Supply Chain Project Management Course

Why this module matters: Supply-chain projects often start with a solution already chosen. That creates activity before the team has defined the operating problem, the value expected or the constraints that will determine whether the change actually works.

• Distinguish routine supply-chain management from a temporary change project
• Classify common project types: network redesign, facility launch, supplier transition, system implementation, resilience programme, planning-process rollout and capability transformation
• Define the current state and future operating state in operational terms
• Translate the business case into measurable service, cost, inventory, risk or capability outcomes
• Identify assumptions that must be tested before the project plan is treated as credible
• Write a project charter that reflects supply-chain reality rather than generic scope language
• Define success beyond go-live, including adoption, service stability and realised benefit
• Identify what must remain operational during the transition and what can tolerate disruption

Workshop: Build a one-page value and future-state charter for a real supply-chain project.

Why this module matters: A schedule can look complete while its dependencies remain invisible. Supply-chain change is unusually exposed because one workstream’s small delay can affect inventory, suppliers, transport, customers or cash somewhere else.

• Create a supply-chain work breakdown structure without reducing the project to a list of isolated tasks
• Map dependencies across procurement, planning, inventory, logistics, finance, IT and operations
• Separate internal dependencies from supplier, regulatory and customer dependencies
• Build milestone logic around lead times, decision gates and readiness conditions
• Identify the critical path when physical, contractual and data constraints interact
• Develop a stakeholder map covering sponsors, process owners, users, suppliers and external partners
• Assign decision rights using a practical accountability model
• Design governance forums that make decisions rather than merely review slides
• Integrate communication with project decisions instead of treating it as a final workstream
• Establish change-control rules before pressure makes every request urgent

Workshop: Build an integrated dependency map and milestone plan.

Why this module matters: Generic project risk registers often miss the risks that make supply-chain implementation fail: supplier capacity, transition inventory, incomplete specifications, shipping constraints, data quality, customs exposure or commercial terms that do not support the timeline.

• Identify supply-chain-specific project risks across suppliers, inventory, logistics, cyber/data, people and regulatory exposure
• Separate probability from operational consequence and identify low-frequency, high-impact risks
• Connect supplier qualification and onboarding to project milestones
• Integrate procurement lead times and contracting events into the schedule
• Evaluate single-source, transition and capacity risks
• Define supplier deliverables, acceptance criteria and escalation paths
• Manage commercial dependencies without turning the project manager into the contract owner
• Design transition stock, buffers and contingency options proportionately
• Run scenario and pre-mortem exercises before critical implementation stages
• Escalate risk using evidence and decision options rather than vague red/amber/green reporting

Workshop: Build a supply-chain project risk and supplier-readiness register.

Why this module matters: Go-live is where project logic meets the real operating environment. A system may work in testing but fail because data is incomplete; a facility may be physically ready but not operationally ready.

• Define operational-readiness criteria before the final weeks of the project
• Build cutover plans for supplier, system, process, facility and network changes
• Distinguish technical readiness, people readiness and operational readiness
• Choose between pilot, phased, parallel-run and big-bang implementation approaches
• Plan transition inventory and customer-service protection
• Validate master data, process ownership and exception handling before go-live
• Create decision gates with explicit go/no-go criteria
• Manage defects, exceptions and rapid decisions during transition
• Plan rollback or contingency paths where failure would create material disruption
• Hand ownership from the project team to operations without losing accountability

Simulation: Run a go-live readiness review for a complex supply-chain transition.

Why this module matters: Many projects are closed when implementation is complete rather than when the intended value is visible. Supply-chain projects need a controlled stabilisation period so service, cost, inventory and risk do not deteriorate unnoticed after the project team leaves.

• Choose project controls that reveal real delivery risk rather than produce reporting noise
• Monitor schedule, cost, scope, quality and operational-readiness indicators together
• Define operational KPIs linked to the business case
• Distinguish implementation output from realised benefit
• Measure service, inventory, cycle-time, resilience or cost improvement without inventing attribution
• Create a stabilisation plan for the first weeks after implementation
• Transfer unresolved items into operational ownership with explicit accountability
• Run lessons-learned reviews that identify mechanisms rather than personalities
• Close supplier and project commitments cleanly
• Build a benefits-review schedule after formal project closure

Capstone: Present a complete supply-chain project delivery and benefits-realisation plan for peer challenge.