Procurement automation software that leaves people the exceptions
Procurement automation is not about removing people from purchasing. It is about removing the parts of the job that are the same every time: routing, reminding, checking, copying, coding and syncing. Procurer is procurement automation software built on one principle: every purchase that follows the rules flows through on its own, and every purchase that does not lands in front of the right person with the reason already written down.
What gets automated, stage by stage
| Stage | What Procurer does by rule | When a person steps in |
|---|---|---|
| Intake | Fills GL account, department and supplier details from category and catalog | Requester picks "suggest a supplier" |
| Routing | Builds the approval chain from amount, department, category, project and supplier | A rule needs a specialist, such as IT security |
| Budget check | Compares the request with remaining budget after commitments | The request would exceed budget |
| Ordering | Issues the PO, numbers it, sends it to the supplier | The supplier is new or the item is not in a catalog |
| Reminders | Nudges approvers and suppliers after the time you set | Nobody responds after the reminder |
| Invoice capture | Reads invoices sent to your Procurer inbox (Business) | The invoice cannot be tied to a PO |
| Matching | Compares invoice, PO and receipt within tolerances | Price or quantity is outside tolerance |
| Sync | Pushes approved bills to your ledger | The sync reports an accounting error |
- Intake
- What Procurer does by ruleFills GL account, department and supplier details from category and catalogWhen a person steps inRequester picks "suggest a supplier"
- Routing
- What Procurer does by ruleBuilds the approval chain from amount, department, category, project and supplierWhen a person steps inA rule needs a specialist, such as IT security
- Budget check
- What Procurer does by ruleCompares the request with remaining budget after commitmentsWhen a person steps inThe request would exceed budget
- Ordering
- What Procurer does by ruleIssues the PO, numbers it, sends it to the supplierWhen a person steps inThe supplier is new or the item is not in a catalog
- Reminders
- What Procurer does by ruleNudges approvers and suppliers after the time you setWhen a person steps inNobody responds after the reminder
- Invoice capture
- What Procurer does by ruleReads invoices sent to your Procurer inbox (Business)When a person steps inThe invoice cannot be tied to a PO
- Matching
- What Procurer does by ruleCompares invoice, PO and receipt within tolerancesWhen a person steps inPrice or quantity is outside tolerance
- Sync
- What Procurer does by rulePushes approved bills to your ledgerWhen a person steps inThe sync reports an accounting error
Working from exception queues, not inboxes
When procurement is automated, the daily work changes shape. Instead of an inbox full of forwarded requests and invoices, each person has a short queue of items that need their decision, each with a reason attached.
- Approvers: requests waiting for them, with amount, remaining budget and the rule that added them.
- Purchasing: requests that could not be auto-issued, with the reason ("new supplier", "not in catalog", "price changed after approval").
- Accounts payable: invoices held, with the reason ("price 7 percent above PO", "4 units invoiced, not received", "no PO found").
- Controller: open POs to accrue and sync errors to fix.
A queue that is empty means everything else went through correctly. That is the real measure of procurement automation: not how many steps are automated, but how short the exception queues are.
Five automation rules worth setting on day one
Software subscriptions of any amount add the IT security reviewer as an approval step.
Catalog items from preferred suppliers under 2 500 USD are issued as POs without purchasing review.
Invoices within 2 percent or 50 USD of the PO price, whichever is smaller, match automatically.
A request that would take a department below zero adds the CFO as the last approver.
Approvers get a reminder after 24 hours and their delegate is added after 48 hours.
Adjust amounts and percentages to your own policy. On Business and above there is no limit on approval steps or conditions; on Team, rules can use up to 2 approval steps. The purchase approval workflow guide explains how to pick thresholds.
Automation with controls an auditor accepts
Automation often worries auditors because it can hide decisions. Procurer records every automated action the same way as a human one: which rule fired, on which record, at what time, and which version of the rule was active. Rule changes are logged with who made them. Segregation of duties rules on Enterprise ensure that the person who creates a supplier or edits its bank details cannot also approve payments to it. When the auditor picks a payment, the record shows exactly what was automatic and what was decided by a person.
Automating supplier onboarding and renewals
On Scale, procurement automation reaches the supplier side. New suppliers receive an onboarding request in the supplier portal and upload their W-9, certificate of insurance and bank details; Procurer checks that every document is present and that bank details match the supplier's legal name before the first PO is issued. Insurance certificates with expiry dates trigger a request for a new certificate ahead of time. Contracts linked to suppliers raise alerts before renewal, so an auto-renewing subscription is reviewed rather than paid by default. See the supplier portal.
Procurement automation by plan
- Team, 149 USD a month: routing with up to 2 approval steps, budget checks, PO issue and sending, reminders, QuickBooks Online and Xero sync. Up to 25 user accounts.
- Business, 299 USD a month: unlimited conditional rules, auto-issue for catalog items, invoice capture by email, three-way matching with tolerances, Slack and Teams approvals. Up to 100 user accounts.
- Scale, 699 USD a month: supplier onboarding checks, renewal alerts, API and webhooks for your own automations, NetSuite and Sage Intacct. Up to 300 user accounts.
- Enterprise: custom approval matrices, segregation of duties, sandbox for testing rules. Talk to sales.
Yearly billing: 1 488, 2 988 and 6 948 USD.
What is procurement automation software?
It is software that applies your purchasing rules automatically across the process: routing requests for approval, checking budgets, issuing POs, capturing and matching invoices and syncing bills, so people handle only the exceptions.
Can we test rule changes safely?
On Enterprise, a sandbox environment lets you test new rules before they apply to real requests. On other plans, rule changes apply to new requests only, and existing requests keep the rules they started with.
Does automation work with our accounting system?
Yes. QuickBooks Online and Xero sync on every plan, NetSuite and Sage Intacct on Scale and Enterprise, and suppliers and GL accounts come from the ledger so coding stays consistent.
Can we build our own automations?
On Scale and Enterprise, the API and webhooks let your systems react to events such as an approved request, an issued PO or a matched invoice.
Does Procurer use AI for automation?
Invoice reading, line matching and coding suggestions use AI, and a person approves the result. See AI procurement software.
Rules for the routine, people for the rest
Create your account and set the five rules that take most of the manual work out of purchasing.