How to Get Started with Bilaro: From Sign-Up to Your First Purchase Order

Setting up new software can feel daunting, especially for Malaysian construction contractors and industrial SMEs managing active job sites. When purchasing runs on paper forms, WhatsApp messages, and spreadsheets, moving to a structured system must be quick and practical without halting site work.

Bilaro is built specifically for this transition. A company administrator can complete initial workspace setup, invite team members, and issue an official purchase order on the very first day.

This guide walks you step-by-step through setting up your organisation, configuring controls, and running your first complete purchase workflow.

Step 1: Sign Up and Workspace Onboarding

To begin, click Start free on bilaro.my. This opens the registration screen where you enter your work email and password.

After signing in, Bilaro guides you through a six-step onboarding wizard:

1. Primary goal: Select the main purchasing challenge your company wants to solve, such as chasing approvals over messaging apps, audit and compliance headaches, manual PO creation, or lack of spend visibility.
2. Company basics: Enter your registered company name, primary administrative contact person, contact telephone number, and billing email address.
3. Compliance & registration: Enter your SSM business registration number, business objectives, and optional local trading licence number.
4. Process metrics: Provide your current operational volume (approximate monthly approvals, number of approvers, and current approval method: WhatsApp, paper forms, or email).
5. Outcome benchmark: Review your projected efficiency gains and turnaround time reduction calculated from your process metrics.
6. Plan selection: Choose the Free plan (2 users, no card needed) or a paid plan (such as Contractor or Industrial).

Once completed, Bilaro initialises your secure workspace and directs you straight to your administrative dashboard.

Step 2: Register Projects and Set Budgets

Before your team begins raising requests, establish where purchases will be allocated.

Registering active projects

1. Open Projects from the left-hand sidebar.
2. Click New project.
3. Fill in the project details: unique Project Code (for example, PRJ-2026-01), Project Name, Client name, Project type, site delivery address, operational dates, and total contract value.
4. Click Create project. Site staff can now tag material requests directly to this job.

Setting department budgets

1. Open Budgets from the sidebar.
2. Select your fiscal year.
3. Next to each department (such as Operations, Site Engineering, or Logistics), click Set budget and enter the allocated ringgit amount.
4. Under Company Settings, configure your budget policy: choose Standard to display budget warnings during managerial review, or Strict to block requests that exceed allocated allowances through procurement budget control.

Step 3: Populate Your Vendor Register

Having an approved supplier list prevents staff from ordering from unvetted vendors.

1. Open Vendors from the sidebar to access your vendor register.
2. To add a supplier manually, click Register vendor and enter their business name, contact person, phone number, email address, and bank account details.
3. To add existing suppliers in bulk:
   • Click Import vendors.
   • Download the provided template CSV file.
   • Enter your suppliers into the template spreadsheet.
   • Upload the completed CSV file to import your entire vendor database in seconds.

Step 4: Invite Teammates and Assign Roles

Bilaro enforces role-based access control so that site staff, managers, and finance users only see and perform what their job requires.

1. Open Team Management from the sidebar and click the Provisioning hub tab.
2. Enter the teammate's legal name, corporate email address, job title, and mobile phone number.
3. Assign appropriate roles:
   • Requester: Site supervisors or engineers who raise material requests.
   • Receiver: Storekeepers or site staff who inspect deliveries and log goods received.
   • Manager: Project managers who approve requests within the company threshold.
   • Finance: Accounts staff who issue official POs and record supplier payments.
   • Director: Senior management who approve high-value requests above the approval threshold.
   • Admin: Administrators who configure system settings and manage users.
4. Click Provision user.

The invited team member receives an email containing a secure link to set their password (minimum 8 characters, containing letters and numbers). Users can also choose to sign in using their corporate Google or Microsoft account, or register a biometric passkey.

Step 5: Raising Your First Purchase Request

With projects and team members configured, your operational purchasing begins:

1. A requester opens Bilaro on a computer or mobile phone browser and clicks New request in the sidebar.
2. The requester selects the relevant project code and department.
3. They enter the requested items, quantities, required delivery date, and attach supplier quotations.
4. Bilaro checks the line items against the project budget. If within limits, the requester clicks Submit Request.

Learn more about this initial step in our guide on purchase requisitions.

Step 6: Reviewing and Approving the Request

Once submitted, the request routes automatically to the assigned approver based on your company's approval matrix:

• Requests within the manager threshold (for example, up to RM 5,000) appear in the Project Manager's To do list, under Approve.
• Requests exceeding the threshold escalate to a Director for secondary review.
• Approvers receive instant notifications. They can open the request on their mobile phone, review the item specifications, attached quotation, and project budget balance, and click Approve (or Return it with a note saying what to fix).

Step 7: Issuing the Purchase Order

After final approval, the request moves to the finance queue for purchase order creation:

1. A user with the Finance or Admin role opens the approved request.
2. If your company turns on the four-eyes rule in Company Settings, the person who approved the request cannot also issue the PO.
3. Clicking Issue PO generates an official purchase order on company letterhead, complete with your uploaded corporate logo, unique PO number, delivery site address, and standard terms and conditions.
4. Download the PO as a PDF and send it to the vendor. See how the purchase order system works.

Step 8: Recording Goods Received on Site

When the supplier delivers the items to the site:

1. The site receiver opens Bilaro on their mobile browser and opens To do and taps the PO under Receive goods.
2. They select the relevant PO and enter the quantities physically delivered.
3. Each item is marked as Good, Damaged, or Missing.
4. The receiver uses their phone camera to snap a photo of the physical vendor delivery order (DO).
5. Tapping Save receipt generates an official goods received note (GRN).

If site internet coverage is weak, Bilaro's offline storage queues the receipt on the device and synchronises automatically once reconnected.

Step 9: Three-Way Matching and Accounting Export

When the supplier's commercial invoice arrives at the accounts office:

1. Finance opens the order and records the invoice reference and billed total.
2. Bilaro performs three-way matching, comparing the invoice against the original PO prices and the actual GRN quantities received.
3. Any price discrepancy or quantity variance is highlighted automatically.
4. Once verified, finance exports approved bill files ready for direct import into SQL Account or AutoCount, or as a generic CSV, so your accounting software gets the bills without retyping.
5. Every stage of the purchase remains permanently recorded on the immutable audit trail.

Getting Help When You Need It

If your team has questions while setting up or using Bilaro:

• In-app Help centre: Access complete, role-based user guides anytime under Help in your dashboard.
• Email support: Contact our team directly at support@bilaro.my. Support is available Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM Malaysia time.

Is there a free plan?

Yes. The Free plan covers 1 company and 2 users, 5 purchase requests a month, monthly expenses (payroll, rent, utilities), petty cash, and projects up to RM100,000. No card is needed. Paid plans are billed monthly.

Can I invite my site staff and storekeepers?

Yes. Bilaro includes dedicated roles for site staff, such as Requester and Receiver. They only see the projects and delivery queues assigned to them, keeping sensitive company financials and accounting data completely protected.

Does Bilaro work on a mobile phone?

Yes. Bilaro runs in any standard mobile web browser without requiring app store downloads. Requesters can raise orders, approvers can sign off purchases, and receivers can photograph delivery orders directly from their phones on site.

Do I still need my accounting software?

Yes. Bilaro manages purchasing operations: requisitions, quotes, POs, approvals, receiving, and invoice verification. Your accounting software remains the central system for your general ledger, payroll, tax filing, and financial statements. Bilaro provides export files that import approved bills directly into systems like SQL Account and AutoCount.

Who can issue the final purchase order once approved?

Purchase orders are issued by users with the Finance or Admin role. If your company turns on the four-eyes rule, the person who approved the request cannot also issue the PO.