HEPA : Higher Education Procurement Association

To ensure stakeholder’s requirements are met and maximum compliance is achieved, a cross-functional team, or User Intelligence Group (UIG) should be established. The UIG will assist you when developing the commodity strategy, assist with tender evaluation and the ongoing activities of contract/supplier management, monitoring, implementation, compliance and benefits tracking.

This group should have representation from key stakeholders within the participating organisation(s) and should include procurement and business/technical/customer representatives.

Depending on the nature of the procurement this UIG could consist of only two members e.g. the Procurement officer and the end user.

You should undertake appropriate research prior to the first meeting for example:

Gain an understanding of the market for a commodity from desktop research, e.g. via the internet
Speak to supplier or industry representatives
Meet with individual key stakeholders and end-users
Review historical spend patterns if appropriate
Gather information from other public sector contacts, such as Centres of Expertise
Read previous tenders or commodity strategies

This research will help you gain an initial understanding of the commodity, the organisation's requirements, market conditions and some of the risks, issues and barriers to success they may face. It will also help highlight any contracts which you may be able to access for your requirement without the cost, time and risk of developing your own contract.

Stakeholder Mapping

The benefits of establishing a UIG are:

The ability to draw on the cross-functional expertise within the group
Ensures stakeholder views are considered in the decision making process
Clear communication channels can be established
Presents 'one face' to suppliers
Formalises the governance arrangements and identifies the decision makers
Clarifies roles and responsibilities
Facilitates the generation of ideas
Facilitates buy-in and compliance

Where there are a large number of stakeholders, for example a collaborative contract, it may not be possible to have all stakeholders represented on the UIG. Stakeholder mapping is a useful tool to help identify who should be represented based upon their likely impact upon the success of the project. You must also ensure you understand your organisation's policy or requirements regarding engaging with end users/customers of the commodity or service and whether they should also be involved in the UIG.

Stakeholder Map & Degree of Engagement

Blank Stakeholder Map

For the procurement exercise to be effective it must meet the reasonable expectations of stakeholders and end users therefore a clear understanding of stakeholder and end users' views is essential. In order to obtain this understanding there must be effective engagement and you must take into account all views of your stakeholders. Many stakeholders will be positive and supportive however, it is also important that you consider the reasons why stakeholders may not be fully supportive.

In order to manage this you may wish to consider some of the following:

Ask your colleagues whether they know of any strong views stakeholders may hold to gain an understanding of any issues that may arise and reasons for these
Meet with stakeholders on a 1:1 basis in advance to understand their views and concerns
Ensure stakeholders are encouraged to contribute fully
Ensure a good governance structure is in place which should include identifying and addressing any conflicts of interest

The stakeholder map is a useful tool for the UIG to plan communications to stakeholders who are not UIG members. Some of the key characteristics of a successful UIG are shown in the attached slide.

You may wish to issue the attached UIG Welcome Pack which covers Roles and Responsibilities, core competencies, business conduct, gifts and hospitality and a Stakeholder Declaration of Interest. A UIG charter should be agreed. An example UIG Charter is provided.

Members of the UIG should not underestimate the amount of time and commitment involved in being a team member. Although the team itself may typically meet only fortnightly or monthly there will be work to be completed in-between meetings and members should come to meetings fully prepared.