Overview 

As many organizations move toward separating sourcing and procurement, the question is often asked what tasks do the buyers work on after the order is placed. Our common answer is - Managing the Transaction. Although we may think that with automation and computerization of commerce that human intervention in completing a transaction is an element of a bygone era, but it is just as, or more important today. The buyer is the exception handler and takes over when the necessary steps of the transactions are not followed or delayed. Buyers are the intelligence gathers on supplier performance and should always be interviewed during sourcing events for qualitative information on a supplier.

Buyers and eProcurement

What if your organization has implemented eProcurement? Or you are using an ERP with MRP? Are buyers still necessary? Our answer is an emphatic, YES! Buyers are freed from the time killing mechanical tasks and can spend quality time on:

• Supplier capabilities for the sourcing organization
• Supplier performance management
  
• New supplier on boarding
• Federal/State/Local government documentation and reporting
• Supplier information and profile management

Buyer compensation

We have had several clients implement new technologies and wanted to transistion their buyers from the existing compensation plan to one more in line with their new tasks and duties. We are not compensation consultants and the new job requirements and duties should be evaluated within the context of your overall compensation strategy. In every case, buyers had been compensated through a salary/bonus structure where the bonus was heavily weighted toward the number of processed transactions. We recommend a more professional compensation plan versus the prior piece meal rate plan. A salary and bonus structure geared toward the management of information and processes with metrics on accuracy and timeliness seem more in line with today's buying professional. 

Managing the Transaction

To manage purchasing transactions, focus on your people and focus them on processes and management. In today's more automated world, buyers are not redundant but can allocate more time on higher value tasks. As supply chains expand globally and end users are many links down the chain, organizations should reallocate transaction resources to monitoring and data collection.