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Quest Training

Category Management & Strategic Procurement Planning Training Course

Moves procurement beyond transactional buying, showing how to build category strategies and plans aligned with spend, priorities and supplier markets.

PSS · Procurement Strategy & Strategic SourcingAll Levels#1990ClassroomEnglish , Arabic
Duration
5 Days
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Free substitution at any time · 30+ days' notice: full refund minus 10%. Cancellation policy

Sectors:Procurement, Contracts & Supply ChainCategories:Procurement Strategy & Strategic Sourcing

Course Overview

The Category Management & Strategic Procurement Planning Training Course provides a comprehensive and practical framework for managing procurement categories strategically and developing procurement plans that are aligned with organizational priorities, financial objectives, operational requirements, and supplier market conditions. The course moves beyond transactional purchasing to establish a structured approach to category strategy, spend management, sourcing decisions, supplier relationships, and long-term value creation. Participants will explore the complete category management lifecycle, including category segmentation, spend analysis, demand assessment, market intelligence, supplier analysis, risk evaluation, opportunity identification, sourcing strategy, and category planning. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding the commercial and operational characteristics of each category and using reliable data to determine the most appropriate procurement strategy. The program also addresses strategic procurement planning and how organizations can translate business requirements into actionable procurement plans. Participants will examine procurement priorities, category pipelines, sourcing calendars, stakeholder requirements, budgets, contract expiries, market dynamics, supply risks, and opportunities for consolidation, standardization, competition, and cost optimization. Through practical exercises, category strategy development, spend analysis, supplier market assessment, procurement planning workshops, and realistic business cases, participants will develop the capability to build category strategies and procurement plans that improve value, strengthen supplier performance, manage risk, enhance transparency, and support sustainable procurement outcomes.

Learning Objectives

  • By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
  • Explain the principles, scope, and strategic value of category management.
  • Analyze organizational spend and classify expenditure into meaningful procurement categories.
  • Segment categories according to business importance, supply market characteristics, value, and risk.
  • Develop category profiles based on spend, demand, suppliers, contracts, and market intelligence.
  • Assess supplier markets, competitive dynamics, cost drivers, and supply risks.
  • Identify strategic sourcing and cost optimization opportunities within procurement categories.
  • Develop category strategies aligned with organizational objectives and stakeholder requirements.
  • Apply structured approaches to demand analysis, specification optimization, and procurement planning.
  • Build annual and multi-year strategic procurement plans.
  • Prioritize procurement activities according to value, urgency, risk, and organizational impact.
  • Align sourcing initiatives with budgets, contract timelines, business requirements, and market conditions.
  • Develop sourcing pipelines and category-specific procurement roadmaps.
  • Strengthen stakeholder engagement and cross-functional collaboration in category planning.
  • Integrate supplier relationship management and performance requirements into category strategies.
  • Incorporate risk management, business continuity, and market volatility into procurement plans.
  • Establish performance measures and governance mechanisms for category management and strategic procurement.

Who Should Attend

This course is designed for procurement and supply chain professionals responsible for category management, strategic sourcing, purchasing, supplier management, procurement planning, contract management, and commercial decision-making. It is particularly relevant to procurement managers, category managers, strategic sourcing specialists, buyers, procurement analysts, supply chain professionals, and contract and commercial specialists. The program is also valuable for finance professionals, budget managers, project managers, operations leaders, asset and maintenance professionals, supplier relationship managers, risk and compliance specialists, and department heads who contribute to procurement planning, category decisions, or major sourcing initiatives. It is suitable for professionals working in government entities and ministries, banks and financial institutions, oil and gas organizations, manufacturing, construction and engineering, utilities, telecommunications, healthcare, technology companies, multinational corporations, and large enterprises seeking to strengthen strategic procurement capability.

Learning Outcomes

  • By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
  • Build a structured category management framework for assigned procurement categories.
  • Produce category profiles using spend, demand, supplier, contract, and market data.
  • Identify patterns and opportunities through spend analysis.
  • Distinguish strategic, leverage, bottleneck, and routine procurement categories.
  • Evaluate supplier market structure and competitive positioning.
  • Identify opportunities for supplier consolidation, competition, standardization, and demand optimization.
  • Develop category-specific sourcing strategies based on business and market requirements.
  • Construct procurement plans that connect category priorities with organizational budgets and timelines.
  • Create sourcing pipelines based on contract expirations, demand forecasts, business priorities, and market conditions.
  • Evaluate category risks and incorporate mitigation measures into procurement strategies.
  • Define stakeholder requirements and translate them into practical category plans.
  • Establish supplier performance expectations within category strategies.
  • Develop category performance indicators and management dashboards.
  • Prioritize procurement initiatives according to strategic value and implementation feasibility.
  • Present category strategies and procurement plans to management and key stakeholders.
  • Establish an actionable roadmap for continuous improvement in category management.

Course Outline

Course Outline

Day 1

Foundations of Category Management and Strategic Procurement

  • Evolution from transactional purchasing to strategic procurement.
  • Principles and objectives of category management.
  • The category management lifecycle.
  • Procurement operating models and category structures.
  • Defining procurement categories and subcategories.
  • Category segmentation and classification.
  • Strategic alignment between procurement and organizational objectives.
  • Roles and responsibilities of category managers and procurement teams.
  • Stakeholder requirements and business needs.
  • Procurement governance and decision-making structures.
  • Establishing category ownership and accountability.
  • Practical Application: Develop a preliminary category structure for an organization and identify the strategic importance of selected procurement categories.
Day 2

Spend Analysis, Category Intelligence and Market Assessment

  • Principles of procurement spend analysis.
  • Spend classification and data cleansing.
  • Analyzing spend by supplier, category, business unit, geography, and contract.
  • Identifying fragmented and unmanaged spend.
  • Demand patterns and purchasing behavior.
  • Category cost structures and cost drivers.
  • Supplier market analysis.
  • Market competition and supplier concentration.
  • Benchmarking and external market intelligence.
  • Supply market trends and emerging risks.
  • Identifying category opportunities and strategic priorities.
  • Practical Application: Conduct a category spend analysis and develop a category intelligence profile highlighting major suppliers, spending patterns, risks, and improvement opportunities.
Day 3

Category Strategy Development and Strategic Sourcing

  • Building a category strategy.
  • Defining category objectives and strategic priorities.
  • Linking category strategies to business requirements.
  • Sourcing strategy selection.
  • Supplier segmentation and sourcing approaches.
  • Competitive sourcing and market engagement.
  • Supplier consolidation and rationalization.
  • Standardization and specification optimization.
  • Demand management and volume aggregation.
  • Cost optimization and value creation.
  • Total cost considerations in category decisions.
  • Strategic supplier relationship considerations.
  • Practical Application: Develop a complete category strategy for a selected category, including objectives, market assessment, sourcing approach, supplier strategy, opportunities, risks, and performance priorities.
Day 4

Strategic Procurement Planning, Risk and Stakeholder Management

  • Principles of strategic procurement planning.
  • Annual and multi-year procurement planning.
  • Building procurement pipelines.
  • Contract expiry and renewal planning.
  • Demand forecasting and procurement scheduling.
  • Aligning procurement plans with budgets and financial cycles.
  • Prioritizing sourcing initiatives.
  • Procurement workload and resource planning.
  • Category risk assessment.
  • Supply continuity and supplier dependency.
  • Business continuity and market disruption considerations.
  • Stakeholder engagement and cross-functional planning.
  • Governance, approvals, and procurement milestones.
  • Practical Application: Build an annual strategic procurement plan incorporating category priorities, sourcing activities, contract timelines, budgets, risks, stakeholders, and implementation milestones.
Day 5

Category Performance, Governance and Continuous Improvement

  • Category management performance frameworks.
  • Procurement performance indicators.
  • Measuring savings, value, compliance, and supplier performance.
  • Category strategy implementation and monitoring.
  • Supplier performance management.
  • Procurement pipeline tracking.
  • Management reporting and category dashboards.
  • Governance reviews and strategic performance meetings.
  • Identifying gaps between category strategy and execution.
  • Continuous improvement and category strategy refresh.
  • Developing category maturity roadmaps.
  • Embedding strategic procurement capabilities across the organization.
  • Final Workshop: Develop an integrated Category Management & Strategic Procurement Plan for a selected category, covering spend analysis, category segmentation, market assessment, supplier strategy, sourcing approach, cost optimization opportunities, risk mitigation, stakeholder requirements, procurement pipeline, implementation milestones, performance indicators, and continuous improvement actions.

Upcoming Dates

Selected date

Amsterdam · 4 – 8 Jan 2027 · Classroom

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CityDatesPrice per ParticipantEarly Bird
AmmanScheduled
2 – 6 Nov 2026€3,100—
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GenevaScheduled
2 – 6 Nov 2026€6,300—
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ManamaScheduled
2 – 6 Nov 2026€4,700—
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SalalahScheduled
2 – 6 Nov 2026€5,300—
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AmsterdamScheduled
9 – 13 Nov 2026€5,400—
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IstanbulScheduled
9 – 13 Nov 2026€4,700—
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MarrakeshScheduled
9 – 13 Nov 2026€4,300—
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Sharm El-SheikhScheduled
9 – 13 Nov 2026€4,300—
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BarcelonaScheduled
16 – 20 Nov 2026€5,400—
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Kuala LumpurScheduled
16 – 20 Nov 2026€4,400—
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MilanScheduled
16 – 20 Nov 2026€6,000—
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TrabzonScheduled
16 – 20 Nov 2026€4,700—
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BerlinScheduled
23 – 27 Nov 2026€5,800€5,220until 2 Nov
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LisbonScheduled
23 – 27 Nov 2026€5,400€4,860until 2 Nov
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MuscatScheduled
23 – 27 Nov 2026€5,300€4,770until 2 Nov
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TunisiaScheduled
23 – 27 Nov 2026€3,800€3,420until 2 Nov
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OnlineScheduled
29 Nov – 3 Dec 2026€1,700€1,530until 9 Nov
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CairoScheduled
30 Nov – 4 Dec 2026€3,300€2,970until 9 Nov
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LondonScheduled
30 Nov – 4 Dec 2026€5,600€5,040until 9 Nov
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ViennaScheduled
30 Nov – 4 Dec 2026€5,700€5,130until 9 Nov
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CasablancaScheduled
7 – 11 Dec 2026€4,300€3,870until 16 Nov
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MadinahScheduled
7 – 11 Dec 2026€4,200€3,780until 16 Nov
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ParisScheduled
7 – 11 Dec 2026€5,700€5,130until 16 Nov
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ZurichScheduled
7 – 11 Dec 2026€5,000€4,500until 16 Nov
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DohaScheduled
14 – 18 Dec 2026€4,400€3,960until 23 Nov
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MadridScheduled
14 – 18 Dec 2026€5,400€4,860until 23 Nov
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RiyadhScheduled
14 – 18 Dec 2026€4,200€3,780until 23 Nov
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DubaiScheduled
20 – 24 Dec 2026€4,400€3,960until 30 Nov
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MakkahScheduled
21 – 25 Dec 2026€4,200€3,780until 30 Nov
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RomeScheduled
21 – 25 Dec 2026€5,800€5,220until 30 Nov
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AmsterdamScheduled
4 – 8 Jan 2027€5,400€4,860until 14 Dec
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Available in: Istanbul · Dubai · London · Riyadh · Doha · Amsterdam

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