Which agent should VP Procurement start with?

Start with Should-Cost if input prices are the leak. Add Sourcing when the next event is live. Freight Bill Audit if carrier overcharges are already visible in AP.

Does the agent commit a price or award a bid?

No. A human still awards the event and commits the price. The agent drafts the comparison and the brief.

How is this different from a cost-engineer spreadsheet?

A spreadsheet is a file someone opens once a year. The should-cost re-prices when the driving index moves, with lineage, and travels into the RFx. See Should-Cost vs spreadsheet.

Do we replace our ERP or e-sourcing tool?

No. Agents read item, BOM, PO history, and bids from the stack you already run. Your ERP stays the system of record.

What about freight, which is still a large spend pool?

Freight Bill Audit stays on this role. It matches every carrier bill to contract, the same honesty Should-Cost brings to materials.

Should-cost, sourcing, and freight recovery for procurement

Walk into the room with a live should-cost, then keep the awarded terms honest on every bill.

Procurement teams still negotiate from last year's spreadsheet while indices move underneath the contract. DiscvrAI rebuilds the should-cost from your consumption, runs the event on landed cost, and keeps freight bills honest against the contract.

Live

should-cost vs last year's benchmark

Landed

bid comparison against the same number

100%

freight-bill audit coverage vs sampling

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What's blocking VP Procurements today

Cost engineers rebuild a handful of A-items once a year; the tail is a supplier quote.

RFQs compare headline prices, not landed cost against a live should-cost.

Awarded terms drift; AP matches the invoice to the PO, not to the deal you thought you struck.

Contract-to-invoice gaps on freight found weeks after overcharges post.

Negotiation briefs are assembled by hand the night before the meeting.

Category growth means analyst headcount growth for manual review.

Agents we deploy for this mandate

Each agent maps to a production module already running in the field. Start from the outcome; we scope the business case on your data before rollout.

Should-Cost & Rate Agent

Live should-cost you can defend

A live should-cost you can defend, not last year's benchmark.

See how we deploy this

Sourcing Agent

Landed-cost award, human decides

Run the event on landed cost, not headline quotes.

See how we deploy this

Freight Bill Audit Agent

1 to 3% freight recovery

Parse the contract, match the transaction, assemble the evidence pack.

See how we deploy this

See all agents in DiscvrAI Studio

What changes with agents on your stack

Today

With DiscvrAI

Buyers walk in anchored on last year's file or the supplier's quote.

Should-Cost & Rate Agent rebuilds the number from consumption and drivers; a human still commits price.

Bids compared on headline unit price.

Sourcing Agent normalises to landed cost against the live should-cost and drafts the brief.

Awarded terms watched, if at all, at the annual review.

Inbound invoices checked against awarded terms, not only against the PO.

Freight audit is quarterly and covers a sample of carriers.

Freight Bill Audit Agent matches every bill to contract as invoices arrive.

How we deploy it

8 to 12 weeks on your exports and operational data. A defensible outcome number before you commit to rollout.

Step 1

Scope

Agree one outcome, baseline KPI, and the exports or systems the agent will read.

Step 2

Deploy

Agent live on your ERP, WMS, or operational files within the engagement window.

Step 3

Measure

Track results against the baseline with named transactions and audit trails.

Step 4

Scale

Expand to adjacent modules or run independently. You own the code from day one.

Questions from buyers in this role

Scope this outcome for VP of Procurement

8 to 12 weeks on your exports and operational data. A defensible outcome number before you commit to rollout.

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