Workflow demonstration
Insight to action
In short
A NOVA question or spend insight identifies fragmentation in a category. An authorised category owner decides to act, the sourcing workflow launches from the insight with the analysis attached, the commercial decision stays human, and the completed action is linked back to the original opportunity.
Trigger
A spend question reveals four suppliers serving one category across six plants.
Relevant audience
CPO, category management and procurement excellence
Stage by stage. With the control that applies.
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Stage 1 — TriggerTriggerA question is asked“Where are we buying the same category from more than one supplier?”
- What stays in control
- The answer respects role- and entity-based access.
- Outcome
- No analyst request and no waiting.
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Stage 2 — Agent actionAgent actionThe insight is assembled with its evidenceFragmentation is shown with the underlying transactions, suppliers, plants and delivered prices.
- What stays in control
- The answer cites the records it comes from.
- Outcome
- The opportunity is evidenced rather than asserted.
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Stage 3 — PolicyRule appliedAuthority to act is checkedOnly roles permitted to launch a sourcing workflow from an insight may proceed.
- What stays in control
- Conversion from insight to action is itself a permission.
- Outcome
- Analysis does not silently become commitment.
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Stage 4 — Human decisionHuman decisionThe category owner decides whether to actLogistics constraints, plant requirements and supplier capacity are weighed before committing.
- What stays in control
- The commercial judgement remains human.
- Outcome
- Consolidation reflects operating reality, not just price.
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Stage 5 — Agent actionAgent actionThe sourcing workflow launches from the insightThe event opens with the spend analysis, plant requirements and eligible suppliers already attached.
- What stays in control
- The event applies its own category policy and approvals.
- Outcome
- No gap between identifying value and starting work.
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Stage 6 — System updateSystem updatedThe action completes and reaches the systems of recordAn award, an agreement and the purchases made under it follow the normal governed path.
- What stays in control
- Each downstream stage keeps its own checkpoints.
- Outcome
- Insight becomes a completed procurement outcome.
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Stage 7 — Audit historyRecordedThe opportunity is tracked to its outcomeThe link between the original insight and the completed action is retained.
- What stays in control
- Leaders can see conversion, not only identification.
- Outcome
- Value creation becomes continuous rather than episodic.
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.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What triggered the workflow? | A spend question revealing category fragmentation across plants. |
| What did the agent do? | Assembled the insight with its underlying transactions, then launched the sourcing workflow with the context attached. |
| What rule permitted it? | A permission governing which roles may convert an insight into a governed workflow. |
| What returned to a person? | The decision whether to consolidate, and every subsequent commercial checkpoint. |
| What system was updated? | The sourcing event, the resulting agreement and the ERP purchases made under it. |
| What outcome changed? | Less delay between insight and execution, and more identified value converted into completed work. |
What changes as a result. Named, not implied.
- Less delay between insight and execution.
- More identified value converted into completed work.
- Commercial judgement preserved.
- Conversion visible to leadership, not just identification.
Request interpreted and classified
Missing equipment reference requested
Requester supplied reference GB-4417
Buying policy selected contracted purchase
Approved within delegated authority
Purchase order written back to ERP
How this runs today. Mostly coordination, not judgement.
What happens between the need and the outcome, in most groups.
- The question waits for an analyst
- Group spend, by category, by entity — assembled for the meeting that asked.
- The finding lands in a deck
- Consolidation opportunity identified, presented, agreed.
- Nobody has capacity to act on it
- Because running the event requires a week the category manager does not have.
- It reappears next quarter
- In a different deck, with the same finding.
- The saving stays theoretical
- Identified, never realised, and eventually removed from the pipeline.
- Data is rebuilt each time
- Because the analysis was an exercise rather than a live position.
Six things to watch for.|In any vendor session.
- Ask a question the data cannot support. A system that invents a plausible number is disqualifying.
- Ask for the records behind an answer and check they support it.
- Ask what happens next after an opportunity is identified. "Export it" means nothing changes.
- Ask the same question as two different roles and confirm permission is respected.
- Ask for a question spanning spend, contract and quality at once.
- Ask how an identified opportunity is tracked through to a realised outcome.
Four things to bring.|Yours, not ours.
- A spend question that currently takes days to answer.
- An opportunity identified last year that was never actioned, and why.
- Your category structure as your team recognises it.
- Whoever would have to run the resulting event.
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.
Someone from client success replies, not a sales sequence. If we are not a fit we will say so on the first call.
Not ready to talk to anyone?
Fair enough. Both of these work without giving us your email.