Procurement Courses

What Is Procurement?

People often use the words procurement and purchasing interchangeably, but the procurement process is a little more complicated. It's a core part of a business's strategy, encompassing the supplier relationship, supply chain management, inventory control, purchase requests, and payments. Procurement is a vital part of a business's overall mission, so understanding the entire procure-to-pay system is essential for anyone in this career position. Poor management can break a company's supply chain, but procurement done well is a critical part of a business's success.

Learn Procurement

Understanding the supply chain is a huge part of what goes into procurement. Potential suppliers must be courted and the purchasing process streamlined for inventory control. The purchase orders must coincide with business goals, and the entire method includes more than just purchasing. Procurement management is critical because a company could easily spend up to half its normal revenue on just goods. Finding the best price on goods can have a considerable impact on the business's bottom line. It's a vital position for any company and a solid career choice.

Procurement Courses

You can learn the vital components of the procurement management process through EdX.org's partnerships with organizations like MIT, USM, and Delft. Courses take you through supply chain management and show you how things like raw material or the production process can affect a business and how cash flow is a critical part of the equation. You can also learn about management information systems for tools that can help you down the supply chain pipeline end to end. These courses are intended to go beyond the purchasing process to an entirely sustainable system of management for businesses small and large.

Find Your Career in Procurement

Procurement solutions help businesses manage their bottom line and build stability. You can create procurement policies that suite your individual business and cut down on the waste. Building relationships with potential suppliers and understanding the supplier relationship helps companies make better decisions. Purchasing is just the final transaction of the procurement process. It requires an intimate knowledge of multiple parts of the business to form better relationships along each piece of the supply chain. Procurement specialists find the best value for their companies and can offer value well beyond simply purchasing decisions. This is a vital career for multiple fields of the economy and has the potential to be a fulfilling position. Learn about what it takes with edX and find your place.