Compare spend to a should-cost index

Know whether a category is drifting against the broader market, not just against last month's bill.

What you get

• Every purchase-catalog category linked to a public producer-price index series, so you can see cost drift without building the comparison yourself.
• Ranked suggestions for which index series fits a category, so you're not searching a catalog of indices by hand.
• An index_drift alert when your incumbent unit cost pulls away from the linked index beyond your workspace's threshold.

Linking a category to an index

1. Go to Settings → Should-cost indices.
2. Each purchase-catalog category you've imported appears as a row with a Suggestions column — the agent ranks index series it thinks fit that category.
3. Choose a series (a suggestion or one you pick yourself) and select Link.
4. The category's page now shows a sparkline comparing your unit cost against the index, plus the index's licence and attribution.

Suggested links are never auto-applied — the picker only ranks candidates. Nothing is linked until you select one and confirm, and you can Unlink a category at any time without losing its cost history.

How to read the comparison

The sparkline plots two lines: your incumbent unit cost and the linked index. A gap that's holding steady is normal — indices track a market average, not your specific supplier. A gap that's widening is the signal worth acting on: it means your cost is moving independently of the broader market, which is exactly what an index_drift alert on Alerts flags for you.

Tips

• Link categories with recurring spend first (steel, packaging, commodity inputs) — a category with one-off purchases won't show a meaningful trend.
• Each index series lists its source and licence tier next to the sparkline, so you always know where the comparison data comes from.
• If a category has no good match yet, leave it unlinked rather than forcing a loose fit — a mismatched index makes drift alerts noisy instead of useful.

Go further

• Understand your spend data — where category totals feeding the index picker come from.
• See what needs attention — how a drifted category turns into a savings recommendation.
• Set buying guardrails — the confidence and savings thresholds that gate what gets surfaced.
• Track contract renewals — the other calendar-shaped view of your purchase catalog.