Field notes
Approval matrices buyers will actually follow
An approval matrix that ignores how rush orders work in your industry will be bypassed within a week of publication.
Purchasing managers often inherit matrices copied from a parent company or a textbook. Thresholds that made sense for capital equipment then get applied to consumables bought daily, and buyers invent workarounds.
Before rewriting limits, sit with two or three buyers and ask which requests they routinely split, escalate verbally, or raise after delivery. Those answers map the real matrix better than any org chart.
A workable matrix names deputies for travel weeks, separates price approval from supplier selection, and sets a narrow emergency path with mandatory next-day documentation. Vague 'exceptional circumstances' language invites permanent shortcuts.
During a Network AI engagement in the Taipei Hsien area, we treat the matrix as a living control: we test recent POs against it, then rewrite only the clauses that failed in practice.
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