Strategic Sourcing

The client.

Strategy Purchasing Organization Design

The business issue.

The management team of this $150 million commodities exchange recognized a need for a central, formalized purchasing function to provide control and a commercial perspective its procurement processes.

The exchange did not have an existing purchasing function or formal processes for making purchasing decisions. Additionally, it did not have information systems for creating purchase orders, analyzing purchase requirements, suggesting orders, or tracking purchasing trends.

The solution.

The firm engaged professionals from The Claro Group to develop a plan for creating a centralized purchasing function. This project included:

• Analyzing annual purchasing data.
• Conducting focus group sessions to determine the most effective centralized purchasing framework.
• Developing process maps to help guide the firm in the new purchasing environment.
• Developing purchasing job descriptions to help the firm in the hiring of new purchasing resources.

The results.

This approach provided the management team with a road map to help it develop a new purchasing department, including organization structure, human resource skill specification, purchasing performance measurements, and a supplier negotiation plan.