Procurement operating models built for what technology can now do
I help procurement leaders decide how the function should work, then make the technology decisions that go with it. The work is judged on how the function performs afterwards and what that means for the business.
James Belshaw · Sixteen years in procurement, client side →Every organisation already has a procurement code
It's the rules and habits by which it spends. The trouble is that it lives in documents and people's heads, not in the systems where spending happens.
How you've decided to spend
The governance code
The technology that runs it
The digital code
Procurement Code works on the strategy and the technology decisions together.
Sound familiar?
Each is a good place for a diagnostic to start →A procurement platform renewal is coming up and nobody has decided what comes next
The platform is live, but people still use the old routes
Supplier onboarding takes weeks, whatever the supplier's risk
Legal, finance and IT join the process too late
A new CPO needs a plan the board will back
Does the code hold in your function?
Nine stages from engage to exit, and six governance areas that run across all of them. Your own team does the rating in the session.
The map shows where your team sees the governance code stop being carried out. The full diagnostic then checks that view against your own spend and process data.
You leave with your own map
Example onlyRated in the session by your own team, which is why the priority order is yours.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- Stage 1: Engage and plan
- Stage 2: Source
- Stage 3: Negotiation
- Stage 4: Contract
- Stage 5: Onboard
- Stage 6: Purchase
- Stage 7: Pay
- Stage 8: Manage and perform
- Stage 9: Exit and offboard
The business engages
- 1Engage and plan
- 2Source
- 3Negotiation
- 4Contract
- 5Onboard
- 6Purchase
- 7Pay
- 8Manage and perform
- 9Exit and offboard
The supplier exits
Governance, across every stage
- Policies
- Data and context
- Performance
- Knowledge
- Reporting
- Controls
Three questions I help answer
What should we change first?
The diagnostic, procurement strategy and the operating model. Where the function is going and the order to do things in.
Strategy and operating model →Which technology should we choose?
Technology evaluation, proofs of concept and Readiness Reviews, run on your side of the table.
Technology decisions →How do we make it work?
Design authority during the build, governance and the change that gets people onto the new routes.
Implementation and change →Where Procurement Code specialises
Intake, orchestration and autonomous sourcing are where the strategy, the operating model and the technology decisions all meet.
Intake and orchestration
Deciding what intake and orchestration should change in your organisation, and getting it ready. From the first use case to the Readiness Review, the Blueprint and adoption.
- 01Diagnostic session
- 02Readiness Review and proof of concept
- 03Blueprint
- 04Adoption and the next phase
Autonomous sourcing and negotiation
Deciding which sourcing work should run itself, and getting your people, process and mandate ready for it. Whether the team runs events, the business runs its own or a person stays in the loop.
- 01The sourcing engine diagnostic
- 02Sourcing analysis
- 03Getting ready for live events
James Belshaw
Founder, Procurement Code
Sixteen years in procurement on the client side, at the Ministry of Defence, Rolls-Royce, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Centrica and Primark. I've configured the platforms I advise on and taken orchestration and agentic spend analytics live inside a FTSE 100 group.
More about meWhat's different about working with me
Experience as the client
I know where implementations get stuck because I've been the client.
Strategy and technology together
The strategy already contains the technology decisions and the operating model they need.
Independent of the vendors
No resale and no commission. I can work alongside a large firm or your integrator.
Where would you start?
A free diagnostic session with your leadership team shows whether there's work worth doing and where it would begin.
The free diagnostic
- One hour, online or in person
- Nothing to prepare
- Your map the next day
- No vendor in the room