The Hotchkiss School needed a more structured way to manage purchasing approvals across a school-wide procurement environment, where requests ranged from routine departmental supplies to larger, higher-value purchases. With Fraxion, the School built a multi-level approval matrix that routes requests by department and escalates larger transactions through as many as five approval levels, supported by real-time notifications and automatic backup-approver assignment for out-of-office situations.
As adoption grew across the School, purchase order volume increased from approximately 1,100 to more than 3,000 per year. That growth reflects the School’s broader adoption of Fraxion, with the structured approval workflow helping Hotchkiss scale its purchasing processes while maintaining clear oversight and control.
The Hotchkiss School is an independent boarding school in Lakeville, Connecticut. Founded in 1891, it educates more than 500 students across grades 9–12, along with a small number of postgraduates, drawn from across the United States and around the world.
Hotchkiss's approach was to build a robust, multi-level approval matrix capable of matching the School's purchasing complexity, one that could route routine purchases efficiently while applying additional scrutiny to larger transactions. Driving full school-wide adoption and consolidating vendors the move toward more centralized purchasing were part of the same broader rollout, but the approval structure was the piece that addressed the specific bottleneck of requests stalling in an informal, manual process.
The approval matrix is the core of Hotchkiss's story. Approvals route by department, and larger transactions can escalate through up to five approval levels, with real-time notifications supporting the process and automatic backup-approver assignment handling out-of-office situations.
In broad terms, the documented model works like this:
Automated routing → a request is directed to the relevant departmental approver → additional approval levels for larger transactions → up to five levels of escalation depending on transaction size → proxy approver assigned automatically if the primary approver is unavailable.
What this gave Hotchkiss was a way to match the level of review to the size of the transaction, rather than relying on informal or manual routing that could delay requests or require follow-up when the appropriate approver was not reached. Because proxy approvers were assigned automatically, requests could continue through the approval process when a primary approver was unavailable, directly addressing the delays and manual intervention the School had experienced before adopting Fraxion.
The approval matrix complemented Hotchkiss's PunchOut integrations by combining a familiar eCommerce purchasing experience with structured financial controls. Staff could shop through connected vendor catalogs, bring items into Fraxion, and submit requisitions through the School's established approval workflow. Requests were then automatically routed based on department and authorization levels, with higher-value purchases escalating through additional approval levels.
This allowed Hotchkiss to make purchasing more convenient without sacrificing oversight or control. The PunchOut experience simplified how staff selected and requested items, while the approval matrix ensured purchases still followed the appropriate review process before moving forward.
Purchase order volume increased substantially. PO volume grew from approximately 1,100 to more than 3,000 per year, while automated workflows helped streamline the processes required to manage increased purchasing activity. This reflects Hotchkiss's overall Fraxion adoption, including the approval matrix alongside school-wide access, vendor consolidation, and invoice processing, rather than the approval structure in isolation.
Audit readiness improved markedly. Centralizing purchasing records and approvals gave the School faster access to documentation and a clearer audit trail, reducing the issues and manual effort associated with audits. Because every request moved through a defined, recorded approval path, reconstructing approval history no longer required manual searching through paperwork and email.
Additional results from the broader rollout, documented alongside the approval matrix, included cost reductions of up to 20% on some purchases, real-time budget visibility, and efficiencies from direct ERP integration.
Hotchkiss's experience illustrates a few practical points about multi-level approval structures:
Approval structures can be configured to match organizational complexity. A single, one-size-fits-all approval step may not suit an environment where purchase size, departments, and authorization requirements vary.
Approval levels can reflect transaction value. Larger purchases can be routed through additional levels of review, while lower-value requests can follow a more direct approval path.
Automated routing reduces manual intervention. Requests can be directed to the appropriate approvers based on predefined rules, reducing the need to manually determine who needs to review each purchase.
Proxy approvers help keep approvals moving. Automatic reassignment can prevent requests from being delayed when a primary approver is unavailable.
Structured workflows can support growth without sacrificing control. As purchasing activity increases, defined approval paths and automated routing can help organizations maintain consistent oversight and a clear record of approval decisions.
These lessons are drawn from Hotchkiss’s documented experience and illustrate how a multi-level approval workflow can be configured to support complex purchasing requirements.
Hotchkiss transformed a fragmented, manual purchasing process into a structured, school-wide system that made purchasing easier to adopt without sacrificing control. Familiar PunchOut purchasing gave users a simpler way to buy through connected vendor catalogs, while structured approval workflows ensured requests still followed the appropriate path based on department and transaction value.
Larger transactions could escalate through up to five levels of approval, while backup approvers helped keep the process moving when key decision-makers were unavailable. The result was a purchasing process better equipped to support growth, control, and audit readiness. As adoption expanded across the School, annual purchase order volume grew significantly.
To see how similar approval controls can support invoice processing, learn more about invoice routing software.