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Workflow demonstration

Autonomous source-to-award

In short

An approved sourcing need opens an event built from a category template. Eligible suppliers are invited from current qualification data, agents coordinate responses and clarifications, responses are normalised for comparison, and the award is routed to the authorised approver before any downstream workflow starts.

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Trigger

An approved sourcing need for a machined component category.

Relevant audience

Category managers, CPO and procurement excellence

Stage by stage. With the control that applies.

  1. Stage 1 — TriggerTrigger
    An approved sourcing need enters the workflow
    The need arrives from intake, a contract renewal or a spend opportunity.
    What stays in control
    The event inherits category policy and entity rules.
    Outcome
    Sourcing starts without a separate authorisation step.
  2. Stage 2 — Agent actionAgent action
    The event is built from an approved template
    Question set, scoring model, required documents and approval requirements are applied.
    What stays in control
    Deviations from the approved template are visible.
    Outcome
    Setup takes minutes rather than days.
  3. Stage 3 — PolicyRule applied
    Eligible suppliers are invited
    Qualification status, risk position, category approval and entity scope decide the invitation list.
    What stays in control
    An unqualified supplier requires an authorised exception.
    Outcome
    Competition widens without weakening supplier control.
  4. Stage 4 — Agent actionAgent action
    Agents coordinate responses and clarifications
    Reminders are issued on schedule, clarification threads stay attached to the event.
    What stays in control
    Communication rules and quiet periods are respected.
    Outcome
    The category manager stops chasing.
  5. Stage 5 — Agent actionAgent action
    Responses are normalised and compared
    Price, lead time, capacity, quality standing and terms are set against each other, with scenarios modelled.
    What stays in control
    The scoring model is the one your team approved.
    Outcome
    Evaluation begins with a comparison rather than a rebuild.
  6. Stage 6 — Human decisionHuman decision
    The award is approved
    Commercial authority approves the recommendation or returns it with a reason.
    What stays in control
    Award authority follows value thresholds and segregation of duties.
    Outcome
    A defensible commercial decision with complete evidence.
  7. Stage 7 — System updateRecorded
    The award opens the next governed workflow
    A contract request or purchasing workflow begins with the awarded terms attached.
    What stays in control
    Downstream approvals apply on their own terms.
    Outcome
    Sourcing value reaches execution without re-entry.

Six questions. Answered the same way every time.

Every Proconomy workflow demonstration answers the same six questions, so you can set one workflow against another and against how it runs today.

QuestionAnswer
What triggered the workflow?An approved sourcing need for a component category.
What did the agent do?Built the event from a template, invited eligible suppliers, coordinated responses and normalised them for comparison.
What rule permitted it?Category sourcing policy plus supplier eligibility rules governing who may be invited.
What returned to a person?The commercial award decision, at the authority level your thresholds define.
What system was updated?The contract or purchasing workflow, and ultimately the ERP once that workflow completes.
What outcome changed?More events run per category manager, faster evaluation and stronger commercial governance.

What changes as a result. Named, not implied.

  • More sourcing events with the same team.
  • Better supplier participation.
  • Faster evaluation.
  • Stronger, evidenced commercial governance.

See all workflow demonstrations

Action history · request REQ-88214 Illustrative
Request interpreted and classified
Intake agent09:12:04INTAKE-04
Missing equipment reference requested
Intake agent09:12:09INTAKE-04
Requester supplied reference GB-4417
R. Mehta09:41:22—
Buying policy selected contracted purchase
Policy engine09:41:24POL-BUY-12
Approved within delegated authority
S. Iyer · Plant controller10:06:51DOA-B2
Purchase order written back to ERP
Integration service10:06:58PO-118322
RecordedRetained for the period your retention policy defines

How this runs today. Mostly coordination, not judgement.

What happens between the need and the outcome, in most groups.

The event is rebuilt from an old file
Last quarter's spreadsheet, edited. Question sets and scoring reconstructed each time.
Eligibility is checked from memory
Or from a list that may not reflect current qualification and risk position.
Responses arrive in five formats
Different currencies, units, incoterms and delivery assumptions, none directly comparable.
Non-responders are chased individually
When the category manager finds an hour, which is not every day.
The comparison is rebuilt by hand
Then rebuilt again when a late response arrives.
The award pack is assembled manually
Scoring, rationale and supplier standing gathered into a document for approval.

Six things to watch for.|In any vendor session.

  1. Ask them to set up an event in one of your real categories, timed, in the session.
  2. Submit three deliberately inconsistent responses and watch the normalisation.
  3. Try to invite a supplier whose qualification has lapsed.
  4. Ask for award scenarios compared, not a lowest-price ranking.
  5. Ask what happened to the non-responders while nobody was watching.
  6. Ask where supplier quality standing appears in the approval.

Four things to bring.|Yours, not ours.

  • One recent sourcing event, including the response files as they arrived.
  • The scoring approach you actually used, and who approved the award.
  • Your qualification criteria for that category.
  • A category you have not sourced in two years, and the reason why.

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Bring one real workflow. We will run it, exceptions included.

These sequences describe the operating model. A live demonstration on your own process shows it, including the point where the software stops and asks a person.

Request a workflow demonstration See Proconomy in action

Someone from client success replies, not a sales sequence. If we are not a fit we will say so on the first call.

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