Procurement improvement starts with an honest diagnosis. These 25 questions help a team identify where unclear purpose, ownership, process, data or technology is limiting outcomes—and choose a small number of changes that matter.
TL;DR
Score evidence, not aspiration.
Do not treat all 25 questions as simultaneous projects.
Fix ownership and operating rules before automating them.
Choose the three gaps that most affect business outcomes, then assign owners and measures.
How to use the checklist
For each question, use a simple evidence scale:
0 — absent: no consistent approach.
1 — informal: it depends on individuals.
2 — defined: documented and usually followed.
3 — evidenced: ownership, adoption and outcomes are visible.
Ask the business, finance, legal and supplier owners for evidence as well as procurement. A process can look mature from inside the team and feel unusable to everyone else.
Purpose and operating model
Can the team explain its purpose in business-outcome language? Move beyond “control spend” or “save money” to the decisions, risks and services procurement improves.
Is there a clear service model? Stakeholders should know what procurement provides, when to involve it and what response to expect.
Are decision rights explicit? Name who owns demand, supplier selection, contracts, exceptions and performance.
Is work segmented by value, risk and complexity? A repeat low-risk purchase should not follow the route designed for a strategic supplier.
People and capability
Do roles reflect recurring work and real authority? Titles should match the problems people can actually solve.
Does the team know its capability gaps? Use role-based evidence across commercial, analytical, supplier, process, data and technology skills.
Are senior stakeholders actively sponsoring the operating model? Procurement cannot enforce cross-functional decisions through policy alone.
Is development tied to live work? Build capability through negotiations, category decisions, process redesign and supplier interventions.
Demand, sourcing and process
Is there one clear front door for requests? Intake should guide users without forcing every need through one workflow.
Are requirements challenged before suppliers are selected? Unnecessary demand and over-specification should be addressed early.
Is the sourcing route chosen deliberately? Use direct negotiation, RFI, RFQ, RFP, catalogue or another route according to the decision.
Do approvals change decisions? Remove approval theatre and retain gates that manage real authority, budget or risk.
Are exceptions visible and owned? Measure late involvement, urgent routes, missing data and rework.
Data and measurement
Can the team trust core supplier, spend and contract data? Identify systems of record and named data owners.
Does the pipeline show upcoming decisions? Renewal dates, category events and business demand should be visible early enough to create options.
Are metrics linked to outcomes? Balance commercial value with cycle time, adoption, risk, supplier performance and business experience.
Are value claims governed? Define baselines, attribution, timing and ownership before reporting savings or avoidance.
Suppliers, contracts and risk
Are suppliers segmented? Apply deeper relationship and risk management where importance justifies it.
Does every material contract have an owner? The owner should understand obligations, performance, changes, renewal and exit.
Do supplier reviews lead to decisions? Replace slide-reporting with actions, owners, dates and escalation.
Is risk integrated into the lifecycle? Assess relevant risk at selection, onboarding, monitoring, change and exit.
Are renewals treated as decisions rather than dates? Start with performance, demand, market options and switching constraints.
Technology and continuous improvement
Does each system have a defined job and owner? Clarify workflow, financial, supplier, contract and analytical systems of record.
Is automation applied to stable work? Do not encode unresolved policy, poor data or unclear authority.
Does the team run a visible improvement backlog? Prioritise problems by business impact, effort, dependency and evidence.
Turn the scores into action
Collect examples and disagreement, not only scores.
Identify the three gaps with the greatest effect on outcomes.
Write the root cause and the decision needed.
Assign one accountable owner and a small set of actions.
Choose a measure that shows whether the experience or outcome changed.
Review progress monthly and rescore after material changes.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good total score?
The total is less useful than the pattern. A low score in ownership or trusted data can undermine several apparently mature areas.
Should every team aim for the highest maturity?
No. Maturity should be proportionate to organisational needs. The goal is reliable outcomes, not maximum process complexity.
Who should complete the assessment?
Include procurement, business users and key partners such as finance, legal and technology. Different perspectives expose hidden failure points.
Where should a new team start?
Start with purpose, decision rights, demand segmentation and visibility of suppliers and contracts. These create the foundation for later process and technology work.
Continue exploring
Use the procurement operating model guide, procurement process flow, procurement skills matrix and software evaluation guide to turn the highest-priority gaps into a work plan.