Posts in Basics & Tips

Purchasing processes, like logistics processes, are located at the interfaces between different corporate functions. Thus, purchasing processes are highly dispersed and often cross-functional. In this respect, it is difficult for purchasing managers to maintain an overview of all purchasing-related activities. This becomes even more difficult with increasing responsibility, scope and complexity of the tasks. Therefore, it is important for the purchasing manager to identify relevant processes and its interfaces with other processes. Only then the purchasing manager can developing the most important ones. In this way those purchasing processes can be designed to add the most value to the organisation. Together with my colleague Gerhard Hess, I developed a structured process framework for mapping purchasing processes.