Developing Purchasing Policies, Processes and SLAs

Why Attend

Purchasing policies, processes and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) guide the activities of purchasing professionals and their business partners, and provide a functional and moral compass. To ensure eﬀectiveness, these documents must be aligned to the strategic intent and the broader environment of the organization. They must also be written using an appropriate language level and style. In this course, we will demonstrate how to develop such policies, process flowcharts and SLAs in a simple, specific and appropriate style that meets the requirements of a modern organization. We will also illustrate how performance against processes and SLAs can be measured and analyzed for continuous improvement.

Overview

Course Outline

Schedule & Fees

Course Methodology

This course uses a highly interactive workshop setting involving activities to plan and draft policies. We will also be designing, mapping and evaluating processes as well as drafting SLAs.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

Outline the strategic role of purchasing in the organization
Practice the latest business writing techniques suited for the development of policies, processes, procedures and SLAs
Formulate policies to effectively govern the organization’s purchasing activities
Design cross functional processes and procedures that optimize effort, cost, time, output and controls
Develop SLAs that set smart rules of engagement between the purchasing department and the rest of the organization

Target Audience

Purchasing and supply chain management professionals at all levels of the organization, as well as other company personnel involved in the purchasing process.

Target Competencies

Procurement management
Policy development
Processes design
Process evaluation
SLA development
Business writing

The strategic role of purchasing

Purchasing terms and definitions
Evolution of purchasing into a strategic function
Purchasing relationships within the organization
Purchasing process
Ethical principles governing the purchasing function

Using an appropriate writing style

Writing in an impersonal style
Organizing paragraphs and sentences
Writing applications

Simple language
Specific language
Positive language

Using active verbs
Applying easy and effective grammatical rules
Gunning fog index for writing complexity

Writing purchasing policies

Purchasing policies: what are they and why do we need them?
Guidelines for writing purchasing policies
Purchasing policy scope
Policy contents and exclusions
Developing purchasing policies - practical application

Designing purchasing processes and procedures

Defining processes and procedures
Considerations in developing processes and procedures
Process development

Artistic processes
Scientific processes

Process hierarchy

Abstract processes
Strategic processes
Operational processes

Measuring and improving process performance
Rules governing the use of flowchart symbols
Mapping your processes using swim lane flowcharts
Writing detailed procedures to support process maps

Developing service level agreements

The role of SLAs
Understanding departmental inter-dependencies
Principles for developing SLAs that add real value
Typical SLA table of contents
Writing SLA practical applications
Service level management

Internal SLAs
External SLAs

Measuring the purchasing function performance against SLAs

$1995

Arusha

Country: Tanzania

Duration: One week

Date: 22–26 Sep 2025

$2100

Kigali

Developing Purchasing Policies, Processes and SLAs

Overview

Course Outline

Schedule & Fees

Course Methodology

Course Objectives

Target Audience

Target Competencies

The strategic role of purchasing

Using an appropriate writing style

Writing purchasing policies

Designing purchasing processes and procedures

Developing service level agreements

$1995

Country: Tanzania

Duration: One week

Date: 22–26 Sep 2025

$2100

Country: Rwanda

Duration: One week

Date: 22–26 Jun 2026