Overview
Tropic's General Requests allow you to manage processes beyond traditional purchases. While Purchase Workflows handle supplier contracts (such as buying, renewing, or upgrading services), General Requests support non-purchase processes like NDA approvals, tool access requests, and vendor sourcing. These workflows ensure that internal processes run smoothly while keeping everything organized within Tropic.
What You Can Do with General Requests
- Create a custom category with an associated form and workflow. When members submit a form, a request is created with your workflow, helping you maintain organized and consistent processes from start to finish
- Customize your forms with conditional questions to capture the exact information you need, keeping things clear and relevant.
- Build workflows tailored to your needs, whether it's to-do tasks, approvals, questionnaires, document uploads, or assigning tasks to suppliers.
- Clearly name your forms and workflows to make them easy for your team to identify and manage.
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Keep track of all your requests in a centralized index, so you always know where things stand.
- All your requests are accessible under the Requests → General Requests tab, helping you stay updated on their current status and progress.
- Connect multiple suppliers to a request, giving you the flexibility to manage complex procurement projects with ease.
Managing General Requests
General Requests allow you to manage processes beyond traditional purchases. Requests that do not directly result in a new contract or invoice should be handled using general workflows. Tropic has four predefined templates to help you get started but you can customize each category's form and workflow to fit your organization's unique needs.
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Tool Access
Purpose: Handles requests for access to specific tools or software, ensuring each request is properly authorized and IT can securely provision access. -
Budget Request
Purpose: Manages requests for budget allocations or adjustments, including the necessary approvals from finance or department heads, providing clear oversight at each stage of the approval process. -
NDA Request
Purpose: Facilitates the process of requesting and obtaining Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) to maintain confidentiality before sharing sensitive information. -
Vendor Sourcing
Purpose: Supports the vendor sourcing process, from issuing and reviewing RFPs (Requests for Proposals) to evaluating suppliers and selecting the preferred vendor.
Other recommended use cases: proof of concept, RFX, contractor or influencer onboarding, supplier set-up, contract or supplier cancellation, supplier sentiment survey, legal requests, payment term changes, annual security reviews, RAPID
How to Use General Requests
- Click on Settings → General Workflow
- You can use the prebuilt forms or create a new category
Example: To create an NDA process, you can use the pre-built NDA Execution Request category:
- Click View Form
- This form gathers all necessary information from suppliers and can handle multiple supplier submissions, automatically initiating a workflow once submitted.
- If needed, click Add Questions to customize the form by adding or modifying questions and using conditional logic to display only relevant fields based on user input.
- You can also rearrange the questions by dragging them on the form
How to Submit a General Request
- In the Purchasing Portal, click Create Request
- Or, on the Tropic platform, click Create Request in the right-hand menu
- Notice all of your non-purchase request forms alongside the purchase-related options.
- For this example, select Tool Access
- Fill out the form and click Submit
- You can find all of your requests under the Requests → General Requests tab, allowing you to easily track their status and progress.
Build a Workflow Using Available Task Types
- Click View Workflow within the form on the top right
- In the Workflow studio click Add Task
Note: The workflow will automatically inherit the name of the form you create. If you change the name of the form, the workflow name will update accordingly to reflect this change.
Build your process using available task types:
- To-Do: For reviewing initial proposals.
- Approval: For shortlisting suppliers.
- Questionnaire: For gathering more information.
- Document Upload: For collecting final documents or contracts.
- Review & Assign Supplier Tasks: To assign tasks directly to suppliers.
There are several templates with predefined workflows to help you get started quickly. For example, the Tool Access Request template comes with tasks like Manager Approval, IT Security Review, and Provisioning Access. You can customize these templates to fit your specific needs.
Use the Active and Inactive tabs in the General Workflow settings to monitor the status of all requests:
- Active Tab: View all forms and workflows currently in use or processing.
- Inactive Tab: If a form and workflow have not been activated, you can activate them here by clicking the ellipsis next to the category and selecting Activate Category. Make sure the form has at least one question and the workflow includes at least one task to activate it successfully.
FAQs
Q: Can I use multiple suppliers for a single request?
A: Yes, you can associate multiple suppliers with a single request by enabling the "Multiple Suppliers" option in the form settings.
How do I activate a new form and workflow?
To activate a new form and workflow, click Activate Category. Make sure the form has at least one question and the workflow includes at least one step. If you encounter an error, check that all required steps have been added and saved.
What should I do if I can’t activate a category?
If you’re unable to activate a category, make sure the form has at least one question and the workflow contains at least one task. You can also go to the Inactive tab, click the ellipsis next to the category, and select Activate Category.
Q: How are General Requests different from Purchase Requests?
A: Purchase Requests focus on actions related to supplier contracts, such as renewing, buying, upgrading, or downgrading. General Requests handle all other processes outside of these purchasing actions.
Additional Resources
To help your organization start using the non-purchase forms included in the General Workflow feature, consider the following steps:
- Identify key stakeholders such as team leads, department heads, and procurement managers. Share the benefits and use cases of the new workflows with them to get buy-in.
- Conduct training sessions or workshops to demonstrate how to use these forms and workflows. Use examples from the pre-built templates to show practical applications and benefits
- Develop a rollout plan with a timeline, key milestones, and communication strategies to introduce the new non-purchase forms to the team. Set clear goals and metrics to measure adoption and effectiveness.
For more information about creating tasks please refer to Add Tasks to a Workflow
For more information about workflows please refer to About Workflows