Buyer path03 → 07
Create, collect, compare, and submit.
Guided procurement lifecycle
Learn CPI step by step
Follow a requirement from setup through supplier response, analysis, approval, order, and operational follow-up.
CPI visual guide
Choose one path and open only the step you need
Follow the visual flow first. Expand a step for its checklist, expected outcome, and direct workspace action.
0/26steps reviewed
⌂Set up◎Request✉RFQ$Quote◇Analyze✓Approve▣Order↓Receive & match↻Monitor
Visual example500 MT delivered to MonterreyOpen the sample decision
Four sample suppliers show why lowest material price, lowest landed cost, fastest delivery, and best overall supplier can be different answers.
- Requirement
- 500 MT · DAP Monterrey
- Decision currency
- MXN
- Expected evidence
- 4 quote versions + FX provenance
- Outcome
- Eligible award or split alternative
Approver path07 → 08
Review evidence and control commitment.
Sales path06 → 10
Use an eligible basis and protect margin.
Director path07 → 12
Govern exceptions, value, and learning.
01AdministrationSet up the workspace
Confirm the organization currency, locale, timezone, companies, locations, warehouses, users, and role ownership.
Organization owner
Set up the workspace
Confirm the organization currency, locale, timezone, companies, locations, warehouses, users, and role ownership.
Do these three things
- Open organization settings and verify the operating defaults.
- Invite or create the buyer, approver, sales, and viewer roles needed for the pilot.
- Complete the onboarding checklist before live sourcing.
Expected result
The workspace has accountable users and usable operating defaults.
02Commodities + SuppliersBuild trusted master data
Create the normalized material and approved supplier records that every later decision will reference.
Category manager
Build trusted master data
Create the normalized material and approved supplier records that every later decision will reference.
Do these three things
- Add the commodity specification, grade, standard, normalized UOM, packaging, and MOQ.
- Add each supplier and its actual fulfillment location separately.
- Record contact, payment terms, risk, reliability, lead time, and supported materials.
Expected result
The event can reference controlled materials and qualified fulfillment sources.
03SourcingCreate the sourcing requirement
Tell CPI exactly what is needed, where it must arrive, and which commercial rules apply.
Buyer
Create the sourcing requirement
Tell CPI exactly what is needed, where it must arrive, and which commercial rules apply.
Do these three things
- Choose commodity, destination, quantity, compatible UOM, required date, Incoterm, and request currency.
- Select only suppliers capable of responding to this event.
- Add context in notes and choose the scoring strategy deliberately.
Expected result
One draft request states a compatible, date-bound commercial need.
04Supplier portalSend and monitor the RFQ
Move the draft RFQ to sent and monitor each invited supplier response.
Buyer
Send and monitor the RFQ
Move the draft RFQ to sent and monitor each invited supplier response.
Do these three things
- Review the deadline and invited supplier list before sending.
- CPI queues email where a deliverable address exists; copy a confidential portal link only when manual delivery is required.
- Watch viewed, responded, partially responded, and complete states.
Expected result
Invited suppliers can respond and their response state is visible.
05Quote intelligenceCapture and verify quotes
Preserve the original commercial offer while producing a normalized landed-cost view.
Buyer / Supplier
Capture and verify quotes
Preserve the original commercial offer while producing a normalized landed-cost view.
Do these three things
- Enter material, freight, other components, quote currency, FX rate and source, availability, MOQ, timing, terms, and validity.
- Check costs already included in material price so they are documented without being counted twice.
- Use Revise to create a new active version; prior versions remain in history.
Expected result
Every active quote has provenance, validity, availability, terms, and reproducible cost math.
06Decision engineAnalyze the decision
Let eligibility filter invalid awards before cost, delivery, reliability, risk, freshness, terms, and MOQ are scored.
Buyer / Director
Analyze the decision
Let eligibility filter invalid awards before cost, delivery, reliability, risk, freshness, terms, and MOQ are scored.
Do these three things
- Resolve expired quotes, late delivery, unverified foreign FX, pending suppliers, MOQ conflicts, or missing quantity.
- Compare cheapest material, cheapest freight, lowest landed, fastest, lowest risk, and best overall as different answers.
- Review split-source alternatives when no supplier can fulfill the entire requirement alone.
Expected result
The screen shows current eligibility, distinct winners, a reproducible recommendation, or a clear reason no award is possible.
07GovernanceRequest and decide approval
Turn the current eligible recommendation into a controlled purchase request.
Buyer + Approver
Request and decide approval
Turn the current eligible recommendation into a controlled purchase request.
Do these three things
- The buyer submits only the current, fully eligible recommendation.
- Approval policies route each amount, priority, and currency through the correct steps, owners, SLA, delegation, and escalation.
- Approval and rejection comments become part of the audit history; final approval creates one PO.
Expected result
One pending request has an owner, due date, amount, and decision history.
08Purchase ordersExecute the purchase order
Track the approved commitment through a controlled status sequence.
Procurement
Execute the purchase order
Track the approved commitment through a controlled status sequence.
Do these three things
- Review the generated PO against the approved request and normalized decision currency.
- Move through approved → sent → supplier confirmed → fulfilled → closed.
- Use partially fulfilled only when delivery is incomplete; invalid transitions are blocked.
Expected result
One approved commitment moves through allowed PO states without recreating the commercial decision.
09Receipts & invoicesReceive goods and match the invoice
Confirm what arrived, preserve quality evidence, and prevent silent billing variance.
Warehouse + Finance
Receive goods and match the invoice
Confirm what arrived, preserve quality evidence, and prevent silent billing variance.
Do these three things
- Record each partial or complete receipt with date, accepted quantity, condition, quality score, and notes.
- Enter the supplier invoice and compare it with ordered and received values.
- Approve an in-tolerance match; route quantity, price, or total variance to an explicit exception before payment.
Expected result
Each delivery and invoice has a traceable match result or an owned exception.
10Control TowerMonitor budgets, contracts, inventory, lanes, and exceptions
Operate on current evidence while preserving historical observations.
Procurement Director
Monitor budgets, contracts, inventory, lanes, and exceptions
Operate on current evidence while preserving historical observations.
Do these three things
- Compare committed purchase orders with category, commodity, period, and currency budgets.
- Track contract price, commitments, consumption, expiration, inventory snapshots, and supplier performance.
- Review freight variance, assign opportunities, and resolve exceptions from their dedicated modules.
Expected result
Current supply and commercial exceptions have an owner and an explicit next action.
11Sales workspaceCreate the customer quote
Price from an eligible sourcing decision without exposing internal supplier or cost data.
Sales
Create the customer quote
Price from an eligible sourcing decision without exposing internal supplier or cost data.
Do these three things
- Select the customer and current eligible sourcing basis.
- Choose gross margin, markup, or fixed price and verify the resulting customer total.
- Below-minimum margin routes to a separate approval; the customer document excludes internal cost and margin.
Expected result
An approved or draft customer quote has correct margin math and a safe customer document.
12AI intelligenceUse CPI Copilot with evidence
Ask for explanations and next actions grounded in authorized CPI database records.
All authorized roles
Use CPI Copilot with evidence
Ask for explanations and next actions grounded in authorized CPI database records.
Do these three things
- Ask specific questions that name a request, supplier, contract, or operational issue.
- Follow the source links and verify material decisions in the system of record.
- AI explains and drafts; deterministic calculations, permissions, and human approvals remain authoritative.
Expected result
The answer is tied to visible CPI source records or states that evidence is insufficient.
13Continuous improvementClose the loop
Review the outcome and use the evidence to improve the next sourcing event.
Process owner
Close the loop
Review the outcome and use the evidence to improve the next sourcing event.
Do these three things
- Close fulfilled orders and review the supplier scorecard, receipt quality, on-time delivery, and invoice match rate.
- Schedule recurring CSV reports and set personal notification, digest, and default landing preferences.
- Review audit history and refine master data, policies, or scoring only with documented business rationale.
Expected result
The outcome is reflected in operational records and the next event begins with better evidence.
Market Mapper visual guide
Turn a product and location into verified market intelligence
Discover suppliers, preserve sources, collect responses, verify facts, and build a reusable market range.
▤Specify⌖Discover◎Design✉Contact↓Capture✓Verify◇Analyze↻Refresh
Visual example1,800 m² of polished Santo Tomás Gray MarbleOpen the market example
Three permitted sample suppliers respond in USD and MXN. CPI preserves source values, normalizes them to USD/m², builds a market range, and shows bounded advisory forecasts.
- Destination
- Monterrey, MX · DAP
- Comparison basis
- USD / m²
- Evidence
- 18 verified observations · 3 suppliers
- Controls
- Truthful identity · approval · opt-out
M1Product intelligenceDefine the exact stone product
Build a version-controlled definition before asking the market for a price.
Category manager
Define the exact stone product
Build a version-controlled definition before asking the market for a price.
Do these three things
- Choose the commodity and record commercial and geological names, quarry and origin.
- Capture form, finish, selection, color, dimensions, tolerances, reinforcement, packaging, standards, and yield.
- Create a new version when a price-relevant attribute changes; never rewrite historical evidence.
Expected result
One immutable specification version defines what every supplier must price.
M2Supplier discoveryDiscover, map, and verify the supplier universe
Start with current sourced web research, then turn reviewed leads, directories, referrals, associations, and approved master records into measurable market coverage.
Market analyst
Discover, map, and verify the supplier universe
Start with current sourced web research, then turn reviewed leads, directories, referrals, associations, and approved master records into measurable market coverage.
Do these three things
- Enter the exact product, country, and optional state, city, or radius; then open every supporting source.
- Select one or many reviewed candidates and use Import & map selected; CPI creates pending suppliers and geocoded locations.
- Verify the company, product capability, email, market role, sanctions/compliance status, and contact permission before any campaign.
Expected result
The research universe shows sourced provenance, mapped locations, confidence, coverage, verification state, and explicit contact permission.
M3Research scenariosDesign and approve the research scenario
Ask one answerable market question with legitimate controlled commercial variables.
Research lead + Approver
Design and approve the research scenario
Ask one answerable market question with legitimate controlled commercial variables.
Do these three things
- Select the exact product version and state the objective, project, quantity, unit, destination, Incoterm, date, and currency.
- List the variables that may change and the information the response must contain.
- Set outreach and budget limits, then obtain approval before creating a live campaign.
Expected result
An approved scenario has explicit learning boundaries, required evidence, owner, and limits.
M4Research campaignsLaunch truthful controlled outreach
Use only an organization-controlled sender that identifies the responsible research desk.
Campaign owner + Approver
Launch truthful controlled outreach
Use only an organization-controlled sender that identifies the responsible research desk.
Do these three things
- Verify the sender, accountable user, reply-to mailbox, signature, physical address, permitted countries, and daily limit.
- Choose manual, AI-assisted, or AI-generated composition; edit the templates, select one or many suppliers, and configure quiet hours and follow-ups.
- Choose manual replies, AI drafts for approval, or controlled automatic clarification; approve the campaign separately, then launch the permitted batch.
Expected result
Every recipient, identity, message, AI mode, limit, approval, suppression, and delivery state is auditable.
M5Research inboxReceive, reply, and extract facts
Keep supplier replies, reply drafts, delivery states, and missing information in one evidence-backed conversation.
Buyer / Market analyst
Receive, reply, and extract facts
Keep supplier replies, reply drafts, delivery states, and missing information in one evidence-backed conversation.
Do these three things
- CPI matches mailbox replies to the thread token; use manual capture only when a response arrived outside the connected mailbox.
- Send a manual reply, generate an editable AI-assisted reply, or approve a stored AI draft from the same conversation.
- Automatic mode only acknowledges and requests missing quote facts; opt-outs stop contact and negotiation, commitments, payment, legal, complaints, sensitive content, or uncertainty activate human review.
Expected result
The original message remains immutable; AI triage is logged, structured extraction requires review, and human takeover is always available.
M6Observation ledgerReview, normalize, and verify the observation
Convert reviewed supplier evidence into a comparable record without losing the original quote.
Market reviewer
Review, normalize, and verify the observation
Convert reviewed supplier evidence into a comparable record without losing the original quote.
Do these three things
- Compare every proposed field with the source and accept, correct, or reject the extraction.
- Preserve quoted price, currency, unit, availability, capacity, MOQ, freight, dates, terms, and commentary.
- Apply explicit FX and unit factors, review the snapshot, then verify only genuinely comparable evidence.
Expected result
A verified observation exposes raw values, normalization math, provenance, reviewer, confidence, and correction history.
M7Reports & analyticsCalculate the market range and signals
Translate verified observations into decision assets while keeping uncertainty visible.
Market analyst / Director
Calculate the market range and signals
Translate verified observations into decision assets while keeping uncertainty visible.
Do these three things
- Calculate minimum, Q1, median, Q3, maximum, landed median, dispersion, coverage, and confidence.
- Review price movement and availability signals with their evidence and recommended action.
- Generate only advisory 30, 60, or 90-day forecasts and read the lower and upper uncertainty bounds.
Expected result
The dashboard and CSV reports show labeled currency, unit, period, coverage, confidence, and evidence lineage.
M8Continuous market learningRefresh and learn responsibly
Repeat approved research when freshness falls, conditions change, or a signal requires validation.
Research owner
Refresh and learn responsibly
Repeat approved research when freshness falls, conditions change, or a signal requires validation.
Do these three things
- Acknowledge or resolve signals only after reviewing their supporting records.
- Create a new scenario when changing material assumptions; do not blur incomparable product versions.
- Measure response rate, evidence completeness, supplier coverage, and forecast error to improve the next cycle.
Expected result
The next cycle starts from stronger evidence while consent, identity, and human-approval controls remain intact.
Billing visual guide
Activate and verify a CPI subscription
CPI keeps checkout, invoices, processor receipts, offline evidence, and subscription access in one controlled lifecycle.
⌂Profile▤Plan$Pay✓Verify◆Activate▣Invoice↻Renew!Review
B1Organization settingsComplete the legal billing profile
Add the real legal name, tax identifier, and postal billing address used to review and issue invoices.
Organization owner
Complete the legal billing profile
Add the real legal name, tax identifier, and postal billing address used to review and issue invoices.
What to verify
- Add the real legal name, tax identifier, and postal billing address used to review and issue invoices.
- Confirm the displayed amount uses $#,###.## followed by MXN or USD.
- Keep the invoice or review record as auditable evidence.
Expected result
The plan and access state match verified payment evidence without exposing credentials or cross-tenant records.
B2Plan catalogChoose monthly or annual service
Compare the active CPI plans, currency, frequency, and capabilities before opening checkout.
Organization owner
Choose monthly or annual service
Compare the active CPI plans, currency, frequency, and capabilities before opening checkout.
What to verify
- Compare the active CPI plans, currency, frequency, and capabilities before opening checkout.
- Confirm the displayed amount uses $#,###.## followed by MXN or USD.
- Keep the invoice or review record as auditable evidence.
Expected result
The plan and access state match verified payment evidence without exposing credentials or cross-tenant records.
B3Secure checkoutPay online or submit offline evidence
Use PayPal or an eligible card; if online checkout is unavailable, submit a bank-transfer reference or offline invoice request.
Organization owner
Pay online or submit offline evidence
Use PayPal or an eligible card; if online checkout is unavailable, submit a bank-transfer reference or offline invoice request.
What to verify
- Use PayPal or an eligible card; if online checkout is unavailable, submit a bank-transfer reference or offline invoice request.
- Confirm the displayed amount uses $#,###.## followed by MXN or USD.
- Keep the invoice or review record as auditable evidence.
Expected result
The plan and access state match verified payment evidence without exposing credentials or cross-tenant records.
B4Invoices & reconciliationVerify activation and payment evidence
PayPal capture is verified automatically. Offline payment activates only after Super Admin reviews and approves the request.
Owner + Super Admin
Verify activation and payment evidence
PayPal capture is verified automatically. Offline payment activates only after Super Admin reviews and approves the request.
What to verify
- PayPal capture is verified automatically. Offline payment activates only after Super Admin reviews and approves the request.
- Confirm the displayed amount uses $#,###.## followed by MXN or USD.
- Keep the invoice or review record as auditable evidence.
Expected result
The plan and access state match verified payment evidence without exposing credentials or cross-tenant records.
B5Subscription controlsManage renewal, seats, and cancellation
Review the next billing date, keep team members within the plan seat limit, and schedule or reverse end-of-period cancellation from Billing.
Organization owner
Manage renewal, seats, and cancellation
Review the next billing date, keep team members within the plan seat limit, and schedule or reverse end-of-period cancellation from Billing.
What to verify
- Review the next billing date, keep team members within the plan seat limit, and schedule or reverse end-of-period cancellation from Billing.
- Confirm the displayed amount uses $#,###.## followed by MXN or USD.
- Keep the invoice or review record as auditable evidence.
Expected result
The plan and access state match verified payment evidence without exposing credentials or cross-tenant records.
ƒCalculation referenceOpen formulas
- Landed unit cost
- Effective material + freight + insurance + duties + customs + handling + other costs, multiplied by the recorded FX rate. Checked included components are not added twice.
- Gross margin
- (Selling price − landed cost) ÷ selling price
- Markup
- (Selling price − landed cost) ÷ landed cost
- Available inventory
- On hand − reserved
!Common blockersOpen troubleshooting
No recommendation
Check supplier approval, quantity, MOQ, quote validity, required date, FX source, and delivery timing. Split alternatives may still be available.
Cannot approve
Reanalyze after refreshing the quote. Only the current fully eligible recommendation can enter approval.
AI cannot answer
Use a specific record number and confirm that authorized verified data exists. CPI will not invent missing evidence.
Need an explanation while you work?
Use Ask CPI for database-grounded help, open the searchable FAQ, or return to this visual guide from the sidebar.