Turn spend analysis into a sourcing plan
Use comparable purchase data to choose a category action and keep planned savings separate from realised results.
Turn spend analysis into a sourcing plan
Use comparable purchase data to choose a category action and keep planned savings separate from realised results.
Before you start
Define the business question and reporting basis: entity, category, dates, source state, currency and tax treatment. Ordered value, accepted value, approved invoices and cash paid are different measures; do not add them as separate purchases.
Read the reports on their own terms
1. Open Procure → Spend under Insights. Review Overview, Suppliers, Categories and Contracts, reading each helper definition and active search before comparing amounts.
2. Check the date scope and ranking limit on each view. In particular, Request estimates by category is not the same measure as Finance-approved invoice value. Matching totals in one small period do not establish that two reports use the same population.
3. Reconcile the relevant source records by supplier identifier, invoice, line and version. Keep credits and their references. Investigate apparent duplicates without deleting legitimate repeated purchases, and keep source currency separate from any approved reporting-currency conversion.
4. Decide the improvement you want: reliable supply, compatible demand consolidation, fewer deliveries, better agreement use or an eligible backup. Compare equivalent quality and service, not unit price alone.
Save the category strategy
5. Open Procure → Categories → Strategies. Search for the intended strategy. If it already exists, inspect its saved scope and current plan, then skip steps 6–7 and continue at step 8. Otherwise, select New Strategy.
6. Complete Category, Strategy title, Owner, Commercial objectives, Market context, Preferred suppliers, Contract coverage (%) and Review date. Give coverage a defined population and period; do not assume the field calculates it automatically. Retain action owners, source references and implementation dates in your supporting plan.
7. Select Save strategy, find its exact title and reopen it to check the retained details. A preferred-supplier selection does not itself qualify that supplier or award an order.
Record a justified savings pipeline
8. Open Spend → Savings and check the award-and-method pair for an existing claim. If the claim exists, inspect its current details and state rather than repeating step 9 to create the same benefit again. For a new supported claim, select Record savings.
9. Confirm Approved award, choose the appropriate Savings method, and enter the documented Approved baseline in the award’s currency. Review the source-derived award amount, then select Create savings pipeline. Reopen the claim and check its baseline, awarded amount, pipeline and actual realised value.
Expected result
The category plan has a clear basis, owner and review point, while any savings claim is traceable to its award and baseline.
Remember: A lower spend total may reflect lower volume rather than a price saving. Realised savings need eligible actual activity and validation under your agreed method, including implementation costs. Do not change the baseline or method to bypass a duplicate warning or make an unsupported benefit look achieved.
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