Procurement automation with Make.com

Modern purchasing teams use make.com to turn manual procurement tasks into a guided, automated workflow. This how-to article walks you through building a visual automation that collects purchase requests, creates purchase orders, routes approvals, and keeps stakeholders informed without coding.

Why automate procurement with Make.com

Before you build, it helps to understand what problems procurement automation solves. Manual purchasing processes often suffer from delays, missing data, and a lack of visibility.

Using make.com, you can design a centralized workflow that:

• Standardizes how purchase requests are submitted
• Validates requester and budget data before processing
• Automatically creates structured purchase orders
• Routes approvals based on clear business rules
• Notifies vendors and internal stakeholders in real time
• Maintains a detailed activity log for auditing

This guide focuses on the first part of the process: designing the request and approval flow and turning it into a reusable scenario.

Plan your procurement workflow in Make.com

A successful automation project begins with a simple, visual design. In make.com, you translate that design into a scenario made up of connected modules.

Map the main procurement steps

Start by sketching the end-to-end procurement process you want to automate:

1. Collect a purchase request from an employee via a form or app
2. Validate the requester data and basic fields like department and cost center
3. Create a purchase request record in your system of record or spreadsheet
4. Generate an approval task for a manager or purchasing officer
5. Update the request status according to the approval outcome
6. Notify the requester that the request was approved or declined

Later, you can extend this flow to include vendor notification, purchase order generation, and integration with finance tools.

Define key data fields

Next, list the data you must capture and track throughout the workflow. Typical procurement fields include:

• Requester name, email, and department
• Cost center or project code
• Item or service description
• Quantity and unit price
• Supplier name (if preselected)
• Required delivery date
• Approval status and approver details

Ensure each of these has a clear place in your forms, tables, and approval tasks. Make.com will map these fields between apps as data moves through the workflow.

Set up the purchase request form in Make.com

The purchase request form is the main entry point of your automation. In many cases, forms will come from a connected tool, but the logic and routing are controlled from inside make.com.

Design a standardized purchasing form

Use your preferred form or app that integrates with make.com. The goal is to standardize how employees submit purchasing needs.

Include fields such as:

• Employee details (often auto-filled from single sign-on)
• Department and cost center
• Item description and justification
• Preferred vendor (optional)
• Estimated cost and quantity
• Preferred delivery or service date

Make critical fields required to reduce back-and-forth between procurement and requesters.

Connect the form to Make.com

Once your form is ready, connect it to make.com so new submissions trigger your scenario.

1. Create a new scenario in your workspace.
2. Add a module that listens for new form submissions or app events.
3. Authorize the connection and test it with a sample submission.
4. Confirm that each form field is visible in the output bundle in the scenario builder.

When a request is submitted, the scenario will receive structured data, ready for validation and processing.

Build the core procurement scenario in Make.com

With the form connected, you are ready to build the core steps of your procurement automation inside make.com.

Step 1: Add a trigger module

The trigger module starts the scenario when a new request arrives. Common triggers include:

• “Watch submissions” for a form tool
• “Watch records” for a database or spreadsheet
• “Webhook” for custom or internal apps

Verify that the trigger runs on each new request and pulls all necessary data fields.

Step 2: Validate the incoming data

Use filters and transformer modules to verify that the request is complete and compliant with your rules.

• Check that mandatory fields (e.g., cost center, description) are not empty.
• Confirm that estimated cost is within reasonable boundaries.
• Apply simple business rules, such as department-specific restrictions.

You can branch the flow with filters to handle incomplete requests differently, for example, by sending the requester an email asking for more information.

Step 3: Create or update a purchase request record

Next, store each new request in a central repository, such as a spreadsheet, database, or procurement app connected through make.com.

1. Add a module to create a new record in your chosen data store.
2. Map all relevant fields from the trigger bundle to the record.
3. Generate a request ID or use an auto-generated key for tracking.
4. Set an initial status, such as “Pending approval”.

Centralizing requests makes reporting, auditing, and collaboration much easier.

Step 4: Route the request for approval

Approval routing is the heart of a procurement workflow. In make.com, you can define clear routing rules using filters and routes.

• Determine who should approve requests based on department, cost center, or amount.
• Use conditional routes for threshold-based approvals (for example, manager approval up to a certain amount and director approval above it).
• Create approval tasks, messages, or records in your preferred app.

Approvers can receive an email, a chat message, or a task in a work management tool with links to approve or reject the request.

Step 5: Handle approval decisions

Once the approver responds, the decision is sent back to the scenario.

1. Capture the approval outcome through a follow-up trigger or webhook.
2. Update the corresponding purchase request record status.
3. Store the approver name, timestamp, and any comments.
4. Branch the flow: one path for approved requests, another for rejected ones.

Approved requests can later be converted into purchase orders and used to notify vendors.

Step 6: Notify the requester

Communication is crucial in procurement. Use make.com modules to send timely notifications.

• For approved requests, send a confirmation with the request ID and next steps.
• For rejected requests, include a short explanation if provided by the approver.
• Optionally CC a team mailbox or procurement channel for transparency.

Notifications can be sent by email or collaboration tools, depending on what your organization uses.

Test and refine your Make.com procurement flow

After building the scenario, test it carefully before applying it to real purchasing activity.

Run sample requests end to end

Submit several sample requests that represent different use cases:

• Low-value, simple purchase
• High-value request requiring additional approvals
• Requests missing important data

Watch each module in the make.com scenario as it executes and confirm that data mapping, status updates, and notifications work as designed.

Review logs and refine business rules

Use the execution history to inspect:

• How long each step takes from submission to decision
• Which validations trigger most frequently
• Where manual intervention is still required

Adjust filters, routes, and mappings to reduce friction and ensure policy compliance.

Next steps and additional resources

This article covered the first part of building a purchasing workflow in make.com: capturing requests, validating data, routing approvals, and notifying stakeholders. The next stage typically extends the scenario to generate purchase orders, send them to vendors, and integrate with financial systems.

To continue learning and see the original how-to guide this article is based on, visit the official resource at Make procurement automation guide.

If you need expert help designing production-grade automations and optimizing your workflows, you can explore consulting services at Consultevo, which specializes in automation and integration projects.

By clearly mapping your process, defining key data fields, and using the visual tools inside make.com, you can turn a fragmented procurement process into a repeatable, auditable, and efficient workflow that scales with your organization.

Need Help With Make.com?

If you want expert help building, automating, or scaling your Make scenarios, work with ConsultEvo — certified workflow and automation specialists.

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