Overview
A purchase category classifies purchase requests based on what you’re buying, such as software or hardware. In Tropic, each category has its own request form, workflows, and associated rules. These categories help ensure requests are routed correctly, improving efficiency and reporting accuracy.
When users create a request, they select the purchase category in the What would you like to purchase? question. This determines the request form and workflows assigned, including subpages for Request Types: New Purchase, Renewal, and Replacement.
Standard Purchase Categories
Your Tropic account includes the following standard purchase categories:
- Software (Tropic Managed Purchase)
- Software (Self Managed Purchase)
- Advertising
- Cloud/Infrastructure
- Consultants
- Contractors
- Events
- Hardware
- Manufacturing
- Non-Software
- Other
- Services
Each of these categories has an associated workflow template.
You can edit or deactivate the request form for a standard category. However, you can’t change the category’s name or details.
For more information please refer to Manage Purchase Categories.
Software Purchase Categories
Every customer has two forms for Software turned on by default: Software (Tropic Managed Purchase) and Software (Self Managed Purchase). These forms should remain active at all times.
When Software is selected in the What would you like to purchase? question below, the system assesses the Purchase Type (e.g. Renewal, New Purchase, Upgrade) and anticipated spend.
Based on this information, the system determines whether to display the Tropic Managed Software form or the Self Managed Software form.
Custom Purchase Categories
In addition to standard categories, you can create custom purchase categories to suit your organization’s needs.
When you create a custom purchase category, a default request form is automatically generated for that category. This form includes subpages for the different Request Types 'New Purchase, Renewal, and Replacement—regardless of the purchase category selected, allowing you to tailor the form's content dynamically based on the type of request.
For more details on customizing these subpages, see Request Form.
Once created, you can’t delete a purchase category. If you no longer need a purchase category, you can deactivate its request form instead. When a form is deactivated, users can’t select the related purchase category when creating requests.
Additional Resources
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