As procurement grows in importance over the next decade, the value proposition it brings to the company and its stakeholders will increase exponentially. This module is designed as an introductory course to kick start the participants' journey into a formal procurement role with the sharing of essential skills and knowledge. After attending the module, participants will develop a better understanding of procurement in general and get prepared for the intensive deep dives into the other modules in the certificate programme.

While digitalisation underlies many of the elements that procurement needs to master, in and of itself, digitalisation is only a tool that enables agility. When viewed in this context, the rush to become digital is less of a frenetic all-out race to do something digital and more a selection from a menu of enabling technologies that will help most teams achieve their business goals. This module teaches procurement professionals how to tackle the digital topic.

This module shares the tools involved in making category management successful in organisations and the implementation steps to it. When implemented effectively, this approach can build a significant competitive advantage, deliver dramatic cost reduction and the value and innovation required for business success.

With a clearer and deeper understanding of the various elements of contract management and governance, participants will be better equipped to excel in extracting the best value out of your contract. This module focuses on how to create SMART key performance indicators for practical implementation and the audit concerns for mismanagement. After attending the module, participants will be able to better appreciate the key role contract management plays in the procurement lifecycle.

Being ethical means being in accordance with the rules or standards for right conduct or practise, especially the standards of a profession. This module equips participants with the right knowledge of procurement fraud modus operandi, red flag, and the skills to detect them early by studying some of the high-profile fraud cases and procurement lapses. The course also discusses the various dimensions that would help organisations enable sustainable procurement in the new world.

Supplier management is about people management and the added value that human aspects of business can bring to operations. This module equips participants with the tools and approaches to identify and manage important and strategic suppliers.

Finance has an incredibly important role in procurement and it is important to understand the value it offers. Analytics, on the other hand, helps tie together both internal and external data sources, thus providing information anytime and anywhere about supplier markets. This module discusses how finance and analytics can help drive decisive insights for procurement and enable organisations to unlock their real value.

It is therefore imperative to identify the risks involved right from the start of the procurement lifecycle and to effectively monitor and manage them in order to ensure the smooth and successful running of purchasing operation. This module shows how successful prevention and mitigation of risks is as integral to sourcing as any other process. After attending the module, participants will be able to appreciate how vital it is to take risk into account during sourcing activities as failing to do so will result in disruption across procurement processes.

With this backdrop, having a good grasp of the basics of employment law and understanding how the landscape of employment has been altered fundamentally by the disruption brought by the pandemic and more recently, technologies such as Chatgpt and Artificial intelligence, is needed to provide a strong foundation to address any changes and continuity.

The course begins with a deep-dive into the fundamentals of corporate governance, followed by an exploration of how digital transformation is reshaping these principles. We first deal with the core aspects of starting a business such as which corporate form to choose, what key documents are required, and the timelines and processes involved in starting up. In this part of the course, we will also examine how incorporation and documentation may differ in the context of modern-day businesses that focus heavily on technology.