> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getprimo.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Purchase equipment at onboarding

> Let Primo AI run the equipment step of an onboarding — it picks a device from your policies, agrees it with the new hire, asks you to approve, and places the order on the onboarding ticket.

Every onboarding ticket carries a **Purchase equipment** task. You can run it yourself, or let Primo AI take it end to end: it resolves what the new hire is entitled to, checks your stock, agrees the setup with them by email, and orders once you approve.

<Info>
  This article covers the **Purchase equipment** step only. For the onboarding ticket and its other tasks, see [Track onboardings as tickets](/employees/track-onboardings-as-tickets). To configure the other steps, see [Automate your onboardings](/employees/automate-onboardings).
</Info>

<Info>
  **Availability:** the **Automatic** option is rolling out to accounts. If you only see **Manual** in the step, agentic onboarding isn't enabled for your organization yet — contact your Primo representative.
</Info>

## Before you start

Primo AI runs the step from two published policies and from the hire's own record. It never fills a gap with a default of its own.

* **[Equipment policy](/procurement/equipment-policy)**, published — decides **what** the hire is entitled to, by role, team, seniority, and country.
* **[Purchasing policy](/procurement/purchasing-policy)**, published — decides **how** an order is authorized: approvals, where it ships, which billing profile pays, which suppliers, and when equipment work should start (for example, *"handle equipment 30 days before the start date"*).
* **A personal email address** on the employee, synced from your HR system. It is where Primo AI writes to the new hire.
* **A start date**, plus the hire's **work location**, **employment type**, **job**, and **country** on their profile.

<Info>
  Both policies live in **Purchases > Settings**. Until both are published, **Automatic** can't be saved: the step shows a warning and **Save** stays disabled.
</Info>

## Configure the step

<Steps>
  <Step title="Go to Employees > Settings">
    Open the **Onboarding** tab and click the **Purchase equipment** row.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Include the step">
    **Include this step in onboarding** — turn it off when hires bring their own machine. The row then reads **Skip**, and onboarding tickets get no equipment task at all.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose the autonomy">
    * **Automatic** — Primo AI handles the task end to end according to your policies.
    * **Manual** — you run the intake and the order; Primo only opens the task.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the owner">
    The owner is who answers when Primo needs a decision on this step. It is always a human admin — Primo AI is never the owner.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the timing (Manual only)">
    **Scheduling** sets the default date offered when you run the step from the ticket, and **Due date** how many days before the start date the task is due. In **Automatic**, timing comes from your Purchasing policy instead.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    In **Automatic**, the step also shows a **What it reads** block with the live status of both policies, and a shortcut to edit them.
  </Step>
</Steps>

The chip on the step row tells you how the next onboarding will be handled:

| Chip         | What it means                                                                                                               |
| ------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Primo AI** | The step is included, set to **Automatic**, and both policies are published.                                                |
| **Manual**   | The step is included, and a person runs it. A step set to **Automatic** also falls back here while a policy is unpublished. |
| **Skip**     | The step is excluded. No equipment task is created on the ticket.                                                           |

## How Primo AI runs the step

On an onboarding ticket, the **Purchase equipment** task is assigned to Primo AI and carries no due date — the policy, not a countdown, decides when it acts. The onboarding stepper skips the equipment step, since the ticket is where the step happens.

1. **It waits for the window.** Your Purchasing policy says when equipment work starts. Before that date, Primo AI does nothing on the step. With no timing rule anywhere, it acts straight away. If honouring the window would make on-time delivery impossible, it says so instead of starting silently.
2. **It checks the step isn't already done.** An order already linked to the ticket, or a device already assigned, ends the run.
3. **It reads your policies and the hire's record**, and asks the owner for anything missing — a field on the profile, a personal email address, a rule the policy doesn't cover.
4. **It checks your stock first.** Unassigned devices and accessories that genuinely fit this hire under the Equipment policy win over buying new. Fit comes before saving: an ill-suited machine in stock is not a saving.
5. **It composes one proposal.** Only what the Equipment policy allows, with every option already decided — memory, storage, colour, and the local keyboard layout pre-selected. It only proposes what can actually ship, and ranks candidates by arrival before the start date, then zero-touch support, then price.
6. **It agrees the setup with the new hire.** The proposal goes out as a public comment on the ticket, which reaches the hire by email at their personal address. They can accept it or say what they'd prefer.
7. **It asks you to approve.** Always, before anything is bought or assigned — one internal comment to the owner with the product, its options, the price, the destination, the delivery time, and anything outside policy flagged plainly. Silence is never an approval.
8. **It orders and closes the step.** Right before acting it re-checks that the item is still buyable at the delivery time announced, places the order or assigns the stock device, links it to the ticket, and marks the task done.

### Who sees what

* **Public comments** are for the new hire and reach them by email. Prices never appear there.
* **Internal comments** are for the owner: approvals, prices, policy gaps, blockers.
* **Reminders** follow one cadence: one reminder two working days after an unanswered question, then the ticket's assignee is told. Primo AI never chases twice on the same question.

## What Primo AI never does

* Order or assign anything without an explicit go-ahead from the owner on the ticket — even squarely within policy, even a stock item that costs nothing.
* Order outside your policies, or invent a rule when a policy is silent.
* Place a second order for the same onboarding.
* Put a price in a message to the new hire.
* Propose something out of stock, coming soon, or discontinued.
* Send the hire a draft: anything still open with the owner is settled before they hear from Primo at all.

## When the step comes back to you

| Situation                                             | What Primo AI does                                                                         |
| ----------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Equipment or Purchasing policy not published          | Comments naming the missing policy, points to **Purchases > Settings**, and stops the step |
| No rule for the hire's role                           | Asks the owner rather than choosing a device                                               |
| Missing data on the employee record                   | Lists each missing field and what it blocks                                                |
| Employment type is **Contractor**                     | Asks the owner first: buy, assign from stock, or nothing                                   |
| Nothing sourceable in stock or the catalog            | Escalates so you can order manually within the cap                                         |
| The hire asks for a device outside policy             | Escalates to the owner, then tells the hire the outcome                                    |
| The hire doesn't answer                               | Reminds once, then hands the step to the owner at the order deadline                       |
| Delivery address or billing profile can't be resolved | Asks the owner, and orders nothing                                                         |

In every case the step comes back with the diagnosis on the ticket, not as a fresh unknown.

## Run the step yourself

Set the autonomy to **Manual**. The onboarding ticket then creates a **Purchase equipment** task with the owner, scheduling, and due date you configured, and the equipment step stays in the onboarding stepper. Open the task and use **Go to stepper (→)** to pick the equipment and place the order — completing the step marks the task done.

## Related articles

* [Track onboardings as tickets](/employees/track-onboardings-as-tickets)
* [Automate your onboardings](/employees/automate-onboardings)
* [Purchasing policy](/procurement/purchasing-policy)