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Purchase Requisition Software for Growing Finance Teams

Control Spend Before It
Happens With PRs

Zahara is a purchase requisition system designed to help finance teams approve spending before purchase orders are issued, giving you complete control over budgets and procurement.

Tired of surprise invoices, budget overruns, and unclear spending approvals?

  • Get approval before any purchase is made
  • Set departmental and project budgets with real-time tracking
  • Create multi-step approval workflows in minutes
  • Eliminate maverick spending and improve financial control

Zahara's purchase requisition system helps businesses control spending by requiring approval before purchase orders are created. From budget management to supplier selection, keep your procurement process organized and accountable.

Try Zahara Free for 30 Days
An accounts payable image
An accounts payable image

The Problem: Uncontrolled Spending

Surprise invoices landing on your desk? Purchase orders created after the fact? Budgets mysteriously exceeded by month-end?

Many businesses struggle with reactive purchasing—approving spend only after it's already committed. Without a proper purchase requisition process, you're left dealing with budget overruns, unauthorised purchases, and a complete lack of visibility into what your teams are buying.

Without a purchase requisition system, finance teams are stuck reacting to spending instead of controlling it.

When teams can create purchase orders without approval, budgets quickly spiral out of control and maverick spending becomes the norm.

Zahara puts you back in control before the spending happens.

The Solution: Approve Before You Buy

With Zahara's purchase requisition system, every spending request is approved before it becomes a commitment. Set budget limits, create multi-step approval workflows, and give managers the visibility they need to make informed decisions.

No more surprise invoices. No more budget overruns. Just complete control over your procurement process from request to payment.

Approve purchases before they happen with multi-step PR workflows. No more surprises.

Learn more about purchase requisitions: Read Our Guide

What is a Purchase Requisition?

A purchase requisition (PR) is an internal request to buy goods or services—but it's so much more than just a form. It's your first line of defense against uncontrolled spending.

Before any purchase order is created, a purchase requisition routes through your approval process. Managers can review budgets, check supplier details, and approve or reject the request. Only after approval does it become a purchase order sent to the supplier.

With Zahara, this entire process is automated, tracked, and fully auditable—giving you complete visibility and control over every spending decision.

Man on laptop
Man on laptop

Customers using Zahara's Purchase Requisition System

How Zahara's Purchase Requisition System Works

How We Work

1. Create Purchase Requisitions Easily

Easy to use purchase requisition system

Anyone can create a purchase requisition in seconds. Select suppliers, add items, and submit for approval—it's that simple.

1. Create Purchase Requisitions Easily

The great thing about Zahara is that anyone can use it. Any person with the right permissions can create a purchase requisition with minimal training. Our goal when we created Zahara was to keep it accessible, so the whole interface is designed to be as user-friendly as possible.

The accessibility of the platform decreases the total cost of ownership as new teams or recruits can use our help guides or quick learn videos. They'll be shown how to get the most out of Zahara, so that you get the most out of the system too.

Learn More About Purchase Requisitions

I love manually checking if every purchase is within budget.

Said no one ever

2. Control Spend with Budgets

2. Control Spend with Budgets

Zahara allows you to create budgets for both departments and projects. These budgets can be granular—against GL codes or cost centres with flexible periods. They're easy to set up and allocate.

When users create purchase requisitions, they can see how their purchase will affect the budget. Managers can be notified of budgets being exceeded and refer to budgets when making approval decisions. Budgets provide a framework for your departmental and project spend, ensuring your teams are spending the right amount, with the right people, at the right time.

Learn About Budget Management
Control costs with budgets

Zahara helps you set clear budgets for departments and projects, keeping spending on track and approvals informed.

I enjoy hunting down managers for purchase approvals.

Said no one ever

3. Multi-Step Approval Workflows

Multi-step approval workflows

Set up sophisticated approval rules in minutes. Route requisitions to the right people based on value, department, or budget impact.

3. Multi-Step Approval Workflows

Using Zahara's conditions, you can create multi-step approval workflows that involve different managers depending on the situation. It could be that a purchase exceeds a budget or the value requires authorisation from the CFO. Whatever you need, you can specify it and create the perfect approval process in minutes.

You can also send emails, change field values, and send purchase orders to vendors automatically. The approval process becomes a complete workflow with a full audit trail behind every request.

Learn About Approval Workflows

I just love not knowing who bought what from which supplier.

Said no one ever

4. Supplier Management & Inventory

4. Supplier Management & Inventory

Great buying begins with solid supplier management. You can easily email all or selected suppliers from within Zahara—requests for pricing are very easy. In addition, our import module allows you to keep updating product lists so you have access to up-to-date pricing.

You can also set up an alert in Microsoft Teams when a new supplier is created so the finance team can undertake usual diligence checks. Zahara's supplier module allows you to do all of this and more, giving you complete control over your supply chain.

Learn About Supplier Management
Supplier inventory management

Manage suppliers and inventory effortlessly with Zahara. Keep pricing up to date and streamline purchasing decisions.

I'm thrilled when staff submit expenses without receipts.

Said no one ever

Are you ready for a demo?

Choose from a 15 minute intro, to a full product tour 40 minutes.

Lydia

Purchase Requisition System FAQs

Everything you need to know about how Zahara's purchase requisition system can help your business control spending and improve procurement processes.

What is a purchase requisition and why do I need one?

A purchase requisition (PR) is an internal document that requests approval to buy goods or services before a purchase order is created. You need it to control spending, prevent budget overruns, and ensure all purchases are properly authorised before commitments are made.

What's the difference between a purchase requisition and a purchase order?

A purchase requisition is an internal request for approval to buy something. A purchase order is an external document sent to a supplier committing to buy goods or services. The PR comes first (internal approval), then the PO is created and sent to the supplier (external commitment).

How does Zahara's purchase requisition system work?

Users create a purchase requisition selecting suppliers and items. The system automatically routes it through your custom approval workflow. Once approved, it converts to a purchase order and can be sent to the supplier. Everything is tracked with a complete audit trail.

Can I set up different approval workflows for different situations?

Yes. Zahara allows you to create conditional workflows based on value, department, budget status, supplier, or any custom criteria. You can have simple one-step approvals for small purchases and multi-level approvals for larger expenditures—all automated.

How does budget tracking work with purchase requisitions?

When creating a purchase requisition, users see real-time budget information. Managers can see how the purchase impacts budgets during approval. You can set up notifications for budget thresholds and prevent purchases that would exceed allocated budgets.