Line item approval processing in an electronic purchasing system and method

A line item approval method in an electronic purchasing system, comprising:

• receiving a purchase request cataloged in a plurality of documents by said electronic purchasing system, said purchasing request comprising goods, services and supplied information defining purchasing parameters specific and unique to a particular purchasing professional;
• generating an approval matrix defining a list of a plurality of approvers responsible for approving line items in said purchase request, wherein each line item is associated with a respective approver;
• distributing said purchase request to said plurality of approvers to approve said line items in said purchase request associated with each of said identified approvers on a line-by-line basis, said distributing comprises presenting to a particular approver only those line items for which the particular approver is identified, and wherein the items for which the particular approver is identified are less than all of the plurality of items specified in said particular purchasing request, wherein each approver approvers only their associated line items;
• and
• generating a purchase order in response to said purchase request, said purchase order being generated based on line items approved by said plurality of approvers.