Describe what employees buy and how your team approves it. Makeform creates a purchase approval form with costs, justification, budget ownership, files, and routing details.
Send purchase requests to Slack, Google Sheets, and Zapier.
Sample prompts for the builder
Choose a scenario, tailor its prompt, or send it to the builder. Each structure is an example, not a live AI result.
Audience
Employees requesting routine goods or services
Format
Internal request with manager and budget details
Prompt size
264 chars
Example form structure
Internal request with manager and budget details
Requester, department, and manager
What are you requesting and why?
Quantity, unit cost, and total
Budget or cost center
Upload a quote or estimate
Suggested routing tags
Manager review
Finance review
More information needed
Ask for quantity, unit cost, tax, shipping, and total separately so reviewers can check the calculation.
Step 1
Request
need, vendor, cost, budget, and date
Step 2
Route
amount and category identify reviewers
Step 3
Review
manager and finance assess the request
Step 4
Decide
status, conditions, and notes stay together
Why structured intake matters
A chat message makes finance chase the amount, purpose, budget, and quote. A purchase approval form collects those inputs before review.
Separate unit price, quantity, tax, shipping, recurring fees, and total fields reveal the full request amount.
Category, department, cost center, and amount provide the signals needed to select reviewers.
Justification, quotes, reviewer status, conditions, and notes stay on one submission.
Adapt it to the purchase
Start with a scenario, then adjust reviewers, cost centers, thresholds, and evidence.
Capture quantity, unit cost, vendor, delivery location, and required date.
Add seats, billing cycle, renewal, contract, data-use, and tool-overlap questions.
Collect quotes, ownership costs, replacement details, useful life, and department-head review.
Require urgency, delay consequences, existing commitments, and budget source.
Purchase request workflow
Build a purchase approval form around the actual questions your reviewers ask, then connect submissions to the channels where managers and finance work.
Describe what employees purchase, required costs and evidence, and who reviews each category or amount.
Add departments and cost centers, then show subscription or asset questions only when relevant.
Send submissions to email or Slack with requester, amount, category, and date visible.
Keep submissions in Makeform or send them to Google Sheets and Zapier with status, conditions, and follow-up.
Form vs chat vs document
Informal messages are quick to send but expensive to clarify. A structured form makes the requester supply the same core decision inputs every time.
Field guide
Collect the practical details managers, finance reviewers, and buyers need.
Requester and ownership
Identify the requester, manager, department, delivery contact, and person responsible for the budget.
Purchase details
Collect the item or service, specifications, quantity, vendor, and links so reviewers understand the scope.
Cost and budget
Separate one-time and recurring costs, taxes, delivery, currency, and budget source so reviewers can check the total.
Need and timing
Connect the request to an operating need and state the needed-by date and consequence of delay.
Supporting evidence
Attach vendor information reviewers can compare with the request; require uploads only where your process calls for them.
Review and decision
Record each reviewer’s status, notes, conditions, requested changes, and purchasing handoff.
Related tools
Connect purchase intake with vendor onboarding, payment, expense, and work requests using forms built for each handoff.
Turn an approved request into structured order details for the vendor and internal records.
Open toolCollect investment context, ownership costs, and supporting comparisons for larger asset requests.
Open toolGather company, contact, payment, and operating details when an approved supplier is new.
Open toolSubmit invoice and payment details after goods or services are received and ready for processing.
Open toolHandle employee-paid expenses separately with receipts, categories, and reimbursement details.
Open toolRoute facilities or maintenance work that may need labor, materials, and purchasing coordination.
Open toolFAQ
Practical answers for operations and finance teams replacing informal purchase requests.
It is an internal request employees submit before buying goods or services. It gives reviewers the need, vendor, cost, budget, timing, and evidence required for a recorded decision.
Include requester, department, budget owner, purchase, vendor, quantity, itemized and total cost, date needed, justification, cost center, and quote. Add conditional questions for software, equipment, vendors, or exceptions.
Collect amount, department, category, and other routing signals, then connect submissions to email, Slack, Google Sheets, or Zapier. Map the workflow to your assigned reviewers.
Ask for seats, price, billing frequency, contract term, renewal, annual cost, users, and tool overlap. Collect data-use or access details when IT reviews them.
Yes. Add uploads for quotes, estimates, proposals, scopes, renewals, or screenshots. Require them by category or amount when your process calls for evidence or comparisons.
Yes. Makeform is unlimited free for generating, editing, publishing, and collecting responses. The paid tier only removes the Makeform badge.
No. It organizes an internal request. After approval, your team can create an order, onboard the vendor, buy the item, or request payment.
Use consistent statuses for manager review, finance review, more information needed, approved, and declined. Add notes, conditions, and follow-up ownership.
Replace the approval chase with complete intake.
