(1) More fruitful ideation sessions (a greater number of ideas across supply, demand/spec, and process levers), (2) greater involvement in the Transformation/ a greater number of IOs/MOs, (3) higher quality Initiatives (less rework and value leakage), (4) enhanced collaboration with functional and business partners (5) greater professional development

We recommend rolling the digital program out over a 5-week period, with participants completing 2-3 lessons a week. Each lesson takes ~20 minutes to complete, so the total time commitment for a given week is usually < 1 hour

Ideally, the IPE should be launched at the beginning of BUP before ideation sessions are held. This is because the IPE focuses on both increasing the number and breadth of ideas generated during ideation sessions and improving the quality of Initiatives developed throughout BUP. That being said, we have successfully piloted the IPE well into Implementation when workstreams were working to refill the pipeline (i.e., come up with new ideas to hit new targets)

It is currently only available in English but will be available in Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese by April 2020, and additional languages (Spanish, French, Chinese, etc.) by EOY 2020

Yes! While the IPE is fairly geared towards BUP (improving ideation sessions and building high-quality Initiatives), the digital experience can be taken at any time as it focuses on teaching a common language and essential Procurement tools, such as Should-Cost, TCO, Spend Intelligence, Supplier Selection, and Negotiation Preparation. These foundational concepts continue to deliver value long after BUP ends

Assuming we are using the activation link launch method, preparation typically takes ~4 weeks. This includes configuring a new instance of the program (with customized intro/outro videos), aligning on a launch list (list of participants), generating and testing activation links, and aligning on comms

~2-3 weeks and it requires coordination between the A2E team, CST, and client Initiative Owner

The bulk of the material in the digital experience cannot be customized, with the exception of the introductory and concluding videos which feature a Procurement leader at the client (e.g., WSS, CPO). The remaining examples, videos, and exercises have been built around a fictitious business case – Lisa’s Ice Cream – to ensure that key concepts can be applied to a wide variety of Procurement organizations. That being said, we have had clients choose to hold additional discussions/workshops to share industry/client-specific examples and applications beyond what is shared in the digital course

Yes! A2E Procurement focuses on the fundamentals of how to capture an organization’s full Procurement potential by teaching a common language and set of essential tools, and focusing on mindset and behavior shifts. This foundational program has served as both a refresher to folks who have been involved in Procurement for 20+ years and an onboarding tool for those inside and outside of Procurement that are new to the function and/or the Transformation

2 years or through the end of the Transformation, whichever is longer

The IPE is an interactive, simulation-based experience that requires teams of 6 to work together closely. To help ensure this remains a very hands-on experience, we recommend keeping the participant count under 42 (e.g., 6 tables of 6)

We provide a report at the end of each week during the digital rollout tracking completion rates (full completion of the course and expected weekly progress) and proficiency rates (how well folks are performing on the end-of-lesson assessments). We also provide an end-of-program report which includes a per-lesson view of recommendation and relevancy rates

Capturing the full value of the Procurement organization requires significant involvement beyond the Procurement organization. Quality engineers, product managers, functional partners (IT, Marketing, Finance etc.) and others play critical roles in enabling Procurement Initiatives. For example, a quality engineer is in charge of product specs which ultimately impact downstream costs. Because of this, we recommend a 70/30 audience split between Procurement and non-Procurement participants

It is possible to link the digital program to an organization’s LMS via a SCORM shell, but that will take an additional month to configure. Additionally, if other A2E programs have already been launched via a different method (e.g., activation links) we recommend continuing with that method for consistency and to prevent any login problems for overlapping users

N-3 to N-5 folks (e.g., Category Managers, sourcing specialists, analysts, buyers) who are responsible for the largest spend categories in the org. To increase collaboration between the Procurement organization and its business and functional partners, we also recommend inviting 70% of folks from Procurement and 30% from related orgs (e.g., Engineering, IT). We require names and roles ahead of time so we can assign folks to specific tables to ensure each team has Procurement and non-Procurement folks across different tenures

~$200K for the digital experience. The in-person experience price is still negotiable while we test it at our first few clients (across a variety of industries). Note that you should not be discussing pricing with anyone. All pricing questions should be directed to Teresa, Jolene, or Garrett

It could! While the IPE is fairly geared towards a Transformation’s Bottom-Up Planning phase (improving ideation sessions and building high-quality Initiatives), the digital experience is not Transformation-specific. While it does cover Transformation topics such as Business Cases and Implementation Plans, it also cover foundational Procurement concepts such as Spend Intelligence, TCO, and Should-Cost

We typically recommend an organization go through the program in a single wave to upskill folks concurrently and get the organization speaking the same language as quickly as possible. This also helps participants feel their leadership’s support and focus on capability building throughout the organization

Possibly! Ideally, the IPE should be launched at the beginning of BUP because it focuses on increasing the number and breadth of ideas generated during ideation sessions and improving the quality of Initiatives developed throughout BUP. That being said, we have successfully piloted the IPE well into Implementation when workstreams were working to refill the pipeline and it was still very effective

A2E Procurement is a foundational behavior change program to rapidly upskill employees with the common language and essential tools needed to capture the full value of Procurement within the context of a Transformation. So essentially (1) it is foundational, whereas PDP offers more advanced trainings, (2) it is focused on behavior change, not just capability building, and (3) it is primarily geared toward driving impact in Transformations (via Procurement Initiatives)