Recently I audited the online course Mastering Purchasing Fundamentals from Next Level Purchasing, a course designed to introduce you to the basics of purchasing and sourcing.

According to NLP‘s website, this course is designed to prepare you for the many changes you will face in the months and years ahead by walking you through a full and proper purchasing process step by step. In addition, you will learn how to make the many decisions necessary to identify the best potential suppliers, plus

• How to most effectively prioritize requisitions
• How to decide when to use competitive bidding, negotiation, or both
• How to successfully conduct competitive bidding using solicitation tools such as RFP’s and RFQ’s
• How to use financial and operational analysis to select suppliers with not only the best monetary offer, but also the least risk of failure
• How to determine whether a contract, purchase order, or other method of ordering is best for a certain purchase
• How to use follow up techniques to ensure supplier compliance
• How to close out a transaction with confidence
• How to think like a purchasing manager
• How to prepare for the future of purchasing

Like the last two courses I reviewed, it also lived up to its promises. In addition, it:

• overviews the types of budgets purchasing effects and the methods organizations use to control those budgets
• details the different types of specifications you need to deal with as a purchasing manager and where they are required
• discusses the importance of contracts and Statements of Work (SOWs) and how you put together a basic Statement of Work for services contracts
• overviews the many different resources you have at your disposal to find and assess potential suppliers
• discuss the various factors your firm needs to consider when evaluating a make-vs-buy decision
• discusses, in detail, the challenges of the competitive bidding process and how to minimize the risks associated with the process
• provides the criteria for good supplier selection, five methodologies to qualify suppliers, and an ideal supplier checklist
• discusses the applicable laws you need to keep in mind when putting together a contract template and a statement of work
• outlines the outset requirements for that need to be communicated upon award and tracked to ensure purchasing success

And like the last two courses, this course is also worth it. Covering the full breadth of the basic purchasing process, it also amalgamates a considerable amount of information into a single package that would take you weeks of research to replicate on your own. Furthermore, everything is organized in a logical format, and clearly explained with real-world examples.