How to build a purchase requisition and PO approval workflow with AI-summarized vendor evidence in Formaloo

By the end of this guide, you'll have a purchase request form that checks its own evidence for completeness, runs an AI read on vendor risk before anyone reviews it, and routes each request through the right approval chain based on how much it costs. Small purchases approve themselves instantly, mid-size purchases go to a department manager, and larger purchases get manager sign-off followed by finance review. Every approved request closes with a branded PDF purchase order and a role-specific view for requesters, managers, and finance.

This is the form every request starts from. It captures the requester's details, the purchase itself, and the vendor evidence the rest of the workflow depends on, along with the admin-only fields that track status and ownership behind the scenes. The fastest way to build it is with Magic Create: describe the form and Formaloo generates the fields for you.

1. Create a new project: From your Formaloo homepage, start a new project with Form. It comes with one form already attached, which is the fastest starting point for this workflow.

2. Build the form with Magic Create: From your homepage, click Magic Create and paste a prompt describing the form: "Build a purchase request form for an internal procurement workflow. Include: full name, email address, department (dropdown), item or service being purchased (long text), vendor name, total purchase amount (number), cost center, justification for the purchase (long text), and a file upload for the vendor quote or invoice. Also add these admin-only fields: a Status dropdown with the options Missing info, Auto-approved, Pending manager approval, Pending finance approval, Approved, and Rejected; an Assignee field; and an Internal notes long text field." Click Create.

3. Verify your fields: Your form should look like this. Magic Create will have generated most of it, so verify each field and field ID matches exactly.

4. Publish the form: Click Publish in the island bar at the top of the editor to make it live.

Before anything routes to a manager, the workflow checks that the two pieces of evidence it actually needs, the vendor quote and the cost center, are there. If either is missing, the request gets flagged and the requester hears about it immediately instead of an approver discovering the gap later.

1. Create the missing-information email template: Click your profile icon → Apps & integrations → Email templates → + Add new template. Name it "Missing information" and use the @ menu to insert each field reference rather than typing it from memory. Here's the full template:

Subject: Your purchase request needs more information

Body: Hi @requester_name,

Thanks for submitting your purchase request for @item_description from @vendor_name (@amount). Before it can move forward, we need one more thing: either the vendor quote or invoice, or the cost center, is missing.

Please reply to this email or update your submission with the missing item, and we'll pick it back up right away.

Thanks, The Procurement Team

2. Open Advanced logic: In the form editor, open the form settings panel on the right side and click Advanced logic, then go to the On submit tab.

3. Add the completeness rule with Magic Logic: Click Magic Logic in the top right corner of the Logic panel and paste: "If 'Upload the vendor quote or invoice' is not answered, or if 'What cost center should this be charged to?' is not answered, assign Status to Missing info, then send an email to the requester's email address using the Missing information template." Click Generate Rules.

4. Review and save: Approve the generated rule, make any manual adjustments, and click Save in the top right corner.

This is the step that catches a suspicious quote or an outlier price before a human ever opens the request. An AI Analysis field reads the vendor quote and purchase details the moment the form is submitted and writes a private risk read that only approvers see. The requester never sees it, and there's no setting that changes that.

Note: The AI Analysis field is available on the Business and Enterprise plans.

1. Open the Add field panel: In your form editor, click Add field and select AI Analysis. It drops onto the canvas admin-only by default, with no position on the live form.

2. Write the prompt: Open the field's prompt box and write: "Based on @vendor_name, @item_description, @amount, and @vendor_quote, flag anything unusual about this purchase, such as an inflated price, a vendor that doesn't match the item, or missing pricing detail on the quote. Respond in one short paragraph." Use the @ menu to insert each field reference rather than typing it from memory.

3. Set the field ID and title: Name the field "AI vendor risk summary" and set its field ID to ai_risk_summary so it can be piped into emails and the PDF later.

4. Publish the form: Click Publish to make the field live.

Note: AI Analysis runs right after the response row is created, not before, so it usually finishes within seconds but isn't guaranteed to be ready the instant an On Submit email fires. The manager and finance notification emails in the next part reference this field, so if you ever see it come through blank, it caught up a few seconds after the email sent.

This is where the workflow decides who needs to look at a request at all. Purchases at or under $500 approve themselves. Everything above that goes to the requester's department manager, and anything over $5,000 escalates to finance after the manager signs off. Adjust the two thresholds to match your own approval policy.

1. Create your manager and finance teams: Go to Workspace members → Teams and create one team per department that needs its own approver (for example, "Marketing managers," "Sales managers," "Engineering managers"), plus a "Finance" team.

2. Create two more email templates: The same way as Part 2, add these two templates.

"Auto-approval confirmation"

Subject: Your purchase request has been approved

Body: Hi @requester_name,

Good news: your purchase request for @item_description from @vendor_name (@amount) has been automatically approved. It falls under our auto-approval threshold, so no manager review is needed.

You're clear to proceed with the purchase. A purchase order will follow shortly.

Thanks, The Procurement Team

"Manager approval needed"

Subject: Approval needed: purchase request from @requester_name

Body: Hi team,

A new purchase request from @requester_name in @department needs your review.

Item: @item_description Vendor: @vendor_name Amount: @amount Justification: @justification

AI flagged the following before you review: @ai_risk_summary

Please open the request to approve or reject it.

Thanks, Formaloo Procurement Workflow

3. Add the routing rules with Magic Logic: Back in Advanced logic → On submit → Magic Logic, paste: "If Status is not Missing info and 'What's the total purchase amount?' is 500 or less, assign Status to Auto-approved, then send an email to the requester using the Auto-approval confirmation template. If Status is not Missing info and the purchase amount is greater than 500, assign Status to Pending manager approval, assign Assignee to the manager team matching the department (for example, assign to Marketing managers if Department is Marketing, Sales managers if Department is Sales, and so on for each department you have), then send an email to the assigned manager team using the Manager approval needed template." Click Generate Rules.

4. Create the escalation and rejection templates: Add these two templates.

"Finance approval needed"

Subject: Finance sign-off needed: purchase request ($@amount)

Body: Hi Finance team,

This purchase request from @requester_name in @department has already been approved by the department manager and now needs your sign-off because it exceeds our standard threshold.

Item: @item_description Vendor: @vendor_name Amount: @amount Justification: @justification

AI flagged the following before you review: @ai_risk_summary

Please open the request to finalize the decision.

Thanks, Formaloo Procurement Workflow

"Purchase not approved"

Subject: Your purchase request was not approved

Body: Hi @requester_name,

Your purchase request for @item_description from @vendor_name was not approved this time. If you'd like more detail, reach out to your manager or the finance team directly.

Thanks, The Procurement Team

5. Add the escalation rules: Switch to the On update tab and click Magic Logic. Paste: "If Status is changed to Approved and the purchase amount is greater than 5000, assign Status to Pending finance approval, assign Assignee to Finance, then send an email to Finance using the Finance approval needed template. If Status is changed to Rejected, send an email to the requester using the Purchase not approved template." Click Generate Rules.

6. Review and save: Approve both sets of rules and click Save.

Once a request clears its final approval, whether that's a manager signing off on a mid-size purchase or finance signing off on a large one, it should produce a document and notify the requester. This part builds that PDF and wires up the two rules that finish the workflow.

1. Create the PDF template: Click your profile icon → Apps & integrations → PDF templates → + Add new template. Switch to the HTML view and paste the template below. Name it "Purchase order" and save.

2. Create the final approval email: Add this template.

"Purchase approved"

Subject: Your purchase request has been approved

Body: Hi @requester_name,

Your purchase request for @item_description from @vendor_name (@amount) has been fully approved. The purchase order is attached as a PDF for your records.

You're clear to proceed with the purchase.

Thanks, The Procurement Team

3. Add the closing rules: Back in Advanced logic → On update → Magic Logic, paste: "If Status is changed to Approved and the purchase amount is 500 or less, send an email to the requester using the Purchase approved template, then generate a PDF using the Purchase order template. If Status is changed to Approved and Assignee is Finance, send an email to the requester using the Purchase approved template, then generate a PDF using the Purchase order template." Click Generate Rules.

4. Review and save: Approve the rules and click Save. Every path through the workflow, whether auto-approved, manager-approved, or finance-approved, now ends with a document and a notification.

Department managers and the finance team are internal workspace members, not portal sign-ups, so their pages are restricted through internal access controls rather than a portal role. Requesters are the one group that actually needs to log into a portal, since they're checking on their own submissions from outside the workspace.

1. Add your data blocks: On your project's pages, add a Kanban board grouped by Status for full visibility, and Table blocks filtered to each manager team's assigned requests and to the finance team's pending queue.

2. Restrict manager and finance pages to their own team: Switch to Edit mode, open a page's three-dot menu → Access, and set it to Specific teams, selecting the matching manager or finance team.

3. Activate the portal for requesters: Click the gear icon on your project → Activate client portal → Manage users → Setup wizard, and connect a new user directory so requesters can sign up and log in.

4. Restrict "My requests" to each requester's own data: On the requester-facing table, open Options → Manage access, select the requester's profile field, and turn on Allow users to view only their data.

Tip: If you're publishing this portal outside your workspace, you can set a custom domain instead of the default Formaloo URL, available on the Business plan or via the Brand removal add-on.

You now have a purchase requisition workflow that catches its own missing evidence, flags vendor risk before a human opens the request, and routes every purchase through the right approval chain based on how much it costs. Small purchases clear themselves instantly, larger ones get exactly the sign-offs they need, and every decision closes with a branded PDF and a notification. Managers and finance each see only their own queue, and requesters can track their own requests without emailing anyone to ask where things stand.

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