How to Create Purchase Requisition in SAP?

What Is a Purchase Requisition in SAP?

A purchase requisition (PR) is an internal document in SAP Materials Management (MM) that asks the purchasing department to procure goods or services. It is not an order and carries no commitment to a vendor. It is a signal that a department, a project, or a planning run needs something procured.

A purchase requisition usually holds the material number, quantity, delivery date, plant, and account assignment. It can be created two ways:

• Manually, by a user who knows the requirement, such as a buyer, planner, or department owner.
• Automatically, by MRP runs, production orders, maintenance orders, sales orders, or network activities.

Once the requisition clears its approval step, a buyer converts it into a purchase order.

Why Businesses Use Purchase Requisitions

The requisition step exists to put control before commitment, and the control it adds matters even as procurement modernizes: McKinsey estimates that close to half of all procurement activities can be automated with technologies already available today. Before anyone contacts a vendor, the request is recorded, costed against the right account assignment, and routed for approval. That structure does a few practical things:

• It records what was needed, who asked, and when, which supports budget control and audit.
• It routes spending through approval so purchases stay within policy and against the correct cost center, internal order, or project, the kind of digital procurement discipline McKinsey links to 3 to 10 percent in annual cost savings.
• It reduces maverick buying, where staff order outside agreed suppliers or budgets.
• It feeds clean, structured demand into purchasing instead of scattered email or verbal requests.

Who Creates a Purchase Requisition

Purchase requisitions are usually raised by:

• Department users, such as staff in maintenance, production, or marketing who need specific goods or services.
• Automated systems, most commonly Material Requirements Planning (MRP), which generates requisitions when stock falls below defined levels or forecast demand requires it.
• Project or cost managers, who raise requisitions tied to specific cost centers, projects, or budgets.

A requisition does not live in isolation. It draws on and feeds several SAP modules: MM (material master, info records, and source lists), FI (posting and budget checks at the account assignment level), CO (cost center, internal order, and profit center mapping), PP (MRP-generated requisitions when stock is short), PM (work orders that generate requisitions for spare parts), and SD (third-party sales orders that create requisitions routed to the supplier).

Types of Purchase Requisitions in SAP

A requisition can serve different procurement scenarios. The common types include:

• Standard: A normal request for stock or consumable materials, the most frequent type.
• Subcontracting: A request to send components to a vendor who returns a finished or processed material.
• Consignment: A request for vendor-owned stock held at your site and paid for on consumption.
• Stock transfer: A request to move material from one plant or storage location to another within the organization.
• External services: A request for services rather than physical goods, often with a service line structure.

The type is controlled largely by the document type and item category set when the requisition is created.

How to Create a Purchase Requisition in SAP ECC (ME51N)

In SAP ECC, the requisition is created in the SAP GUI using transaction ME51N.

Step 1: Open transaction ME51N. Enter ME51N in the command field. You can also reach it through the menu path Logistics > Materials Management > Purchasing > Purchase Requisition > Create.

Step 2: Fill in the requisition details. Complete the required fields:

• Document type, typically NB for a standard requisition.
• Source determination, on or off depending on whether you want SAP to propose a source.
• Header note, optional.
• Material, quantity, plant, delivery date, fixed vendor where known, and purchasing organization.

Step 3: Save. Click Save. SAP creates the requisition and returns its document number.

After the requisition is released, a buyer can convert it into a purchase order.

How to Create a Purchase Requisition in SAP S/4HANA

The steps depend on the interface. The SAP GUI path is identical to ECC; the Fiori path is different.

SAP S/4HANA Using the SAP GUI (ME51N)

When you access S/4HANA through SAP Easy Access or the Web GUI, the requisition is created with ME51N using the same steps shown for SAP ECC: enter the transaction, complete the document type, material, quantity, plant, and account assignment, then save.

SAP S/4HANA Using SAP Fiori

In SAP Fiori, casual and self-service users create requisitions through a procurement app rather than typing a transaction code. The original Create Purchase Requisition app (and the related My Purchase Requisitions app) is deprecated as of SAP S/4HANA 2023, with My Purchase Requisitions – New positioned as the successor self-service app. Professional buyers can also use the Manage Purchase Requisitions – Professional app, and ME51N (surfaced as Create Purchase Requisition – Advanced) can still be launched from the Fiori launchpad. The general flow in a self-service app is:

Step 1: Open the self-service requisition app from the SAP Fiori launchpad.

Step 2: Choose to create an item, then enter the general data: material, requested quantity, valuation price, and delivery date. Catalog-driven entry is also supported where a catalog is configured.

Step 3: Add the item to the cart and open the cart.

Step 4: Provide a purchasing group, purchasing organization, and plant for the item.

Step 5: Submit the cart. SAP creates the requisition, which then enters the configured approval flow.

How to Convert a Purchase Requisition into a Purchase Order (ME21N)

Once a requisition is released, a buyer converts it into a purchase order. In the SAP GUI, this is done in ME21N.

Step 1: Open transaction ME21N to reach the Create Purchase Order screen.

Step 2: Pull in the requisition. There are two common methods.

Method 1, reference the requisition directly. In the selection variant, choose Purchase Requisitions, enter the requisition number, and execute. Drag the standard requisition reference into the cart against the NB standard PO, verify the line, price, and tax details, then save.

Method 2, enter details manually. Set the document type to NB, enter the vendor, set purchasing organization, purchasing group, and company code under Organization Data, enter the requisition number, and press Enter.

Step 3: Save; either method creates the purchase order and returns its number.

In Fiori, the equivalent action is the Create Purchase Order via Purchase Requisition Assignment List app (ME58) or creating the follow-on PO from the requisition app, after which validation messages are resolved and the PO is saved.

How Purchase Requisition Approval Works

A requisition normally cannot become a purchase order until it is approved. SAP supports two approaches.

• Classic release strategy: The traditional approach, configured with classification, uses release codes and release groups. A requisition is released individually with ME54N or collectively with ME55, based on the release strategy defined in customizing. A release strategy can hold up to eight release codes and can apply at item level or to the whole requisition.
• Flexible workflow: Introduced in SAP S/4HANA, flexible workflow is a scenario-based, condition-driven approval set up through a Fiori app (Manage Workflows for Purchase Requisitions) with approvals handled in the My Inbox app. It can replace or run alongside the classic release procedure depending on the document type, and SAP recommends it for new S/4HANA approval setups.

Which one applies depends on your configuration, so confirm with your SAP team before assuming a specific approval path.

Purchase Requisition vs Purchase Order

The two documents are often confused, but their roles are distinct.

Common Errors and How to Fix Them

A few issues come up repeatedly when creating requisitions.

• Account assignment is mandatory. If SAP blocks the save with an account assignment error, the material or item category requires a cost object. Set the correct account assignment category (for example, cost center or asset) and the corresponding cost object.
• No material master record. You can create a requisition without a material master. Use short text entry and set a material group manually. This is common for one-off services or consumables.
• Source determination produces no source. If no source is proposed, check that an info record, source list, or outline agreement exists for the material and plant, or enter the vendor manually.
• Requisition blocked for conversion. A requisition that has not cleared its release strategy cannot be converted. Release it with ME54N or ME55, or complete the flexible workflow approval, before opening ME21N.

Key SAP Purchase Requisition Transaction Codes and Tables

A short reference for the transactions and the main table involved:

• ME51N: Create purchase requisition
• ME52N: Change purchase requisition
• ME53N: Display purchase requisition
• ME54N: Release purchase requisition (individual)
• ME55: Release purchase requisitions (collective)
• ME21N: Create purchase order (including from a requisition)
• ME57 / ME58: Assign and process requisitions into purchase orders
• EBAN: Purchase requisition table (item data)

Conclusion

Creating a purchase requisition in SAP follows the same logic across ECC, S/4HANA GUI, and Fiori: enter the requirement, route it for approval, and let a buyer convert it into a purchase order. The transaction codes (ME51N to create, ME54N or ME55 to release, ME21N to convert) and the choice between classic release strategy and flexible workflow are what change from one setup to the next.

To know how APPSeCONNECT can help you automate and seamlessly run SAP applications, book a demo to know more.