My Experience
This is the last subject I will cover for this series of Project Management blog posts, but Procurement is one of the components I have actual working experience with. I started working as a Procurement Manager in 2019 for a small consulting company working with several stores, a few cultivation facilities, and a single production facility. I was still working there when the COVID-19 pandemic started, so I got to experience the worst-case scenario for procurement.
What is Procurement Management?
Procurement management (generically) is the part that manages work done by outside sources. Often, this is simply purchasing tools and supplies from a vendor. Procurement also includes processes such as having digital assets created by an outside design company. This can also be having custom packaging made by an overseas manufacturer.
Procurement management requires much of the same kind of planning that the rest of the project will require. Often, careful research is needed on a vendor or product even if the interaction will only occur one time. A company can also request quotes from several vendors to compare the real prices each company will charge.
Methods
Qualified Sellers List
A qualified sellers list is a list of pre-approved vendors for buyers to use. These can be established on a per-project basis or be company-wide. These lists help save time for buyers since the options are limited to the list, which helps make the quote collection process much shorter, therefore getting the required work/products delivered sooner. In my previous work, my company preferred Amazon and Walmart for most things. However, I was required to source through a retail store owned by the same person as my company for as much as possible first, since they could obtain certain supplies at bulk prices I couldn’t get otherwise.
Contracts
Contracts are very important for procurement management. These can be beneficial for both seller and buyer because prices and purchasing volume can be agreed upon ahead of time. When working for another company, we often were committed to certain vendors despite the COVID supply chain issues and a lot of work was delayed. However, our contract had a clause that allowed our company to charge for damages due to delays. Luckily, I never saw this enacted while working there, but many vendors prioritized the work that was agreed to when this line was brought to their attention.
Conclusion
Overall, my experience in procurement was exciting and challenging. This career path so far is what led me to want to return to school for data management and information systems. Procurement lends itself so well to digital management and tracking.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this series of Project Management-related blog posts. Please leave a comment below on how your company handled procurement during the early days of COVID!
Check out the rest of this series here!