You will study five modules in total, three of which are compulsory. You will choose your remaining two modules from a choice of five, to suit your role and career aspirations.
Management in the Purchasing Function - this unit is designed to you to manage your own area of responsibility within an organisation's internal supply chain, in line with the overall strategic business plan and the operational plan for the purchasing function.
You should be able to implement operational plans for your own area of responsibility to achieve objectives set out in your plan. In doing so you should be able to employ a range of resources, including human, physical and financial, and manage and delegate tasks effectively.
This unit is about managing the expectations of the stakeholders that are directly involved in your own area of responsibility and will provide you with management techniques to help you to involve others, be innovative, consultative, influential and persuasive in order to achieve targets effectively.
Risk Management and Supply Chain Vulnerability - this unit is designed to enable you to undertake risk analysis and a variety of risk assessments relating to different aspects of purchasing and supply, and to implement a range of appropriate risk management tools and techniques.
You will use a variety of risk assessment tools and techniques designed to provide a detailed analysis of supply chain situations, including legal, corporate social responsibility (CSR), ethical, health and safety, financial, international, innovation and a variety of other potential risk scenarios. The scope covers both the proactive identification and avoidance of risk, as well as provision for post-event recovery initiatives.
Improving Supply Chain Performance - achieving success within the supply chain involves a complex range of variables, which can frequently be dependent on one another for the success of the supply chain. This unit is designed to enable you to use a range of techniques and strategies to develop and improve supplier performance in order to achieve competitiveness, efficiency and profitability within the supply chain.
By the end of this unit you will be able to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of supply chain performance. You will be able to identify innovative development of systems to improve the performance of the supply chain, and make justifiable recommendations for implementation in order to aid the effectiveness of the supply chain.
Marketing for Purchasers - this unit is designed to provide you with an appreciation of the basic principles of marketing so you can interact more effectively with marketing colleagues within your organisation. It provides an insight into the role of marketing within an organisation and sets out marketing's relationship with purchasing and other business functions.
You will be introduced to concepts, tools and techniques that are widely used by your marketing colleagues. It will help you to understand the terminology of marketing and to identify ways that you can contribute more effectively towards your organisation's marketing efforts.
By the end of the unit you should be able to evaluate and apply marketing tools and techniques in a range of contexts, and understand how marketing contributes to key business objectives, in particular growth in income, profit and market share, and enhanced customer satisfaction.
Storage and Distribution - this unit aims to identify the major areas of concern in effectively managing storage and distribution throughout the supply chain. It is essential that goods are moved through supply chains to customers at the right time, in the right condition, at the right place and at the right cost. Failure in any of these areas will add unnecessary costs to the ultimate customer while success will add value, and delight the customer.
It is essential that the management of inventory, storage, distribution and general logistics are coordinated, both upstream and downstream, in order to reduce lead times, provide agility and reduce unnecessary costs. In order for this to happen it is essential that relationships, both internally and externally, are honed to the appropriate level. To be effective, storage and distribution must fit in a seamless way to the total supply chain locally, nationally and globally.
Operations Management in the Supply Chain - this unit is designed to enable those who work in purchasing to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of an organisation's operations. This is the process of converting input resources into output products and services that occurs in all types of organisation, whether in manufacturing or services, public sector or private. You should be able to understand how operations staff add value to its inputs through the effective management of production and delivery. Operations staff are likely to be the most important internal customers of purchasing and supply chain managers.
By the end of this unit you will be able to analyse and evaluate an operations environment and implement a strategic plan that allocates resources in terms of materials, labour and machinery. In addition you will be able to consider the infrastructure requirements of the management control systems, as applied to different process types and technologies, and select the right approach.
The Machinery of Government explores the drivers and decision makers of central and local government and the National Health Service (NHS), and the impact these have upon the public sector procurement function. This unit will also include consideration of the background to current public procurement policy and procedures, the regulatory frameworks and rules relating to procurement practice and the role of elected representatives and officials in making significant procurement decisions.
An understanding of government policy, regulations and government initiatives such as the efficiency agenda, social agenda and sustainability drivers will be imperative to the success of any candidates.
This unit will also include an understanding of the systems and processes developed and adopted for audit monitoring and measurement, including government accounting and budgets, and the roles of the National Audit Office (NAO), Audit
Commission and Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
Contracting in the Public Sector - this unit recognises the differences in contracting and regulatory requirements within the public sector environment. It is intended to go beyond the Level 4 module - Developing Contracts in Purchasing and Supply - in order to take on the challenges of managing a contract from inception through to conclusion.
The unit is designed to provide you with the knowledge and understanding to analyse concepts underlying the contracting process, including markets, transparency, competition, relationships and trust.
As a result of studying this unit, you will be expected to be able to manage the contracting process efficiently and effectively through developing the business case for the procurement, analysing the nature and scope of the contract, applying appropriate selection procedures and developing positive relationships with suppliers, to realise intended benefits in the context of public accountability and responsible stewardship.
The CIPS Advanced Diploma in Purchasing and Supply gives you confidence and further understanding in your job, as well as a formal qualification.
Full membership confers the post nominals MCIPS and represents an expression of professionalism associated with achieving the highest recognised global standard of excellence in procurement.
The five modules are delivered by a combination of morning, afternoon and evening lectures.
Assessment is by examination.
