As an employee, you may need to make requests that help you perform your role effectively.
For example, if you are a graphic designer, you might need to submit a purchase request for a new drawing tablet or specialized design software to complete your projects efficiently. Typically, in such cases, you’ll need to provide the basic details of what you want to request, which, in turn, must then be reviewed and approved by authorized people or roles within your company, for example, your Team Manager or the CFO. Once approved, the delivery process can begin, either partially or in full. In any case, your company will receive receipt notes (documents confirming that goods were delivered) and invoices for the amounts due to the supplier. This process continues until all goods or services are delivered, the full payment is made, and the purchase is closed, meaning no further actions are required.
Types of requests in Payhawk
Payhawk administrators at your company can define different types of requests. The goal is to improve visibility over company spending, manage budgets more effectively, categorize expenses better, and set up tailored workflows based on the specific type of request.
For example:
When submitting a request for a new drawing tablet, you might select the Hardware request type, assuming such a type has been defined for your company by a Payhawk administrator.
This request type might then require approval from the IT Team Manager instead of your direct Team Manager.
By the end of the month, your company will have clearer insight into how much was spent specifically on new hardware.
Regarding the frequency of requests, they can be either one-time or recurring.
Notes on requests
Payhawk administrators at your company may have defined settings for requests that affect your process. Note the following specifics:
Not all employees at your company may be allowed to submit requests.
Some of the requests may require a receipt note (for example, when the company purchases goods), while others may not (for example, when the company purchases services).
Payhawk administrators can define discrepancy rules for requests. These rules are intended to address situations where the supplier's invoice exceeds the requested amount or the received quantity of items differs from what was ordered by the company. In such cases, authorized people or roles at your company may request additional information from you to resolve the issue.
Payhawk accountants and administrators, as well as assigned reviewers, can access all company requests.
Phases in the request lifecycle
To align with the milestones each request must follow at your company, Payhawk organizes the lifecycle of every request into the following key phases (or steps) relevant to request owners:
Key phase | Actions, roles, and responsibilities |
Creating the request and submitting it for review or approval | You can create and then submit your request from Requests > Submit.
In the same location, you'll be able to find requests that were returned to you by authorized people at your company if additional purchase data is required or the information needs to be updated.
From here, as a requester, you can:
Once you submit your request:
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Reviewing and approving the request | The requests you've submitted will need to be reviewed and/or approved by authorized people at your company who have been assigned as part of the review and/or approval workflow by a Payhawk administrator.
During the review and/or approval phase, as the requester, you'll still be able to:
If your company requires requests to be reviewed first before approval, the request will move under Requests > Approve once they've been reviewed.
If your company doesn't require requests to be reviewed, the request will move under:
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Uploading receipt notes and invoices for your requests | During the delivery process, you'll receive receipt notes for the requested goods and invoices for the delivered items or services, which you can upload to your request.
From Requests > Receive and Requests > Invoices, you'll be able to:
If your request requires receipt notes, all of the receipt notes have been received and uploaded, and the delivery is completed, the request will move to Requests > Invoice.
When all invoices have been uploaded, your request will move to Requests > Pay.
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Paying and closing requests | Once all invoices for your request have been paid by the authorized people at your company, your request will:
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Matching request line items with different invoices or invoice lines
When you create requests, you add the goods or services you request as line items within the request and specify their net unit prices. Then, you create the expenses related to that request and add the expense documents.
To properly handle the process of matching each request line items with the correct expense, not the following specifics:
If you have a request with a single line item, Payhawk will automatically match the linked invoice to it.
If you have a request with a single line item and an invoice with 2 or more lines, Payhawk will automatically match the invoice to the request.
If you have a request with 2 or more line items and an invoice with a single line, you will need to select which requested item to match.
If you have a request and an invoice with an equal number of line items, you need to split the invoice into items. You can use the quick Split into [number] line items action to automatically match the corresponding items from the request and the invoice, and add the invoice items' amounts and categorizations.
If you have a request and an invoice with a different number of line items, you will need to manually match the request items to the respective invoice lines.
Enabling the Intelligent Requests feature in Beta
The Intelligent Requests (powered by Procurement Agent) feature is available in Payhawk Labs. For more information on how to activate it for your Payhawk account, see the article on enabling and managing Beta features.