As a continuation of the story described in Case One, Jackson Excursions (JE) decides that it is the best interest of their company to outsource their purchasing function to a third-party in Louisiana, Jones Procurement. Sonny Jackson has been handling all the buying in the past so he wants to make sure that Jones does at least as good of a job if not much better.
Since you as project management students did such a great job on Case One, Sonny decides to give you another opportunity to show your stuff. Specifically, Sonny wants you to prepare a sourcing protocol procedure that includes the following sections:
1. What are the key areas that you should investigate when looking at outsourcing the purchasing function?
2. How does cost figure into this picture? What are some key cost areas you should consider?
3. How can you make sure that a potential purchasing partner has JE's best interests at heart and procures goods and services on a total cost basis?
4. What type of a budget should such a partner maintain and how should it be controlled?
5. What are some "danger areas" you should be aware of that would lead you to exclude a potential outsourcing partner? Working with your team, develop a document that ranges from 300-500 words that covers all these areas.