Structured supplier discussions

How can you use AI to approach a supplier discussion with verified facts, precise questions and intended decisions?

1250 € per session, excl. VAT

In short

“Preparing a supplier meeting” is a private in-person session of half a day for procurement assistants and supply planners who participate in supplier discussions or operational managers required to report delivery or quality discrepancies. Groups of up to 12 participants, in French, with exercises on your own work cases.

Why this training?

A supplier meeting can descend into a series of complaints when discrepancies are not documented. Linking each point to an order, a goods receipt or a commitment makes it possible to ask factual questions and clarify what you want to achieve. AI can suggest a summary and organise the topics, but it can also invent a reason for a delay or make the tone unnecessarily harsh. This introductory session teaches participants to use its suggestions as a draft, never as evidence or as a contractual interpretation. Running case study: The fictitious organisation Terviane Connectique needs to meet with a supplier following two partial deliveries of connectors. The training file contains fictitious orders, goods receipt records, emails and a contract extract. Participants prepare a 45-minute meeting to clarify the discrepancies and request a timetable for resolving them, without presuming their cause. Transfer to the workplace: Before your next supplier discussion, reuse the template with an anonymised file authorised for use. Have the procurement manager review the facts and the intended decisions, then check after the meeting which questions received an actionable answer.

Objectives of this training

  • Identify useful facts and missing information in a supplier file.
  • Formulate a simple AI prompt specifying the context, sources and expected format.
  • Develop an agenda linking each topic to an expected outcome.
  • Draft factual, non-accusatory questions.
  • Check AI suggestions against the documents provided.

Who is it for and what are the prerequisites?

Roles and tasks concerned

  • Procurement assistants and supply planners who participate in supplier discussions.
  • Operational managers required to report delivery or quality discrepancies.

Prior skills

  • No prior AI knowledge required.
  • Understand common concepts relating to orders, deliveries and goods receipts, without requiring negotiation expertise.

What you will work on

  1. Discovering the assistance available and its limits

    Objective: Distinguish writing assistance from fact validation. General workings of generative AI, plausible but inaccurate answers, confidentiality of procurement information.

  2. Selecting the elements from the file

    Objective: Establish a factual basis for the discussion. Distinction between quantities ordered and received, written commitments, assumptions and missing information.

  3. Organising the topics and questions

    Objective: Prepare a discussion focused on concrete answers. Priorities, necessary participants, time allocated to agenda items, neutral wording and decisions subject to internal approval.

  4. Reviewing and testing the preparation

    Objective: Assess the quality of the file before sharing it. Checking sources, consistency of expectations and the distinction between a proposal, a decision and a confirmed commitment.

What you take away

  • Summary sheet of discrepancies and unknowns, with source references.
  • Timed agenda with participants and expected outcomes.
  • Question framework and template for recording commitments.
  • Completed checklist with corrections to the AI draft.

Method and assessment

  • Short teaching inputs followed by immediate practice using the running case study.
  • Individual work followed by work in pairs, with peer review of the outputs.
  • Guided group review: what works, what needs correcting and what remains a human decision.
  • Preparation: Arrange access to a generative AI tool authorised by the organisation; no specific commercial tool is required. Familiarise yourself with the fictitious file provided; any additional example must be anonymised and authorised for use.

Observable criteria: Each discrepancy included refers to a document in the file. ; Causes that have not been established are identified as unknown, without accusation. ; The agenda totals 45 minutes and specifies the expected outcome of each item. ; The questions allow participants to request a responsible person, an action or a deadline. ; The final check identifies and corrects any unsupported claim..

Frequently asked questions

Do you need to have used AI before?

No. The initial prompts are guided and built from the documents in the training file.

Can you upload an actual supplier contract?

The exercises use fictitious or anonymised documents, only in authorised tools and in accordance with internal confidentiality rules.

Can AI explain the delays?

AI can suggest questions, but no cause is accepted without supporting evidence or confirmation from the supplier.

Does the session cover price negotiations?

No. The session focuses on factual preparation for the discussion, not on defining commercial concessions.

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