How to Buy and Get Stuff

Procurement of resources, including staffing and equipment, can be cumbersome at best. Here is a checklist used by the Practical Project Manager to avoid risk and delays to the project plan.

Work with the corporate procurement team
Often, the procurement team has relationships with vendors and/or standards in place to assure the best total cost of ownership. They may have access to negotiators, discounts, and expedited delivery channels. There may be standards and legal issues around dealing with certain vendors to assure fair competition while minimizing risk and safety hazards. There may be strategic alliances or other history with certain vendors that impact consideration. This may sound like a lot of red tape. However, failing to understand all of the risks and opportunities through procurement will delay things further!

Get the best money can buy
Your budget will likely restrict your purchases. The best way to determine the right purchase is to analyze criteria and alternatives.  Use a selection scorecard to compare alternatives. In a spreadsheet, list features down the left with the importance of each, alternatives across the top with a rating of how they satisfy each feature. Importance X Rating = Score. Make sure one of the alternatives is to "do nothing" or "stay with existing".  If the equipment needed is more than the budget allows, you may need to go back to the business case to get approval for additional funds.

click on chart to enlarge

Plan for training and testing time

This is generally the area project managers get caught:  once it is determined what to buy and orders are placed, time is often not baked in the plan to allow for installation, testing, and training!  People and equipment need time to ramp up.  Agree testing and installation time during negotiation with equipment vendors that includes a penalty for late installation and turnover.  Schedule and budget for training.  Allow team members ample time to ramp up on new equipment.

All of these rules apply whether you are acquiring equipment or human resources for the project.  When staffing a project, make sure the following is considered:

-location and office space
-fit with rest of the team
-project phasing:  is the person being brought in at the right time in the project life cycle?
-expertise, education, and experience