e-Procurement: From Strategy to Implementation

Step One: Defining and Agreeing on Fundamentals

Because e-procurement means many things to many people, it is important to begin the strategic process by simply debating and coming to a consensus on the purpose and scope of the project. A few straightforward questions should be used to warm the group up:

• Why is this e-procurement project necessary?

• Why now?

• What are you hoping to achieve?

• What must you do to achieve it?

• How will you know when you have succeeded?

• What changes will be necessary?

• What needs to be done to ensure success?

Answers to those questions, as important as they are, may not be as intuitive as they first appear. It often helps, at the beginning of the strategic definition process, to examine the case for action first. Again, simple ...