At Brightline Foods, everyone knew the procurement process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you needed something for work, you filled out a Purchase Request Form and sent it to your manager. Once approved, it went to the department head, then Procurement. Procurement obtained three quotations, prepared a comparison, and sent the request to Finance for budget confirmation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After Finance approved it, Procurement raised a purchase order. Only then could the supplier proceed. It was a long process, but nobody questioned it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sylvia had been with Brightline for just over a year when she was asked to coordinate materials for an important event. She needed branded program outlines and brochures . The event was on Friday, so she submitted the request on Monday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her manager approved it that afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Tuesday, it was with the department head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Wednesday morning, it had reached Procurement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sylvia followed up. \u201cHave we heard back from the supplier?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe’re waiting for the quotations,\u201d the Procurement Officer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDidn’t we use the same supplier for the last event?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo do we still need three quotations?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He looked at her. \u201cYes. That’s the process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sylvia nodded and went back to her desk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Thursday morning, the quotations had finally come in. Finance then returned the request because it had been charged to the wrong budget account. Sylvia corrected it and sent it back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few hours later, Finance asked for confirmation that the department head had approved the revised budget account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He had. The approval was already attached to the request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But they still needed confirmation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Thursday evening, the materials had not been ordered. Sylvia started calling around to see if the supplier could deliver by Friday morning. They couldn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The event went ahead without the branded materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Monday, her manager called her into his office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cManagement wasn’t happy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sylvia explained what had happened, step by step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her manager listened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNext time, you need to start the process earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sylvia was quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She had submitted the request five days before the event. She had followed every step she had been told to follow. Yet somehow, the delay had become her responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That afternoon, she went to Procurement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCan I ask you something?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Procurement Officer looked up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf we already have an approved supplier for something we’ve bought before, why do we need three new quotations every time?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt’s the procurement process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI understand that. But why?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He leaned back. \u201cBecause we have to follow the rules. If an auditor asks why we used a supplier without getting quotations, what are we going to say?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe keep saying we’re following the process. But nobody is asking whether the process still makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That comment didn’t go down well. The Procurement Officer told her that it was easy to question the process when she wasn’t responsible for answering to auditors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She wasn’t asking Procurement to ignore controls. She was asking whether every purchase needed to be treated the same way. The disagreement reached her manager, who decided it was time to look into the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finance and Procurement reviewed several recent purchase requests. What they found surprised them. The three-quotation requirement had been introduced years earlier, when the company didn’t have an approved supplier list. The supplier list now existed, but the old requirement had never been removed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Management eventually introduced different approval routes for different types of purchases. Routine purchases from approved suppliers could move faster, while large or unusual purchases still required additional checks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The change didn’t remove accountability. It removed steps that were no longer serving a purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few weeks later, Sylvia submitted another request for promotional materials. This time, the order was completed within two days. Her manager looked at the approval and smiled. \u201cMuch better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sylvia nodded. Then he added, \u201cYou were right to ask the question.\u201d She smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The interesting thing was that nobody at Brightline had been deliberately trying to make procurement difficult. Everyone had simply been doing what they were told.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And because everyone was doing it, nobody had stopped to ask whether it still needed to be done that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A process can be necessary and still need improvement.<\/strong> Controls matter, especially in areas like procurement and finance. But every step should have a clear purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n