In many companies, purchase order approvals in SAP become bottlenecks due to manual processes, lack of mobility, and the absence of key information at the time of decision-making. This leads to operational delays and affects relationships with suppliers: an unapproved order on time can hold up critical supplier deliveries, disrupting the supply chain.
Purchase order approval is such a critical process within the supply chain that we have chosen to address it individually in the following article. We will begin by providing context around the challenges and issues involved and explain how you can tackle them by leveraging our expertise in this area as specialists in optimizing processes within the SAP MM module.
What challenges do we face when approving purchase orders in SAP?
Despite living in the digital age and having smartphones, tablets, and other portable devices at our fingertips, it’s still common to see managers who must sit in front of the SAP on a desktop computer just to approve documents. Moreover, standard SAP requires navigating unintuitive transactions (such as ME54N or ME28) just to approve a purchase order.
These are just a few of the limitations that slow down a process that should be resolved in minutes. The result is delayed approvals, operations on hold while awaiting a signature, and dissatisfied suppliers due to delayed orders.
Additionally, we frequently encounter decision-makers who approve requests based solely on basic data (total amount, description) without any additional context. Is this expense within budget? Has a similar price been paid in the past? Has the supplier performed well previously? Without visibility into this information, it is impossible to make an informed decision.
On the other hand, if the approver wants to dig deeper, SAP spreads data across multiple screens and reports, making it cumbersome to manually gather the necessary context. Meanwhile, the traceability of the purchase order approval process in SAP is also far from straightforward: although the system stores a large amount of data, reconstructing who approved what, when, and under what conditions can be complex without additional tools. This lack of transparency hampers internal controls and audits, making it difficult to quickly identify bottlenecks or non-compliance with approval policies.
What are the main obstacles to agile purchase order approval in SAP?
- Approvers disconnected from the system (no mobile access): Traditionally, SAP purchase order approvals depend on the user being connected to the corporate network or using the office PC where SAP is installed. For instance, if a manager is traveling, working remotely, or simply doesn’t have access to their SAP-enabled device, the release process comes to a halt. This rigid model does not align with the current reality of mobile work. In fact, we’ve seen cases where critical purchase orders were delayed for days simply because the responsible executive was out of the office without SAP access. The lack of mobility isn’t just an inconvenience — it’s a serious issue that actively delays procurement and business continuity.
- Lack of data for informed decision-making: Another major issue is the limited context available when approving a purchase order. In standard SAP, the approver sees the PO (materials, supplier, amount) but not vital complementary data such as current budget availability or the history of similar purchases, and they lack compliance alerts (for example, if there’s no reference to an existing contract). Without this information, a purchase could be approved that exceeds the budget or is with an unauthorized supplier, simply because the approver didn’t have that data at hand.
- Limited traceability in the release process: While it’s true that SAP uses robust release strategies (approval flows), they are often not transparent or easy to interpret — especially for non-technical users. In many companies, it’s difficult to figure out who needs to approve a document, in what sequence, and what authorization levels apply. Likewise, if we want to review later what happened with a purchase order and answer questions like: Who created it? Who approved it and when? Were there any changes, rejections, or rework? The information is scattered and hard to reconstruct. This lack of clear traceability undermines internal controls, complicates audits, and makes it difficult to pinpoint where approvals are getting stuck.
These challenges explain why, even with SAP in place, many companies still experience slow and unreliable purchase request approval processes. Fortunately, there are complementary solutions that address these gaps — not by replacing SAP, but by enhancing it. One such example is the SiLI tool developed by Innova.
Agile Purchase Approvals from Anywhere: How SiLI Enhances the Process in SAP
In response to the challenges around purchase order approvals in SAP outlined in the previous section, specialized tools like SiLI (Smart Intelligent Releases) emerge to streamline and improve the approval process within the SAP ecosystem.
Developed by the experts at Innova, SiLI optimizes the approval workflow while fully respecting existing business rules (such as the same release strategies configured in SAP by amount, cost center, purchasing group, etc.), making them significantly more accessible and transparent for end users. In other words, it requires no modifications to SAP or custom developments: it leverages the approval infrastructure already in place and presents it through a modern, intuitive application that is 100% integrated with SAP.
With SiLI, the process of approving a purchase order is enhanced under the following parameters:
Mobile Approvals with Key Data at Hand
SiLI provides full mobility for purchase order approvals in SAP. Approvers can access purchase requests from a laptop, tablet, or mobile phone. The key advantage is that the application displays all necessary contextual information in a single view.
For example, when opening an order in SiLI, the approver immediately sees whether there is available budget, how much was paid for similar past purchases, whether the supplier has valid framework contracts, and even any risk alerts or special conditions. All this context is integrated alongside the order, eliminating the need to access multiple SAP transactions.
As a result, users have a complete overview to make informed decisions from any device, just as confidently as if they were in the office with an analyst at their side.
History Visibility and Decision Reversal
A good approval system not only facilitates approvals themselves but also manages exceptions and errors effectively. SiLI maintains a complete history of every action taken on the order, offering real-time traceability of the workflow. Even more importantly, it allows for easy reversal of approvals or rejections made in error.
Email Notifications with Direct Action
SiLI implements smart email notifications so that when a document requires approval, it sends a detailed message to the appropriate approver containing the key PO data and a link or button to approve/reject directly from the email. In practice, this means a manager can receive a summary of the order (supplier, amount, items, etc.) on their smartphone and approve or reject it with a single click, without needing to log in to SAP. Behind that click, the system validates the identity and logs the decision in SAP, ensuring compliance with the defined release strategies.
SiLI doesn’t just notify the approver — it can also send confirmations to the user who created the request or the original requester when their order has been approved or rejected, including the reason for rejection if applicable. This ensures that all stakeholders are kept informed in real time.
SiTRACK: The Perfect Companion for Metrics and Reminders
Alongside SiLI, the complementary solution SiTRACK adds an analytical and monitoring layer to the procurement flow. SiTRACK allows you to monitor, through a user-friendly interface, who the pending approvers are for each document, how long orders have been at each stage, and identify bottlenecks in real time.
Thanks to this, automatic reminders can be configured — for example, if a PO has not been approved within X hours, SiTRACK sends a courtesy reminder (or escalates to superiors), ensuring the approval process continues moving forward.
In critical supply environments (such as just-in-time manufacturing), these alerts are essential to prevent urgent orders from being overlooked and causing delivery delays.
Additionally, SiTRACK collects historical data on approval times by document type, department, or approver, providing performance indicators. These metrics help identify structural bottlenecks (e.g., if purchases over a certain amount or from a specific department are consistently delayed) and support continuous improvement actions.
Conclusion: Control, Speed, and Informed Decisions in SAP
By addressing the root issues — mobility, contextual information, and visibility — solutions like SiLI Smart Releases (combined with SiTRACK for monitoring) radically improve the approval flow in SAP. The results are evident across several fronts:
- Faster approvals and fewer delays: Mobile approvals and actionable notifications eliminate unnecessary waiting. Decisions that once took days due to a manager’s absence are now made within minutes or hours, keeping operations moving. This shortens procurement cycle times and accelerates sourcing, preventing disruptions in production or service due to material shortages. Consequently, suppliers receive orders more promptly, strengthening trust in the company’s commitments.
- More informed and consistent decisions: By providing all relevant data in a single screen, SiLI ensures that every approval or rejection is backed by solid information (budget, pricing, contracts, supplier performance, etc.). Decisions are no longer based on assumptions but aligned with procurement policies and financial objectives. This reduces errors (such as duplicate or off-contract approvals) and improves overall spending quality, as each step is consistent and auditable.
- Better control and full traceability: With a centralized history of who approved what and when, along with the ability to reverse errors, the process becomes much more manageable. Auditors and compliance teams can access clear reports of all actions, authorization levels, and exceptions. The tracking tools provide real-time visibility to detect and resolve bottlenecks before they impact operations. Ultimately, internal governance is strengthened without sacrificing agility, achieving the ideal balance between speed and control.
