How do you develop and implement purchasing policies and procedures?

En FORSITIS, sabemos que el punto de partida de cualquier gran transformación es un análisis profundo de la situación actual. No se trata solo de revisar datos, sino de leer entre líneas. Evaluamos con precisión quirúrgica cada aspecto del proceso de compras, desde la cadena de suministro hasta la eficiencia operativa. Al realizar esta evaluación exhaustiva, identificamos oportunidades ocultas que otros podrían pasar por alto. Solo entendiendo a fondo la realidad actual se pueden construir políticas que realmente generen una ventaja competitiva. En FORSITIS, no evaluamos: descubrimos caminos hacia el éxito.

1️⃣ Assess your current situation and identify strengths and weaknesses of your existing purchasing policies. 2️⃣ Evaluate how your current purchasing policies meet your organizational needs and expectations, to identify areas of improvements. 3️⃣ Define your objectives and criteria for your purchasing policies (quality, cost, compliance, sustainability). 4️⃣ Determine what you want to accomplish with your purchasing policies, and how you will measure its performance and effectiveness. 5️⃣ Develop purchasing policies based on your objectives and criteria, including clear guidelines, rules and responsibilities. 6️⃣ Document your purchasing policies and procedures in a written format and communicate it to stakeholders and suppliers.

Key factors for assessing the current state of a purchasing process include efficiency, cost-effectiveness, compliance with regulations, supplier relationships, inventory management, and technology integration. Evaluate each factor to identify strengths and weaknesses, enabling informed decision-making and strategic improvements.

Some tips you should take into consideration: 1. Assess needs: Understand what your company buys, why, and how often. What is the global business aspiration in your company? 2. Compare suppliers: Look for quality, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. 3. Negotiate terms: Aim for favorable payment terms and bulk discount. 4. Set standards: Define quality and delivery expectations - like KPIs 5. Monitor compliance: Regularly review purchases against policies (maverick spend) 6. Update regularly: Adjust policies as your company's needs evolve.

Experience, and track! Before implementing anything, you must have had enough orders history so you can extract from this the right KPI for your specific situation. Assess the good things => positive goals KPI Assess the "less good" things => issues KPI From there, track and improve. This is easier said than done but it is the only way to implement the right procedures. You don't want to implement too heavy procedures for your team and you don't want to have too light and useless policoes. Make sure you hit the right balance!

Realizing our purchasing process was to slow and buroecratic, I mapped every operational step of following it and identifying delays - too long internal lead times. Instead of emailes, I suggested a digital approval system and centralized supplier database (like e-catalogue) to cut down time. After presenting my ideas, we tested them, leading to a cc. 30% reduction in processing times. The success of the pilot led to a company-wide rollout in our site (local level) significant improving efficiency. This experience showed me the power of simplifying process and embracing digital solutions for better, faster decision-making.

Objectives of your purchasing processes and criteria are one of the most important part. Following the idea of Mr. Sudy, reducing as much as possible the burocratic tasks and automatizing operational tasks would make the system much more efficient. Introducing IT tools and AI for monitoring and evaluation could help. At the time to define your criteria, your purchasing procedures should be defined accordingly. For instance, if sustainability is very important, then the supplier's evaluation process should be very consistent and specific to sustainability.

Experiencia en Forsitis: Definir objetivos claros es fundamental. En Forsitis, trabajamos estrechamente con nuestros clientes para establecer metas concretas, que guíen el desarrollo de sus políticas de compra. Sabemos que sin un objetivo claro, cualquier camino puede parecer correcto, pero también sabemos que esto puede llevar al fracaso. Soluciones Encontradas: Hemos desarrollado un enfoque basado en la colaboración para definir criterios que no solo optimicen costos, sino que también mantengan la calidad y fomenten relaciones sólidas con los proveedores. Establecer estos objetivos desde el principio facilita una implementación más efectiva y coherente de las políticas.

Experiencia en Forsitis: El desarrollo de políticas de compra es un arte que en Forsitis hemos perfeccionado a través de años de experiencia. Cada organización tiene sus particularidades, y diseñamos procedimientos que se ajusten a la cultura y necesidades específicas de cada cliente. Soluciones Encontradas: Nuestra experiencia nos ha enseñado a crear políticas que son claras, concisas y, lo más importante, prácticas. Hemos ayudado a empresas a establecer procedimientos que son fáciles de seguir para todos los involucrados, minimizando las ambigüedades y asegurando el cumplimiento sin generar resistencia.

Once you have defined your processes, there are two perspectives to develop your policies and procedures: 1) Internal: In your own organization, several purchasing processes must be defined according to your objectives (e.g sourcing process with strong focus on costs; or quantity forecast process with focus on reliable data and negotiations). 2) External: Towards suppliers, to provide very clear guidelines and procedures that they must accept. Another important aspect is the creation of purchasing contracts not only for commercial relationship, but also covering aspects such as NDA or Information Security Management System (ISMS).

Experiencia en Forsitis: La implementación es donde muchas buenas ideas fracasan. En Forsitis, hemos guiado a numerosas organizaciones a través del proceso de implementación, asegurando que las políticas de compra no solo se lancen, sino que se integren profundamente en las operaciones diarias. Soluciones Encontradas: Hemos aprendido que la clave de una implementación exitosa es la capacitación y el soporte continuo. Proveemos herramientas y formación que facilitan la adopción, y mantenemos una monitorización constante para realizar ajustes cuando sea necesario. Este enfoque proactivo asegura que las políticas no solo se implementen, sino que perduren.

To implement purchasing policies, the key is the clear communication and stability + reliability: - Towards employees: defined targets, clear guidelines, lean procedures and stability (no sudden changes) - Towards suppliers: Communication, help to implement, evaluation and monitoring.

Foster a culture of continuous improvement where employees are encouraged to propose suggestions for enhancing purchasing processes and procedures. Establish mechanisms for capturing and evaluating these suggestions to drive iterative improvements over time.

In my public procurement career, a key best practice has been the strategic implementation of new policies and procedures 📜, with a strong emphasis on comprehensive training 📚 and thorough compliance monitoring 🔍. By integrating systematic feedback mechanisms and aligning closely with regulatory standards, we have ensured that our team is not only well-informed about new policies but also skilled in their application. This approach has greatly improved both the efficiency 📈 and compliance ✅ of our procurement operations, establishing it as a successful model for policy implementation in public procurement.

Experiencia en Forsitis: Lo más importante que hemos aprendido en Forsitis es que las políticas y procedimientos de compra no son estáticos. Deben evolucionar junto con la organización y el mercado en el que opera. Soluciones Encontradas: Recomendamos siempre dejar espacio para la revisión y mejora continua. Hemos establecido ciclos de revisión periódicos para nuestros clientes, lo que permite ajustar las políticas a medida que cambian las circunstancias. Este enfoque flexible asegura que las políticas sigan siendo relevantes y efectivas a lo largo del tiempo.

Before you implement it is essential to ensure you have executive level support. This means that execs will comply AND communicate down the policy. Consider some sort of reporting metric on compliance. In the past I have created a "Pineapple Award"... it was sweet to get an award, but prickly because it was for non-compliance. Teams actively competed NOT to win this award that was handed out by the CEO. Additionally, it is imperative that you have the infrastructure to support the organization BEFORE you go live with requiring a procurement policy. Do you have enough hands for the influx of deals? Do you have a way to triage those critical quick turnaround purchases?

Purchasing is a vital part of any company, relying heavily on the team's ability to understand and adapt to the business's needs. This process involves regularly assessing how things are currently done to pinpoint any shortcomings and areas for improvement. By clearly identifying what the company needs both now and in the future, the purchasing team can create and implement policies and procedures that make buying more efficient and effective. This not only helps the company operate smoothly but also keeps it competitive in the marketplace. Clear communication, proper training, and regular updates are crucial to ensure these new methods work well and continue to meet the company's needs.