Procurement Process Checklist Template

"Procurement involves much more than just handing over the company credit card and paying for a purchase" - Procurify 

The basic purpose of procurement is to make sure that the organization buys the goods and services it needs, to operate in a profitable way.

This involves all sorts of activities, ranging from sourcing materials and services to developing relationships with key suppliers. But the biggest responsibility that a procurement department faces is giving the business confidence that the supplier they are working with is the best supplier for them.

To help them do this, they follow a procurement process. This helps them to reduce prices, cut costs, identify better sources of supply, and make sure potential new suppliers are properly vetted.

Although a company’s procurement process will be influenced by factors like the company’s size, industry, available human resources, and organizational structure, this Process Street checklist will give you a complete procurement process. It will explain, step-by-step, how to identify the true needs of your organization, find the perfect supplier to fulfill those needs, and negotiate favorable contract terms and pricing.

Process Street is super-powered checklists. It’s the easiest way to manage your recurring tasks, procedures, and workflows.

Create a checklist template and run individual checklists for each member of your team. You can check tasks off as you work through them, set deadlines, add approvals, assign tasks, and track each team member's progress.

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Enter your company's details in the fields below.

Use this Business Needs Assessment Template to conduct a business needs assessment to determine what the business needs. 

Once you have done that, enter the business needs in the fields below. 

If you have more than five business needs, you can add additional form fields to capture these. Find out how to do this here. 

Out of the business needs you identified in task 4, select the top priority business need that you need to procure goods and services for.

Enter this need into the field below. 

In the fields below, list the goods/services you need to procure to meet the priority business need you identified in task 5 and establish the costs. 

{{form.Priority_business_need}}

When listing the goods/services, think about the following:

Using the email widget below, send a purchase request, to the purchasing/finance department, for the procurement of the following items: 

{{form.Goods/services_needed_to_fulfill_the_business_needs}} 

This purchase request will be reviewed by the procurement/finance team. Assign the next task to the person who will be reviewing this. This will enable them to either approve or reject it using the approval feature.

Approved requests will become purchase orders (PO's).
Rejected requests will be sent back to you with a reason for the rejection.

Once your purchase request has been approved, you should receive a PO for the goods/services you want to procure.

Upload this PO in the field below and store it in a central location as you will need this further down the process.

Once you have received your PO, create a list of suitable suppliers for the goods/services you want to procure. 

Once you have created this list, store it somewhere central so you have a record of suppliers for future procurement activities, and add the file location/url to the field below.

Make sure you keep this supplier list updated. 

Now you have your list of suppliers, use the email widget below to send a request for quotation (RFQ) to each one.

Make sure you include as much detail about the potential order as possible so the supplier can give an accurate quotation and you avoid any misunderstandings later down the line. 

Include details such as: 

Your intention with this task is to narrow your list of suppliers down.
You want to end up with a shortlist, so you can compare each one and select the best fit in terms of cost and value for money.

Once you have received quotations from your suppliers, list the top three in the fields below. 

Now you have your top three suppliers, you need to research and compare each one so you can choose the best supplier for your company.

List the positives and the negatives for each supplier in the fields below. 

It's not just about getting the cheapest deal, it's about getting the best value for money, so don't forget to research and take into the account the following when making your comparisons:

Supplier 1. {{form.Supplier_1_2}}

Supplier 2. {{form.Supplier_2}}

Supplier 3. {{form.Supplier_3}}

Once you have researched and compared each supplier, you should now be in a position to choose the best supplier for your company and for the goods/services you need to procure. 

Confirm the supplier you have chosen and enter the following details about them in the fields below.

Now you have chosen {{form.Chosen_supplier}} to supply {{form.Goods/services_needed_to_fulfill_the_business_needs}}, you are now ready to create the contract and start negotiating the terms and conditions of your procurement order. 

First thing you need to decide on is a timeline.

Answer the below questions to get this straight in your mind before adding your timings to the contract. 

Next, you need to identify what your delivery preferences are. 

Answer the below questions to get this straight in your mind before adding your preferred delivery method to the contract. 

Finally, you must decide how much you are prepared to pay for the goods/services. 

You know how much internally you are prepared to pay for these goods/services: {{form.Costs_of_these_goods/services}}, and you know how much the supplier is expecting to receive for the goods/services. 

Discuss both costs internally, with the procurement team, and establish a reasonable cost.

It may be exactly what they have asked for, it may beslightly less or slightly more, or it may be somewhere between the two. 

Once you have agreed on a cost for the goods/services, answer the following question, and add the cost and reason you are prepared to pay this amount to the contract. 

Now you have completed the contract, upload it in the field below and send it for internal approval using the email widget below. 

Assign the next task to the person who will be reviewing the contract. This will enable them to either approve or reject it using the approval feature.

Once you have received internal approval for the contract, send it to {{form.Chosen_supplier}}using the email widget below.

Once the supplier has signed the contract and sent it back, you now need to sign it, scan it, and re-upload it in the field below. 

Don't forget to store the contract in a central location. 

Now the contract has been signed by both parties, you can send the supplier the PO you received from the purchasing/finance team, so they can process the order their end. 

Once you have received the goods/services, you then need to examine the order and notify the supplier of any issues with the received items.

Answer the following questions to determine if there are any issues that the supplier should be notified about. 

If you are happy with the goods/services received scan and store the order receipt/ packaging slip in a centralized place.

(make sure the file is appropriately named so it is easy to find)

Then, upload the scanned receipt in the field below.

Notify the supplier of any issues you found with the order, using the email widget below. 

Make sure you update the list of suppliers with the issues you found with the order.

{{form.URL/file_location_of_the_supplier_list}} 

Once you have received the goods/services and you are satisfied, you will receive an invoice from the supplier. 

Scan this, store it somewhere central, and upload it into the field below.  

Now, you need to reconcile the purchase order, the receipt, and the invoice to make sure there are no discrepancies and that the transaction is accurate.  

{{form.Upload_PO}}

{{form.Upload_receipt}}

{{form.Upload_supplier_invoice}}

If the above all line-up, then you will be able to approve the invoice in the next task. 

Now you have approved the invoice and ensured that the transaction was accurate, send the invoice to accounts for processing using the email widget below as a guide.  

Throughout this process, you should have been storing all procurement documentation, such as PO's, invoices, supplier details, contracts, etc.. in one central location.

Doing this creates efficiencies for future procurement endeavors and gives complete transparency over your procurement activity.

Check you have the following documentation for this procurement stored somewhere centrally and provide the URL/file location for this location in the field below.

Sources

• Supply Management - What is Procurement?
• Supply Management - The six fundamentals of procurement
• Procurify - What is the Difference Between Procurement and Purchasing?
• Procurify - Procurement Process 101: The Stages in the Procurement Process
• KPMG - The Power of Procurement 
• Oracle - What Is a Procurement Management System?
• Quora - What are the types of procurement?
• LeanPub - Public Procurement: Principles, Categories, and Methods
• Besipa - Procurement Procedures 
• Method123 - Procurement Management Process
• Supply Chain - The Transformation Of Digital Procurement
• Supply Management - Five lessons from procurement disasters
• Raconteur - 10 supply chain disasters
• The Procurement ClassRoom - Public Procurement Principles
• Trade Ready - The 7 steps of a strategic procurement process
• Supply Management - The 10 primary principles of sustainable procurement
• Rullion - The value of procurement after a contract has been signed
• Crescent Learning - Why is procurement important?
• Achilles - 5 ways procurement professionals can add value to their business right now
• Bain & Company - Digital Procurement: The Benefits Go Far Beyond Efficiency
• IT ProPortal - Procurement failures costing UK businesses millions
• Information Age - IT procurement mistakes blamed for project failures
• Procurement Leaders - Lessons from KFC’s supply chain woes
• Supply Management - 90% of procurement software rollouts end in failure
• Zycus - You didn't know these 7 steps of an effective procurement process 

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