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Every purchase belongs
to a specific award

Research purchasing is rarely funded from one place. Costs split across grants and awards that each permit different things over different periods, and the allocation has to be right at the point of purchase.

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Award selected at the requestPurpose and period both checked
The defining pressure

Money from several places, each with rules

A research institution can hold dozens of live awards at once, each permitting different purchases over different periods. The difficulty is not buying, it is attribution.

Research • Walkthrough

Money from several places, each with rules

A research institution can hold dozens of live awards at once, each permitting different purchases over different periods. The difficulty is not buying, it is attribution.

  • Allocation is done by the person who knows
  • Ineligible spend is caught while it can change
  • Funder reporting becomes an export
ProcureAudit Allocation is done by the person who knows
Outcome 01

Allocation is done by the person who knows

The researcher raising a purchase knows which award it belongs to with certainty at that moment. Finance reconstructing it later from a supplier and a date is guessing.

What that meansCosts sitting against the correct award without a monthly reallocation exercise.
ProcureAudit Ineligible spend is caught while it can change
Outcome 02

Ineligible spend is caught while it can change

Permitted use and eligible period are both knowable when the purchase is raised, which is the only point at which the answer still alters the outcome.

What that meansFindings prevented rather than explained at reporting time.
ProcureAudit Funder reporting becomes an export
Outcome 03

Funder reporting becomes an export

When every cost already carries its award and its supporting document, reporting is a filter rather than a month of collection and cross checking.

What that meansReporting cycles that shorten instead of consuming the finance team.
Traditional handling against this approach

How research purchasing usually goes wrong

The failures are almost never about buying badly. They are about the link between a cost and the award that funded it.

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ProcureAudit Assigned at month end
The challenge

Assigned at month end

Finance allocates costs to awards afterwards using the supplier, the date and a conversation, which produces wrong answers nobody detects until a funder looks.

Assigned byFinance, later
BasisInference
ErrorsUndetected
ProcureAudit Selected at the request
With ProcureAudit

Selected at the request

The researcher selects the award when raising the purchase, because they are the only one who knows and they know it now.

Assigned byThe requester
BasisKnowledge
ErrorsRare
ProcureAudit Checked at reporting
The challenge

Checked at reporting

Whether a cost fell inside the eligible window is discovered when the report is prepared, long after the money was spent.

CheckedAt reporting
Can it changeNo
OutcomeAn explanation
ProcureAudit Checked at the purchase
With ProcureAudit

Checked at the purchase

The date is compared against the award window before approval, so a purchase outside it is caught as a proposal.

CheckedAt the request
Can it changeYes
OutcomeA decision
ProcureAudit Apportioned by estimate
The challenge

Apportioned by estimate

A cost serving two projects gets divided later using a rule of thumb, and the basis is rarely written down anywhere at all.

SplitBy estimate
BasisNot recorded
DefensibleWeakly
ProcureAudit Split at the request
With ProcureAudit

Split at the request

The division is set when the purchase is raised with the basis recorded alongside it.

SplitAt source
BasisRecorded
DefensibleYes
ProcureAudit A month of assembly
The challenge

A month of assembly

Collecting invoices, allocating them, finding supporting documents and explaining exceptions, most of which is assembly rather than reporting.

EffortWeeks
ContentMostly assembly
ConfidenceModerate
ProcureAudit A filter and an export
With ProcureAudit

A filter and an export

Costs already carry their award and their evidence, so producing the report is extraction rather than construction.

EffortHours
ContentReporting
ConfidenceHigh
On funded research

Where attribution goes wrong

Research • Walkthrough

Where attribution goes wrong

Split at the request with the basis recorded rather than divided later by estimate.

  • A purchase spanning two grants
  • An award period ending
  • A funder queries a cost
ProcureAudit A purchase spanning two grants
01

A purchase spanning two grants

Split at the request with the basis recorded rather than divided later by estimate.

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ProcureAudit An award period ending
02

An award period ending

The eligible window checked when the purchase is raised rather than at reporting.

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ProcureAudit A funder queries a cost
03

A funder queries a cost

Answered from the document filed against the phase it supports.

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What each purchase carries

Six things captured at the request

ProcureAudit The funding award
01

The funding award

Selected by the person raising it rather than allocated afterwards.

ProcureAudit The split, where relevant
02

The split, where relevant

Set at the request with the basis recorded rather than apportioned by estimate.

ProcureAudit Permitted use
03

Permitted use

Checked against what the award allows before approval.

ProcureAudit The eligible period
04

The eligible period

Compared against the award window, which is the check most often missed.

ProcureAudit Supporting evidence
05

Supporting evidence

Filed against the phase it belongs to rather than a shared drive.

ProcureAudit The approver
06

The approver

Named, with the date, so the decision is attributable later.

FAQ

Questions from research institutions

How are award conditions handled?
The funding award is selected on the request and the permitted use and eligible period are both checked before approval, which is the only point where the answer still changes the outcome.
Can a purchase be split across awards?
Yes, at the request, with the basis recorded. Splitting later by estimate is where most allocation error in research purchasing comes from.
What about spending outside an eligible period?
The date is checked against the award window alongside the permitted use. It is a common finding and an entirely avoidable one.
Who selects the award on a purchase?
The person raising it. They know with certainty at that moment, and nobody reconstructing it later has the same information.
How does this help with funder reporting?
Every cost already carries its award and its supporting document, so reporting becomes an export rather than a month of collection.
Can different awards carry different requirements?
Yes. Checklist templates are built per award type, so an award with heavier conditions requires more evidence than a routine one.
Do researchers have to understand the conditions?
No. They select the award and the workspace checks the conditions, which is the point of putting the check in software rather than in a policy document.
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Bring an award with awkward conditions

We will configure the eligibility check on the call and run a purchase through it that should fail.

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