Test Online Free CIPS L4M8 Exam Questions and Answers

Answer: A cross-function Team is the involvement of all departments that are in an organization to contribute knowledge, skills and innovation towards adding value to achieving the organization’s strategic goal. Example, procurement, maintenance, marketing, finance, human resources working together in procurement activity to come up with the best strategy or selecting the supplier that best suit the organization.
When working in a cross-functional team, members of the organization give support by believing in the end goal, assist during difficult time, help troubleshoot any issue, providing the required resources and sharing information Refer to the question column for response

Answer: Quality is fitness for purpose. It is important that quality is investigated by procurement professionals before forming relationship with potential supplies.
If quality is not investigated before selecting supplier the organization might stand the risk of facing the following disadvantages;
Reputational Damages
Cost of Rework
Cost of Downtime
Cost of Material
Cost of being stocked with the wrong supplier
Cost of being stocked in a project that may not come to an end at the forecasted time.
How buyer can choose a supplier with a good quality culture is first by defining the quality of the product or services to be carried out. Having knowledge of the product or service quality, supplies can rightly select and evaluated supplier with total quality management (TQM) in their system, ISO 9001 accreditation. TQM includes everyone in the organization with knowledge on the required quality; there would be little or no rejection/reworks. Thus is an added value to the organization.

Answer: The abuse of power within the supply chain can be linked to corruption. If individuals with seniority favor one supplier over another, they can exercise their power to award the contract to whoever they wish. According to CIPS code of conduct, this is not ac-ceptable. According to French and Raven, there are five types of power (Legitimate power, Re-ward, Expert, Referent and Coercive), and these powers can most likely be used in corruption.

Answer: The abuse of power within the supply chain can be linked to corruption. If individuals with seniority favor one supplier over another, they can exercise their power to award the contract to whoever they wish. According to CIPS code of conduct, this is not acceptable. According to French and Raven, there are five types of power (Legitimate power, Reward, Expert, Referent and Coercive), and these powers can most likely be used in corruption.

Answer: Stakeholder are individuals or organizations that can be affected directly or indirectly by any project or decision. For successful procurement activities to take place, stakeholders must be identified, engaged and managed. Not all stakeholders require the same level of engagement and management. To appropriately manage identified stakeholders, the Mendelow management matrix has categorized stakeholders in four quadrants, according to how low or high their power and interest in the project could be.
The four categories are:
1) Minimum effort (low power-Low interest)
2) Keep satisfied (high power-Low interest)
3) Keep informed (Low power C high interest)
4) Manage closely (High power- High interest)
Refer to the question column for response

Answer: Holding excessive inventory can reduce the impact of extended lead time. i.e. by saving the buying organization from downtime, reputation loss, and also it can generate revenue for the organization if there is a sudden increase in demand.

Answer: ILO stands for International Labour Organization- It is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance justice and promote decent work by setting international labor standard.
ETI is Ethical Trading Initiative: It is a leading alliance of companies, trade unions and NGOs that promote respect for workers right around the globe. Its vision is a world where all workers are free from exploitation and discrimination and enjoys condition of freedom, security and equity.

Answer: Key performance indicator (KPI) is another method of monitoring how a supplier is delivering on a contract.
When creating KPIs to manage suppliers and their contracts the areas monitored should be related to the organization’s overall strategy that is where organization’s success will be measured.

Answer: Contract terms are the right and duties agreed between parties with which are then documented in contract. Terms can be either implied or expression.
Implied terms are always present in a contract and are set by national laws; like the sales of goods act, whereas express terms are negotiated and created, for example; time is of the essence. When the procurement professional is setting key performance indicators, where which the supplier’s performance will be monitored and managed, the KPI is expected to be SMART. The SMART is an acronym that is used to set KPI and specification.
It means:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time bound
Refer to the question column for response

Answer: Commissioning is bringing something new into working condition, e.g start running a gas plant after building it. Commissioning is one of the eight elements that form the cycle of whole life asset management. The commissioning of an asset has the following associated costs, installation, training insurance, testing, operational efficiencies/performance and quality.

Answer: Organizational culture is made up of behaviors, traits, values and beliefs and these differ signifi-cantly across the globe. Gestures that may be positive in one country can be highly offensive in another. This culture could mean; for example, individualistic/collectivistic, masculine/feminine, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, Time perspective, indulgence/restraint.
When negotiating and forming contracts within the extended supply chain, it is important that the culture of the suppliers is understood to be compatible with the buying organization or else their might be loss of reputation, time, money material and equipment.
Also, being not aware of what is an acceptable ethically behavior in global sourcing can cost a buying organization. In some countries, bribery and kickbacks are a standard part of doing business. If procurement professional is not aware of the fact that some countries methods of doing business involves or expect kickbacks, for example, this could be costly to the organization and cancel out any savings that had originally been seen.
Cost of poor quality and rework: if the product or service quality is poor the organization may not satisfy it customers and this can lead to a loss of reputation in the market. For example, a residential building construction company contracting a supplier that supply would require home owners to reinstall a new door within three months. The organization would spend more funds in carrying out rework.
More administrative cost in contract management: an organization will have to manage it sup-pliers and the contracts to ensure they are delivering what they were contracted to do. A poor con-tract management is a waste in the process of delivery that can lead to loss of money. Also, to cor-rect this would cost the organizations administrative cost.

Answer: A new buy is the purchase of goods and services by an organization or an individual for its first time. For example a transport organization for the very first time contracting the purchase of a Lorry out to an external supplier. In situations like this, it is advisable to start the procurement cycle from the very first stage.
Which is understanding the need and developing high level specification.
Modified re-buy is the purchase of goods or services that an organization has bought before there was a need but with changes to the specification or supplier or quantity or quality. In carrying out modified re-buy, procurement professional should start from the very first stage of the procurement cycle to justify the added need and follow through. Not in all cases that buyer would have to start from understanding the need. In a situation where the changes required is a change of supplier, the organization will start from its preferred suppliers list and contract the next ranking supplier as the case may be.
Refer to the question column for response

Answer: During the sourcing stage of the procurement cycle, the procurement professional needs to identify and select suppliers to fulfill the business needs. Supplier selection involves evaluating suppliers against predetermine criteria to assess their suitability in working with the buying organization.
Suppliers can be evaluated according to Carter’s 10Cs which are as follows:
(1) Competency
(2) capacity
(3) consistency
(4) control
(5) cost
(6) commitment
(7) cash
(8) Clean
(9) culture
(10) communication.
Procurement professionals can decide to evaluate and select suppliers based on the overall strategy and the business objectives. After that, it most suitable suppliers receive the documentation (Invitation to tender/ request for quotation).

Answer:

Answer: Name of company: Full power projects
Business: Project management training and consultancy
If an organization is sourcing an asset that is readily available or mass produced then the cost associated with the design and manufacturing will be lower percentage of the total cost than if an organization commissions a bespoke piece of equipment to be designed and manufactured.
The following are a list of assets owned by fullpower projects.
Standard/off the shelf (Mass produced)
Projector from a shop-displayed files and document jackets from market
Desks and furniture
Bespoke/specialist - white board and marker
With extra, e.g. made with company color
Gift/ sovereign (bags and T. shirt) with coup any label, color and design Refer to the question column for response