Procurement Catalog
A Procurement Catalog represents what your organization buys — or what is approved/standardized for sourcing. It is designed for procurement governance: comparable specifications, approved options, and a clean structure for RFQ/tender preparation.
Procurement catalogs are “buyer-owned” catalogs: they reflect procurement intent, standardization, and compliance.
When to use a Procurement Catalog
Use a Procurement Catalog to:
- create an approved list of products for sourcing (project, plant, region, or category)
- standardize procurement specifications across teams
- accelerate RFQ/tender preparation with pre-defined characteristic lists
- collaborate with suppliers on structured, comparable product data
What a Procurement Catalog typically contains
- products you approve or commonly purchase
- structured attribute requirements (comparable specs, controlled units)
- supporting documents (standards, required certificates, compliance references)
- procurement items (optional): placeholders for needs where the exact product is not selected yet
Visibility and collaboration
Procurement catalogs are often private and shared with:
- internal stakeholders (engineering, maintenance, procurement)
- selected suppliers (for structured response and data alignment)
Best practices
- Define “must-have” characteristics clearly (mandatory attributes, units, allowed values).
- Use the catalog as a governance asset: one standard list prevents “shadow purchasing”.
- Keep alternatives explicit: preferred vs acceptable options can be represented as curated sets.