Quick Start: What Brought Us to the Table

• Tell me briefly about the audit finding or business event that prompted you to explore reducing off-contract purchases and invoice exceptions.
• Walk me through your current purchase flow, from a user's request to an invoice hitting AP, using a concrete recent purchase as an example.
• When you look at the last 12 months, which KPIs do you already track for purchasing and AP (for example PO compliance, requisition-to-PO time, invoice exception rate)? Options: PO compliance rate, Requisition-to-PO cycle time, Invoice exception rate, maverick spend as % of total spend, Cash commitment visibility, Other
• Which of those metrics would you call the single most urgent to improve in the next 90 days? Options: PO compliance rate, Requisition-to-PO cycle time, Invoice exception rate, Adoption by business users, Forecast visibility, Other
• Provide the current baseline figures if available, for PO compliance, average requisition-to-PO time, and monthly invoice exceptions.

Where the Process Breaks, and Why It Matters

• If one in three purchases bypasses procurement today, where exactly does that create the biggest cost or operational hit for your finance or procurement teams?
• List the top three recurring causes of invoice exceptions your AP team sees, using recent case examples if possible.
• Who usually discovers an exception first, and what is the typical path from discovery to resolution? Options: AP team, Buyer/business user, Supplier, Procurement team, ERP reconciliation job, Other
• On average, how many invoices per month are in exception, and how many staff hours does resolving those exceptions consume? Options: Less than 50, 50–200, 201–500, 501–1,000, More than 1,000
• Which downstream impact matters most today, faster AP close, fewer supplier disputes, or more accurate cash forecasting? Options: Faster AP close, Fewer supplier disputes, Accurate cash forecasting, Reduced write-offs, Less audit risk
• Identify the one operational failure that, if unresolved, would cause you to pause a pilot or refuse to proceed to rollout.

Who Owns Decisions and Where Bottlenecks Live

• Who signs off when a new supplier or catalog is added, and which approvals or committees most often slow that decision?
• Name the executive sponsor, the procurement day-to-day owner, and the AP lead who will be engaged if we scope a pilot.
• Share how many distinct business units or cost centers would need to be involved to run a meaningful pilot, and which two you prefer as candidates.
• Are there procurement policies, delegated authority matrices, or approval thresholds that would prevent the pilot from exercising normal routing? Options: Yes, strict thresholds prevent change, Yes, but exceptions can be granted, No, pilot can use standard routing, Unsure
• Assuming the pilot meets its success targets, who has authority to approve budget and commit to a phased rollout within 30 days?

How Buying Actually Feels for Your Users

• Walk me through the last time a business user emailed a supplier instead of using the procurement channel, what motivated that shortcut?
• Which specific steps in your current requisition or approval experience do users call out as slow, confusing, or unnecessary? Options: Approval delays, Catalog search is poor, PO accuracy problems, Receipt capture is hard, Integration errors, Other
• Describe how new or occasional buyers learn to use your current system, and who trains them.
• Where do users tend to stop and find a workaround, and what do they do instead?
• Would voluntary adoption be realistic for your buyers in a 60-day pilot, and what incentives or penalties would influence that behavior? Options: Voluntary likely with UX parity, Requires small incentives, Requires enforcement from procurement, Unlikely without strong change management

Defining Success, Not Just Nice-To-Have Wins

• Define the measurable pilot outcomes that would convince you to roll the solution out enterprise wide.
• Select the target thresholds you want the pilot to hit for acceptance. Options: PO compliance >= 80%, Requisition-to-PO <= 24 hours, User retention after pilot >= 70%, Invoice exception reduction >= 50%, AP processing time reduced >= 30%
• Estimate the financial or operational value to the business if those thresholds are met over 12 months. Options: Less than $100k, $100k–$500k, $500k–$1M, Over $1M, Unsure
• When the pilot provides data that meets these acceptance criteria, what approval or sign-off will accelerate you to a committed rollout? Options: CPO approval, CFO approval, Procurement steering committee, Business unit leader sign-off
• Which metric, if it fails to improve in the pilot, would cause you to decline further investment? Options: PO compliance, Requisition-to-PO time, User adoption, Invoice exception rate, Integration stability

Obstacles and Technical Constraints That Could Stop Progress

• If integrations to your ERP, supplier punchout endpoints, or catalog feeds cannot be completed within the planned window, what happens to the project timeline and sponsorship?
• List the systems that must integrate for success, and note whether APIs or flat-file feeds are available for each.
• Identify who owns each integration or data source inside your organization, and the expected lead time to grant access.
• Describe the current state of supplier data hygiene and catalog readiness, including whether SKUs and pricing are centralized.
• Confirm whether you have a dedicated technical resource or project manager available to support a 60–90 day pilot, and if so, for how many hours per week. Options: Yes, full time, Yes, part time (10–20 hrs/wk), Yes, minimal (under 10 hrs/wk), No dedicated resource
• Which single missing technical prerequisite would prevent you from starting a pilot in the next 60 days?

The Other Options You Are Comparing

• Who else are you actively evaluating or considering to address maverick spend and invoice exceptions right now? Options: ERP built-in procurement module, Internal development / build, Other procurement vendors, Consulting partners, No others
• Which features or capabilities are drawing you to those alternatives, and where do you see gaps in their approach?
• Would your organization consider keeping the current approach if specific changes were made, and what would those changes need to be? Options: Improved enforcement, Faster PO creation, Better supplier catalog, More training and governance, Not salvageable
• Describe any internal proposals to solve this without an outside partner, and the estimated timeline and cost of that internal plan.
• What would have to be true about your incumbent solution for you to choose to stay with it instead of switching?
• Identify the single competitive concern that would make you rule this vendor out immediately.

Pilot Scope, Roles, and the Acceptance Gate

• Assuming you can run a 60-day pilot, which modules and supplier categories must be included to create a representative test? Options: Catalog-driven buying, Approval routing, Three-way matching, Supplier punchout, Invoice matching AI, Other
• Select the pilot duration and the number of business units you prefer for an initial test. Options: 30 days, 1 unit, 60 days, 1 unit, 60 days, 2 units, 90 days, 2–3 units
• Provide a proposed acceptance checklist for the pilot, including owners and measurement cadence.
• Where will the pilot data be reviewed, who will make the go/no-go decision, and how quickly can that group meet after pilot close?
• When the pilot meets the acceptance criteria, who can sign the commercial commitment and within what window would you expect rollout to begin? Options: CPO signs within 7 days, CFO signs within 14 days, Steering committee within 30 days, No internal authority can sign quickly

Practical Next Steps and Commitment Signals

• When would you be willing to schedule the initial configuration workshop to map catalogs and approval rules? Options: Within 1 week, 1–2 weeks, 2–4 weeks, More than 4 weeks
• Select the documents and artifacts we should prepare before that workshop to make it productive. Options: Current approval matrix, Supplier master list, Sample PO and invoice, Existing catalog exports, ERP integration specs
• Confirm any legal, procurement, or security approvals that must be cleared before a pilot can begin, and who owns each clearance.
• Project the earliest realistic start date for a pilot given the constraints you've described. Options: Within 2 weeks, 2–4 weeks, 1–2 months, Longer than 2 months
• Identify the single commitment signal from your side that would let the seller prioritize your pilot above others. Options: Signed SOW, Named project owner, Budget hold, Priority tag from procurement, Other

• Solution Experience Session: Catalog-driven Buying and Matching

• Confirm the current state and its cost
• Customer confirms the demonstrated workflow eliminates the manual steps and rework they described.
• Deliver a proposed 60-day pilot plan that includes modules, pilot units, timeline, roles, and measurable acceptance criteria.
• Customer agrees the pilot acceptance metrics and the exact evidence we will collect to validate PO compliance, cycle time, and adoption.
• Map your priority scenarios to the workflow
• Provide two representative purchase scenarios and the last three months of PO versus invoice exception logs for the pilot units.
• Live walkthrough — catalog selection to PO issuance
• Identify pilot owners and approvers for the selected business units and confirm their availability for the pilot period.
• Customer commits to provide scenario data and pilot owners, and the seller commits to deliver a configured pilot plan.
• Live walkthrough — three-way matching and exception handling
• Pre-configure a trial tenant with a sample catalog mapping and approval matrix for the follow-up validation session.
• Validate pilot acceptance metrics and evidence
• Forced validation — confirm this maps to your needs
• Agree next steps and responsibilities for the pilot

• Solution Experience Session: Catalog-driven Buying
• Solution Experience Deck
• Solution Brief

• meeting
• slides
• document

• Provision marketplace catalog and negotiated pricing
• Import and map supplier master data
• Migrate existing catalogs and SKU mappings
• Configure catalog shopping experience and search
• Configure approval matrix and role permissions
• Enable automated purchase order generation
• Setup punchout integrations with suppliers
• Configure goods receipt and receiving workflows
• Configure three‑way PO‑receipt‑invoice matching rules
• Deploy AI invoice matching and exception resolution
• Integrate ERP for PO and invoice synchronization
• Pilot launch for two business units with hypercare
• Train end users and procurement administrators

Provision marketplace catalog and negotiated pricing

• How many marketplace SKUs do you plan to expose to end users in the pilot (approximate ranges)? Options: Less than 1,000, 1,000-10,000, 10,000-100,000, More than 100,000
• Which negotiated pricing artifacts will you provide for mapping (rate cards, contract price lists, tiered discounts)? Options: Contract price list files, Rate cards per supplier, Volume tier schedules, No negotiated pricing yet
• Do you require price visibility controls by role or business unit (for example show net price only to procurement approvers)? Options: Yes, No
• What currency and tax regimes must the catalog support for the pilot business units? Options: Single currency (specify), Multi-currency with tax jurisdictions, Domestic only
• Who owns the ongoing price updates (supplier, procurement team, or a marketplace feed) and what is the expected update cadence? Options: Supplier-managed feed, Procurement team uploads, Marketplace push API, Other
• Are there contract minimums, rebate triggers, or volume commitments that must be encoded into catalog rules? Options: Yes, No

Import and map supplier master data

• Which supplier attributes must be present in the supplier master file for go-live (vendor ID, remit-to address, payment terms, PO-required flag)? Options: Vendor ID, Remit-to address, Payment terms, PO-required flag, Tax identifiers
• What format are your supplier master records in for import (CSV/Excel export, flat-file, API payload)? Options: CSV/Excel, Database export, SFTP flat file, API
• Do you have vendor master duplicates or consolidation rules that must be applied during mapping? Options: Yes - need deduplication, No - records are clean
• Which party is authorized to approve supplier master changes during the pilot (procurement admin, AP manager, supplier owner)? Options: Procurement admin, AP manager, Business unit owner, Other
• List any supplier types that require special handling (e.g., zero-PO suppliers, reimbursable contractors, T&E card vendors).
• Are supplier banking and remittance details required for the pilot integration with your AP ledger? Options: Yes, No

Migrate existing catalogs and SKU mappings

• How many source catalogs or SKU sets must be migrated and mapped for the pilot (count each supplier catalog)? Options: 1, 2-5, 6-20, More than 20
• What is the minimum acceptable migration completeness percentage for catalog items and SKU mappings to be considered ready (acceptance criterion)? Options: 90%, 95%, 99%
• Which field-level mappings are required between your source catalog and the platform (SKU, UPC/EAN, unit of measure, manufacturer part number)? Options: SKU, UPC/EAN, Unit of measure, Manufacturer part number, Image URL
• Do you require enrichment (images, attributes, internal cost codes) during migration or will you supply pre-enriched files? Options: We will supply enriched files, Require enrichment service
• Who will validate SKU match quality and resolve mapping exceptions during migration? Options: Procurement admin, Category manager, We need vendor support
• Provide the expected cutover approach for catalog updates (big-bang switch, parallel run, phased by supplier). Options: Big-bang, Parallel run, Phased by supplier or category

Configure catalog shopping experience and search

• Which catalog navigation model do your users prefer (category browse, guided catalog, or quick order by SKU)? Options: Category browse, Guided catalog with filters, Quick order by SKU
• What search facets are critical for buyers (brand, price range, lead time, supplier rating)? Options: Brand, Price range, Lead time, Supplier rating, Part attributes
• Do you require punchout landing page customization or supplier-directed search behavior for punchout catalogs? Options: Yes - customize punchout landing, No - standard punchout behavior
• What default sort and result display should be used for search (best match, price low to high, preferred suppliers first)? Options: Best match, Price low to high, Preferred suppliers first
• Are there internal approval or budget attributes you want surfaced in the shopping experience (cost center, account code)? Options: Yes, No
• Who will own ongoing merchandising rules (promoted items, restricted items) during the pilot? Options: Procurement team, Category managers, Platform support

Configure approval matrix and role permissions

• Which approval triggers must be supported (dollar thresholds, commodity type, cross-charge cost center)? Options: Dollar thresholds, Commodity exceptions, Cross-charge approvals, Custom rules
• How many distinct approval roles and escalation layers are required for the pilot business units? Options: 1-2 roles, 3-5 roles, 6+ roles
• Which identity provider or single sign-on system will authenticate approvers (SAML, OIDC, internal AD)? Options: SAML, OpenID Connect (OIDC), Active Directory (AD) integration, No SSO
• Do you require spend authorizations tied to budget ledgers or available budget checks before routing approval? Options: Yes - budget check required, No - budget check not required
• Who is the owner for maintaining role-to-permission mappings during the pilot (procurement admin, IT)? Options: Procurement admin, IT security, Business unit admin
• Describe any conditional approvals needed (for example purchases from non-preferred suppliers or emergency procurement workflows).

Enable automated purchase order generation

• Which events should trigger automated PO creation (approved requisition, punchout checkout, scheduled blanket release)? Options: Approved requisition, Punchout checkout, Blanket release, API-triggered PO
• What default PO number format and sequencing do you require for the pilot (prefixes, business unit code)?
• Will POs be created back to your ERP in real time or batched on a schedule? Options: Real time, Batched hourly, Batched nightly
• Do you need automated PO acknowledgements to suppliers and which acknowledgement channel do you prefer (email, EDI, API)? Options: Email, EDI, API
• Who will own exceptions where a requisition cannot be converted to a PO (approver, procurement admin, AP)? Options: Approver, Procurement admin, Accounts Payable (AP)
• Are any custom PO fields required for receiving or AP (project code, work order, tax classification)?

Setup punchout integrations with suppliers

• Which suppliers will require punchout for the pilot and how many punchout endpoints are in scope? Options: 1-3 suppliers, 4-10 suppliers, More than 10 suppliers
• What punchout protocol and authentication does each supplier support (cXML with HTTP signature, OCI, custom API)? Options: cXML, OCI, Custom API
• Provide the expected SLA for punchout checkout round-trip (max acceptable latency in seconds). Options: <3s, <5s, <10s, No hard SLA
• Who will coordinate testing with supplier technical contacts during punchout validation? Options: Procurement IT, Supplier IT, Platform integration team
• Do you require custom mapping of supplier basket line attributes back to your SKU or account structure? Options: Yes, No
• Are supplier contract terms and catalog restrictions required to be enforced at punchout checkout? Options: Yes, No

Configure goods receipt and receiving workflows

• Which receiving model will the pilot use (centralized receiving desk, decentralized goods receipt note (GRN) by department, or delivered-to-site confirmation)? Options: Centralized receiving, Decentralized GRN by department, Delivered-to-site confirmation
• What evidence types will be accepted as receipts (scan of packing slip, barcode scan, supplier ASN, user confirmation)? Options: Packing slip scan, Barcode scan, Advance Shipping Notice (ASN), Manual user confirmation
• Do you require receipt-level tolerances by quantity or value before invoices are auto-matched? Options: Yes - tolerances required, No - exact match required
• Who performs the goods receipt for each pilot unit and what roles need mobile receiving access? Options: Receiving clerk, Requesting user, Warehouse staff, Other
• Which receiving location identifiers or site codes must be recorded on GRNs for AP reconciliation?
• Are partial deliveries and partial receipts expected for pilot SKUs and how should they be handled? Options: Allow partial receipts and partial match, Require full receipt before match

Configure three‑way PO‑receipt‑invoice matching rules

• Which matching tolerances do you require by pilot category for quantity and price variance (for example +/- 5% quantity, +/- 2% price)?
• Will the platform auto-approve matches within tolerance or create AP exceptions for manual review? Options: Auto-approve within tolerance, Create AP exception for manual review
• Which invoice exception reason codes must be exposed to AP for triage (quantity mismatch, price variance, missing PO, duplicate invoice)? Options: Quantity mismatch, Price variance, Missing PO, Duplicate invoice
• Who is the owner for resolving three-way match exceptions during the pilot (AP, procurement, business unit receiver)? Options: Accounts Payable (AP), Procurement, Business unit receiver
• Are blanket orders, release-based POs, or scheduled receipts in scope for three-way matching rules? Options: Blanket orders, Release-based POs, Scheduled receipts, None of the above
• List any compliance or audit fields that must be captured with matched transactions for finance auditors.

Deploy AI invoice matching and exception resolution

• What reduction in invoice exception rate would you accept as a success metric for AI matching during the pilot (acceptance criterion)? Options: Reduce exceptions by 25%, Reduce exceptions by 50%, Reduce exceptions by 75%
• Which invoice formats and sources must the AI ingest (PDF emailed invoices, EDI 810, supplier portal uploads)? Options: PDF email, EDI 810, Supplier portal upload, CSV
• Do you require the AI to learn from AP corrections (supervised learning) and who will provide validated correction feedback? Options: Yes - AP will provide feedback, No - static rules only
• What tolerance or confidence score threshold should the AI use before auto-posting a match to AP? Options: High (>95%), Medium (85-95%), Low (<85%)
• Who will own the exception classification taxonomy and change requests for AI model tuning? Options: AP manager, Procurement lead, Platform support
• Are there supplier invoice formats that require custom parsers or OCR templates for the pilot? Options: Yes, No

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• Subscription Agreement
• Order Form
• Master Services Agreement (MSA)
• Statement of Work (SOW)
• Pilot Acceptance Certificate
• Rollout Phasing & Production Readiness Agreement
• Service Level Agreement (SLA)
• Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
• Change Order Agreement
• Payment & Billing Terms

• Go-live Health Check (Week 1-4)
• First Measurement Review (Week 4-10)
• Acceptance Gate Review (Day ~90)
• Quarterly Operational Review
• Annual Outcomes Review (12 months)

• Deliver the quarterly metric package with business-unit level breakdowns for PO compliance and adoption.
• Capture remediation plans, timelines, and verification steps for any conditional or failed criteria.
• Confirm the incumbent system wind-down approach and next steps to prevent parallel work outside the platform.
• Publish the acceptance decision record with evidence and any conditional remediation items.
• Execute the agreed incumbent decommissioning steps or record read-only retention and archive completion date.
• Schedule verification check for each remediation item with target completion dates for re-evaluation.
• Trend review of key metrics
• Confirm whether PO compliance and adoption retention are stable or improving relative to Pilot Evaluation targets.
• Agree the prioritized enhancement items and the operational fixes to be completed before the next quarter.
• Ensure the issue backlog is decreasing and SLAs are being met or escalated appropriately.
• Re-confirm success criteria and owners
• Schedule remediation sprints for the top three operational issues identified in the backlog.
• Publish the agreed enhancement prioritization and expected delivery window.
• Year-to-date outcomes versus Pilot Evaluation targets
• Validate whether annual outcomes meet the acceptance targets recorded in Pilot Evaluation and capture evidence.
• Agree the top 3 persistent issues to be addressed and a timeline for their resolution.
• Confirm the ongoing monitoring cadence and responsibilities for continuous improvement tracking.
• Publish the annual outcomes report including evidence, trend analysis, and the agreed top 3 remediation items.
• Create a 12-month enhancement plan for the agreed items with expected delivery windows.
• Set the recurring calendar invites for the agreed monitoring cadence and owner responsibilities.
• Confirm the deployment completed to the minimum operable state and that critical integrations are active.
• Produce a prioritized short list of blockers with remediation tasks and target completion dates.
• Agree the next checkpoint date and owner for each remediation item.
• Publish go-live health summary and the blocker list with target completion dates.
• Deliver an integration log extract showing successful catalog sync for each pilot supplier.
• Schedule two targeted user support sessions to address the top two usability issues observed during week one.
• Present first-period results
• Establish whether purchase order compliance rate and requisition-to-PO cycle time are trending toward Pilot Evaluation targets.
• Agree a time-bound remediation plan for each metric gap with owners and resolution dates.
• Confirm the readiness timeline to enter the acceptance gate in Pilot Evaluation.
• Produce a drill-down report of PO non-compliance by business unit and supplier for the prior 30 days.
• Implement the agreed approval-routing adjustment and record the effective date.
• Deliver a short update to training materials and schedule two follow-up adoption sessions for pilot users.
• Restate acceptance criteria and targets
• Produce a documented acceptance outcome for each Pilot Evaluation criterion, with evidence and the official acceptance decision.
• Deployment and data validation
• Diagnose root causes for any gaps
• Trend analysis and persistent root causes
• Present outcome data against each criterion
• Issue burn-down and SLA performance
• Document pass or fail per criterion and capture the acceptance decision
• Prioritized enhancement roadmap for the next 12 months
• Agree corrective actions with dates
• Enhancement requests backlog and prioritization
• Early adoption signals and usage patterns
• Agree remediation plan for any failed criteria
• Open issues and blockers
• Continuous improvement commitments and cadence
• Confirm timeline to Pilot Evaluation acceptance gate
• Adoption and training activities update
• Incumbent wind-down and data handover
• Agree immediate remediation actions and timelines
• Decisions and next steps
• Close or escalate outstanding blockers