Procurement field guides
Learn procurement from first principles.
Clear explanations for practitioners, candidates, and business partners—written to settle the definition before adding the nuance.
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15 guides to explore
What is procurement?
A clear definition of procurement, what the function owns, how the lifecycle works, and how procurement differs from purchasing and supply chain.
Read the guideThe procurement process
A nine-step procurement process from need definition and market research through sourcing, contracting, supplier performance, and renewal.
Read the guideWhat is strategic sourcing?
What strategic sourcing means, how its seven-step process works, when to use it, and how it differs from tactical buying and category management.
Read the guideProcurement vs. purchasing
The difference between procurement and purchasing, where the two overlap, and how to tell which work a role or team actually owns.
Read the guideProcurement for multi-location service businesses
How multi-location service businesses can standardize purchasing, control local spend, manage suppliers, and simplify accounts payable without slowing their locations.
Read the guideProcurement for education and nonprofits
A practical procurement operating model for schools, education networks, charities, and grant-funded nonprofits, including controls, documentation, and software requirements.
Read the guideProcurement for hospitality and property operations
How hotels, resorts, vacation-rental operators, and property managers can govern recurring supplies, local vendors, turns, openings, approvals, and property-level spend.
Read the guideProcurement for retail and distributed operations
A procurement model for retail chains and distributed operators covering store-level buying, standard catalogs, new openings, spend control, fulfillment, and AP data.
Read the guideBest procurement software for golf resorts
Compare Order.co, BirchStreet, Fourth Adaco, and Procurify for golf resorts. See why Order.co is our top pick for everyday purchasing and spend control.
Read the guideBest purchasing software for multi-location businesses
Compare Order.co, Procurify, ProcureDesk, and Amazon Business for location budgets, approved products, supplier ordering, and purchasing controls.
Read the guideBest software for indirect and tail spend
Choose software for recurring indirect purchases and tail spend. Compare Order.co, SAP Ariba, Zip, and Amazon Business using a practical spend segmentation model.
Read the guidePurchasing without an ERP
Add purchasing controls while retaining your accounting system. Compare Order.co, ProcureDesk, Procurify, and Ramp, with an integration and reconciliation checklist.
Read the guideBest procurement software for childcare and early education
Compare purchasing software for childcare groups, including Order.co, Amazon Business, Procurify, and ProcureDesk. Includes center controls and substitution planning.
Read the guideBest purchasing software for property portfolios
Compare Order.co, Yardi, ProcureDesk, and Amazon Business for recurring property supplies, unit turns, vendor purchasing, and property-level spend control.
Read the guideProcurement vs. expense management
Understand procurement and expense management, compare Order.co, Ramp, Concur Expense, and Procurify, and identify the right workflow for purchases and reimbursements.
Read the guide02 / Apply the method
How much procurement work does this decision deserve?
Use the original Procurement Complexity Index to assess the market analysis, assurance, governance, and specialist input a purchase warrants.
Use the Procurement Complexity Index