Send one clear request for quotation to every supplier on the list
Fill one sheet with the parts, quantities and dates, and list the suppliers to ask. Claude drafts one request for quotation per supplier, the same content for each, asking every one to quote in the same format so the answers line up.
FullPurchasingWhen you need it
Set it up6 steps
Open the Claude desktop app and sign in with the Claude account you use for work. On a personal Free, Pro or Max plan, chats can be used for training unless you switch off SettingsPrivacyHelp improve Claude.
No account yet? Ask your manager.
Where things are in Claude
- CustomizeConnectors In Claude's left sidebar: connect your email and files.
- /schedule Type it in a new Cowork task to run a prompt on a schedule.
- Scheduled In Claude's left sidebar: what runs, to pause or change it.
- Once for the whole company: your Microsoft admin approves Claude's Microsoft 365 connector and turns on its write tools, so Claude can save drafts and files. If connecting asks for an admin's approval, this is still to do: send them this step.
- Make an "RFQ" sheet in your Purchasing folder, one row per part: part number, description, drawing number and revision, material, yearly volume, lot size, the date you need parts, and the documents you need (material certificate, PPAP level). Put the drawings in the same folder.
- On a second tab, list the suppliers to ask: company, contact, email address, language, and whether an NDA is signed. Add your current or target price per part if you want it in your summary; it never goes to a supplier.
- Connect Microsoft 365 under CustomizeConnectors, and in Cowork connect your Purchasing folder in OneDrive or SharePoint (the one synced to this computer).
- Open Cowork, paste the prompt and add the quote deadline.
- Attach the drawings to each draft yourself, read it, and send it. Claude only drafts; you send. When the quotes come back, the quote comparison workflow lines them up.
Set this up on your computer: the Claude desktop app runs it.
The prompt
- Read the "RFQ" sheet in my Purchasing folder and the drawings next to it. The quote deadline is below.
- 1. Check each drawing against the sheet: drawing number, revision, material, and any special requirement on it (heat treatment, coating, critical characteristics). Where the sheet and a drawing disagree, list the differences for me and draft nothing until I confirm: no request goes out on the wrong revision.
- 2. For each supplier on the list, draft one request for quotation in the supplier's language, with the same content for every supplier: the parts with drawing number and revision, material, yearly volume and lot sizes, the date we need parts, and the documents we need.
- 3. Ask each one to quote in the same format: unit price per lot size, tooling cost and who owns the tool, sample and series lead times, minimum order, payment terms, delivery terms (Incoterms) and how long the quote is valid. Ask them to list any exception or assumption separately, to confirm within 3 working days whether they will quote, and to send the quote by the deadline.
- 4. Write one email per supplier, to that supplier's contact on the list only. Never name another supplier, and never write our current or target price. If a supplier's NDA column is empty, put [CHECK: NDA before drawings] at the top of their draft. End each draft with the list of drawing files to attach. Save each as a draft in my email. If you cannot save drafts, put them in your answer for me to copy. Do not send anything.
- 5. Add an "RFQ tracker" tab to the sheet: supplier, date drafted, confirm-by date, quote deadline, status.
- 6. For me only: a short summary of what was asked, with our current or target price per part where the sheet gives one, and anything in the drawings that could make the quotes hard to compare.
- Never invent a quantity, a date or a requirement that is not in the sheet or the drawings: write [TO FILL: what is missing].
If your company keeps technical drawings out of AISafe version
Drawings are never opened: Claude uses the drawing numbers and revisions in your sheet, and you check the revisions and attach the files yourself.
What you get
One draft per supplier with the same parts, quantities, deadline and reply format, every drawing revision checked against the sheet, and a tracker for the replies.
Get this workflow for your team
Two minutes each: everyone gets a plan of ready workflows like this one, inside your company's rules.
Your manager sees progress and hours. Never what Claude reads or writes.
FirstPrompt's workflow library adapts parts of Anthropic's knowledge-work-plugins (Apache-2.0), rewritten by FirstPrompt. Source and licence