President's Article "Lean is more that just a four letter word." By Chrys C. Varnes, C.P.M., President NAPM-Orange County, Inc. Affiliated with the Institute of Supply Management

In many companies the Purchasing Department is seen as "muda" particularly when the organization is writing a contract for acquisition and implementation of technology.

Since these projects generally include both information technology staff as well as subject matter experts who will use the system, the organization may think there are already enough players to ensure that a well written contract will be developed. Further, they often think that Purchasing will just slow down the process.

Perhaps if the purchasing organization is not knowledgeable about services contracts this might be true. But a skilled purchasing practitioner can not only save the organization significant dollars but also can help projects come in on time and within budget- and with minimum grief!

Purchasing can offer to take on the role of "scribe" to assist in pulling together the necessary information to more quickly put together a contract document that will be acceptable to corporate legal and finance. This may take some time to win the confidence of the team but after the initial project, they will be asking you to help.

For example, purchasing can be helpful in defining roles and responsibilities for both their company and the contractor. To define roles and responsibilities, purchasing can use interviewing techniques asking questions that are appropriate for the project. Some of these questions might include:

1. Do we have to buy any additional hardware or software, particularly systems software? Who will pay for it? Who will order it? When will it be needed by? Who will install it?

2. Will the contractor need access to the company's computers? If so will they be onsite or will access be from a remote location? What hours will they need to have access?

3. Is the payment schedule based on milestone deliverables? How will we know that the milestone has been delivered?

4. What kind of warranty is included? Will additional technical support outside of the warranty be needed? What kind of response time can we expect for different levels of problems (e.g. minor "bug" fixes" that do not affect the use of the system, "bugs" that require workarounds, "bugs" that prohibit use of the system).

5. Is training included? If so is it on site or off site? Who pays for facilities including use of computers? How many students will be trained? How many hours of training are included? Are there any penalties for "no show" students? Who provides training materials? If contractor provided, who reproduces? If contractor training materials are copyrighted, how many copies can be reproduced and can they be changed to include internal corporate policies and procedures?

In addition to roles and responsibilities, a quick review of long term contract implications is another task that purchasing can assist with. This includes any preferred pricing structure for future additional licenses, services, etc.

Purchasing can add value to technology acquisition and implementation contracts. With some knowledge they can prove they are not "muda" and play a pivotal role to ensure a successful project.