Supplier Performance & Risk Management

Transform your approach to contract management with Analyze Supplier Performance: Boost Success. This beginner-level course is crafted for procurement professionals and contract managers who need to ensure agreements deliver maximum value. Go beyond the signature and learn to proactively monitor supplier performance by analyzing spend and service-level data against contract terms, key performance indicators (KPIs), and service-level agreements (SLAs). This course provides a structured methodology for turning contract data into actionable insights. You will learn to conduct variance analysis to spot discrepancies, evaluate performance against SLAs, and, crucially, quantify the financial and operational impact of any non-conformance. Through hands-on tutorials and a real-world job task scenario—where you will investigate $18k in expediting fees from late deliveries—you will gain the practical skills needed to hold effective supplier reviews. You will leave this course equipped to not only identify performance issues but to build a systematic process for continuous improvement and risk management, ensuring your contracts work as hard as you do.

Contract Types and Terms is a fundamental course for procurement professionals who need to select and verify commercial agreements with confidence. Choosing the wrong procurement instrument or failing to spot a discrepancy between a quote and a contract can lead to budget overruns, operational delays, and legal risk. This course provides the essential skills to get it right from the start. You will first learn to distinguish between a purchase order (PO) for one-time buys and a frame contract for long-term arrangements, ensuring you always select the most efficient tool for the job. Then, you will master a systematic, checklist-driven process to cross-check draft contracts against formal quotations, confirming that key terms like price, delivery, and warranty are perfectly aligned. Through real-world scenarios and hands-on exercises, you will build the precision needed to protect your organization and ensure that what was promised is what gets signed.

Checklists is a beginner-level course designed for procurement specialists, contract managers, and business professionals who need to translate complex supplier agreements into clear, actionable summaries. In today's fast-paced business environment, the ability to quickly identify and extract critical commercial terms is essential for managing risk and ensuring value. This course provides a systematic approach to contract review, moving beyond legal jargon to focus on what truly matters for business operations. Through practical, hands-on learning, you will master the use of predefined checklists to methodically analyze supplier agreements. You will learn to pinpoint and document essential clauses, including complete pricing schedules, service level agreements (SLAs), penalty clauses, and termination terms. The course uses real-world case studies, such as the Hertz vs. Accenture lawsuit and the AWS service outage, to illustrate the high stakes of contract management. You will practice creating comprehensive summary sheets designed for internal review, enabling faster, more informed decision-making before legal engagement. By the end of this course, you will have the skills and confidence to streamline your contract review process and boost your organization's success.

This beginner-level course is for anyone entering a role in procurement, logistics, or operations who needs to master a fundamental business skill: accurately tracking and updating vendor performance data. In approximately 90 minutes, you will learn the precise, step-by-step process that turns raw data into reliable business intelligence. This is a practical, hands-on course that focuses entirely on the job task. In the first module, you will build a solid foundation, learning the "why, where, and when" of data tracking and mastering how to locate the correct information in a shared system. In the second module, you will put that knowledge into action, following a guided process to accurately enter and verify data in a hands-on lab. You will see how your attention to detail connects to real-world outcomes, from ensuring product safety to upholding a company's ethical standards. You will leave this course with the confidence and skill to be a reliable contributor to your team's data management process from day one.

Ensure Supplier Quality: Inspect and Verify is a foundational course for professionals in supply chain, quality assurance, and receiving roles who are responsible for safeguarding product quality from the very first step. In today’s interconnected supply chains, a single defective component can result in catastrophic failures, as seen in the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall and the grounding of the Boeing 737-9 MAX. This course provides the essential, practical skills to prevent such outcomes. You will learn to master the Incoming Inspection Checklist, the most critical tool for systematically verifying that supplier materials meet quality specifications. Through hands-on activities, you will practice applying checklists, documenting pass/fail results with precision, and identifying non-conformances. The course will guide you through standard procedures for segregating defective items and escalating issues effectively to management, ensuring that only compliant, high-quality materials are accepted into your company’s inventory. By the end of this course, you will be equipped to act as the first line of defense in your organization's quality management system.

Ready to transform how your organization handles uncertainty? This course, Evaluate and Mitigate Supplier Risk, is a beginner-friendly, hands-on guide to mastering supply chain resilience. In today's volatile global market, simply reacting to disruptions is no longer enough. This course equips you with a structured, data-driven framework to proactively identify, assess, and neutralize potential threats before they impact your business. You will learn to categorize a wide range of supplier risks—from logistical and financial to compliance and geopolitical. Through practical tutorials, you will master the art of quantitatively scoring each risk based on its probability and potential impact, synthesizing your findings into a powerful, four-quadrant risk heat-map. This visual tool will empower you to prioritize threats effectively and communicate your findings with clarity and confidence. Finally, you will learn to formulate and justify actionable mitigation strategies, such as dual-sourcing and safety-stock buffering, to protect your operations. Using real-world case studies like the Suez Canal blockage and the global semiconductor shortage, this course prepares you to ensure business continuity and make informed, proactive sourcing decisions.

An empty shelf is a lost sale, and an overflowing warehouse is wasted capital. The key to balancing this is data integrity, and it starts with you. This beginner-level course provides the essential skills to maintain accurate stock records, which are the bedrock of any modern, automated inventory system. In this course, you will move from theory to hands-on capability, ensuring your company can meet demand without unnecessary costs. Through three focused modules, you will master the step-by-step methodology for performing a professional inventory count and identifying critical discrepancies. You will then learn to document these variances and articulate how this simple act of correction enables the automated reorder point system to function effectively. Using real-world case studies from industry leaders like Walmart and Toyota, you will leave this course with the confidence to protect your company from stockouts and the skills to ensure your inventory system is making intelligent, data-driven decisions.

Turn mistakes into your greatest asset with Process Improvement and Fix Failures. This beginner-level course is designed for professionals in procurement, project management, and operations who want to build a resilient system for learning from experience. You will move beyond quick fixes and learn to identify the real reasons for errors. Through practical case studies and hands-on activities, you will master the art of creating and using a lessons learned log to capture critical insights. You will learn to apply the powerful 5 Whys technique to conduct a root-cause analysis, ensuring that you solve the underlying problem, not just the symptom. By the end of this course, you will build your own Process Improvement Toolkit, equipping you to drive meaningful change, prevent repeat mistakes, and foster a culture of continuous improvement within your organization.

In today's data-driven world, the ability to transform raw financial data into strategic insight is no longer optional—it is essential. This course, Analyze Spend: Uncover Hidden Cost Savings, is a beginner's guide to mastering the foundational art of spend analysis. Designed for aspiring analysts, procurement specialists, and any professional eager to make a tangible financial impact, this course demystifies the process of finding cost-saving opportunities hidden within everyday transactional data. You will start by learning the "language of spend," mastering how to categorize expenditures to create a clear, consistent view of where money is going. From there, you will get hands-on with spreadsheet software, learning the critical techniques for cleaning, structuring, and organizing raw data to prepare it for analysis. Finally, you will unlock the power of data summarization tools like pivot tables to turn thousands of rows of data into compelling, actionable insights. Using real-world examples and drawing on strategies from leading firms mentioned in Procurement Magazine and Bain & Company reports, the course culminates in a final project where you will conduct a complete spend analysis and present your findings. You will walk away with the practical skills to not only analyze spend but to tell a powerful story with data that drives real cost savings.

This course provides a foundational framework for managing supplier risk, an essential competency for anyone in procurement, supply chain, or operations. In a world where supply chain disruptions can have immediate and significant consequences, knowing how to proactively identify, systematically document, and appropriately escalate risks is critical. This course is designed for beginners and will equip you to analyze the primary categories of supplier risk, including delivery delays, quality failures, and financial instability. You will learn through a practical, hands-on approach, engaging with real-world case studies from the automotive and food industries to understand the impact of supplier failures. The curriculum accurately and clearly guides you through the essential, structured processes for documenting operational incidents. You will also master how to navigate organizational policies to initiate the correct escalation procedures, ensuring the right people address the issues at the right time. By the end of the course, you will build a comprehensive Supplier Risk Management Portfolio that demonstrates your ability to protect supply chain integrity and prove your readiness for real-world procurement challenges.