# IT equipment purchasing for a team

> Order laptops, monitors and peripherals by asking in chat. Small orders go through on a buyer's yes, and bigger amounts walk an approval chain first.

Updated 2026-11-06. Source: https://atta.sh/use-cases/it-equipment

Ask Atta for laptops, monitors or peripherals in Slack or the browser. The agent finds options at your allowed stores, and the amount decides the path: under a role's limit the buyer's yes is enough, and over it Atta builds an approval chain, one approver at a time. Nothing is paid until the last step is answered.

## A request with a chain

An approval chain is built from the amount and the workspace's rules. Suppose the rules say: up to $500 a buyer approves alone, up to $2,500 needs the team lead, and above that the team lead and then finance.

> **Tomas (IT), in Slack:** six 27" monitors and six docking stations for the design team
>
> **Atta:** Monitors $290 x 6 = $1,740. Docks $165 x 6 = $990. Total $2,730, arriving Wednesday from the same store. That's over $2,500, so it needs the team lead and then finance. Sent to Hana first.
>
> **Hana taps Approve.**
>
> **Atta:** Hana approved. Sent to Omar in finance.
>
> **Omar taps Approve.**
>
> **Atta:** Ordered. Paid with a single-use card capped at $2,730. I'll tell you when it ships.

Each step is a row, answered one at a time. The first pending step the person satisfies is the one they answer, and nobody answers a second step in the same chain. Tomas's own standing clears nothing on his own request, except a single link he satisfies himself with a role that may check out.

## What the approval is bound to

The approval is tied to the amount and the lines. If the cart changes, the order fails and the reason carries both figures. A request that recorded no approved figure resumes under a limit of zero, so a missing number is treated as nothing approved.

If placing the order fails after approval, it waits for a person to press Try again. Atta never retries a tool that spends money.

## Mixed hardware, one request

A request holds lines, a cost centre (defaulting to the requester's team) and a GL code. Laptops, peripherals and cables go on one request, with one total to approve. An approver approves or declines the whole request. If one line needs to change, the answer is to decline and ask again, because a total that changes after two people approved it is a different request.

## Preferences

You can set stores and brands per person, per person in a workspace, or for the whole workspace. A "never" from anyone wins, and it's applied as a filter on search results, not as a hint in the prompt. The agent doesn't suggest a store you haven't configured.

## Spend and budget

Checkout reserves the total against the team's budget and counts it as spent when payment settles. See [month-end close](https://atta.sh/use-cases/month-end-close) for how the card and the invoice line up.

## Where it fits

A team buying standard hardware from a few stores. For the same bundle for every new starter, use a [standard kit](https://atta.sh/use-cases/new-hire-equipment).

Atta is in invite-only beta and free during the beta.

## Questions

### How does Atta decide who approves a laptop order?

The amount is run through the workspace's rules, which build a chain of approvers. Each approver answers in turn, and checkout happens after the last one.

### Can the requester approve their own order?

Their standing clears nothing on their own request, except a single link they satisfy themselves with a role that may check out. A link only someone else holds goes up to them.

### What if the price changes after approval?

The approval is bound to the amount and the lines. If the cart no longer matches, the order fails and shows both figures.

### Can I limit which stores the agent uses?

Yes. Store and brand preferences are enforced as filters on search results, and a 'never' from anyone in the workspace wins.