EIPM is widely recognized as the Europe's leading Centre in Purchasing Education, Training and Research. Today we deliver executive training programmes world-wide to train and educate purchasing professionals in 7 different languages.

In this endeavour we face numerous challenges, the most prominent being the assessment of training needs. Given the size and scale of numerous subsidiaries, multinationals face a real challenge to identify the competency gaps and training needs of purchasing individuals. Another of our challenges is to deliver effective quality training in an accelerated time frame. Finally, most important challenge is to ensure that the concepts and cases does not just rest in theory but is actually implemented into daily practice.

“Does this training bring actual returns to the company, be it both tangible and/or intangible benefits?” This would be in the minds of HR and Purchasing directors after the initial investment spent on training the staff. Thus our challenge is to improve the ROI of our clients.

 We have thus built our training philosophy to answer to these challenges through the effective roll out the “Blended Learning Process”. This is an integrated learning process which covers three main stages: Pre-learning stage: the assessment of training needs to pre-learning, the Actual learning stage: either face to face or distance learning, and finally, the Post-learning stage for the implementation of individual participant projects.

Pre-Learning Stage:

1.     The Assessment of Training Needs

http://www.eipm.org/BeeResources/index.htm

The EIPM has developed and implemented the Bee Resources, an on-line assessment tool. This approach and tool can be customised and used as part of the Company’s training project to identify competency gaps in order to propose an adapted training for the Company. The main advantages this represents are:

·       Cost/Time Savings: ROI of Bee Resources is a lot higher than deployment of face to face consultancy services. Users have benefited from its on-line feature, making it possible for simultaneous assessment of multiple users worldwide. 

·       Comprehensive Skills Benchmark: EIPM has identified the Job/Activity/Skills matrix containing over 12 purchasing jobs/positions, 27 activities and 60 skills. This skills benchmark provides a starting point of comparison for assessment across companies and industries.

·       Anonymous & Confidential feature: Individual users have assess to their own result report with their anonymous password and log-in details. Managers receive the overall average score of the overall purchasing organisation as well as a position report of each job profiles.

2.     Pre-Learning: Distance Modules

After registering on-line on the LMS Portal on the EIPM website, each participant will be able to download e-learning modules , reading materials etc in order to prepare in advance for the actual training. There are in total 13 e-modules covering a range of topics from technical skills in purchasing such as Total Cost of Ownership, Cost Analysis to soft skills such as project management, 6 Sigma Approach, Negotiation etc.

The aim of the pre-learning stage is to:

·       Prepare in advance: These pre-requisite modules ensures that all participants have acquired the basic notions and concepts, ensuring that participants are more or less at the same level before the actual training.

·       Accelerated Training: The time saved from having to go through basic definitions and concepts can be spent more efficiently on discussing the implementation issues. This enables a deeper quality of learning and interaction between the participants and the professor during the 3 days of training.

·       Think of a Burning Issue: Participants are asked to describe a key issue that they are actually facing (regarding a purchasing or procurement activity). These individual cases are more efficient then theoretical cases because participants can better identify with their own business to view the opportunity to implement the methodologies learnt. These issues will then be the subject for the post training implementation project.

3. Actual-Learning Stage

Each session is composed of 4 parts:

·       Learning the concepts: This is comprised of presentations and/or discussions with the whole group to understand the concepts.

·       Using the Tools: The EIPM has developed a great number of cases, exercises, simulation games etc whose contexts are beyond the participants’ working environment (in order to oblige participants to focus on the application of the tools, i.e. to learn the mechanics).

·       Project the tools into the working environment: This part is focused on the application of the tools to the participants’ working environment. Based on sub-group workshops, participants use their own material as working cases.

·       Guest Speakers: Both internal and external guest speakers are invited on a topic of general interest to all, for example to animate a cross-cultural negotiation.

3.     Post Learning Stage

The impact of the project is crucial, and the objective is to assure the implementation of the tools/concepts through a project. In this way participants of the training will durably retain the subjects covered during the training. On the last day of the training each person poses a project where they can implement the tool learnt such as TCO analysis, cost breakdown, market analysis, strategy definition etc. Each participant has access to an EIPM tutor who follow up and supports this deployment over a period of 6 weeks on a regular basis (twice a week) through conference call or through the web platform/chat room. The role of the EIPM tutor is to ensure that the process and procedures are in place for successful implementation.

 We have observed that the ROI often largely exceeds the cost of the actual training itself. The training which had triggered an idea then realises in an actual change in the work process. ROI can be measured differently, some tools bring savings directly through cost savings, cost avoidance, increase in sales/market share. At the same time benefits can be intangible through value contribution, findings new clients, new businesses, an improved image associated with a new supplier which has a different competency etc.

Feedback from Participants:

 A feedback we received from a participant who had completed a project states:

“Having done a project on financial analysis I found the position of a supplier we previously wanted to go into a long-term partnership to be very risky. “ This participant had thus avoided the potential loss of a risky partnership with that supplier.

 Another participant did a process analysis on a supply manufacturing process and realised that there were 200,000$ to be saved in time and cost by in sourcing part of the process, something he had never done. As this company had its own heat treatment facility there was no need to make additional investment. This is an example of the improvement tools that participants had not done in the past, which the training and implementation triggered.

For more information on the Blended Learning Process, please kindly contact:

Ms Cristelle Durafour. Tel: +33 (0)4 50 31 56 76, email: cdurafour@eipm.org