Abstract: An online system centralizes and streamlines the capital expenditure approval process for an organization without requiring the movement of papers from one approver to another. The number of required approvals and the identity of the approving persons is determined in advance. When an employee initiates a request to purchase equipment, his online identification of his department, the nature of the requested purchase, and the purchase price causes the online system to automatically notify the appropriate approvers that they must make a decision. If an approver denies approval, the requesting employee is immediately notified and is given an opportunity to provide additional information. Everyone is automatically notified when the purchase is finally approved by everyone.