Quick dive into Procurement

via Udemy

Go to Course: https://www.udemy.com/course/quick-dive-into-procurement/

Introduction

Certainly! Here is a detailed review and recommendation for the Coursera course "Quick Dive into Procurement": --- **Course Review: Quick Dive into Procurement** **Overview:** "Quick Dive into Procurement" is an insightful course designed to elevate the standard of procurement practices and inspire professionals to view procurement as a strategic, valuable career path. Unlike many who may stumble into procurement without proper understanding or training, this course aims to provide a structured and practical foundation that emphasizes integrity, efficiency, and strategic thinking. **Content and Structure:** The course begins with an introduction to the fundamental elements of procurement, helping learners define what procurement truly entails and appreciate its significance within a business environment. This foundational knowledge sets the stage for understanding how procurement impacts organizational success. The program then delves into key considerations such as contracts and pertinent legislation, equipping learners with the legal and compliance awareness needed in procurement roles. These lessons underscore the importance of ethical practices and legal adherence in procurement activities. The core of the course, often regarded as the most valuable segment, focuses on the "discovery" phase of the procurement lifecycle. This is where learners explore practical skills such as gathering inputs like legislation, policies, governance requirements, and understanding internal and external needs. The emphasis on proactive requirement identification aims to prevent common pitfalls and roadblocks in procurement projects. Engaging with stakeholders, framing needs effectively, and conducting market research and sounding are also covered, providing learners with a comprehensive toolkit for initial procurement activities. The practical orientation encourages participants to apply what they learn immediately, especially if they have real procurement projects or roles to work on. **Strengths:** - Clear focus on the discovery and planning stages, which are often overlooked but critical for successful procurement. - Practical approach with actionable steps that can be immediately applied. - Encourages strategic thinking, ethical practices, and stakeholder engagement. - Suitable for beginners and those looking to reinforce foundational procurement knowledge. **Recommendations:** If you are new to procurement or seeking to solidify your understanding of its core principles and initial stages, this course is highly recommended. It provides a practical, real-world approach that will help you avoid common mistakes and build a solid basis for more advanced procurement activities. For those interested in further developing their procurement expertise, especially in planning and execution, this course serves as an excellent starting point. The mention of a follow-up course on procurement planning suggests a continued learning pathway, which is a valuable resource to pursue after completing this quick dive. **Final Verdict:** Overall, "Quick Dive into Procurement" is a well-structured, practical, and thought-provoking course that encourages professionals to approach procurement strategically and ethically. It’s an ideal choice for anyone looking to improve their procurement skills, whether you're just starting out or aiming to elevate your current practice. **Rating:** ★★★★☆ (4/5) --- Would you like assistance with any specific aspect of the course, such as enrolling, further resources, or creating a learning plan?

Overview

My goal is to help lift the standard of procurement and encourage people to pursue it as a profession, rather than something they just fall into. With that in mind, many do just fall into procurement and kind of just "wing it". Sure they get there in the end, but often engaging in questionable practices and finding out they have bound their organisation to a contractual obligation which may not provide value, or even solve the initial problem.This program will start by uncovering the basic elements of procurement, this will be looking at the key components and allowing us to define procurement and understand its impact to the business environment.We will then explore the core aspects which impact on procurement including contracts and other associated legislation. Once we have completed this quick dive we will jump into some practical stuff looking at the commencement of the procurement life cycle; the discovery stage.This what I've called Part 2 and this is where the course gets practical. To get the most out of this section it's recommended that you have an active procurement or something you can apply the learning to; after all the real learning happens when you apply it.In my experience I find that most of the issues faced in procurement can be traced back to the Discovery and Planning stages. That is where we identify our needs and when we make a plan to meet them. In this course we are going to focus on the discovery stage, there will be a follow on course which will look at procurement planning so if you end up getting value here you will be able to continue the application of your learning.In Part 2 we will explore and hopefully you will follow along and apply things starting with gathering all required inputs such as legislation, policy and understanding governance requirements, I find that many times these are not proactively uncovered and become roadblocks later in the process.Once you've understood the requirements we will then work on uncovering the internal and business needs; considering and defining the problem, working with stakeholders to frame their needs as well as discussing the importance of lessons learned and starting with insights from the past.Finally we will take a look into the supply side talking about things including market research and market sounding.Before closing out into what should pave the way for you to develop either a great business case or procurement plan.

Skills

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