Description
Discover and master the fundamentals of purchasing by understanding your strategic and tactical roles as a purchasing practitioner. Improve your company’s bottom-line profitability by learning and implementing key concepts such as negotiation, supplier sourcing and qualification, outsourcing and make-or-buy analysis. Learn the basics of supplier partnerships, capital budgeting and green buying.
In this six-week online course, you will learn how to define internal customer needs, generate purchase requisitions and purchase orders, expedite, trace and receive supplier deliveries, maintain effective purchasing records and create and manage various purchasing budgets. I will help you learn about business law, contracts, leasing, Six Sigma and total quality management (TQM). You will learn how to recruit, select and evaluate purchasing personnel, and learn the importance of business ethics.
Outline
WEEK 1
In this first lesson, you’ll learn about the various types of professional purchasing certification, including those offered by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) and the National Institute of Government Purchasing (NIGP). You’ll also discover the significance of buying on a total cost basis and learn how savings you generate for purchased materials and services improve your company’s bottom-line profitability. Then, you’ll learn how to set a vision and mission statement, and how to develop objectives and strategies as well as the steps and techniques that contribute to a successful negotiation outcome.
WEEK 2
To help you effectively manage purchasing activities, this lesson presents a seven step-cycle that begins with need recognition and ends with receipt of delivery. You’ll also learn about four different forms of competition (monopoly, oligopoly, full competition, and perfect competition) and see how competition affects prices. Then, we’ll conclude our exploration of the purchasing cycle by discussing steps six and seven (perform follow-up and receive the delivery).
WEEK 3
Discuss the importance of proper source selection, and how to prepare a prospective supplier list. You’ll find out how to evaluate each supplier-sourcing element and determine when to conduct a supplier visit. Then, we’ll discuss the purpose of green buying and review its 3Rs (reduce, reuse, and recycle). You’ll also learn all about competitive bidding and understand how to use a request for quotation (RFQ) or a request for proposal (RFP).
WEEK 4
Learn about important legal matters that purchasing professionals encounter daily. Then, we’ll look at Six Sigma and Total Quality Management (TQM), and identify how these philosophies and methodologies benefit organizations. You’ll also learn about the elements of a supply chain, Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II), and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).
WEEK 5
In this lesson, you’ll discover the primary purposes, advantages, and disadvantages of budgets. We’ll cover how to select a budget period, review variable budgets, and understand budget variances. Then, learn to effectively participate in assisting with requests for capital expenditures, serving on capital budget evaluation committees, and leading teams to acquire capital assets.
WEEK 6
Discuss the prerequisites and elements of a supplier partnership. We’ll also explore ethics and organizational politics and study their effects on purchasing practitioners. And finally, you’ll discover how to recruit, select, and evaluate purchasing personnel.
Prerequisites / Requirements
Prerequisites:
There are no prerequisites to take this course.
Requirements:
Hardware Requirements:
- This course can be taken on either a PC or Mac device.
Software Requirements:
- PC: Windows XP or later.
- Mac: OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 or later.
- Browser: The latest version of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, or Safari (We recommend Firefox or Chrome).
- Adobe Flash Player. Click here to download the Flash Player.
- Adobe Acrobat Reader. Click here to download the Acrobat Reader.
- Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.
- Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.
FAQs
WHEN CAN I GET STARTED?
A new session of each course opens each month, allowing you to enroll whenever your busy schedule permits!
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Once a session starts, two lessons will be released each week, for the six-week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends.
HOW LONG DO I HAVE TO COMPLETE EACH LESSON?
The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes 2 weeks after each lesson is released, so you’re encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
WHAT IF I NEED AN EXTENSION?
The Final Exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the Final Exam has been released, you will have 2 weeks plus 10 days to complete the Final and finish any remaining lessons in your course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.
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