Advanced Procurement Strategies Training Course

Duration 10 days 20 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Senior Procurement Officers, Category Managers and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-P-117

Before you join: Participants should have at least two years of experience in procurement, sourcing, contract management, supply chain or commercial roles.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Advanced procurement teams are expected to reduce total cost, secure supply, improve supplier performance and meet governance requirements while markets, specifications and business demand continue to change. This requires more than running competitive tenders. Procurement professionals need to segment spend, set category strategies, analyse cost drivers, select sourcing routes, negotiate commercial terms and manage strategic suppliers against measurable value plans.

This course develops the methods used to design and execute procurement strategies for direct, indirect, services and capital categories. Participants work with spend analytics, the Kraljic Matrix, category management, total cost of ownership, should-cost analysis, market intelligence, sourcing strategy, tender evaluation, negotiation planning, contract architecture, supplier relationship management and procurement risk controls. They learn how to align procurement plans with operational requirements, finance controls, sustainability commitments and stakeholder priorities.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with procurement cases, group analysis, negotiation simulations and structured application to participants' own categories. Participants progressively develop work from the first week, using each method to strengthen a category strategy and sourcing plan. They leave with a practical procurement strategy pack containing a category profile, spend and supply-market analysis, sourcing recommendation, supplier evaluation model, negotiation plan, contract governance approach and implementation roadmap. A certificate of completion is awarded to participants who complete the instructor-led programme.

The course is designed for experienced procurement, supply chain, commercial and contract professionals who already manage suppliers or categories and need stronger strategic tools. It is also suitable for managers responsible for procurement transformation, supplier performance or major sourcing programmes in government, banking, NGOs, manufacturing, energy, healthcare and large corporate environments.

What you will be able to do

  • Analyse spend data and supply markets to identify category value opportunities
  • Construct category strategies using Kraljic segmentation, stakeholder requirements and market evidence
  • Calculate total cost of ownership and should-cost estimates for sourcing decisions
  • Design competitive sourcing processes, evaluation models and award recommendations
  • Prepare negotiation strategies using BATNA, target positions and concession plans
  • Draft contract governance structures, performance measures and change-control arrangements
  • Manage strategic suppliers through relationship segmentation, scorecards and improvement plans
  • Present a complete category strategy and procurement implementation roadmap

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Build defensible category strategies for complex spend portfolios
  • Improve credibility in commercial discussions with finance and operational leaders
  • Apply should-cost and total-cost analysis during supplier negotiations
  • Lead supplier-performance reviews using measurable improvement plans
  • Present sourcing recommendations with clearer commercial rationale

For your organisation

  • Better sourcing decisions based on total cost, supply risk and market evidence
  • Stronger competition and evaluation controls for major procurement events
  • Reduced supply disruption through structured supplier-risk treatment plans
  • Improved supplier performance through scorecards, governance and corrective actions
  • More consistent category planning across procurement teams and business units

Course modules

20 modules over 10 days

Participants can position procurement as a commercial function that delivers measurable business value.

  • Procurement value chain mapped from demand planning through supplier performance
  • Value drivers distinguished across cost, quality, resilience, innovation and compliance
  • Procurement operating models compared: centralised, decentralised and centre-led structures
  • Business strategy translated into procurement priorities, category objectives and measures
  • Stakeholder expectations mapped using power-interest analysis and engagement planning
  • Procurement maturity assessed across process, capability, data, governance and technology

Participants can produce a spend baseline that identifies savings, risk and demand-management opportunities.

  • Spend cube constructed by supplier, category, business unit and geography
  • Data cleansing rules applied to duplicate suppliers and inconsistent classifications
  • Pareto analysis identifies high-value categories and concentrated supplier expenditure
  • Tail spend separated for catalogue, aggregation and purchase-order control decisions
  • Maverick spend measured against contracts, approved suppliers and buying channels
  • Opportunity pipeline prioritised by value, feasibility, timing and implementation ownership

Participants can segment categories and select appropriate strategic procurement responses.

  • Kraljic Matrix positions categories by profit impact and supply risk
  • Portfolio strategies selected for non-critical, leverage, bottleneck and strategic categories
  • Category boundaries defined using demand patterns, specifications and supply markets
  • Supply positioning assessed through competition, switching costs and supplier dependency
  • Stakeholder requirements converted into category objectives and decision criteria
  • Category strategy charters define scope, targets, governance and review cycles

Participants can assess supply-market conditions and translate findings into sourcing choices.

  • Porter's Five Forces assesses industry attractiveness and supplier bargaining power
  • PESTLE analysis identifies regulatory, economic and geopolitical sourcing influences
  • Supplier market maps show tiers, channels, substitutes and market concentration
  • Market intelligence sources evaluated for reliability, currency and commercial relevance
  • Capacity, lead-time and input-cost trends interpreted for sourcing timing decisions
  • Supply-market findings converted into category risks, assumptions and strategic actions

Participants can challenge demand and develop specifications that support competitive sourcing.

  • Demand profiles analysed for volume, frequency, seasonality and service requirements
  • Specification rationalisation removes unnecessary variation and supplier-specific requirements
  • Functional specifications define required outcomes rather than prescribed solutions
  • Value analysis compares function, cost and performance of requested requirements
  • Make-buy decisions assess capability, capacity, cost and strategic control
  • Stakeholder workshops resolve conflicting requirements before market engagement

Participants can evaluate supplier proposals using total-cost and cost-driver analysis.

  • Total cost of ownership captures acquisition, operation, maintenance and disposal costs
  • Cost-driver trees separate materials, labour, overhead, logistics and margin
  • Should-cost models estimate fair pricing from transparent cost assumptions
  • Learning curves assess expected cost reductions from production-volume increases
  • Price indices matched to relevant commodities, labour rates and freight markets
  • Supplier quotations normalised for currency, terms, volume and specification differences

Participants can select a sourcing route that fits category economics, risk and governance needs.

  • Sourcing options compared: single, dual, multiple, local and global supply
  • Make-buy-ally framework assesses ownership, outsourcing and partnership choices
  • Framework agreements designed for repeat demand, pricing and call-off control
  • Competitive dialogue considered for complex requirements with uncertain technical solutions
  • Market engagement plans define supplier communication, confidentiality and equal treatment
  • Sourcing timelines sequence approvals, tender stages, award and mobilisation activities

Participants can design fair, commercially sound and auditable sourcing events.

  • Request for proposal structure aligns requirements, instructions and contract terms
  • Evaluation criteria distinguish mandatory requirements from weighted award factors
  • Weighted scoring models test price, quality, risk and service trade-offs
  • Clarification protocols maintain supplier equality and documented decision trails
  • Conflict-of-interest declarations protect evaluation integrity and procurement governance
  • Award recommendations document evidence, approvals, conditions and unsuccessful bidder feedback

Participants can assess supplier suitability across financial, ethical, environmental and operational criteria.

  • Supplier financial assessment reviews liquidity, profitability, debt and cash generation
  • Due diligence checks ownership, sanctions, litigation and adverse media
  • ISO 20400 principles guide sustainable procurement policy and category actions
  • Modern slavery indicators assessed through labour practices and supply-chain visibility
  • Environmental criteria address emissions, waste, resource use and product lifecycle
  • Supplier onboarding controls define approvals, master-data validation and required documents

Participants can prepare and conduct negotiations that protect value and supplier relationships.

  • BATNA, reservation point and target point establish negotiation boundaries
  • Negotiation planning identifies interests, issues, tradeables and decision authority
  • Should-cost evidence supports price challenges and fact-based supplier discussions
  • Concession plans exchange value rather than grant unilateral price reductions
  • Package bargaining combines price, volume, payment, service and risk terms
  • Negotiation records capture agreements, unresolved issues, owners and follow-up actions

Participants can select contract structures and commercial terms suited to procurement risk.

  • Contract types compared: fixed-price, cost-reimbursable, time-and-materials and target-cost
  • Statement of work defines scope, deliverables, acceptance criteria and responsibilities
  • Service-level agreements specify measures, reporting, remedies and review periods
  • Pricing mechanisms address indexation, volume bands, rebates and currency exposure
  • Liability, indemnity and insurance provisions allocated against identified risks
  • Change-control procedures govern variations, approvals, pricing and contract records

Participants can establish supplier relationships that focus management effort on strategic value and risk.

  • Supplier segmentation distinguishes transactional, preferred, strategic and critical relationships
  • Relationship governance defines executive sponsors, meeting cadence and escalation routes
  • Joint business plans set shared objectives, initiatives, benefits and accountabilities
  • Supplier performance reviews combine scorecards, root-cause analysis and corrective actions
  • Innovation pipelines capture ideas, evaluation stages, investment and benefit tracking
  • Relationship health assessed through trust, transparency, dependency and collaboration indicators

Participants can measure supplier performance and manage corrective improvement actions.

  • Balanced scorecards integrate quality, delivery, cost, service, risk and sustainability
  • Key performance indicators defined with formulas, targets, sources and owners
  • Service failures classified by severity, recurrence, business impact and root cause
  • Corrective action plans apply the 8D method and due-date control
  • Supplier development plans address process capability, training and capacity constraints
  • Gainshare mechanisms align supplier incentives with verified improvement benefits

Participants can identify procurement risks and create proportionate supply continuity controls.

  • Risk registers document threats, likelihood, impact, controls and risk owners
  • Supply continuity plans address disruption scenarios, alternatives and recovery priorities
  • Supplier dependency quantified through spend concentration, substitutability and switching time
  • FMEA identifies failure modes, causes, effects and preventive controls
  • Business continuity evidence reviewed for critical suppliers and essential services
  • Risk treatment selects avoidance, mitigation, transfer, acceptance or contingency actions

Participants can apply procurement controls that protect fairness, authority and auditability.

  • Delegated authority matrices set approval limits and accountable decision makers
  • Segregation of duties separates requisitioning, evaluation, approval and payment activities
  • Procurement policies define competition thresholds, exceptions and documentation requirements
  • Ethical dilemmas assessed using conflicts, gifts, confidentiality and impartiality principles
  • Audit trails retain sourcing evidence, evaluation records, approvals and communications
  • Exception approvals document urgency, justification, risk controls and retrospective review

Participants can specify useful digital procurement controls and interpret procurement performance data.

  • Source-to-pay process maps identify control points, data flows and bottlenecks
  • E-sourcing platforms support tender publication, evaluation workflow and audit records
  • Contract lifecycle management tracks obligations, renewals, notices and approvals
  • Dashboard design links procurement measures to category targets and management decisions
  • Data quality controls address supplier master data, taxonomy and purchase-order compliance
  • Process mining identifies non-compliant buying paths and approval-cycle delays

Participants can distinguish, validate and report procurement benefits after sourcing decisions.

  • Savings taxonomy separates hard savings, cost avoidance, demand reduction and value gains
  • Baselines establish valid pre-sourcing cost, volume and specification assumptions
  • Benefits cases assign calculation methods, finance validation and benefit owners
  • Price-volume-mix analysis explains variances between planned and actual expenditure
  • Implementation tracking monitors contract adoption, compliance and supplier mobilisation milestones
  • Benefits dashboards report realised savings, forecast value and unresolved delivery risks

Participants can secure stakeholder commitment to category strategies and new procurement practices.

  • Stakeholder maps identify influence, interest, resistance and required engagement actions
  • RACI matrices allocate procurement, technical, finance and supplier responsibilities
  • Business cases connect procurement proposals to operational and financial priorities
  • Change-impact assessments identify affected processes, roles, systems and supplier behaviours
  • Communication plans sequence decisions, messages, audiences, channels and feedback routes
  • Adoption measures track contract usage, process compliance and stakeholder satisfaction

Participants can assess cross-border sourcing decisions using landed cost, trade and supply-risk factors.

  • Landed-cost models include product, freight, duties, insurance and inventory costs
  • Incoterms 2020 allocate delivery obligations, risk transfer and transport responsibilities
  • Currency risk assessed through exposure mapping, pricing clauses and hedging options
  • Customs compliance considers tariff classification, origin rules and import documentation
  • Cross-border supplier assessments address language, culture, distance and time zones
  • International sourcing scenarios compare savings against resilience and lead-time risks

Participants can build, review and present a complete category strategy and procurement implementation plan.

  • Category profile consolidates spend, demand, stakeholders, specifications and current suppliers
  • Supply-market assessment presents competition, trends, risks and supplier positioning
  • Kraljic segmentation justifies the selected category strategy and sourcing approach
  • Commercial case quantifies total-cost impacts, savings assumptions and implementation costs
  • Supplier evaluation model defines criteria, weightings, due diligence and governance
  • Negotiation and contract plan sets objectives, tradeables, terms and controls
  • Implementation roadmap assigns milestones, owners, dependencies, risks and benefit measures
  • Executive presentation defends recommendations against stakeholder and supplier challenges

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Category strategy template
  2. Spend analysis and opportunity pipeline
  3. Supply-market assessment model
  4. Total cost of ownership worksheet
  5. Supplier evaluation and negotiation plan
  6. Procurement implementation roadmap

Who should attend

  • Senior Procurement Officers — need structured methods for high-value category decisions
  • Category Managers — need stronger market, cost and sourcing strategy skills
  • Strategic Sourcing Managers — need defensible tender and supplier-selection approaches
  • Contract Managers — need commercial governance and supplier-performance methods
  • Supply Chain Managers — need procurement strategies aligned with supply continuity
  • Procurement Transformation Leads — need practical tools for improving procurement operating models

Skills and tools covered

Category strategy designStrategic sourcingCost analysisSupplier relationship managementCommercial negotiationProcurement risk management

Tools and standards

Kraljic Matrix, Porter's Five Forces, ISO 20400, Incoterms 2020

How the course runs

Training methodology

The programme uses short instructor briefings to introduce procurement frameworks, followed by cases drawn from public procurement, financial services, manufacturing and service categories. Participants analyse spend, assess supply markets, build sourcing strategies and test commercial choices in facilitated group work. Negotiation simulations develop preparation, bargaining and concession discipline. Contract and supplier-management cases examine performance failures, disputes and recovery actions. Each participant applies course methods to a selected category or sourcing challenge, receiving peer and instructor feedback before presenting a final strategy pack.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have at least two years of experience in procurement, sourcing, contract management, supply chain or commercial roles. They should understand purchase-to-pay processes, supplier selection, basic tendering and contract terms, and be comfortable discussing spend data and business requirements. Experience managing a category, supplier portfolio or sourcing project is useful. Prior knowledge of financial modelling, advanced statistics, formal category management qualifications or specialist legal training is not required. Participants should bring examples of current categories or procurement challenges where organisational policy permits.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should have practical experience in procurement, sourcing, supply chain, contract management or a related commercial role. The course assumes familiarity with basic purchasing processes and tendering, but does not require a prior professional qualification.

Participants should bring a current category, supplier issue or sourcing project they can use for application planning. Any commercially sensitive information should be anonymised and handled according to their employer's policy.

It is best suited to procurement professionals moving into category, strategic sourcing or supplier-management responsibilities. It also suits contract managers and supply chain managers involved in major supplier decisions.

Basic courses focus on operational buying processes, purchase orders and fundamental contract administration. This course concentrates on category strategy, supply-market analysis, commercial modelling, sourcing design, negotiation and strategic supplier governance.

Participants can use the templates and models to prepare category plans, sourcing business cases, tender evaluation structures and supplier improvement plans. The capstone format helps them adapt the methods to a live work challenge before returning to work.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The first week establishes category, market, cost and sourcing methods; the second week develops negotiation, contracts, supplier management, risk, implementation and the final capstone presentation.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.