Training course · AI Agents · Procurement

AI Agents for Procurement Teams

Agentic AI for business teams: understand AI agents, automate workflows safely and keep control with human-in-the-loop and governance.

Duration
2 days (14 hrs)
Format
Online or on-site
Language
German or English
Participants
open dates or exclusive for your team
Certificate
Certificate of attendance

Overview

“AI Agents for Procurement Teams” is designed for roles such as Strategic buyers and category managers, Operational buyers and material planners and Heads of procurement and CPOs and shows step by step how to use AI Agents productively, safely and transparently in Procurement – from the fundamentals to advanced workflows.

AI agents go a step beyond conventional chat assistants: they plan sub-tasks, use tools such as search, files or business applications and complete multi-step work largely on their own. Over two days you will learn how agents are built, how they differ from chatbots and traditional automation, and which tasks genuinely justify their use. Widely used platforms serve as practical examples, including Microsoft Copilot Studio, custom GPTs and Claude with projects and tool connections.

In the hands-on sessions you design agent workflows for tasks from your own area of work, from triaging requests through research and drafting to handing results over to business systems. You decide where a person reviews and approves, which permissions an agent receives and how errors are detected. A dedicated block covers governance, data protection and accountability, so that your agents not only work but remain controllable, traceable and defensible within your organisation.

Procurement has evolved from order processing into a strategic value driver: cutting costs, securing supply, managing supply chain risk and meeting sustainability requirements. Generative AI supports buyers in every phase of the source-to-pay process. AI assistants draft specifications and tender documents, compare bids, summarise supplier contracts and prepare negotiations with arguments and scenarios. AI agents and automation research potential suppliers, analyse spend data, monitor risk signals such as insolvency or delivery delays and process order confirmations. This gives procurement more time for supplier development and strategic category management. Reliable master data, clear approval rules and careful handling of confidential terms and supplier information remain essential.

The course is delivered live – either online in a virtual classroom or on-site in our training rooms in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern. We can also run it exclusively for your team.

Who is this course for?

  • Strategic buyers and category managers
  • Operational buyers and material planners
  • Heads of procurement and CPOs
  • Supplier managers and supplier quality engineers
  • Public sector procurement staff

Typical challenges we address

  • Comparing bids with different structures quickly and fairly
  • Keeping track of supplier risks and supply chain due diligence obligations
  • Drafting precise tender documents and specifications
  • Making spend data from different systems usable for analysis

What you will be able to do

  • You can explain how AI agents are structured and clearly distinguish them from chatbots and classic automation.
  • You can select a suitable agent platform for your requirements using transparent criteria.
  • You can design an agent workflow for a real process in your area and build a working prototype.
  • You can define human-in-the-loop checkpoints, test cases and escalation rules.
  • Use AI for tenders, bid comparisons and negotiation preparation.
  • Analyse spend and supplier risks with AI support in a data-driven way.
  • Take confidentiality, public procurement law and supply chain due diligence into account when using AI.

Course outline

Day 1

Module 1 What makes an AI agent
  • Agent building blocks: language model, instructions, knowledge, tools and memory
  • How agents differ from chatbots, macros and classic workflow automation
  • Levels of autonomy: from suggestion-making assistants to agents that act independently
  • Realistically judging which tasks suit agents and which do not
Module 2 Platform overview: Copilot Studio, GPTs and Claude
  • Microsoft Copilot Studio: agents grounded in company data and connected to Microsoft 365
  • Custom GPTs: configuring instructions, knowledge files and actions
  • Claude with projects, knowledge bases and tool access via the Model Context Protocol
  • Selection criteria: data access, integrations, administration and licensing
Module 3 Designing and building agent workflows
  • Breaking tasks into steps and defining hand-offs between agent and human
  • Writing system instructions, examples and knowledge sources for consistent output
  • Connecting tools: search, documents, email, spreadsheets and business applications
  • Building a prototype agent for a real process from your own area
Module 4 Human-in-the-loop, quality and error handling
  • Setting approval steps, escalation rules and thresholds for human review
  • Test cases, evaluation criteria and spot checks for quality assurance
  • Common failure modes: wrong tool choice, endless loops and fabricated facts
  • Using structured user feedback to improve the agent over time

Day 2

Module 5 Governance, security and roll-out
  • Roles and responsibilities across business units, IT, data protection and works council
  • Least-privilege permissions, logging and protection against prompt injection
  • Positioning under the EU AI Act and GDPR: transparency, documentation and data flows
  • From pilot agent to production: operation, maintenance and measuring success
Module 6 Practice lab: Procurement
  • Drafting specifications
  • Bid comparison
  • Negotiation preparation
  • Supplier research
  • Spend analysis
  • Supplier risk monitoring
Module 7 Data protection, quality & transfer to daily work
  • Bids, terms and supplier contracts are trade secrets and may only be processed in approved AI environments; contact details are subject to the GDPR. Public contracting authorities must also comply with procurement law and equal treatment, and companies may be subject to supply chain due diligence legislation.
  • Ground rules for safe AI use in your team
  • Checking results: facts, sources, tests and the four-eyes principle
  • Personal action plan for the next 30 days
  • Open questions, outlook and resources for further learning

Practical scenarios from your field

Drafting specifications

An AI assistant turns requests from business units into structured requirement specifications and statements of work, closes gaps by asking follow-up questions and keeps wording product-neutral.

Bid comparison

AI extracts prices, lead times, payment terms and deviations from the request from differently structured bids and builds a comparison matrix as the basis for the award decision.

Negotiation preparation

Market information, price trends and supplier history are turned into negotiation strategies with targets, concessions and arguments, plus role plays to prepare for difficult conversations.

Supplier research

AI supports the search for alternative sources, summarises publicly available information on potential suppliers and creates questionnaires for supplier qualification.

Spend analysis

Spend data from ERP exports is classified with AI support, mapped to categories, consolidation opportunities identified and results presented clearly for management.

Supplier risk monitoring

Automations monitor news and public sources on key suppliers; AI assesses signals of insolvency, sanctions or human rights risks and alerts the responsible people early.

Prerequisites

You should already use an AI assistant such as ChatGPT, Copilot or Claude on a regular basis. No programming skills are required. You work in procurement or purchasing and know your organisation's sourcing processes.

Technical requirements

You will need a laptop with an up-to-date browser. Ideally you have access to at least one agent platform such as Copilot Studio, ChatGPT with GPTs or Claude; practice accounts can be provided if needed.

Data protection & compliance

Bids, terms and supplier contracts are trade secrets and may only be processed in approved AI environments; contact details are subject to the GDPR. Public contracting authorities must also comply with procurement law and equal treatment, and companies may be subject to supply chain due diligence legislation.

Suggested dates

All dates are suggestions – your preferred date is always possible.

  • Wed, 25 November 2026 – Thu, 26 November 2026 Online Request
  • Mon, 7 December 2026 – Tue, 8 December 2026 Bremen Request
  • Thu, 7 January 2027 – Fri, 8 January 2027 Augsburg Request
  • Tue, 19 January 2027 – Wed, 20 January 2027 Online Request
  • Tue, 26 January 2027 – Wed, 27 January 2027 Salzburg Request
  • Tue, 2 February 2027 – Wed, 3 February 2027 Online Request

Frequently asked questions

Do I need programming skills to build AI agents?

No. The platforms used on the course rely on visual interfaces, plain-language instructions and ready-made connectors. You learn to specify agents precisely from a business perspective, connect tools and test workflows. Where deeper technical integration would be needed, you will know which requirements to put to your IT team.

Which platform will we use during the course?

The course is vendor-neutral and uses Microsoft Copilot Studio, custom GPTs and Claude as examples. You build your prototype on the platform that is available or planned in your organisation. The principles of workflow design, control and governance you learn carry over to other agent solutions as well.

How do I stop an agent from acting without control?

Through deliberate design: agents receive only the minimum permissions they need, critical actions such as sending, booking or deleting require human approval, and every step is logged. In addition, you define test cases and escalation rules. These are exactly the control mechanisms you develop for your own use case during the course.

May AI decide on contract awards?

AI can structure and compare bids and highlight anomalies. The award decision is made by procurement according to defined criteria. In the public sector, the decision must also be documented and traceable under procurement law. We show how to integrate AI support transparently into your award process.

How do we protect confidential supplier terms?

Use only approved enterprise environments where inputs are not used for training and data processing is contractually governed. Terms offered by other bidders must never find their way into communication with suppliers. In the course we discuss practical rules for handling sensitive procurement data.

How much does “AI Agents for Procurement Teams” cost?

The course costs a flat €949 plus VAT per participant – whether online or on-site. This includes 2 training day(s) with a live trainer, course materials, a lab environment and a certificate of attendance.

Can I suggest my own date?

Yes. Our suggested dates are just a guide. In the request form you can always describe your preferred date or period in free text – we check availability and confirm within one working day.

Is the course online or on-site?

Both are possible: live online in a virtual classroom or on-site in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart or Kaiserslautern. We can also run the course exclusively for your team.

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