Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) - Certificate in Purchasing and Supply - Level 3

Understanding the Purchasing Environment - this module is designed to develop an understanding of the impact of the external national and international business environment upon the purchasing function in a range of different organisations and sectors.

Purchasing has a critical role to play in ensuring that value for money is achieved in both profit making and not-for-profit making organisations. In addition, to understanding the macro/micro environment, purchasing professionals must have a commercial and financial awareness relating to ensuring best value is achieved.

By the end of this unit you should be able to recognise the implications of the purchasing environment for a variety of organisations, in a variety of sectors, and have an awareness of business and commercial issues associated with achieving best value in the purchasing function.

Purchasing Operations - this unit is designed to introduce you to a variety of purchasing activities. You should be aware of the operational objectives of purchasing and the need to balance considerations of cost, lead-time and quality.

Included in the basic principles of purchasing is the need to understand the variety of key activities that purchasers are involved in including project administration activities, contributing to the development of specifications, contract  formation and the process of sourcing suppliers.

By the end of this unit, you should be able to understand the key operational processes and principles involved in the specifying, sourcing and contracting of suppliers.

Client and Supplier Relationships - This unit is designed to enable those working in purchasing to understand the nature and scope of operational supplier and stakeholder relationships in order to optimise the performance of key suppliers.

The need to add value through relationships is central to the success of any commercial relationship and developing a strong customer focus is central to achieving organisational goals. You will be able to act as internal consultants representing the purchasing function in operational relationships.

There is a variety of skills involved in developing a strong customer/supplier interface, including basic communication and information seeking. You will be able to contribute towards the improvement of purchasing efficiency and ensure that operational relationships are both maintained and improved within the supply chain.

Securing Supply - this unit is designed to enable those who work in purchasing to gain a broad understanding of the key requirements of controlling the supply of goods. Additionally, inherent within securing supply is the importance of stores and warehouse management, along with materials handling. 

You should be able to contribute towards the assessment of stock requirements, and assist in the scheduling of the flow of supplies. By the end of the unit you will be able to understand the implications of effective scheduling of stock, and the importance of inventory control as a method of improving efficiency while, at the same time, driving down costs associated with holding stock.

Purchasing in Action - This unit is designed to consolidate the learning from all four modules in the Certificate in Purchasing and Supply. All of the core areas will be reviewed in the context of the end-to-end purchasing process which brings together elements from a number of different modules at each stage. You will be assessed through either a case study examination or an assignment.

Start dates

If you're from the UK or EU you can apply to study this course in:

• September