Consider how you would go about securing equipment and supplies for your home of
ID: 395041 • Letter: C
Question
Consider how you would go about securing equipment and supplies for your home office. Some of the items you require may already be available in your home. Others will need to be purchased. You complete some informal price comparisons, maybe search on the Internet, and then purchase the items you need and equip your office for use.
Now, think about how your approach would be different if you needed office equipment and supplies at work. How would you go about discovering the procedures for making the necessary requests? You need to consider: (1) what approvals will be necessary; (2) what cost constraints exist; (3) what business policies govern the purchasing of the equipment and supplies you need; and (4) which vendors you can use. Clearly, the second situation is more complicated and you will probably not succeed if you follow the same process you used in equipping your home office. In this Discussion, you will demonstrate your understanding of the significant impact procurement management has on both the organization and its projects.
What is the role of procurement and contracting for the organization and its projects?
In what ways does a formalized procurement process benefit an organization and contribute to project success?
Who are the major stakeholders in the procurement processes?
What are some strategies project managers can use to work with the stakeholder community to ensure that procurement activities are performed as expected?
Explanation / Answer
Procurement and contracting in an organization is involved with sourcing, purchasing, strategic planning and negotiating with external vendors in order to obtain the necessary materials for business. In many cases, it is seen as a process of simple transaction but the procurement process often bears high importance in the overall supply chain system. The key roles of procurement could be split in to following main portions.
These three factors factor provide the first level of input for any organization’s operation and projects. Thus if the system of procurement is out of control then the organization is impacted heavily.
A formalized procurement process means that the entire process from the forecast, decision making, negotiation and other activities of procurement is defined to follow a certain path. This makes the process of procurement systematic and organized. The benefits are
When we have low variability, reduced risk and a standard approach to procurement the same qualities are relayed into the project and the overall project quality is improved.
The major stakeholders in procurement process can be internal and external. The internal stakeholders include
The external stakeholders are the suppliers.
One of the first things a project manager can do is to get involved in the procurement process from the beginning in order to understand what kind input will be coming to the project. The strategy here should be similar to an early mover in the market. Getting involved in the procurement process from the onset of the project discussion will help the project manager understand the strength and the weakness of the procurement process and how it will impact the project. This also allows the project manager to forecast the overall project metrics in accordance to the input of the project.
Once involved, the project manager may wish to implement operational excellence methodologies such as Kaizen in order to keep improving the overall procurement system as time goes on.
Related Questions
drjack9650@gmail.com
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.