Career studio / Supply Chain & Procurement
Build evidence for the Procurement Analyst role
A training business must buy 120 headsets. Three suppliers differ in unit price, delivery time and defect history. Prepare a recommendation that respects mandatory requirements before applying weighted scores.
Your outcome: Supplier comparison, total-cost model and sourcing recommendation.
Start with the right expectations
Who this is for
Spreadsheet arithmetic and careful reading of specifications.
This path develops a demonstrable work sample for the named role. It does not replace employer-specific experience, professional qualifications or supervised practice.
Plan your study time
Use a flexible six-week project schedule: one week for each of the first four stages and two weeks for the portfolio and review. Allow roughly 3–5 hours per week for the case work, in addition to course study. This is a planning suggestion, not a measured course duration or a promise of job readiness.
Read the course access notes before starting. Free viewing or reading does not automatically include certificates, graded assessments, software licences or paid cloud resources. Core case work can be documented with a free editor and spreadsheet; optional implementation tools may have additional requirements.
Your course sequence
Start in the order below. Use the course outline to select the sections relevant to the stage tasks, and complete foundation exercises before moving on. Full provider courses can be substantially longer than this project schedule. These are course resources, not a claimed count of individual lessons.
Resource 01 / OnlinePMCourses
Project Procurement: Free Course
Purpose: Build the foundations. Connect your notes to the case tasks below rather than only collecting completion marks.
- Define a procurement need and describe the work or service being requested.
- Understand the purpose of a tender process and its supporting documents.
- Consider supplier and consultant responsibilities during project delivery.
Access: Free Video
Certificate: Free video viewing; certificate not included
Resource 02 / MIT
Free MIT Course: Supply Chain Strategy and Logistics
Purpose: Develop the role-specific method. Connect your notes to the case tasks below rather than only collecting completion marks.
Access: Free Video
Certificate: Free video viewing; no MIT certificate or academic credit
Resource 03 / Corporate Finance Institute
Statistics Fundamentals: Free Course
Purpose: Strengthen practical application. Connect your notes to the case tasks below rather than only collecting completion marks.
- Distinguish descriptive analysis from inference about a wider population.
- Use measures of variation and probability to describe uncertainty in data.
- Explain the purpose and assumptions of a hypothesis test.
Access: Free Video
Certificate: Free video viewing; certificate not included
Learn, make, check
Keep a decision log as you work. For each stage, capture the assumption, your work product, a check and the change you made after that check. The acceptance criterion is the stopping condition for the stage.
Stage 1 / suggested project week 1
Write the requirement
Understand: Mandatory criteria should not be traded away by scoring.
Make: Specify quantity, connection type, delivery deadline and acceptance tests.
Check before moving on: Identify pass/fail requirements separately from preferences.
Study companion: Project Procurement: Free Course. Use its relevant lessons and examples; the independent WikiFree task is not a provider assessment.
Save as evidence: a dated work product and a short note explaining one choice, one alternative and one remaining uncertainty.
Stage 2 / suggested project week 2
Compare total cost
Understand: The cheapest unit price may not yield the lowest landed cost.
Make: Calculate purchase plus shipping cost for each supplier using the sample quantities.
Check before moving on: Keep tax assumptions explicit and use one currency.
Study companion: Free MIT Course: Supply Chain Strategy and Logistics. Use its relevant lessons and examples; the independent WikiFree task is not a provider assessment.
Save as evidence: a dated work product and a short note explaining one choice, one alternative and one remaining uncertainty.
Stage 3 / suggested project week 3
Evaluate delivery risk
Understand: A score is only as reliable as its evidence.
Make: Build a weighted evaluation with evidence notes and a sensitivity check.
Check before moving on: Explain how a supplier with a missed mandatory deadline is treated.
Study companion: Statistics Fundamentals: Free Course. Use its relevant lessons and examples; the independent WikiFree task is not a provider assessment.
Save as evidence: a dated work product and a short note explaining one choice, one alternative and one remaining uncertainty.
Stage 4 / suggested project week 4
Recommend and monitor
Understand: Award decisions need a record and an acceptance process.
Make: Draft the recommendation and incoming-inspection checklist.
Check before moving on: Show the approval role and a contingency if delivery slips.
Study companion: Statistics Fundamentals: Free Course. Use its relevant lessons and examples; the independent WikiFree task is not a provider assessment.
Save as evidence: a dated work product and a short note explaining one choice, one alternative and one remaining uncertainty.
Stage 5 / suggested project weeks 5–6
Present your portfolio
Assemble the four work products into Supplier comparison, total-cost model and sourcing recommendation. Write a README explaining the problem, your assumptions, the decisions you made, tests actually performed and what remains incomplete.
Give a five-minute walkthrough: one minute for the problem, two for the work and evidence, one for trade-offs and one for the next improvement. If you have not implemented a proposed system, label it a design or prototype rather than a deployed solution.
Acceptance: a reviewer can locate each work product, reproduce the key reasoning and identify the limits without a private explanation from you.
The portfolio brief
A training business must buy 120 headsets. Three suppliers differ in unit price, delivery time and defect history. Prepare a recommendation that respects mandatory requirements before applying weighted scores.
Deliver: Supplier comparison, total-cost model and sourcing recommendation.
| supplier | unit price | shipping | lead days | defect pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 18 | 180 | 8 | 2 |
| B | 20 | 60 | 5 | 1 |
| C | 17 | 300 | 12 | 4 |
Use these small inputs to make the reasoning visible. They are not a representative dataset, a real client engagement or evidence of production performance. Where the brief requires additional sample records, create them yourself, label them synthetic and explain why you added them.
The ZIP includes the case CSV, four stage worksheets, course sequence, decision log, test log, portfolio README template, review rubric and reference reasoning. It is a starter kit for your work, not a completed application, professional report or proprietary project file.
Check your reasoning
For 120 units at 18 each plus 180 shipping, what is the modeled landed cost before taxes?
Write your answer and assumptions before opening the reference.
Read the reference reasoning
120×18+180=2340 units, or 19.5 per unit. Compare the same cost boundary for all suppliers before evaluating non-price criteria.
Portfolio review rubric
| Criterion | Points | Evidence required |
|---|---|---|
| Problem and scope | 4 | A clear user, need, boundary and assumptions |
| Role-specific work | 8 | 2 points for each of the four stage acceptance checks |
| Reasoning and validation | 4 | Independent checks, actual results and uncertainty |
| Communication and reproducibility | 4 | A usable README, source links and reviewable work products |
Aim for at least 16/20 as a self-review target, with no missing stage acceptance check. This is a WikiFree practice rubric, not an industry credential or a hiring assessment.
Interview practice
What changed when you tested a different weight on delivery reliability?
Answer using the case: context, your action, evidence and limitation. Describe this honestly as a self-directed project. Do not present fictional organizations, invented interviews or practice results as paid work experience.
Your progress
Use this checklist as a personal study aid. Progress is stored in this browser when local storage is available; it is not an account record or a certificate.
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Questions before you start
Will this path qualify me for a job?
It helps you study relevant foundations and produce a work sample. Employers may require additional skills, qualifications and experience. Review actual role requirements before applying; no job or certification is guaranteed.
Are all tools and certificates free?
The linked learning routes were selected for free viewing or reading. Follow the separate access and certificate notes on each course. Paid tools and cloud deployment are optional; document a local design when implementation resources are unavailable.
Can I follow this on a phone?
You can read the path and many learning resources on a phone. Coding, detailed spreadsheet work, design tools and mobile-app development are easier or require a suitable computer. The page is designed to reflow; that is not a claim that every physical device has been tested.
Questions & discussion
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