-
When Reality Hits - Project Managers Roll With It
February 11, 2012
-
When IT Is Your Company’s “Piggy Bank”
February 10, 2012
-
4 Key Things a Project Manager Must Do
February 10, 2012
-
Essential Project Management
February 10, 2012
-
8 Traits of Top Project Managers - Part 1
February 9, 2012
-
Agile Project Management - Engaging Your Customer!
February 9, 2012
-
9 Tips to Avoid Traps in Project Planning
February 9, 2012
-
Why Projects Succeed - Executive Sponsorship
February 8, 2012
-
On Customer Participation in Agile Projects
February 8, 2012
-
A Project Charter for Lazy Teams
February 8, 2012
Procurement Management in Project Management - Planning
October 2, 2008 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Procurement Management, Procurement Plannning
Procurement Management in Project Management - Planning (#1 in the series Procurement Management in Project Management)
By Joseph Phillips
Projects typically need stuff: servers, software, subject matter experts, pizza, etc. And to buy all this stuff, you need to go through procurement processes. That’s just a fancy way of saying you need to follow some rules and procedures within your organization to get the things you need to complete your project.
In some organizations where I’ve consulted, the project managers can spend carte blanche up to $10,000 on any purchases they need. In other, less fun organizations, the project managers can’t buy a soda pop without an accountant’s permission.
So where are you? Do you get to buy, buy, buy, or is every purchase considered, weighed, and meditated on before someone reaches for the wallet? In either shop, there are some guidelines you should consider.
Really, there are!
Planning What To Buy
All purchases require some level of planning. The intensity of the planning is relevant to the purchase being made. You do this already, right? If you’re about to install a new piece of hardware, you’ll consider all the functions that the hardware should have, shop around a bit for prices, and then see how much your project or organization can spend (or is willing to spend).
Planning for procurement includes more than window shopping. Think way, way back to the start of any project that required procurement. Early in the project planning, it was easy to identify those things or services that you needed to buy for the project to succeed. As the project moved forward, “emergencies” popped up, requiring you to buy more stuff: cables, software, additional hardware, tools, training, spaghetti sauce, whatever. So how did you go about getting all this stuff? Did you go to management, hat in hand, and plead your case for your much-needed spaghetti sauce, or did you dip into a project contingency fund?
How you go about purchasing depends on the structure within your organization. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to define a universal approach to procurement. Everybody, every organization, has a specific approach to procurement. The moral of the story? Follow the rules. Once you know the rules of how to procure, then you can play the game.
Joseph Phillips is the author of five books on project management and is a, PMI Project Management Professional, a CompTIA certified Project Professional, and a Certified Technical Trainer. For more information about Project Management Training, please visit Project Seminars.
Related Articles
- Project Management Process - Phase 2 - Planning - Develop Project Design
- Project Management Process - Phase 2 - Planning - Create Risk Management Plan
- Project Management Process - Phase 2 - Planning - Develop Project Schedule
- Project Management Process - Phase 2 - Planning Overview
- Project Management Process - Phase 2 - Planning - Gather Project Requirements
No comments yet.
feel free to leave a comment
Comment Guidelines: Basic XHTML is allowed (a href, strong, em, code). All line breaks and paragraphs are automatically generated. Off-topic or inappropriate comments will be edited or deleted. Email addresses will never be published. Keep it PG-13 people!
XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
All fields marked with " * " are required.
- Agile Project Management
- Ask the Hut
- Certification
- Change Management
- Communications Management
- Computer Based Information Systems
- Concepts
- Corporate Transformation
- Cost Management
- Critical Chain Project Management
- Delegation
- History
- HR Management
- Implementing Project Management
- Integration Management
- Lessons Learned
- Management
- Miscellaneous
- People Issues
- PMBOK
- PRINCE2
- Procurement Management
- Program Management
- Project Lifecycle Phases
- Project Management Advantages
- Project Management Advantages
- Project Management as a Career
- Project Management Best Practices
- Project Management Charts
- Project Management Definitions
- Project Management Ethics
- Project Management for Beginners
- Project Management Guides
- Project Management Musings
- Project Management Office
- Project Management Proposals
- Project Management Templates
- Project Portfolio Management
- Project Workforce Management
- Quality Management
- Requirements Management
- Risk Management
- Scheduling
- Scope Management
- SCRUM
- Soft Management
- Time Management
- Training
- Uncategorized