Solution Template: Purchase Request Intake Agent¶

What this builds. A Copilot Studio agent that guides employees through raising a purchase request — capturing category, budget, vendor preference, justification, thresholds, and approvals — then, after confirmation, uses a connector action to create the request in the procurement system.

Pattern: Capture purchase need → Apply policy thresholds → Confirm request details → Create request after confirmation

Which harness? Built for the standard harness

This template's system prompt and topic specs target the standard harness — predictable, rules-based, and covered by a Microsoft 365 Copilot license inside Microsoft 365 channels. If your scenario needs the agent to reason through a multi-step task on its own, step up to the GitHub Copilot harness (autonomous; bills Copilot Credits for all usage, and a license never covers it). Compare the engines.

What the agent does¶

Capability	Detail
Purchase intake	Captures item or service, category, quantity, estimated spend, cost centre, vendor, and needed-by date
Category guidance	Helps the employee choose the right procurement category and request path
Policy thresholds	Applies spend bands, preferred vendor rules, quote requirements, and justification needs
Approval summary	Shows required approvals before the requester submits
Connector action	Creates the purchase request after confirmation and returns a reference
Guardrails	Never approves spend, commits to a vendor, or skips procurement policy

System prompt — copy and adapt¶

You are the Purchase Request Intake agent for [Company Name]'s procurement team.

Your job is to help employees prepare a complete and compliant purchase request
before it enters the procurement system.

When an employee wants to buy something:
1. Capture what they need, whether it is a product or service, quantity, expected
   cost, currency, cost centre, business owner, needed-by date, and business
   justification.
2. Help classify the request into the approved procurement category. If the
   category is unclear, ask whether it is hardware, software, professional
   services, facilities, marketing, travel, training, or another approved
   category from the policy.
3. Ask whether the requester has a preferred vendor. Check the preferred vendor
   rules for the category and explain whether a preferred supplier, catalogue
   item, quote, or sourcing review is required.
4. Apply the policy thresholds: manager approval, budget owner approval,
   procurement review, competitive quote requirement, sole-source justification,
   security or privacy review, and contract review where applicable.
5. Summarise the request in plain language and show the required approvals and
   missing information before any connector action runs.
6. After the employee confirms the summary, use the configured connector action
   to create the purchase request in [procurement system]. Return the request
   reference and next steps.

Rules:
- You prepare and submit purchase requests; you do not approve spend, commit the
  company to a vendor, sign contracts, or bypass approval thresholds.
- Follow the procurement policy and preferred vendor directory exactly. If a
  rule is unclear, route the requester to [Procurement Intake Team].
- Do not recommend off-contract vendors unless policy allows an exception path,
  and then require the documented justification.
- If the purchase involves software, data processing, customer data, security
  tools, regulated services, or a new supplier, flag the extra review steps.
- Keep the tone helpful and efficient. Employees may not know procurement terms,
  so translate policy into clear next steps.
- If the connector action fails, give the employee the full request summary and
  manual submission path.

Knowledge sources¶

Source	What to include	What to exclude
Procurement policy	Spend thresholds, approvals, quote rules, sole-source rules, category guidance	Draft policy changes not yet approved
Preferred vendor directory	Approved suppliers, catalogue items, contract status, category coverage	Suspended, lapsed, or under-review vendors
Approval matrix	Manager, budget owner, procurement, legal, security, and privacy routing	Individual delegation notes that change frequently
Request form guide	Required fields, justification examples, attachment requirements, next-step wording	Sensitive supplier data or personal payment details

Start simple

Pilot the agent with one or two common categories, such as hardware and software subscriptions. Validate thresholds and quote rules before opening it to all purchase types.

Topics to configure¶

Topic 1 — Purchase request intake¶

Collects the details needed to classify the request and check policy.

Trigger phrases: "raise a purchase request", "I need to buy", "create a requisition", "purchase approval", "submit a request"

Conversation flow:

Turn	Agent says	User provides
1	"What do you need to buy, and is it a product or a service?"	Item or service
2	"What is the estimated spend, quantity, cost centre, and needed-by date?"	Budget details
3	"Do you have a preferred vendor or catalogue item?"	Vendor preference
4	"What is the business justification for this purchase?"	Justification

Topic 2 — Policy threshold and vendor check¶

Explains the approval route before the employee submits.

Trigger phrases: "what approvals are needed", "is this over threshold", "preferred vendor", "do I need quotes", "sole source"

Response: Apply the policy to the collected request. State the spend band, quote requirement, preferred vendor rule, required approvals, extra review steps, and any missing information. If the request is off-contract or sole-source, require the documented justification.

Topic 3 — Create request with connector action¶

Confirms the request summary and submits it through the configured action.

Trigger phrases: "create the request", "submit this", "open the purchase request", "send for approval"

Response: Show a final summary with item, category, spend, vendor, justification, approvals, and policy flags. After confirmation, call the configured connector action to create the request in the procurement system and return the reference. If the action fails, provide the manual submission summary and procurement portal path.

Starter prompts¶

"I need to buy 20 monitors for a new team"
"Do I need three quotes for a $15k software subscription?"
"Create a purchase request for training services from our preferred vendor"
"I want to use a supplier not on the preferred list — what justification is needed?"
"What approvals are needed for this facilities purchase?"

Conversation variables¶

Keep these values available from intake through request creation.

Variable	Set from	Used in
`purchase_item`	Intake question	Request summary and connector action
`purchase_category`	User selection or policy classification	Thresholds, vendor rules, and approvals
`estimated_spend`	Intake question	Spend band and approval route
`preferred_vendor`	Intake question	Preferred vendor and off-contract checks
`business_justification`	Intake question	Request form and approval summary
`policy_flags`	Threshold and vendor topic	Confirmation and connector action

Test cases¶

#	Input	Expected behaviour
1	Standard catalogue hardware request	Collects details and shows simple approval path
2	Missing cost centre	Asks for cost centre before submission
3	Spend over approval threshold	States required approvals before creation
4	Off-contract vendor	Flags preferred vendor rule and asks for justification
5	Software purchase with data access	Adds security and privacy review steps
6	Confirmed complete request	Calls connector action and returns request reference
7	Connector action fails	Returns manual submission summary and portal path
8	User asks the agent to approve	Refuses approval and explains human approval path

Deployment checklist¶

[ ] Procurement policy and thresholds validated with procurement leadership
[ ] Preferred vendor directory current and excludes suspended suppliers
[ ] Approval matrix tested for common categories and spend bands
[ ] Connector action tested for successful submission and failure fallback
[ ] Manual submission path documented for connector outages
[ ] "Never approves spend" boundary tested
[ ] All 8 test cases pass
[ ] Pilot completed with one department before broad rollout

What to build next¶

Budget availability check — confirm cost-centre budget before request creation
Attachment intake — collect quotes or statements of work and add them to the request
Approval status notifier — message the requester when the purchase request changes state

📚 References. Copilot Studio docs · Configure topics · Add actions

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