Workflow demonstration
Supplier onboarding by industry
In short
A supplier request records its intended use. Industry, entity and category rules select the qualification requirements, the supplier submits evidence through the portal, finance, risk and quality review in parallel, exceptions escalate to named owners, and an approved supplier record is created with explicit scope.
Trigger
A sourcing event requires a supplier that is not yet approved for the entity.
Relevant audience
Supplier management, supplier quality, finance and risk
Stage by stage. With the control that applies.
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Stage 1 — TriggerTriggerThe supplier request records its intended useCategory, entity, plant and purchase type are captured at the outset.
- What stays in control
- Intended use determines what will be required.
- Outcome
- Requirements are known before the supplier is contacted.
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Stage 2 — PolicyRule appliedIndustry and entity requirements are selectedQualification criteria, documents, quality agreement and financial checks are set by rule.
- What stays in control
- Local variation is configured rather than improvised.
- Outcome
- The right controls apply to the right supplier.
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Stage 3 — Agent actionAgent actionThe supplier submits information and evidenceCompany, banking, compliance and quality information is provided through the portal.
- What stays in control
- Self-service enters validation; it never becomes self-approval.
- Outcome
- Less rekeying and fewer document chases.
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Stage 4 — Agent actionAgent actionCompleteness is validated and reviews run in parallelFinance, risk, quality and procurement reviews are routed simultaneously with reminders.
- What stays in control
- Each function keeps its own approval right.
- Outcome
- Faster activation without merging accountabilities.
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Stage 5 — Human decisionHuman decisionAn exception returns to a personA missing certificate is escalated to the supplier quality owner, who decides on a conditional approval.
- What stays in control
- No supplier is approved around an unresolved control.
- Outcome
- Lower risk of using an unqualified supplier.
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Stage 6 — System updateSystem updatedThe approved supplier record is createdThe supplier becomes usable for the approved categories and entities, and the record is written back.
- What stays in control
- Approval scope is explicit and does not extend by default.
- Outcome
- Buyers act on a supplier the organisation has actually cleared.
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Stage 7 — Audit historyRecordedThe record stays current and evidencedDocument validity, the conditional approval and its conditions are tracked to completion.
- What stays in control
- Expiring requirements are chased before they lapse.
- Outcome
- Audit readiness without a separate expiry spreadsheet.
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 sourcing requirement for a supplier not yet approved for that entity. |
| What did the agent do? | Selected the requirement set, collected and validated evidence, routed parallel reviews and chased the outstanding certificate. |
| What rule permitted it? | Industry, entity and category qualification rules configured by your quality and risk functions. |
| What returned to a person? | The missing-certificate exception and the conditional approval decision. |
| What system was updated? | The supplier master, with explicit approval scope. |
| What outcome changed? | Faster supplier activation with stronger, industry-specific control. |
What changes as a result. Named, not implied.
- Less document chasing and rekeying.
- Faster supplier activation.
- Industry- and entity-specific control.
- Evidence retained as the work happens.
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.
- Quality asks, then regulatory asks, then finance asks
- Each in turn, each waiting for the previous. Six weeks of elapsed time for a few hours of review.
- Documents arrive by email
- Into individual inboxes, filed individually, and re-requested when someone cannot find them.
- Approval scope is assumed
- Cleared for one entity and then used in another, because nobody enforced the boundary.
- Certificates are collected once
- At onboarding, then tracked in a plant spreadsheet until someone notices an expiry.
- Risk is assessed at the start
- And not again, unless something goes wrong.
- The supplier answers the same question four times
- Which is why suppliers deprioritise your onboarding.
Six things to watch for.|In any vendor session.
- Ask for quality, regulatory and finance to review the same evidence concurrently.
- Onboard for one entity and then attempt to buy in another. It should stop you.
- Ask what happens the day a certificate expires.
- Submit a bank detail change and confirm it enters verification.
- Ask a real supplier to complete the process — adoption is the whole value and is easy to test.
- Ask how requalification is triggered.
Four things to bring.|Yours, not ours.
- Your onboarding requirement list for one category, per entity.
- A supplier who took too long to onboard, and where it stalled.
- The document set you require and their renewal cycles.
- Whoever owns approval scope across entities.
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.