This role has 2 aspects: i) Order lifecycle management; ii) Contract management – commercial & legal. Commercial is responsible for delivery of materials, services and other contractual deliverables – on time in sequence, in compliance to TSL governance framework.
Purpose of commercial is that we have efficient contracting.
In the services, there are 2 dimensions – the structural dimension of the activities (covered in the map currently), but the process dimension i.e. the responsiveness dimension – if we don’t bring that in we will get only 1/10th of the story. Most of the story lies in the responsiveness.
There is a dynamic between the team and the user. How to solve that problem is the question. Anywhere where there is a service this becomes critical.
Deliverables Map
Visioning
- Procurement plan (Decision related to Unique vs Global packages, Price discovery strategy etc.)
Specification
- Finalization of potential contract partners
- Finalization of Price Discovery mechanisms
Build
- Putting in place the contracts
- Tracking contract performance
- Helping G6 in resolution of contract related issues
- Keeping contracts current.
- Getting deliveries aligned to project requirements.
Handover
- Contract Closure
- Learning Document
What is the enabling role of Commercial to the project?
Exploration into the biggest flashpoints: i) Not getting complete specification from PM, ii) change in requirements after placing order. Therefore, it was noted that the flashpoints are related to the dynamic nature of projects. From a structure point of view, it will work best if it is step by step. But the moment we are talking of it as a dynamic response-based system, how will it manage is the question?
Commercial’s Challenge is: How do we meet the outcome of being responsive to evolving needs, while maintaining rigor? If we don’t achieve that, the role specification will be very limited. So, we have to work backward from project manager, rather than procurement forward.
EG: you look at the visioning stage and say, “what does the project manager want at this stage, for which I have to help?” It will have to be recast it in those terms. Right now it is from the point of view of procurement.
EG: Suppose I have a set of drives. I have made a global package for it. Suppose I have any changes of this kind/ that kind it can accommodate for it. The framework is met and requirement is also met – because it is a broad list. This is in terms of response time.
The role is to present alternatives and out of the options a project manager can choose.