Start with three questions, not job titles
| Question | Usually answered by |
|---|---|
| Do we need this? | Head of the requesting department |
| Is the supplier and price right? | Head of purchasing |
| Should we spend this much? | COO, GM or director, above a set amount |
An example matrix
An example only. Your amounts depend on your company's size and risk.
| Request value | Approvers |
|---|---|
| Up to RM 5,000 | Department HOD → Purchasing HOD |
| Above RM 5,000 | Department HOD → Purchasing HOD → COO |
| Urgent special approval | Purchasing HOD → COO above RM 5,000, with a written justification |
Rules people forget
Count the approved amount, not the requested amount
If an approver declines some lines, the value that matters for the next decision is what is left. A RM 6,000 request with RM 1,500 declined is now a RM 4,500 request.
Decide what happens when a request changes
If the requester changes a price or quantity after someone has approved, every approver should see it again. If only a question was answered, it can go back to the person who asked.
Plan for leave
Name a stand-in for each approver, for set dates, and record that the stand-in signed on the approver's behalf. Watch for one person signing two stages of the same request.
Set a deadline per stage
Decide how many days a request may wait at one approver before it is flagged, and let the requester send a reminder.
Keep urgent rare
An urgent route should need a written reason. Otherwise everything becomes urgent.
How the Avantix Procurement Portal applies this
- Stages: Department HOD → Purchasing HOD → COO, then the Purchasing Team.
- The COO only approves above an amount set by the admin (RM 5,000 by default), checked after declined lines are removed.
- Urgent Special Approvals, with a required justification, skip the Department HOD.
- Changed lines, quantities or prices restart approval from the first stage; unchanged revisions return to the stage that asked.
- Out-of-office delegation, overdue flags and a Remind approver button.
See the purchase approval workflow for the full detail.