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🔧
Core Procurement

Indirect & MRO Procurement

From employee request to approved payment — structured, visible, and controlled. No more maverick MRO or untracked service spend.

40%
of total spend
is typically indirect/MRO
0
Maverick spend
with catalog + PVL enforcement
100%
PO coverage
for all service and MRO spend
95%
SES match rate
service delivery auto-confirmed
Overview

Why this workflow matters

Indirect and MRO spend is the dark matter of procurement. It happens everywhere — maintenance raising verbal purchase orders, employees buying software on personal cards, facilities engaging contractors without a PO — and it adds up to 30–40% of total spend in most manufacturing companies. Proconomy brings structure to indirect procurement without making it bureaucratic. Employees use a self-service catalog. Maintenance uses an MRO catalog with preferred vendor guidance. Service delivery is confirmed through Service Entry Sheets. Every purchase is captured, approved, and matched — end to end.

Key Capabilities

  • MRO catalog with 10 categories, preferred vendor, and reorder management
  • Employee service catalog for IT, Facilities, HR, Finance, and Legal
  • Punchout supplier catalogs — browse and requisition without leaving Proconomy
  • Free-text requisition lines — no part master required for one-off indirect purchases
  • Service Entry Sheets — structured service delivery confirmation via supplier portal
  • Rule-based approval policies with auto-approval for low-value spend
  • Multi-region tax compliance on indirect invoices (GST, VAT, reverse charge)
  • Credit and debit notes for indirect invoice corrections and returns
  • Indirect spend analytics — MRO, services, capex, facilities split with PVL compliance
Process Flow

Step-by-step: how it works

Every step is designed to eliminate manual effort, reduce errors, and give your team real-time visibility at every stage of the process.

📝01

Request Raised

An employee, maintenance engineer, or buyer raises an indirect purchase request — via the service catalog, MRO catalog, punchout catalog, or a free-text requisition line.

EmployeeMaintenance EngineerBuyerFacilities Manager
< 3 minutes

What happens

  • Service catalog: employees browse IT, Facilities, HR, Finance, Legal services and click Request
  • MRO catalog: maintenance engineers browse standardised MRO items with preferred supplier pre-filled
  • Punchout catalog: buyers browse supplier-managed catalogs and add items to a requisition in one click
  • Free-text lines: buyers can raise requisitions without a part master for one-off or non-standard purchases
🤖

AI does this

AI classifies the request type (MRO, service, capex, indirect) and maps it to the correct procurement category, triggering the matching approval policy.

You benefit because

Every indirect purchase is captured in the system from the moment the need is raised — eliminating verbal purchase orders and rogue spend.

02

Approval Routing

The requisition is routed for approval based on spend amount, category, and requestor — using configurable rule-based policies with auto-approval for low-value spend.

Maintenance ManagerFacilities ManagerFinanceProcurement Manager
< 4 hours (auto-approve: instant)

What happens

  • Rule-based policies evaluate spend threshold, category, and emergency flag — first matching rule wins
  • Low-value MRO spend can auto-approve below a configurable threshold — no bottleneck
  • Maintenance manager approves MRO; facilities manager approves services; finance approves capex
  • Sequential, parallel, or any-one approval modes configurable per policy rule
🤖

AI does this

AI flags requests that breach budget or deviate from preferred vendors — surfacing the exception in the approver's worklist with context.

You benefit because

Approvers only see requests that genuinely need their attention. Low-risk, low-value spend flows through without creating approval bottlenecks.

📋03

Purchase Order Created

Approved requisitions auto-convert to purchase orders — dispatched to the preferred vendor via the supplier portal with delivery instructions and required date.

BuyerProcurement Manager
< 1 hour

What happens

  • PO auto-generated from approved requisition lines — no re-keying
  • Preferred vendor pre-filled from PVL for MRO category items
  • PO dispatched to supplier portal with acknowledgement tracking
  • Multi-line POs support mixed direct, MRO, and service lines
🤖

AI does this

AI checks contracted rates against PO price and flags any variance before the PO is dispatched — catching pricing errors before they become invoice exceptions.

You benefit because

Every indirect purchase gets a PO — creating a paper trail, locking the price, and eliminating the "no PO, no pay" invoice exception at the end of the cycle.

📦04

Delivery Confirmed

For goods: a goods receipt is raised by the warehouse or requestor. For services: the supplier submits a Service Entry Sheet (SES) via the supplier portal, confirmed by the buyer.

RequestorWarehouse OperatorBuyerSupplier
On delivery (same day)

What happens

  • MRO goods receipt: requestor confirms received quantity and condition
  • Service SES: supplier submits hours/scope via portal — buyer approves or rejects with reason
  • SES approval gates invoice payment — service invoices cannot be approved without an accepted SES
  • Partial delivery supported — multiple GRs or SES submissions against one PO
🤖

AI does this

AI cross-checks SES description and quantity against the PO line — flagging scope or quantity discrepancies before they reach the invoice matching step.

You benefit because

Service delivery is confirmed in the system — not in an email chain. Disputes over "was the work done?" are eliminated before the invoice arrives.

💳05

Invoice Matched & Paid

Supplier invoice is matched against the PO and GR or SES. Tax fields are validated against configured regime (GST, VAT, reverse charge). Matched invoices route to payment; exceptions route to AP.

FinanceAP TeamProcurement Manager
< 24 hours (automated)

What happens

  • 3-way match: PO quantity × price vs. GR/SES quantity vs. invoice amount
  • Tax validation: GST/VAT rate, HSN code, cross-border treatment verified against tax settings
  • Credit notes issued for returns, pricing errors, or short delivery — linked to original invoice
  • Matched invoices auto-approved for payment; exceptions routed to AP with AI diagnosis
🤖

AI does this

Invoice Exception Agent flags price discrepancies, missing SES, duplicate invoices, and tax mismatches — each with context and recommended resolution.

You benefit because

Indirect invoices match at the same straight-through rate as direct materials — ending the AP team's manual exception queue for MRO and service spend.

Team Roles

Who's involved in this workflow

Proconomy gives every stakeholder the right view, the right tools, and the right level of access — so no one is a bottleneck and nothing falls through the cracks.

🔧

Maintenance Engineer

  • Browse MRO catalog for standardised items
  • Raise requisitions with preferred vendor pre-filled
  • Confirm goods receipt for MRO deliveries
🏢

Facilities Manager

  • Request services via the service catalog
  • Approve service requisitions for the facilities category
  • Confirm service delivery via SES approval
🛒

Procurement Buyer

  • Manage punchout catalog browsing and indirect POs
  • Raise and approve free-text requisition lines
  • Review preferred vendor compliance for indirect categories
💰

Finance / AP

  • Validate tax on indirect invoices (GST/VAT)
  • Manage credit and debit notes for returns and adjustments
  • Process payment runs for approved indirect invoices
Business Impact

What your organisation gains

These are not theoretical benefits — they are outcomes that procurement teams experience within the first quarter of deploying this workflow on Proconomy.

📊
100%
Spend Visibility

Every indirect and MRO purchase is captured in a PO — from initial request through to payment. No more spend appearing on credit card statements with no context.

🎯
Eliminated
Maverick Spend

Preferred vendor lists, catalog controls, and mandatory PO creation before delivery eliminate the maverick spend that accounts for 15–20% of indirect budgets in most organisations.

Every time
Service Confirmation

Service Entry Sheets ensure service delivery is formally confirmed before any invoice is paid — ending the dispute cycle between AP and operations over whether work was completed.

95% match
AP Exception Rate

Indirect invoices matched at the same straight-through rate as direct materials — because the PO, GR/SES, and tax information are all captured correctly upfront.

Applicable industries

🚗
Automotive

Plant maintenance, tooling, and facilities procurement managed alongside direct materials

📱
Consumer Electronics

Lab consumables, MRO, and contract manufacturing services captured end to end

✈️
Aerospace & Defense

Traceability and PO coverage for all MRO and services supporting AS9100 compliance

⚙️
Industrial Equipment

Machine maintenance, spare parts, and plant services brought into procurement control

🏗️
Building & Construction

Site services, materials, and subcontractor spend managed with full PO coverage

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🔧

See Indirect & MRO Procurement in action

See how Proconomy transforms this workflow for your procurement team — live, with your own scenarios.