Glossary

A

Agile

This is an iterative project management method for development that values adapting to change with ease and producing working results. Usable functions and features are delivered after development sprints. This is the recommended approach for the delivery and implementation of digital products and services.

Architecture

IT Architecture refers to the key principles that guide the design and infrastructure of an organisation or government’s IT technology landscape. This is done to ensure that different technologies can work together, meet requirements and be aligned to the overall technology strategy.

 

B

Bid Package

This is the collection of documents that will contain all the information required by potential suppliers to bid for a specific piece of work. It usually contains information around the timelines, compliance requirements and information on the required scope of work, to allow potential supplier to provide compliant bids.

C

Category Charter

A project charter is a document used in a project to align stakeholders on key areas of a project, such as timelines, stakeholders, resources, scope of work and project objectives. Similarly, a Category Charter is used to align stakeholders on the key area of a category project.

Category Management

Category Management is the comprehensive management all aspects of a company’s spend on a material or service including;

How much do we spend, where is it spent, who do we spend it with, who buys it, how do we buy it and how do we manage performance over the life of the contract, that creates the most value at the lowest cost and at an acceptable level of risk for an organisation.

A category management approach can be seen as a programmatic approach to addressing spend via a series of strategic sourcing projects.

Category management works together with strategic sourcing and contract management.

Category Strategy

A category strategy refers to the plans for value creation in a specific segment of spend. It typically involves outlining the approach that a category manager or buyer will take to address all the spend within a particular category, including balancing cost objectives, with business or department requirements.

Change Management

Change Management is a term used to describe the activities that are undertaken to support users and managers of digital products or sourcing activities, when new products or services are introduced.

Cloud Technology

This is the delivery of computing services such as servers, storage, database, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence over the internet. This technology usually usages shared infrastructure to deliver services to multiple clients.

Contract Management

Contract management refers to the processes put in place to manage both contract performance and administration. Lifecycle management of contracts refers to managing the contact from drafting, negotiation, signing, storing, executing to termination or re-negotiation. Contract management works together with category management and strategic sourcing.

D

Data Model

A data model refers to a model that organises and standardised data, and enables to individual data within the model to relate to other data.

Digital

Digital describes electronic technology that generates, stores, and processes data, and is able to communicate this data with other technology.

Digital Asset Management

The process of managing the lifecycle and associated costs of a digital asset i.e. a digital product that has been acquired by an organisation or department.

Digital Principles

The “Principles for Digital Development” are nine living guidelines that are designed to help integrate best practices into technology-enabled programs. They include guidance for every phase of the project life cycle, and they are part of an ongoing effort among development practitioners to share knowledge and support continuous learning. The Principles for Digital Development cover nine core areas that are critically important to the long-term success of digital technology programs. The 9 Principles can be viewed here: https://digitalprinciples.org/principles/

Digital Product

Digital Products are intangible products such as Software, e-books or apps. It does not have a physical form. The can be deployed on local servers or hardware, or accessed over the internet.

Digital Product Lifecycle

These are the phases that digital product undergoes from its initial launch to its decline. The Lifecycle phases are 1. Plan 2. Implement 3.Operate 4. Transition

 

E

Event Type

Event type or sourcing event refers to type refers broadly to the type of market engagement that can be used to execute a sourcing project as part of a category strategy. For example, this could include RFI’s, e-auctions, competitive tenders or direct renegotiations.

F

Free Text

Free text refers to the collection of unstructured data – meaning that data is collected in a way that allows the inputs to be captured in any format. This is not recommended in procurement, because using tools to  analyse free text data is difficult as it is difficult to compare unstructured data sets to one another. .

M

Market Tender

Market Tender refers to specific type of sourcing event that involves a competitive process allowing multiple bidders to submit proposals.

MVP/MVO

Minimum Viable Product/Minimum Viable Offering. A method of deploying functionality at a small scale, before ramping up with further development, allowing for testing of the digital technology. This is a key approach in agile development and deployment of digital technologies.

N

Negotiations – BATNA

Acronym for “Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement” This is the alternative option a negotiating party has, and can utilize instead of an offer during an unsuccessful negotiation. Having this option means that a negotiating party does not have to accept the deal if it is unfavourable, as the party has another option. From Fisher and Ury.

Negotiations – ZOPA

Acronym for “Zone of Possible Agreement”  From Fisher and Ury.

Negotiations – Interests vs Positions

Interests are an underlying motivation, whilst positions are how that motivation translates into a request. It is an important concept in negotiations because interests can often be filled by many options, whilst positions can only be filled by one option. For example, an interest could be creating efficiencies and auditability by removing paper based processed, and the position would be that you need a specific piece of software. From Fisher and Ury.

Negotiations – Legitimate Criteria

Objective and mutually agreed facts that all parties to a negotiation agree on, which forms the basis for decision making. Using legitimate criteria is essential for building trust between parties negotiating for the supply of digital products and services. From Fisher and Ury.

Negotiation Styles

Negotiation styles refer to the broad approaches that one can take during a negotiation, from competing to collaborating.

O

Open Source

Type of computer software in which source code is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose. This is a preferred standard for the development of software, due to availability of skill and resources and is also cost effective.

Operating Model (Technology)

An Operating Model is a framework for an organisation to align itself with the overall business strategy and goals. It outlines the governance structure and how it functions as an entity.

Opportunity

In procurement, opportunity analysis is the process of identifying means to capture value through sourcing. It facilitates sourcing process improvements and highlights possible savings opportunities. Opportunity analysis generally involves analysis of the organization’s requirements, suppliers, spend and existing sourcing methods.

 

 

P

Pricing Model

Pricing model for procurement supports in identifying key cost components present in the material or service. This helps governments understand how variations in these key components can alter the overall cost of the procured category and decodes the cost drivers impacting the category.

Procurement Governance

This defines and allocates accountability, communications, standards and major practices, and institutional responsibilities for public procurement. It includes areas such as using approved purchase orders, contract compliance, Delegation of Authority frameworks (DOA), conflict checks and procurement policies.

Product Lifecycle

Product lifecycle management is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from inception, through to engineering, design and manufacture, to service and disposal.

Programme Management

Program management or programme management is the process of managing several related projects, often with the intention of improving an organization’s performance.

Project Charter

A project charter is a document used in a project to align stakeholders on key areas of a project, such as timelines, stakeholders, resources, scope of work and project objectives. 

Project Buffer

Project buffer is additional allocated resources or time in excess of what is expected. This gives project managers leeway when things don’t go according to plan. Also known as contingency.

Project Management

Projects are temporary, discrete work packages with specific objectives, in contrast to  “day to day’ operations. Project management needs to balance conflicting resources around project scope, resources and time.

Proof of Concept Workshop

Proof of concept (POC), also known as proof of principle, is a realization of a certain method or idea in order to demonstrate its feasibility or a demonstration in principle with the aim of verifying that some concept or theory has practical potential. A proof of concept is usually small and may or may not be complete.

R

Resource Management

Process by which businesses and governments manage their various resources effectively. Resources are typically fixed and organisations often have competing projects and activities, creating a need for effective management of resources.

Risk Management

The practice of identifying potential risks, based on both impact caused by the risk, and the probability of the risk occurring, and then putting mitigating steps in place to reduce overall risk. This is a key component of programme and project planning, as actions need to be incorporated into plans to ensure that adequate resources and attention is given to risk management.

RFx

Request for Information: A type of RFx, used to gather information ahead of a tender or RFP. This is a useful tool in gathering information around market capabilities and to understand supplier’s abilities and offering ahead of a formal RFQ or RFP. It is especially useful ahead of complex procurement market tenders, such as those involving digital products and services.
 

Request for Quotation: A type of RFx, used to gather quotes where services are easily comparable. Usually used as a part of a “spot buy” or quick purchase process.
 

Request for Proposal: A type of RFx, used to gather and understand more complex offers from suppliers, with the goal of enabling comparisons. Usually used as part of a strategic sourcing or tender process.

S

Service Level Agreement (SLA)

A service-level agreement is a commitment between a service provider and a client, that outlines key performance criteria. In an SLA for digital services, the agreement typically monitors performance criteria such product availability and outages, Ticket Time to Resolve (TTTR), exception and limitations and more.

Scenario Analysis

In a procurement context, scenario analysis is the process of comparing different offers and options within offers to find the best buying option for an organisation. For example, a scenario could be, what if we ‘cherry picked’ the lowest prices for individual components from different suppliers, or what if we awarded to multiple suppliers instead of one.

Sponsor

A project sponsor is the overall owner of a project, and usually makes decisions around scope and resources. A project sponsor is usually accountable for the project’s success or failure.

Sourcing Event

Event type or sourcing event refers to type refers broadly to the type of market engagement that can be used to execute a sourcing project as part of a category strategy. For example, this could include RFI’s, eauctions, competitive tenders or direct renegotiations.

Subject Matter Expert

A technical or functional expert who forms a part of a project team, with the specific role of providing input and advice into technical or functional areas.

Stakeholder

An individual party with a degree of interest or influence in a particular project or product.

Steering Committee

A steering committee for a procurement project or programme, is a group of individuals responsible for overall decision making, ensuring that decisions are made with alignment between key areas. Steering committees for digital procurement projects or programmes would usually be made up of senior members from finance, business or user representation, IT departments, cost center owners and other interested an impacted parties.

Strategic Planning

This is the process of identifying business strategy, and then the roadmap and the resources needed to lead those strategies to support the business. In the context of digital procurement, this involves creating a strategic programme plan, aligned to supporting digitization objectives.

Strategic Sourcing

This is a procurement process that creates efficiencies across all spend categories, minimizing risks by improving supplier selection and provides visibility around total cost of ownership, pricing and forecasting.

Strategic sourcing entails executing sourcing projects using a framework or methodology that uses data to inform decisions around how best to meet requirements, and is usually executed in line with broader category strategies.

Supplier Footprint

Supplier footprint refers to the geographies and locations that a supplier is able to deliver products and services in.

T

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

An approach used to look across all costs associated with a product or service. For example, in a digital context this includes the purchase price for licenses, support and maintenance costs, implementation, change management, product enhancements and other costs.