Hello all,
love to read here, but now I have a specific question about drilling down from high-level answers to detailed instructions, I’m still in the “figuring ChatGPT out”-stage…
My goal: I would like to develop a methodology to analyze certain departments of a company (let’s say procurement) and the outcome should be a step-by-step playbook of what I need to do, what I need to analyze, which KPIs, who to interview, what to ask etc.
On a high level, ChatGPT gives me the exact answers I would expect - is the strategy aligned, what is the org setup, are there enough people with the right skills, analyze KPIs, analyze processes, analyze policy documents etc.
Then I try to ask ChatGPT to break this down, i.e. expand on point 1 - “how do I analyze, whether the department goals are aligned with company strategy - give me a step-by-step instruction”.
But whatever I do, i never really end up with actionable to dos and steps that I could follow.
Any helpful hints on how I can prompt the system to break things down the way I need it to? Thank you!
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Hi and welcome to the Forum!
To give you some meaningful ideas on how to get better outputs, it would be helpful if you share your existing prompts in full or part. Additionally, perhaps you can describe in greater detail what a good output would look like to you?
Hey, thank you! I’ve tried different prompts with the help of prompt optimizer, two examples:
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You are a strategic advisor with over 20 years of experience in procurement. Drawing from your extensive background, I need you to develop a comprehensive methodology for a consultancy to conduct functional and organizational health checks of their clients’ procurement organizations. This methodology should include a step-by-step approach covering initial assessment, data collection, analysis, and reporting. Focus on identifying relevant Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that accurately measure effectiveness, efficiency, compliance, and strategic alignment. Additionally, guide me on sourcing benchmark data for comparative analysis, including industry standards and best practices. Ensure the methodology is adaptable to different organizational sizes and sectors, providing a clear roadmap for consultants to deliver actionable insights and recommendations.
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Task Description: You are an Procurement consultant with a focus on organizational development. I need you to create a detailed playbook for conducting a Procurement functional maturity assessment. This playbook should guide users through the process from start to finish.
Elements to Include: Detailed steps, types of workshops, interview formats, specific questions to ask, policies and processes to assess, and KPIs to evaluate.
Format & Length: The playbook should be comprehensive yet easy to follow, formatted as a step-by-step guide with checkpoints and examples.
Audience: This should be usable by consulting professionals at varying levels of expertise, from entry-level to senior management.
With prompts like these, ChatGPT gives me a really nice outline, similar to what you would receive if you ask it to come up with ideas for an article or a presentation.
Then I ask ChatGPT to “flesh it out” or to dive deeper into one of the points mentioned in the output (for example “Design a maturity scorecard”) and develop this point further.
Funny enough, the tool “Magic ToDo” that is meant to break down tasks into smaller chunks for people with ADHD is quite good at bringing high-level points to more actionable steps, but I can’t give it further instructions re formatting or methods to be used…
Thanks a lot for sharing the additional details. For some initial testing I have used your second prompt as a starting point and then asked the model with the prompt below to elaborate on KPIs specifically. As part of the prompt I included the chain of thought approach ("let’s think step-by-step), which typically yields more detailed results. Model responded with the below. Is this closer to what you had in mind?
Prompt
Please further detail the KPIs to evaluate. In your response please provide an expanded list of all KPIs to consider grouped into thematic areas complete with a definition of the KPI and the calculation methodology, the data sources and guidance regarding the interpretation of KPI values. Let’s think step-by-step.
Model response
Expanded List of KPIs for Procurement Functional Maturity Assessment
Thematic Area 1: Cost Efficiency and Savings
- Cost Savings
- Definition: Reduction in costs achieved through procurement negotiations and strategies compared to previous pricing.
- Calculation: (Previous Price - Current Price) x Quantity Purchased
- Data Sources: Purchase records, contracts, invoices.
- Interpretation: Higher values indicate better negotiation skills and cost management.
- Cost Avoidance
- Definition: Costs that have been anticipated and proactively eliminated through procurement strategies.
- Calculation: Estimated Cost without Intervention - Actual Cost with Intervention
- Data Sources: Budget forecasts, procurement project reports.
- Interpretation: Positive values reflect proactive measures to avoid unnecessary spending.
Thematic Area 2: Process Efficiency
- Procurement Cycle Time
- Definition: The average time taken to complete one full procurement cycle, from need identification to payment.
- Calculation: Total time for all procurement cycles / Number of cycles
- Data Sources: Procurement process tracking systems.
- Interpretation: Shorter cycle times typically indicate more efficient procurement processes.
- Purchase Order Cycle Time
- Definition: Time taken from the creation to the approval of a purchase order.
- Calculation: Average time from PO creation to PO approval
- Data Sources: Purchase order system logs.
- Interpretation: Decreases in time suggest improvements in internal process efficiencies.
Thematic Area 3: Supplier Performance
- Supplier On-time Delivery Rate
- Definition: Percentage of times suppliers delivered goods or services by the agreed deadline.
- Calculation: (Number of on-time deliveries / Total deliveries) x 100
- Data Sources: Supplier performance tracking systems, delivery logs.
- Interpretation: Higher percentages indicate more reliable suppliers.
- Supplier Quality Rate
- Definition: Measure of the quality of goods or services received from suppliers.
- Calculation: (Number of defect-free deliveries / Total deliveries) x 100
- Data Sources: Quality control reports, supplier audit results.
- Interpretation: Higher rates suggest better supplier quality and fewer disruptions.
Thematic Area 4: Compliance and Risk Management
- Contract Compliance Rate
- Definition: Extent to which procurement activities adhere to the terms of contracts.
- Calculation: (Number of compliant procurement activities / Total procurement activities) x 100
- Data Sources: Contract management systems, compliance audit reports.
- Interpretation: Higher rates indicate better adherence to contract terms and reduced risk.
- Percentage of Spend Under Management
- Definition: Proportion of total procurement spend that is actively managed and monitored.
- Calculation: (Managed spend / Total spend) x 100
- Data Sources: Financial systems, spend analysis tools.
- Interpretation: Higher percentages suggest more controlled and optimized spending.
Thematic Area 5: Digital Transformation and Innovation
- E-Procurement Penetration Rate
- Definition: Extent to which digital tools are used in the procurement processes.
- Calculation: (Value of e-procurement transactions / Total procurement transaction value) x 100
- Data Sources: E-procurement systems.
- Interpretation: Higher rates indicate a greater adoption of digital solutions.
- Innovation Procurement Rate
- Definition: Percentage of procurement spending allocated to innovative solutions or products.
- Calculation: (Spending on innovative solutions / Total procurement spending) x 100
- Data Sources: Innovation tracking systems, financial reports.
- Interpretation: Higher rates suggest a focus on innovation and potentially greater competitiveness.
This detailed breakdown of KPIs offers a comprehensive framework for assessing the maturity of procurement functions, providing clear definitions, methodologies, data sources, and guidance on interpreting the results. Each KPI should be evaluated in the context of the organization’s overall objectives and strategic priorities to inform actionable insights and improvement strategies.
What I will add as an additional consideration is that you can of course also add to the prompt as context a relevant example of what you would like the output to look like. By virtue of your role, you might have access to these materials and then can just inject it to steer the model even better in its response.
The other point is that often an iterative approach will yield best results. Meaning with every output you get, you ask the model to then go one level deeper for a subset of its previous response. So in the example here, you could as a next step prompt it to provide even more specific guidance for each thematic area of KPIs - but instead of asking that in a single prompt, you would break up the work into smaller manageable tasks and instead repeat this drill-down for each of the five thematic areas of KPIs.
Let me know if you have any further questions.
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Apologies for the lte reply!
This is absolutely awesome and a much better result than what I could come up with, thank you so much! I knew there had to be a prompting approach, but I couldn‘t find anything as I didn‘t have the right term for it. I‘ve already read up on the chain of thought approach and it is really helpful!
Thanks once again!
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