Requisition to receipt, explained

"Requisition to receipt" is the path a purchase travels from an internal need for material to goods on the dock. Workcell models that path as a chain of records, each handing off to the next. This primer explains the concept; the how-to docs cover the clicks.

The four stages

1. Request (Requisition)

It usually starts with someone needing to buy something. A requisition captures that internal request: what is needed, how much, and an optional estimated price per line. The need often comes from a Production planning shortage, but you can raise one directly. A requisition commits nobody. It is just a request, and it has to be approved before it can become an order.

2. Approval

A requisition routes for sign-off before any money is committed. You submit the draft, and an approver either approves it or rejects it with a reason. A rejected request can be reopened, revised, and submitted again. This is the gate between "we would like to buy this" and "we are cleared to buy this."

3. Commitment (Purchase order)

Once approved, the requisition converts into a purchase order addressed to a chosen vendor. Workcell copies the lines onto a new PO and links the two, then closes the requisition. The PO is the committed order: you send it to the vendor, the vendor confirms it, and the order's lines now represent real demand. You can also build a PO from scratch without a requisition.

4. Delivery (Receiving)

When the goods arrive, the warehouse receives them against the purchase order. As lines come in the PO moves to partially received, and to received once everything has arrived. Receiving is what posts the material into inventory and closes the loop between the order you sent and the stock you now hold.

Where payment lives

Receiving the goods is not the same as paying for them. Once material is received, the vendor's bill flows to Accounting, where accounts payable handles the actual payment. Purchasing commits the order and confirms delivery; Accounting owns the money side. The chain stops at receipt here on purpose.

Why it is a chain, not one big form

Each stage has a different owner and a different question to answer. The requester owns the need, an approver owns the sign-off, purchasing owns the commitment to the vendor, and the warehouse owns delivery. Modeling them as linked records means each team works from the same source of truth, and you can always trace received stock back to the original request and its approval.

Ready to walk it? Start with Raise a requisition, then Create a purchase order.