Procurement refers to obtaining goods and services from outside companies. This specifically refers to vendors and suppliers. It does not refer to other internal organizations within your own company. (For the purposes of this discussion, “purchasing” and “procurement” are equivalent terms.) This is an area that project managers definitely need to understand at some level, and it is an area into which the project manager will give input. However, in many, and perhaps most companies, procurement is an area that the project manager does not own. The project manager normally does not have the authority to enter into contracts on behalf of the company, and he normally is not asked to administer the contracts once they are in place. (In some organizations the project managers have this authority, but my perception is that in most organizations they don’t.) 

If you are purchasing goods or services on your project, you should determine whether you will simply follow the procurement contracts and plans that are already established by your company or your organization.

Examples

• You may purchase hardware from companies using a pre-existing company contract.
• You may acquire contactors using a pre-selected preferred vendor list.

In some cases, the vendor identification and selection processes occur at an organization level.

For instance, your company may purchase a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system based on high-level management requirements. This CRM system would then be used on all subsequent projects – regardless of the specific needs of each individual project.

If your project team is actually conducting the vendor identification and selection process, you have some flexibility on when it is done. Many project teams perform the vendor identification and selection processes during the project Analysis Phase. This would be the case if you need to better understand your business requirements before you determine the vendor that can best meet the requirements.

Once the vendor is chosen, there are many procurement processes that are part of project management monitoring and control. This includes monitoring the vendor progress, answering questions, validating invoices, paying invoices, managing contractual issues, etc. Ultimately the procurement process concludes when the project is completed and all project contracts are closed.

In general the processes and techniques for procurement are not so hard, but it is an area where many project managers don’t have a lot of experience. In fact, many project managers only acquire procurement knowledge as a way to pass the PMP Exam.  

Document management is a part of communication management. It is important for the project manager to recognize the stages that a document must go through from creation to completion. This knowledge allows the project manager to understand the overall status of a document at any given time and helps ensure adequate time is allocated for the completion of the document. For instance, when a team member says they can complete a document in two weeks, are they saying that the document will be ready to circulate in two weeks or that the document will be completed and totally approved in two weeks? Not all documents need to go through all the stages of document creation and approval. However, depending on the document, one or more of the steps will be required.

Plan the document

Sometimes you can sit down and immediately start writing your document. Other times you need to think, prepare and plan first. This is especially true as your document gets larger and more complex. Preparation and planning, which includes outlining the content and structuring the sections, will help you get started.

Create the initial document draft

In this step, the document draft is created. If there are no subsequent reviews and approvals, this step results in the creation of the final deliverable. Most of the effort associated with the document is used in this step. Subsequent steps may take a long duration, but they do not take nearly as much effort.

Circulate document for feedback
Modify as appropriate

These two steps involve circulating the document for initial review and feedback. The document is updated based on the review comments. Depending on the particular document, this may be an iterative step. A document may have an internal review, followed by a stakeholder review, followed by a management review. After each of these reviews, the document is subsequently modified based in the feedback and sent to the next step.

Gain document approval

When the document has been circulated for feedback and subsequently updated, it will be ready for final approval. Some documents should be formally approved in writing. Others are simply considered complete after the final round of feedback is received.

Like all completed deliverables there may be subsequent updates or enhancements that may require their own mini-document life cycle as well.

The Procurement Management Plan is a part of the overall Project Management Plan. The document describes how items will be procured during the project and the approach you will use to managing vendors on the project. Specific areas to describe include:

Procurement process. This section provides a brief overview of the process requirements necessary to manage procurement of the identified needs. This process should include:

• Initiating a request
• Development of requirements (technical, timing, quality, constraints)
• Request approval
• Purchasing authority
• Bid / proposal review
• Contract management responsibility
• Contract closure requirements
• Procurement process flowchart

Roles and responsibilities. This section describes the various roles on the project that have some connection to procurement. This section should describe who can request outside resources, who can approve the requests, any secondary approvers, etc.

Identified procurement needs. This section details the material, products or services identified for outside procurement.  Each listed item should include a justification statement explaining why this should be an outside purchase if there is the possibility of inside sourcing (make vs. buy decision).

Timing. This section will describe the timeframe that resources are needed. This will provide a better sense for when the procurement process needs to be started for each item.

Change review and approval process. Describe how changes are made to procurement documents to ensure the changes are valid, understood and approved by the appropriate people.

Vendor processes. Describe the processes that the vendors should use for timesheet approval, invoice processing, contract renegotiation, status reporting, scope change requests, etc.

There may be additional information in the plan as well to ensure the procurement process is understood and managed effectively.