Providing Context for New Employees

When onboarding a new employee in your department who will have purchasing responsibilities as part of their job, be sure to provide the necessary context for how your specific departmental purchasing works.  Doing this before they complete any training or start using Aggie Enterprise will make their learning process much more effective and efficient.  Each department has its own business processes, and it’s critical for new employees to thoroughly understand these processes. Some of the items you should review with your new employee:

• Does your department use an online pre-purchasing system or utilize a Shared Services unit? Our Supply Chain Management training does not cover those systems/processes, so work with any applicable support staff as needed to articulate that information to the new employee.
• Is your purchasing centralized? Will the new employee be purchasing for just a few individuals, or will they be purchasing for the entire department?
• How do departmental requests for goods and services get communicated to the individual(s) placing the orders on their behalf?
• Are purchases bundled and done once a week, or are they made piecemeal as the requests come in?
• What account(s) and delivery locations does your department use?

Reviewing the above information first, before a new employee completes any training can really help them better understand and apply the training when they complete it.

We also encourage new employees and supervisors to review the New To Purchasing Guide as well!