SFIA Sourcing SORC

This page provides deep dive guidance and additional material to help individuals and organisations use and apply this SFIA skill effectively. It supplements the SFIA reference material.

SFIA v6 definition of Sourcing

The provision of policy, internal standards and advice on the procurement or commissioning of externally supplied and internally developed products and services. The provision of commercial governance, conformance to legislation and assurance of information security. The implementation of compliant procurement processes, taking full account of the issues and imperatives of both the commissioning and supplier sides. The identification and management of suppliers to ensure successful delivery of products and services required by the business.

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• Typically a relatively small number of positions need this skill. Does not apply to roles who are partaking in procurement / sourcing activities e.g. attending meetings, contributing to RFIs and RFPs and selection of suppliers. This skill should be reserved for those roles which set up and run the sourcing and procurement processes.
• It is a wide ranging skill with 6 levels from SFIA level 2 to level 7
• The higher level skills focus on sourcing strategies, policies and standards
• At the low levels reflects administrative/procedural level skills for supporting sourcing
• The focus of Levels 4 and 5 shifts is on managing the processes and executing tasks associated with sourcing.
• The skill does not reflect a technical skill; and although clearly related to and vital for Technology organisations it may well sit in a centre of excellence, organisation wide Procurement function

If you are looking for skills relating to:

• the operational management and control of contracts; try SFIA Contract management ITCM
• the management of supplier relationships; try SFIA Relationship management or SFIAv5 Supplier management
• Enterprise IT governance; try SFIA IT governance GOVN
• governance of operational IT; try SFIA IT management
• strategies and governance for IT Service Management; try SFIA Service level management SLMO
• overall financial management and control of IT assets and resources used in the provision of IT services; try SFIA Financial management

• The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply - global organisation serving the procurement and supply profession
• International Association of Outsourcing Professionals
• CobIT (Control Objectives for IT) specifically process called APO10 Manage Suppliers
• Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) - Project Procurement Management

Books

• Outsourcing Professional Body of Knowledge - the official version of the Outsourcing Professional Body of Knowledge by IAOP (International Association of Outsourcing Professionals
• Vested Outsourcing: Five Rules That Will Transform Outsourcing - Kate Vitasek identifies the top 10 flaws in most outsourced business models and shows organizations how to rethink their outsourcing relationships in a way that will lower costs, improve service, and increase innovation. This revised edition includes updated case studies and a new chapter based on Dell.

• Technology Leadership
• Procurement ¹⁾

By focussing on work outputs/work products we can move the focus from activity/knowledge to performance and provide a direct link to business results. See 6 boxes model.

Leading

• senior stakeholder relationships and relationship management plan
• strategy for sourcing
• organisational model for provision of sourcing & procurement services
• sufficient resources and capability to enact sourcing strategies
• executive commitment to sourcing strategies and plans
• thought leadership

Managing

• strategic sourcing plan
• sourcing methodology
• transition plans
• sourcing readiness checklists
• sourcing model templates/design patterns
• sourcing decision-making processes
• effective meetings and meeting structures
• plans for improving sourcing capability
• sourcing processes and standards
• supplier service improvement actions and programmes
• capable, effective teams to support sourcing

Doing

• documents to support procurement stages - Request for Information (RFI), Request for Proposal (RFP), Request for quotation (RFQ)
• evaluation criteria
• formal, informal, ad-hoc communication between organisation and suppliers
• documented decisions, issues, actions, risks
• supplier performance data
• agreed commercial terms/contract with suppliers
• improved sourcing processes and tools, templates
• up to date market and commercial knowledge
• supplier benchmarking
• sourcing knowledgebase