Creating an Internal Procurement Academy in 6 Steps

A procurement academy is a structured learning program, which can be in the form of online courses or live training sessions, designed to help procurement teams improve their skills.

In this article, we will discuss why you should build a procurement academy and the steps to take to build one. I’ll also share insights from my early experiences with Procurement Tactics, this online learning platform I founded.

At the end of the article, I’ll share a checklist you can use to help you select a procurement training partner. Let’s dive in!

The 6 Steps to Build a Procurement Academy

Let’s explore how to establish one should you decide to create your own:

1. Set clear objectives for your procurement academy

The first step in creating your procurement academy is to set clear objectives for your procurement academy. What are you trying to accomplish?

When establishing your academy’s objectives, it’s crucial to ensure they align with the overall goals of the organization. This alignment helps stakeholders recognize the value your academy brings to the organization.

Additionally, setting clear goals that align with organizational objectives is essential for identifying the specific skills that procurement professionals need to upskill effectively.

Well-defined objectives also provide a solid foundation for designing your training curriculum, guiding the direction of your academy. 

A well-structured curriculum allows you to pinpoint the skills and competencies that require development, helping you choose relevant content and delivery methods for your students. This focus helps eliminate unnecessary topics that don’t add value to the organization.

Furthermore, having clear goals enables your academy to measure its success. These goals serve as benchmarks, giving you insight into whether your aims align with the company’s objectives. 

If a goal hasn’t been met, you can revisit it to assess its relevance to the organization. If you determine that it is no longer necessary, you can choose to remove it, ensuring your focus remains on what truly adds value.

2. Evaluate the current skill gaps

Once you’ve set clear objectives, the next step is to evaluate your students’ current skill gaps. Understanding these gaps is needed to know which areas you must focus on in order to help your students improve and advance in their roles.

To evaluate the skill gaps, you can start by conducting a thorough assessment of where your student lacks the necessary skills. You can do this through:

• Surveys and self-assessments: To do this, you must gather direct feedback from students about the areas where they feel less confident. Their insights will give you a clearer picture of their current capabilities and where improvement is needed to help them excel in their roles. Our team can help you with us, get in touch with us if you want our help.
• Performance reviews: You can do this by checking past performance evaluations from their managers to identify areas where they may need further development. This can help you know specific skills they should strengthen for their current positions.
• Questionnaires: Ask your procurement team targeted questions about their knowledge and proficiency in key areas.  Additionally, you can use open-ended questions to help uncover specific challenges they face or areas they’d like to focus on.

Once you’ve identified the skill gaps you can develop a customized training approach. Make sure to avoid a one-size-fits-all strategy; instead, create learning modules that address specific weaknesses and challenges. 

This approach will ensure the training remains relevant and effective in closing those gaps and helping students advance in their careers.

3. Select contents wisely

Now that you’ve identified the skills your students need to improve and developed a customized training approach, it’s time to fill that plan with carefully selected content. 

Choosing the right content is important to delivering an impactful learning experience. From my experience, it’s important to pay attention to the following items:

• Focus on current trends: Most educational material on procurement is outdated and doesn’t take technological developments into account. One clear example is the fast innovations in artificial intelligence. Thus, including content on emerging technologies like this helps keep your team updated with the evolving procurement landscape. Actually, our 2 most popular courses are about ChatGPT in Procurement, and AI Prompt Engineering in Procurement.
• Balance theory with real-world application: While theoretical knowledge is important, procurement is very much about real-world interactions, where human behavior and emotions can shift unexpectedly. Therefore, it’s essential to include content that balances theory with real-life applications, giving students the practical insights they need to navigate complex procurement scenarios. We’ve trained many procurement teams that only had theoretical training before we came in. This is unfortunate because theory is only 50% of the full package. At Procurement Tactics we are all about combining theory with practical examples and case studies, according to our famous Tell, Show, Do, Apply model.

To make your process easier, you can consider ready-made, well-curated content to save time. This is where we, Procurement Tactics can help you with your procurement academy. We offer a wide range of courses that blend theory with real-life application, all created by industry experts. Also, our team will be able to access it via our LMS, or we can transfer the content to your LMS.

4. Create a flexible learning program

Now that you’ve selected the right content for your procurement academy, it’s time to build a flexible learning program. 

This approach ensures that your procurement academy remains accessible and effective for all your students. It’s important to accommodate the different learning styles and preferences of students, as everyone absorbs information in unique ways. 

By offering a variety of formats—such as videos, interactive templates, and real-life case studies—you can cater to diverse learning needs and help students engage with the material in the way that works best for them. 

This flexibility also allows your students to progress at their own pace, balancing their training with daily responsibilities.

Incorporating modular content into your academy is another simple yet powerful way to build flexibility. This is where we can help you. 

Our courses include multiple formats designed to meet different learning preferences, providing a tailored experience that enhances learning and development. 

Our modules are structured to address specific skill-building goals, ensuring that learners stay engaged and steadily progress toward mastering the procurement skills that they want to develop. 

5. Utilize available technology and tools

Once you’ve created a flexible learning program, it’s now time for you to start utilizing technology to build your procurement academy, to do this, you will need to build or buy a Learning Management system (LMS).

So, what exactly is an LMS? It’s a software platform designed to help you create and manage your procurement academy. Think of it as a hub where your students can access all the learning materials. 

With an LMS, your training programs become easy to navigate and access. Thus, your students can learn anytime, anywhere.

Additionally, pre-built content can easily integrate into these LMS platforms, simplifying the creation of your procurement academy. 

This is where we can help. Our modules fit perfectly into most LMS systems, allowing you to quickly roll out high-quality training materials without the need for you to develop your platform so much. Our courses are flexible and customizable, designed to align with the organization’s specific skill-building goals while taking full advantage of the LMS’s capabilities.

6. Evaluate and improve your academy’s offerings

Now that you’ve built your procurement academy, it’s time to evaluate its effectiveness and impact on your students. You can evaluate your procurement academy by setting key performance indicators (KPIs). 

One important KPI is learner engagement. Are your videos engaging enough for learners to complete them? Another KPI that you can use is the completion rate, which indicates whether students are engaging and absorbing your content. 

If the completion rate is low, you might need to adjust your approach and make them more interactive. Additionally, gathering feedback from students who have completed your courses will provide valuable insights on areas to improve from their perspective.

Continuous improvement should be the core value of your procurement academy. The KPIs mentioned will help you identify the areas where you can make your lessons more engaging and effective for your learners.

We can support you in this process as our contents are always updated to ensure they stay relevant and in line with the latest industry trends. By partnering with us, you’ll not only enhance the engagement of your procurement academy but also benefit from the credibility of our courses, which are curated by procurement professionals with more than 20 years of experience in the field.

Why Build a Procurement Academy?

As AI continues to drive innovation, Chief Procurement Officers should too. According to a report by Gartner, CPOs must embrace and prepare for the massive impact of AI in the procurement process and staffing. 

So, what does this mean? It means that CPOs need to fully understand how AI is reshaping procurement and develop strategies to manage these changes. Since people within the procurement process will be affected, they need to promote continuous learning and training, ensuring their teams remain equipped with the skills needed to succeed in an AI-driven landscape.

This is where procurement academies come in—and why you should consider building one. The growing demand for structured procurement training is driven by the increasing complexity and importance of procurement in today’s business landscape.

A well-equipped procurement professional not only contributes to cost savings but also strengthens supplier relationships and mitigates potential risks before they arise.

A procurement academy provides a comprehensive framework that is designed to support the learning and development of professionals in the field of procurement. 

By creating a procurement academy, you can your team enhance their skills. It’s more than just upskilling—it’s about tailoring training to meet the specific needs of a procurement team, ensuring the content is both relevant and practical.

Moreover, a well-built procurement academy can foster a culture of continuous learning by tracking progress and promoting self-directed learning, which is essential for adapting to the fast-paced changes in procurement practices.

Conclusion

Building a procurement academy from scratch may seem challenging, but it’s never too late to start and reap the benefits. 

By creating one, you will help your procurement team develop the skills they need to stay up-to-date, helping them to navigate all the risks that they may face in the years to come.   

Furthermore, if you’re looking for a partner for additional support to create your procurement academy, then you are on the right track. With our expertise, we’ll provide everything you need to build a successful academy—from interactive, real-world content to seamless integration with your learning platform.

So, if you’re ready to get started and want to have a head start, reach out to us to schedule a demo. We’ll help bring your vision of a procurement academy to life.