Procurement & stores
How material moves from a site's request to an order, a delivery, the store and finally the project's cost — and where each step lives in Zaptiz.
This part of the guide covers everything between "site needs 200 bags of cement" and "those bags are now a cost on the job": who you buy from, what you order, what arrived, what the stores hold, and what went to site. Subcontract work packages sit here too, because they are bought in much the same way.
The chain, request to cost
| Step | What happens | What it does to money |
|---|---|---|
| Material request (indent) | Site asks for material; the Project Manager approves it | Nothing yet. On approval, the app decides how much comes from stock and how much has to be bought |
| Purchase order | Procurement orders the "to buy" part from a vendor | Once issued to the vendor, the order value (without GST) becomes committed cost |
| Goods receipt (GRN) | The store keeper records what came off the lorry and posts it | Material enters stock — an asset, not a cost. The committed cost is released |
| Issue to site | The store hands material over to the works | Now it is actual project cost, at the store's average rate |
If the project's own site store already holds what the site asked for, the purchase order step is skipped for that quantity — it goes straight from stock to an issue.
Where things live
📷 Screenshot spot — the Procurement hub showing the Source tiles (Vendors, Resources), the greyed-out Buy & receive tiles and the AI agents section
Save as static/img/screenshots/procurement-overview.png and replace this box with 
- Procurement (sidebar, under Workspaces) opens a hub. Vendors and Resources open company-wide lists. The Material Requests, Purchase Orders, Goods Receipts and Subcontracts tiles are greyed out on purpose: each of those documents belongs to one project, so you open them from inside the project. The hub also lists the procurement AI agents.
- Stores (sidebar) opens a hub with Warehouses, Stock on Hand and Stock Movements — company-wide, across every store.
- Inside a project, three tabs do the day-to-day work:
- Procurement — material requests, purchase orders and goods receipts, stacked on one screen so you can follow one request through to delivery.
- Materials — the project's site stock, and the buttons to issue, return and adjust it.
- Subcontract — work packages let to subcontractors, and their bills.
Pages in this section
| Page | What you do there |
|---|---|
| Vendors | Add suppliers and subcontractors, record GSTIN and terms, blacklist a vendor |
| Material requests | Raise an indent from site, approve it, track what has been ordered, received and issued |
| Purchase orders | Order approved material, get it approved, send it to the vendor, cancel or close it |
| Goods receipts | Receive a delivery against an order into a store, including part and rejected quantities |
| Stores | Open site and central stores, see stock on hand and its value |
| Stock movements | Issue to site, return unused material, write off wastage, read the movement register |
| Subcontracts | Let a work package, award it, record and certify the subcontractor's bills |
Who does what
The Company Admin can do every step. The table shows who else does each one.
| Step | Who |
|---|---|
| Raise a material request | Site Engineer, Project Manager |
| Approve or reject a material request | Project Manager, or any project team member with Indents ticked on the project's Team page |
| Raise, submit and issue a purchase order | Procurement Manager |
| Approve a purchase order | Procurement Manager up to the company's approval threshold; Company Admin above it |
| Receive and post goods | Store Keeper |
| Issue to site, return to store | Store Keeper, Project Manager |
| Write off wastage, damage or loss | Project Manager |
| Add a vendor | Procurement Manager |
| Open a store | Company Admin |
| Draft a subcontract | Project Manager, Procurement Manager |
| Award, suspend or terminate a subcontract | Company Admin |
| Record and certify a subcontractor's bill | Project Manager |
Rates and values are not shown to every role. A Site Engineer or Store Keeper sees quantities on orders, receipts and stock, but no rates or amounts. See Roles & permissions.
The rules that govern this area
- You cannot buy the same material twice. An order line can be for at most what was approved and is still waiting to be ordered. The check runs again at the moment an order is issued, so two draft orders for the same line cannot both go out.
- Stock can never go negative. If the store does not hold it, it cannot be issued. Enter the receipt that brought it in first.
- Everything on a project stays on that project. A project can draw on its own site store and on central stores, but never on another project's site store.
A goods receipt puts material into stock — it is still an asset. It becomes project cost only when it is issued to site. A contractor who buys a month of cement in advance has not yet spent that money on the job, and treating the receipt as cost would make every margin figure wrong.
The Procurement Agent finds approved material not yet ordered and drafts purchase orders from the right vendor. The Invoice & Challan Reader reads a vendor's invoice or delivery challan and drafts the goods receipt. Both only draft — nothing changes until a person confirms.