1,000 and charged to a cost center?Yes → auto-approved · No → next rule
- Is it between $1,000 and $10,000?Yes → approval by the requester's manager · No → next rule
- Is it above $10,000?Yes → manager and plant controller in sequence · No → n/a
What would you do?
An engineer's self-service requisition for $12,000 of test equipment was approved by his manager and then sat for a week. The plant controller says she never saw it. What is the first thing to check?
A requisition is also the first place to check data quality. A requisition with no material number (free text), a vague description or the wrong plant creates work for the buyer and delays the order. Contoso's key users review the free-text requisitions each week and turn the frequent ones into catalog items or materials with info records, so that next time they can flow through automatically. In testing, include at least one MRP requisition, one professional requisition and one self-service requisition, because each enters through a different door and can fail differently.
- Requisitions are internal requests from MRP, professional users or self-service employees.
- MRP creates requisitions for externally procured shortages and can assign sources.
- Self-service requisitioning uses a catalog or free-text cart with proposed account assignment.
- Approvals run on classic release strategies or flexible workflow (Public Edition: flexible workflow).
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. What creates purchase requisitions automatically for stock items?
2. Which app do employees use for self-service requisitioning?
3. Where do approvers act on flexible workflow tasks?
4. Which transaction releases a requisition under a classic release strategy?