Purchase approval software
Purchase approval software decides who has to say yes before money is spent. In Atta, rules set what each role can approve alone and who approves above that. A larger request becomes a chain with one step per approver, answered in order, and the order is placed only after the last step clears.
How a request gets approved
Dev, in Slack: order 4 standing desks for the new team, $520 each
Atta: Four is $2,080. That's over your limit. Your rules want Dana and then Sam for amounts above $1,500. I've asked Dana first.
Dana taps Approve. Sam gets the next step.
Sam taps Approve.
Atta: Both approved. PO-2026-00042 issued, order placed, card capped at $2,080.
Two things happened that matter. The rules built the chain from the amount, and the order waited for the last step.
Limits per role
A role that may check out can approve its own purchases up to a limit. Above it, the request goes to approvers. A role that can't check out never gets to approve its own spend. Whether a person may press the button (authorisation) is separate from whether a spend may happen without a person (approval), so a buyer can be allowed to check out and still be asked.
A budget ladder on the budget page shows the chain for each amount: one rung per amount a rule starts above, and the members who could answer each link. A rung whose links can't go to different people is flagged, because one person answers one step, and that chain would never clear.
Chains: one step per approver
| Amount | Chain |
|---|---|
| Up to the requester's limit | None, goes straight through if the workspace allows |
| Above it, up to $1,500 | Dana |
| Above $1,500 | Dana, then Sam |
These amounts are an example. You set your own.
- Steps are answered one at a time.
answerRequestfinds the first pending step the person satisfies and never a second one they already answered. - The requester's own standing clears nothing on their own request. If a link only the requester holds is in the chain, it goes up to the next person.
- Clearing the last step issues the PO number and queues the order. The order is placed under the requester's scope, and only for the amount and lines that were approved.
- If the cart changes, the order fails and both figures are shown in the reason. If a request recorded no figure, it resumes with a limit of zero.
- A failed order after approval waits for a person to press Try again. Money-moving steps aren't retried automatically.
A tool the table doesn't know asks every time
Approval for an agent's actions comes from a risk table: each tool has an entry that says how risky it is. A tool with no entry asks a person every time. So when a new tool is added, the safe default is a question, not a spend.
Answering from where people are
Approvers can answer from a request in the app, a button in Slack or a button in WhatsApp. They all call the same function the web page does, so a button can't approve something the page wouldn't allow. For a pile of requests, bulk answering runs each one through the same path, up to 50 at a time, and reports per row: "7 approved, 3 refused" with the reasons. It isn't all-or-nothing.
Delegation and escalation
An approver can delegate to someone else. The inbox, which is the default view of requests, shows what's waiting on you, including what was delegated to you. A step pending past the workspace's SLA (48 hours by default) is marked escalated once, and the owners and admins are notified.
Setting it up
Atta is in an invite-only beta and is free during it. Set limits per role, add rules for the amounts that need a chain, and invite approvers. Then connect Slack or WhatsApp so the buttons arrive where people already are.
Questions
What is purchase approval software?
Software that routes a purchase request to the people who have to approve it, based on rules such as amount, role or team, and records who said yes. In Atta it also gates the payment itself.
Can someone approve their own request?
Within the limit their role allows, yes. Above it, their own standing clears nothing, and a step only they hold goes up to the next approver.
What happens if the cart changes after approval?
The order fails and both figures are shown. The approval is bound to the amount and lines that were approved.
Can approvers answer from Slack?
Yes. Slack and WhatsApp request buttons call the same function as the page, with the same checks.
Related
- Purchase order softwareEach approved request gets a PO number, the order carries it, receipts are recorded per line, and an invoice that names the PO attaches to the request.
- Purchase requests in SlackAsk Atta to buy something in a Slack DM or channel, approve requests from the Home tab, and use /atta for quick answers. It acts as the member who linked.
- Spend management softwareA budget reserves money at checkout and settles it on payment. Released if the order is cancelled or abandoned. One currency per budget, no double counting.