Primary Activities of a Procurement Professional

Below I have tried to list the key activities of a procurement manager. His role 'can' include the standard contract management piece or that can be done by a separate team. It all depends on your organisation.

Note the focus on Cost savings.

Supplier and Supply Market Analysis – to conduct a detailed supplier and supply market analysis looking at facts and data analysis, reports and changes in technology and with the objective of providing deep and meaningful insight to Sourcing Management teams

Cost Modeling – to construct detailed cost models/purchase price analysis of goods and services that are supplied to Merck, typically this will require extensive supplier visits to create a complete understanding of the cost structure of suppliers.

Strategic Analysis – to conduct up to six separate forms of project analysis which turns the information gathered from 1) and 2) above into insightful, well structured breakthrough options and opportunities. Examples include Portfolio Analysis,

Supplier Preferencing and Day One Sourcing.

Negotiation Planning and Execution – to create detailed pre-negotiation plans, to lead and participate any prolonged negotiation sessions with suppliers and to conduct post negotiation debriefs and follow through plans

Sourcing – to create and execute RFIs, RFPs, RFQs together with subsequent structured information analysis wherever possible using modern electronic procurement processes

Reverse Auctions – to prepare, lead, conduct and implement Reverse Auctions on selected leverage categories

Contract Management – to prepare, finesse and implement appropriate forms of contract and commitment with suppliers

Supplier Performance Management – to ensure that appropriate supplier agreements and relationships have good supplier matrix embedded within them. Monitor, report, manage and continuously improve supplier performance

Category Team Membership – to be an active member of one or more category teams using the techniques and content created in 1) to 8) above as input in the creation of breakthrough strategies