The R&D Project cost and schedule status are the most important KPI’s for a procurement organization. Therefore, it is not surprising that the head of procurement or CPO focus his interest of these two areas. If you are the procurement representative in an R&D project, you should consider this. Many of you have faced already the balancing act to deliver the key message and not getting lost in all the details. I developed a PowerPoint template which addresses the expectations from senior management. This template was already used in many different reviews and is proven best practice.

I promise you, when you use this template, that the most important and relevant topics are addressed, which are of interest of a senior procurement manager. The template is not just an PowerPoint template and gives you also some guidance where to focus on in status report.

You put the expected purchasing volume of the new product (or the components) on the top of the slide. This gives the reviewer an impression of the impact of the new development on his/her overall purchasing volume.

I expect that you report the status on a regular basis. Therefore, the reviewer(s) should haver already some insights regarding the project. This topic is addressed by a status report on what was achieved and what are the next topics. This reporting style is inspired by a Kanban Board.

The reporting on schedule health and cost focuses on the overall situation and highlights the most critical components influencing schedule (parts on critical path) and the biggest cost drivers. You have demonstrated with the selection of these parts that you have understood the overall situation and that you are able to differ between relevant and non-relevant parts.

My experience shows that this information is absolutely sufficient to report the status of an R&D project from procurement perspective and still everything fits on one slide. Further information for deep dives etc. can be in the backup.

I hope this template makes your life a bit easier.

Here is the Link to the template: