How to maintain your SPSM Certification

Are you an SPSM who wants continued career success? You can continue to achieve the career success you want.

Purchasing trends are always changing and it can be difficult to stay on top of these trends let alone be prepared in advance for what’s to come. In the last several years, purchasing has seen many changes including the increased use of different software applications and the increased demand for international sourcing. Being prepared to handle these new trends and situations can often seem daunting.

Purchasers want to be confident that they have the most up-to-date skills. Knowing that you have the ability to handle any challenge you face in purchasing gives you greater confidence and a greater opportunity to succeed. Those with the skills to handle tomorrow’s challenges are more likely to have the rewarding careers they want.

Ensuring that you are ready for tomorrow’s purchasing challenges is easy! Earning your SPSM® Certification has already put you on the path to career success and by committing to continual professional development in purchasing you are making the best investment towards continuing this success. Every four years, you are required to complete 32 Continuing Education Hours (CEHs) in procurement topics from approved sources to maintain both your skills as well as your SPSM® credentials. Only CEHs earned after the date that your certification became valid may be used towards recertification.

How Can You Earn CEHs?

100% of your recertification requirements can be satisfied by enrolling in the next higher level of certification in the SPSM® Family. If this is your first recertification, that level would be the SPSM2® Program. Click here to learn more about enrolling in the SPSM2® Program.

If you are already an SPSM2®, then your next level would be the SPSM3™ Certification. And, if you’re already an SPSM3™, then you can get started on completing Level 4 courses linked to below.

You may also choose to enroll in one or more of the following online courses. Each of these courses count for 8 Continuing Education Hours.

Are you a purchasing manager who worries about balancing the many demands of your leadership role? You’re not alone. Today’s companies are expecting more than ever from their purchasing managers. Counts towards SPSM2® Certification.

Learn more about Expert Purchasing Management.

Do your purchasing projects suffer from delays, unpleasant surprises, and a lack of true organization? Do you wish you could build a professional project plan and then actually adhere to the plan, delighting your management? Well, you can! Counts towards SPSM2® Certification.

Learn more about Professional Purchasing Project Management.

Are you responsible for increasing your organization’s international procurement and don’t know where to begin? Buying internationally is much more complex than buying domestically. Counts towards SPSM2® Certification.

Learn more about Basics Of Smart International Procurement.

With all the talk about the global sourcing that many companies are doing, one may think that it is easy, right? That perception could not be further from the truth. Global sourcing may be one of the most complex activities you’ll encounter as a purchasing professional. Counts towards SPSM2® Certification.

Learn more about Executing A Global Sourcing Strategy.

Click here to enroll in one or more of these purchasing classes.

Do you understand precisely how your procurement work impacts your organization’s financial performance? Is a lack of this understanding keeping you from earning the respect you deserve? After all, today’s CEO’s and CFO’s expect procurement professionals to know how their work supports corporate goals and how to communicate in the language of finance. Counts towards the SPSM3 Certification or SPSM/SPSM2 recertification. Learn more about Finance For Strategic Procurement, Part I.

Do you worry that your procurement decisions will be questioned, if not reversed, by senior management? Whether you are selecting a supplier, negotiating payment terms, comparing lease and buy options, or making other typical procurement decisions, there are finance-based approaches that CEO’s and CFO’s will expect you to be following. If you are unaware of what these principles are, you will have little credibility with management at a minimum or make catastrophic mistakes in the worst-case scenario. Counts towards the SPSM3 Certification or SPSM/SPSM2 recertification. Learn more about Finance For Strategic Procurement, Part II.

Bad inventory decisions can kill an organization’s profitability, whittle away at its market share, and generally wreak havoc on the supply chain… Are you guilty of making those bad decisions? If you’re basing your inventory decisions on guesses or informally-learned tactics rather than basing them on time-tested best practices, you are probably setting yourself up for failure. But it doesn’t take decades of experience or years of training to learn what you need to know to make the inventory decisions that will maximize your organization’s success. Profitable Inventory Management and Control” will give you the skills you need to use inventory as a strategic weapon for boosting profitability and giving your organization a competitive advantage. You’ll become an inventory management and control expert, you’ll have fun doing so, and your organization’s financial and operational performance will improve as you implement the easy-to-apply best practices taught in this course. Counts towards the SPSM3 Certification or SPSM/SPSM2 recertification. Learn more about Profitable Inventory Management And Control.

Many organizations compete on the basis of quality: is your procurement work helping or hurting your organization’s ability to succeed? Let’s face it: your organization cannot provide a high-quality product or service if it gets substandard quality products or services from your supply chain. And you know who everyone will blame if there is a supplier quality problem? Right – the procurement department or maybe even you! Counts towards the SPSM3 Certification or SPSM/SPSM2 recertification.

Learn more about Improving Quality In The Supply Chain.

Click here to enroll in one or more of these purchasing classes.

Are you aware of the risks of not having a socially responsible supply chain? Unless you are managing your supply chain in the most socially responsible way, you are risking getting your organization into more trouble than ever. Getting bad publicity, losing customers, and being subject to criminal consequences are just a few of the risks that your organization can face when its procurement professionals are unaware of constantly changing social responsibility principles. Counts towards the SPSM4 Certification or SPSM/SPSM2/SPSM3 recertification. Learn more about Exemplary Supply Chain Social Responsibility.

Are you maximizing the value your organization can get through supplier diversity? Well, unless you have refined your program to the extent that supplier diversity is a strategic priority for your CEO, you’re probably not. Supplier diversity has evolved. It is more than just a “check the box” function in today’s socially responsible business world. When best practices are implemented, supplier diversity can be a strategy to improve customer attraction, employee retention, competitive advantage, and other important aspects of organizational performance. Counts towards the SPSM4 Certification or SPSM/SPSM2/SPSM3 recertification. Learn more about Strategic Supplier Diversity Best Practices.

Additional Sources of CEHs

Additional pre-approved sources include Denali, ProcureCon, APICS/ASCM and the Institute for Supply Management. Other sources will be considered on a case-by-case basis. If you wish for the Next Level Purchasing Association to consider other sources, the two safest ways to proceed are to (a) contact the Next Level Purchasing Association in advance of the expiration of your certification for approval or (b) submit more CEHs than required in the event that one of the non-pre-approved sources is denied.

Apply for Recertification

Ready to submit your recertification application? You can submit your recertification application as soon as you earn the required 32 CEHs and no later than the date that your certification expires. Click here to submit recertification application

We accept applications via email and please send them to support@nextlevelpurchasing.com and if you have any questions about the recertification process, contact us by phone at (412) 294-1990 or email us at support@nextlevelpurchasing.com.