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Requisition Cycle Time Calculator

Work out requisition cycle time instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About Requisition Cycle Time Calculator

Requisition cycle time is the sum of approval, order creation and acknowledgement stages, and improvement comes from attacking the longest stage rather than trimming all of them. Approval routing is usually the bottleneck and the easiest to fix.

Formula

Total cycle time

Total = Requisition to approval + Approval to PO + PO to acknowledgement

Worked example

With the default values below, Requisition Cycle Time Calculator returns Total requisition to order cycle time of 9.00. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Requisition to approval
4
Approval to purchase order
2
Purchase order to supplier acknowledgement
3
Target total cycle time
5

Results

Total requisition to order cycle time
9.00
Variance against target
4.00
Bottleneck stage
Requisition approval
Longest stage duration
4.00

Step by step

  1. 1Values used
  2. 2Total cycle time
  3. 3Total requisition to order cycle time= 9.00
  4. 4Variance against target= 4.00
  5. 5Bottleneck stage= Requisition approval
  6. 6Longest stage duration= 4.00

Assumptions and limits

  • The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
  • In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
  • Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does cycle time matter?

Because long cycles push requisitioners towards off-contract buying, which is what creates maverick spend and undermines negotiated pricing.

What is a good target?

Two to three days for catalogue items and under five for non-catalogue purchases within an approved contract.

Related Calculators

Requisition Cycle Time Calculator | Calcrivo