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ChemCloud Exercises: Procurement & Purchasing

Purpose: Hands-on walkthrough of core ChemCloud workflows for Procurement teams, covering sourcing requests, quote management, AI-powered quote analysis, and purchasing decisions.

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What We Want to Get Out of This

  1. Show how an end-to-end workflow works — from sourcing request through quotes, comparison, and purchase
  2. Demonstrate the capability of AI — see how ChemCloud’s AI agents extract quotes, analyse pricing, and surface insights
  3. Feel how an AI agent can be like an additional member of the team — delegate tasks, ask questions, and let it handle the manual work

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Before You Start

  • Log in to the ChemCloud demo environment
  • Have some supplier quotes or quote emails to hand (PDF or email)
  • Keyboard shortcut to remember: Cmd+K (Mac) or Ctrl+K (Windows) opens the AI search/chat anywhere in the app

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Exercise 1: Create a Sourcing Request (~10 mins)

Objective: Pick a raw material you regularly purchase. Create a sourcing request, select suppliers, and send the RFQ.
1

Search for a Product

Type a product code into the home page search bar.
2

Select RFQ Details

Choose the suppliers to add to your request. Note you can add suppliers who don’t immediately appear.Select the volume you are looking for. Add a comment, a price target and a note. Review the email when you submit.
3

Try the AI

Open the AI Chat (Cmd+K) from the search bar in top navigation and ask about your request. Try asking about the suppliers you’ve selected, or what quotes you’ve received in the past for this material.
Expected Outcome: Sourcing request created and sent to selected suppliers.

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Exercise 2: Forward Quotes to ChemCloud via Email (~10 mins)

Objective: Simulate receiving quotes back from suppliers. Forward a quote to ChemCloud’s AI agent and see how it extracts pricing and details automatically.
1

Find Your Email Address

Navigate to ChemCloud AI → Email Inbox to find your ChemCloud email integration address.
2

Forward a Quote

Forward a quote email (or a PDF quote attachment) to your ChemCloud email address. The AI agent will automatically extract pricing, quantities, lead times, and other details.
3

Check the Results

Check back in ChemCloud to see how the AI processed the quote. Did it extract the right price? The right quantities and lead times? Did it match it to the correct request?
4

Try the AI

Ask the AI to summarise the quote you just forwarded. Try asking it to compare the price against what you’ve paid previously for the same material.
Expected Outcome: Quote automatically extracted and filed against the correct sourcing request.

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Exercise 3: Add and Edit Quotes Manually (~10 mins)

Objective: Not every quote comes in by email. Add a quote manually, then edit an existing one.
1

Add a Manual Quote

Go to your sourcing request and click Add Quote. Enter the supplier, pricing, lead time, and any conditions.Note the fields available:
  • Number of packs
  • ETA
  • Spot / Blanket Order
  • Currency
2

Edit an Existing Quote

Find one of your existing quotes and update a price or lead time. See how the change flows through.
3

Try the AI

Ask the AI to show you all the quotes for your request. Try asking which supplier offers the best value, or ask it to factor in lead time as well as price.
Expected Outcome: Quotes added and edited with full pricing details captured.

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Exercise 4: Compare Quotes and Select a Supplier (~15 mins)

Objective: Use ChemCloud’s comparison tools to review quotes side by side, select a winner, and proceed to purchase.
1

Compare Quotes

Review your quotes side by side. Look at price, lead time, payment terms, and any other factors.
2

Select and Purchase

Select a winning quote and go through the purchase steps:a. Check the volume is correct b. Review the terms c. Add the required-by date and comment d. Check the details and review the automations — particularly “send email to unsuccessful suppliers”
3

Try the AI

Ask the AI to recommend a supplier and see what reasoning it gives. Ask it to compare on a factor that isn’t captured (e.g., reliability). Try asking about price trends over time for this material.
Expected Outcome: Quote selected, purchase order created, and unsuccessful suppliers notified.

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Exercise 5: Search Previous Price History (~10 mins)

Objective: Use ChemCloud to look back at what you’ve paid for a material in the past and build a picture of pricing trends.
1

Browse Price History

Search across previous quotes and orders for a material to see historical pricing.
2

Try the AI

Ask the AI about pricing trends:
  • “What’s the average price we’ve paid for [material] over the last 12 months?”
  • “Which supplier has been cheapest for [material]?”
  • Try asking about a material you haven’t entered and see how it handles missing data.
Expected Outcome: Clear picture of historical pricing and supplier competitiveness.

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Exercise 6: Open-Ended AI Exploration (~10 mins)

Objective: Just play around. Ask the AI whatever questions come to mind about your sourcing data.
1

Supplier Frequency

Which suppliers are we using most frequently?
2

Single-Source Risk

Are there materials where we only have one approved supplier?
3

Lead Times

What’s our average lead time for a particular material?
4

Pending Quotes

What quotes are still pending or unanswered?
5

Try to Break It

Ask something the system definitely shouldn’t know. See if it admits uncertainty or confidently gives a wrong answer. Screenshot it if so!

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Things to Note

  • What questions did you want to ask that it couldn’t answer?
  • Were any responses wrong or misleading?
  • Did you manage to get it to confidently give a wrong answer? (Screenshot it if so!)