Procurement Automation with Make.com

Modern procurement teams can centralize purchase requests, approvals, purchase orders, and invoices in one visual workflow using make.com. This guide explains how to design a procurement automation dashboard, track every request from creation to payment, and connect your existing tools without writing code.

The walkthrough below is based on a real-life example of a procurement automation scenario and shows how to build a scalable, transparent purchasing process.

Why automate procurement with Make.com

Procurement involves many repetitive steps, scattered documents, and manual checks. A visual scenario in make.com helps you replace fragmented email threads and spreadsheets with a single automated process.

With a well-designed automation, your team can:

• Capture purchase requests from different departments in one place
• Route approvals to the correct managers or budget owners
• Create purchase orders and share them with suppliers
• Track goods receipts and match invoices to POs
• Maintain an auditable history of all procurement activities

Instead of building a rigid custom application, you orchestrate lightweight apps and databases through the make.com scenario editor.

Core architecture of the procurement workflow

The reference workflow from the source guide is built around three core data layers and several supporting apps.

1. Data backbone for requests and POs

The scenario uses an online database as the central source of truth. In the original example, Airtable was chosen, but any structured data store supported by make.com will work. The database is split into multiple tables:

• Requests – each line represents a purchase request, including requester, description, cost, and status.
• Approvals – tracks approvers, approval decisions, timestamps, and comments.
• Suppliers – basic vendor details, payment terms, and contact information.
• Purchase Orders – generated POs, line items, and links back to requests.
• Invoices – supplier invoices, amounts, due dates, and matching status.

All other tools are connected around this database through make.com, ensuring that any change to a record is reflected across channels.

2. Communication and notifications layer

The automation scenario uses collaboration tools as notification channels. Typical examples include Slack, Microsoft Teams, or email. The make.com modules watch events in the database and send targeted messages, such as:

• New request submitted and waiting for approval
• Request approved or rejected
• Purchase order issued
• Invoice received but unmatched

Every notification links back to a record in the database or to a form where the user can take the next action.

3. Approval and form-based interactions

To collect input from business users and approvers, the scenario uses online forms. These forms can be built in tools like Typeform or any native form app that integrates with make.com.

The typical forms in the procurement automation example are:

• New purchase request form
• Approval decision form with budget and cost center fields
• Goods received confirmation form
• Invoice discrepancy or issue reporting form

Whenever a form is submitted, a webhook or trigger module in make.com updates the corresponding database record and pushes the workflow to the next step.

Designing the procurement dashboard in Make.com

A dashboard gives stakeholders a real-time view of where each procurement item stands. The source guide structures the dashboard around the main procurement stages, with every stage mirrored by a scenario segment in make.com.

Key dashboard views

In the reference setup, the database provides several filtered views that can be surfaced in a reporting tool or directly in the database interface:

• Open Requests – all requests waiting for approval or more information.
• Approved but Not Ordered – purchasing team needs to generate POs.
• POs Sent to Suppliers – waiting for confirmation or goods.
• Goods Received, Invoice Pending – track items where invoices have not yet arrived.
• Invoices Pending Approval or Matching – items that require finance review.
• Completed – fully processed and paid purchases.

Make.com scenarios keep these views updated by synchronizing every event: approvals, PO creation, delivery confirmation, and invoice posting.

Core KPIs to track

The dashboard is designed to surface procurement KPIs that are automatically calculated from database fields:

• Average approval time per department
• Number of open requests and their value
• On-time purchase order creation rate
• Invoice mismatch rate and exceptions count
• Lead time from request to payment

Since each action is automated through make.com, timestamps are consistent and KPIs are reliable without manual data entry.

Step-by-step: building the automation scenario in Make.com

The following outline summarizes the main stages from the original how-to guide and shows how they fit into a single scenario.

Step 1: Capture purchase requests

1. Create a purchase request form with required fields: requester, department, description, supplier (if known), and estimated budget.
2. Connect the form to make.com via a webhook or native integration.
3. In the scenario, create a module that writes each new submission to the Requests table in your database.
4. Assign the request a unique ID and default status, such as Submitted.

Step 2: Route requests for approval

1. Add a module that looks up the correct approver based on department, cost center, or amount thresholds.
2. Use a router in make.com to branch logic for one-step or multi-step approvals.
3. Send approval notifications through Slack, Teams, or email with a direct link to the approval form.
4. When the approver submits the form, update the Requests and Approvals tables with the decision and comments.
5. Change the status to Approved or Rejected and notify the requester accordingly.

Step 3: Generate and share purchase orders

1. For approved requests, trigger a scenario path that builds a purchase order record in the POs table.
2. Use templates in a document generation tool or spreadsheet to create a formatted PO document.
3. Send the PO to the supplier by email or through an integration supported by make.com.
4. Store the PO document link in the database for later reference.

Step 4: Confirm delivery and goods receipt

1. When goods arrive, requesters receive an automated message with a link to a delivery confirmation form.
2. On submission, the scenario updates the PO and Request records to indicate goods receipt.
3. If there are issues (damage, missing items), trigger a dedicated path for exception handling and notify procurement or suppliers.

Step 5: Match invoices and close the loop

1. Connect your invoicing or accounting system to make.com to watch for new supplier invoices.
2. When an invoice arrives, search the database for a matching PO based on supplier, amount, and reference number.
3. If a match is found, update the Invoice and PO records with a status like Matched.
4. If not matched, send an alert to finance with links to potential related requests.
5. Once payment is completed, set the Request, PO, and Invoice statuses to Completed and archive or move these items to a reporting view.

Best practices for scaling Make.com procurement workflows

As your organization grows, the complexity of suppliers, budgets, and approval rules increases. The original scenario suggests several practices to keep your automation maintainable:

• Modularize scenarios – separate request capture, approval, PO creation, and invoice matching into distinct but connected scenarios.
• Use consistent naming – apply clear names for fields, modules, and status values across all make.com scenarios.
• Log all decisions – store metadata such as approver, decision time, and changes to budgets in a dedicated log table.
• Test with sample data – run end-to-end tests with dummy suppliers and departments before going live.
• Document configuration – keep a central document that describes every scenario, trigger, and data relationship so new team members can onboard quickly.

Where to learn more about Make.com procurement automation

You can review the full original walkthrough, including screenshots and visual scenario diagrams, in the official guide on the make.com procurement automation page. It expands on each module configuration and shows how to connect specific third-party tools.

If you want expert help designing or auditing your workflow, you can work with automation specialists at Consultevo, who provide consulting and implementation services for low-code and no-code automation stacks.

By following this structure and using the visual scenario builder in make.com, you can create a robust procurement automation system that improves transparency, cuts manual effort, and gives finance and operations teams real-time insight into every purchase.

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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