By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Understand the role of automation and RPA in modern procurement
• Distinguish between process automation, RPA, and AI-enabled automation
• Identify procurement processes suitable for automation
• Assess automation readiness and process maturity
• Design future‑state automated procurement workflows
• Build business cases for RPA initiatives
• Understand governance, controls, and risk management for automation
• Measure and sustain value from automated procurement processes

This course is designed for:

• Procurement and Strategic Sourcing Professionals
• P2P (Procure‑to‑Pay) and O2C Process Owners
• Category Managers and Contract Managers
• Shared Services and Procurement Operations Teams
• Finance and Accounts Payable Professionals
• Digital Transformation and Automation Leads
• ERP / SAP / Oracle Key Users and Business Analysts
• Managers responsible for efficiency, compliance, and cost optimization

No technical or programming background is required.

The course uses a hands‑on, practical, and decision‑oriented approach, including:

• Instructor‑led conceptual sessions
• Real‑world procurement automation case studies
• Process mapping and automation assessment workshops
• Group discussions and peer learning
• Demonstrations of RPA use cases (conceptual)
• Business case and ROI development exercises
• Governance and risk scenario analysis

Emphasis is on what to automate, why, and how to govern it, not how to build bots.

Day 1 – Procurement Automation Foundations

Topics:

• Evolution of procurement operations:
• Manual → Digital → Automated procurement
• Procurement pain points and inefficiencies
• Introduction to Automation & RPA:
• What RPA is (and is not)
• RPA vs workflow tools vs AI
• Where RPA fits in the procurement technology landscape
• End‑to‑end procurement process overview:
• Source‑to‑Pay (S2P)
• Typical procurement processes suitable for automation:
• Requisition creation
• Purchase order processing
• Supplier onboarding
• Invoice matching and validation
• Master data maintenance
• Benefits and limitations of RPA

Workshop:

• Identify automation opportunities across participants’ procurement processes

Day 2 – Designing & Governing Automated Procurement Processes

Topics:

• Process standardization as a prerequisite for automation
• Assessing automation readiness:
• Volume
• Rule‑based logic
• Exception levels
• Data quality

• Designing future‑state automated workflows
• RPA integration with ERP and procurement systems
• Controls, compliance, and audit considerations
• Managing risks:
• Errors and exceptions
• Data security
• Business continuity
• Change management and user adoption

Case Study:

• RPA implementation in Procure‑to‑Pay (P2P)

Practical Exercise:

• Redesign a procurement process for automation (current vs future state)

Day 3 – Value Realization, Scaling & the Future of Automation

Topics:

• Building a business case for procurement automation:
• Cost savings
• Cycle time reduction
• Compliance improvement
• Measuring automation performance:
• KPIs and benefits tracking
• Managing and scaling RPA:
• Bot lifecycle management
• Operating models (CoE vs decentralized)
• Automation roadmap for procurement
• RPA combined with AI:
• Intelligent document processing
• Chatbots for procurement support
• Predictive and cognitive automation
• Common pitfalls and reasons automation initiatives fail
• Future of procurement operations:
• Touchless procurement
• Autonomous P2P processes

Final Group Exercise:

• Develop a Procurement Automation & RPA Roadmap:
• Priority processes
• Expected benefits
• Governance model
• Implementation phases

CDGA attendance certificate will be issued to all attendees completing minimum of 80% of the total course duration.