Procurement departments are under more pressure than ever before. Rising costs, supply chain risks, complex supplier structures and increasing expectations from management have turned procurement into a key success factor for many companies.
At the same time, organizations have access to large amounts of procurement data. However, this data is often spread across ERP systems, Excel files, individual reports or different departments. As a result, many companies lack a central view of categories, suppliers, price developments, savings and relevant procurement KPIs.
What is procurement controlling?
Procurement controlling refers to the systematic planning, analysis, management and monitoring of all relevant procurement processes and procurement KPIs. The goal is not only to handle procurement operationally, but to manage it strategically based on reliable data.
Procurement controlling goes far beyond simple reports or regular Excel evaluations. It combines procurement data, supplier information, categories, price developments, savings potential and relevant KPIs into a single decision-making basis. This makes it visible where costs arise, which suppliers are strategically important, which categories require attention and where procurement can actively intervene.
Professional procurement controlling helps answer key questions such as:
How high is our procurement volume? Which categories generate the highest costs?
Which suppliers are strategically relevant? Where are price increases occurring? Which savings potential is realistic?
Are we buying at market level?
And which KPIs does management need for reliable decision-making?
This makes procurement controlling an important foundation for strategic procurement.
Why is procurement controlling important?
In many companies, procurement is responsible for a significant share of total costs. Even small price changes can have a major impact on margins, product costing and competitiveness. At the same time, markets are becoming less predictable. Raw material prices fluctuate, supply chains remain vulnerable and suppliers increasingly justify price increases with external cost developments.
Without professional procurement controlling, it becomes difficult for procurement departments to evaluate these developments in a structured and reliable way. When data is scattered across different systems or evaluated manually, information gaps quickly arise. Price increases are identified too late, savings are difficult to track and supplier evaluations are often based on individual pieces of information instead of a reliable overall view.
The risk is significant: decisions are made based on incomplete, outdated or inconsistent data. Procurement teams spend too much time on manual evaluations instead of actively steering procurement performance.
Procurement controlling creates transparency. It makes developments visible, standardizes KPIs and shows where action is required. This enables procurement teams to respond faster, negotiate on a stronger factual basis and strengthen their role as a strategic partner within the company.
1. Building a clean data foundation
The foundation of successful procurement controlling is reliable data. Every analysis is only as good as the data it is based on. In practice, however, this step is often underestimated.
Many companies start directly with reporting and analysis even though supplier master data, category structures, article information or invoice data are not consistently structured. Different spellings of supplier names, inconsistent category assignments, duplicate records or missing information can lead to inaccurate analysis results.
A clean data foundation means that relevant procurement data is complete, up to date and consistently structured. This includes purchase orders, invoices, supplier information, categories, article master data, prices and contract information.
2. Defining relevant procurement KPIs
KPIs are a central element of procurement controlling. They help make developments measurable and enable procurement to be managed more effectively. However, not every KPI is automatically relevant.
Many companies primarily measure what is easily available. This may include order volume, the number of purchase orders or the number of suppliers. These figures can be useful, but they do not automatically show whether procurement is performing successfully or whether existing potential is being used.
More important are KPIs that provide real steering information. These include savings, price developments, supplier performance, category development, maverick buying, deviations between purchase orders and invoices or the share of procurement volume managed strategically.
3. Using price developments and benchmarks
One of the most important topics in procurement controlling is the evaluation of price developments. Procurement departments are regularly faced with the question of whether supplier price increase requests are justified. Suppliers refer to rising raw material prices, energy costs, transport costs or labor costs. For procurement, however, such explanations alone are not sufficient.
Internal purchase prices show how a company’s own costs have developed. But they do not automatically answer the question of whether this development is in line with the market. This is why price benchmarking is becoming increasingly important in procurement.
In price benchmarking, internal price developments are compared with external market and price indices. This allows procurement teams to better assess whether a price increase is understandable or whether it exceeds actual market development. Especially in complex supplier structures and with recurring price increase requests, this creates a much stronger basis for negotiations.
Price benchmarking also shows which categories are particularly affected by price increases, where risks may arise and which price developments should be analyzed in more detail.
4. Using dashboards instead of manual reports
Many procurement departments still rely heavily on Excel. For individual analyses, Excel can be useful. However, in complex procurement structures, this approach quickly reaches its limits. Manual reports are time-consuming, error-prone and often not up to date.
Modern procurement controlling therefore requires central dashboards that present relevant procurement data clearly and consistently. A good procurement dashboard does not only show figures. It makes developments, anomalies and areas for action visible.
The key advantage is that all relevant information is brought together in one system. Procurement managers, strategic buyers and controlling teams can access the same data basis and generate their analyses directly from the system. This reduces manual effort, improves data quality and makes decisions more transparent and traceable.
If ad-hoc analyses are also possible, the added value increases significantly. Procurement teams can analyze specific questions at short notice without having to create new Excel files every time. For example, price increases, supplier developments, categories or savings potential can be examined directly within the system.
Procurement controlling with WebCIS
With WebCIS, SoftconCIS supports procurement departments in making ERP and procurement data centrally usable. Relevant data is transferred within a short period of time into a secure, web-based and ISO-certified system. From there, procurement KPIs, supplier and category analyses, price developments, price benchmarks, savings potential and AI-supported evaluations can be centrally analyzed and managed.
WebCIS was developed by procurement professionals for procurement professionals and is designed to reflect the actual requirements of strategic procurement departments. The solution helps companies not only make data visible, but translate it into actionable information.
The main added value lies in giving procurement teams a central, up-to-date and reliable data foundation. This makes it easier to assess price developments, identify savings potential faster, evaluate suppliers more transparently and make better-informed decisions.
