---
title: "Request and PO workflows for Administrators - Payhawk Help Center"
slug: "setting-workflows-for-requests-and-purchase-orders"
description: "Set up the approval workflow for each request type: choose who reviews and approves requests, add purchase order and receive steps, and set the payment methods."
updated: 2026-10-20T07:18:55Z
published: 2026-10-20T07:18:55Z
canonical: "payhawk.com/setting-workflows-for-requests-and-purchase-orders"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://payhawk.com/help/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Setting workflows for requests and purchase orders

For each request type, you can define roles or specific employees who can review, approve, and close requests and purchase orders (if enabled for your company). You can also define that an approval step in the lifecycle is not relevant or needed for the company, for example, the review one.

The configured request type approval workflows can be flexible and based on the hierarchy levels at your company (for example, Second Level Manager), specific people (for example, Budget Owners of cost centers and defined managers of expense categories), or Payhawk roles (Payhawk Accountants and Payhawk Administrators).

## Lifecycle of workflows for requests and purchase orders

The approval workflows for requests and purchase orders have the following steps and specifics:

- The **Submit** step is always visible.
- The **Review** and **Approve** steps are optional for you to define. If any or both steps are irrelevant to your internal processes, you may skip them.
- The **Create purchase order** step will be visible if purchase orders have been enabled for your company's Payhawk account. You can add this step to a request type's workflow so that Payhawk automatically creates a PO document and assigns a PO number whenever a request of that type is approved. If you leave the step out, no purchase order or PO number is created for that request type, even if purchase orders are enabled for your account. To set up PO numbering and other settings, see the article on [configuring purchase orders](/help/configuring-purchase-orders-1).
- The **Receive** step can be added, removed, and configured for the specific approval workflow.
  - Under **Anyone from the following can receive the purchase**, select the employees or roles who can upload receipt notes for requests of this type. You can also select **Requester** to let the owner of the request receive it. By default, the step is set to **Everyone**.
  - Employees you select who can't view all company requests get read-only access to requests of this type.
  - Enable the **Require for specific categories only** toggle button to make the receipt note a requirement for certain expense categories only.
  - Select the checkboxes for the expense categories and sub-categories you want to require a receipt note for.
- The **Pay** step allows you to configure the available payment methods for a specific request type, as well as enable an automatic discrepancy detection functionality.
  - You can choose to enable payment options, allowing employees to pay for their submitted request by card, by bank transfer, or select **No payment needed**.
    - If you enable the **Bill** option:
      - Employees will be allowed to select bank transfer as the payment method for submitted requests of this type.
      - The approval workflow for the **Bills** spend type will be updated accordingly to support the following approval scenarios: **No request**, **Matched request**, or **Request with discrepancy**.
      - Under the **Request with discrepancy**, you can add the new **Amount** difference condition to route bill approvals based on the size of the discrepancy between the request and the bill.
      - If an employee chooses the **Bill** option, the request can only be linked to a bill expense later on.
    - If you enable the **Card** option:
      - Employees will be allowed to choose card payment for submitted requests of this type. If the **Card** option is selected, the request can only be linked to a card expense afterwards.
      - The approval workflow for the **Card payments** spend type will be updated accordingly to support the following approval scenarios: **No request**, **Matched request**, or **Request with discrepancy**.
      - If an employee chooses the **Card** option, they can choose from cards assigned to them or request a single-use card. If a single-use card is selected, it will be automatically issued in the requester's name upon approval of the request.
      - Here you can change the funding source of any single-use cards that will be issued. New virtual cards will use the debit funding source by default. If your company has both a credit and a debit Payhawk account in the same currency, you can select a preferred funding source, so that a new virtual card can be issued in that currency with either funding source. Payhawk will always use the preferred card when it holds enough funds. If the funds are not enough, the system will use the card with the other funding source instead.

![Payment method selection screen with options for card funding and discrepancy approval settings.](https://cdn.payhawk.com/Adm%3ARequests/request_type_payment_method_20261015_manual.png)
    - If you enable the **No payment needed** option:
      - This option provides flexibility for cases where a payment is not required. The requester or reviewer can decide whether the request will be paid by card, by bank transfer, or not at all.
      - For example, a request may not need payment if the items have already been purchased or are in stock.
  - Under **Discrepancy approval**, you can set how much an expense can exceed the requested amount before extra approval is required. Only if you choose a percentage and/or specific amount as the acceptable threshold, the system will trigger a discrepancy workflow for the related expenses when the spend amount is more than the requested amount.

You can also test your settings by entering example values to see if a discrepancy approval will be triggered.
- The **Close** step is always visible. It allows you to enable and configure the rules for the auto-close option of requests.

Whenever you need to set a workflow for a request lifecycle step, you can apply the steps for defining custom workflows. Alternatively, if any of the steps that can be skipped are unnecessary, you can remove them by clicking their three-dot menu and selecting **Delete**.

## Updating workflows for requests and purchase orders

You can configure an approval workflow for a request type either from the **Settings** > **Requests** > **[Request type]** > **Workflow** tab or from **Settings** > **Workflows** > **Requests**.

To update the workflow for a specific request type:

1. From the Payhawk Web Portal, navigate to **Settings** > **Requests**.
2. Select the desired request type.
3. Go to its **Workflow** tab and click on **Edit workflow**.

Alternatively, click on **Go to workflows** and you'll be redirected to the **Settings** > **Workflows** > **Requests** screen.
4. Create an approval workflow that suits your requirements by [following the steps for defining custom workflows](/help/workflow-conditions-and-custom-workflows).
5. Click on **Publish workflow** to apply all the changes you've made.

## Useful resources

- [Defining amount-based approvals](/help/workflow-conditions-and-custom-workflows)
- [Approving and declining requests](https://help.payhawk.com/en/articles/8498949-approving-and-declining-purchase-requests)