Management & Administration
Buy with clearer criteria, improve delivery reliability and make purchasing costs visible. This programme covers the full operational purchasing cycle: define a need, find and evaluate suppliers, compare offers, place orders and monitor performance. You build practical tools for your own purchasing responsibilities, with a focus on decisions that support the business.
Request informationYOUR PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE
For individuals & organisationsWe agree a start that fits your professional and personal commitments.
OSAM certificates: according to your starting level and learning goals. Company group programmes are usually planned in days or half-days.
Synchronous teaching. Both formats include the OSAM platform for course materials and organisational information.
From an eduQua-certified institution.
An individual quotation confirms the programme, delivery format and applicable fees.
Highly personalised teaching with experienced practitioners working at a high professional level.
FROM KNOWLEDGE TO CAPABILITY
Purchasing assistants, procurement coordinators, commercial employees and SME managers who handle supplier relationships, orders or replenishment. Companies can use the programme to align purchasing, administration and logistics around shared working methods.
YOUR LEARNING JOURNEY
These modules form the core programme. Where useful, we refine the emphasis, examples and learning activities to reflect your professional context, starting point and objectives.
Map the steps from internal request to payment and clarify who approves, orders, receives and checks. Translate a business need into a usable specification with quantities, service expectations and constraints. Identify recurring purchases, fragmented spending and opportunities to standardise requirements.
Develop a supplier search plan and prepare a structured request for information. Define proportionate selection criteria for capability, capacity, quality, reliability and business continuity. Build a shortlist with documented evidence and identify questions to resolve before inviting an offer.
Create a comparison grid that makes differing quotations comparable. Consider purchase price, transport, implementation, maintenance, quality failures and end-of-life costs where relevant. Record assumptions and distinguish a price reduction from a demonstrated saving over the period of use.
Prepare negotiations with clear priorities and acceptable alternatives. Review delivery, payment, service and quality expectations before a commitment is made. Build an approval note that explains the selected supplier, principal risks and points requiring legal or technical review.
Prepare complete orders, check acknowledgements and maintain an overview of promised dates. Practise follow-up for late, partial or non-conforming deliveries. Connect order, receipt and invoice information, document discrepancies and agree who owns the corrective action.
Explore how demand variability, supplier lead time and service expectations affect replenishment. Work with simple stock and reorder calculations, make assumptions visible and consider the cost of shortages and excess inventory. Coordinate decisions with logistics, sales and internal users.
Develop a supplier scorecard covering delivery, quality, responsiveness and agreed cost indicators. Identify dependency risks and practical contingency options. Introduce proportionate environmental and social criteria, then use a supplier review meeting to agree measurable improvement actions.
Build a concise dashboard from a sample or anonymised purchasing dataset. Define each indicator, its data source and review rhythm. Present a complete purchasing case, from need and supplier choice to follow-up, with an improvement plan that can be used at work.
THE PEOPLE BEHIND YOUR PROGRESS
Educational direction, subject expertise and adult learning support. Your final trainer assignment is confirmed in your proposal.
DIRECTOR’S PERSPECTIVE
Managing Director
Simon Pawolleck provides OSAM’s overall direction. The focus is on relevant skills, a clear learning structure and personal support that connects professional ambitions with practical progress.
EXPERT’S PERSPECTIVE
SME management · OSAM expert network
Dr. Alec Corthay is presented as a relevant expert from the OSAM network. The course trainer will be confirmed for your programme. Subject expertise supports practical cases, focused feedback and applications related to your working context.
ADULT LEARNING & ANDRAGOGY
Head of Adult Learning
Federal Diploma of Higher Education in Adult Education
Sandrine Mélé oversees the adult learning approach: coherent progression, active participation and learning methods that take account of prior experience. She supports a structured, practical and human approach to developing competence.
Active at a high professional level, selected against demanding criteria.
Developing the skills of their employees with OSAM.
An experience centred on the people who learn with us.
Personal career goals. Shared organisational priorities.
SERI / SEFRIeduQua-certified institution. Federal qualifications listed by SERI in selected pathways.
TRUST, BUILT THROUGH EXPERIENCE
From ambitious individuals to established organisations. Discover some of the companies that work with OSAM.
LEARNERS’ VOICES
OSAM Google review rating
As displayed on the OSAM website, 4 November 2026.View Google reviews“Patient teaching and very engaging lessons.”
“Excellent quality and personalised practical scenarios.”
GOOD TO KNOW
Purchasing assistants, procurement coordinators, commercial employees and SME managers who handle supplier relationships, orders or replenishment. Companies can use the programme to align purchasing, administration and logistics around shared working methods. The programme is available to private individuals and organisations, including company teams. OSAM welcomes learners living or working in Switzerland as well as international participants joining live online.
OSAM is an eduQua-certified continuing education institution. An OSAM certificate documents the learning agreed for your programme; eduQua is a quality label for the institution, not federal recognition of every individual course.
OSAM’s work connects individual professional development with the needs of companies in Switzerland and internationally. Client references and learner reviews below offer a practical view of that work.
You develop skills you can apply in real situations, with guidance from experienced practitioners and access to learning materials on the OSAM platform. The programme focuses on these outcomes:
Yes. We start with the established programme and refine the emphasis, practical cases and learning support where useful. Adjustments take account of the individual or company’s professional context, existing skills and goals. The agreed programme is confirmed before enrolment; federal examination requirements remain binding where applicable.
For the OSAM certificate, contact us to review your current level, prior experience and objectives. We will confirm the appropriate entry requirements and any recommended preparation.
Negotiation is one part of this programme. The main focus is the complete purchasing process, including supplier research, qualification, total cost comparison, order administration, replenishment, performance monitoring and risk. You leave with tools that support the work before and after a negotiation.
Yes. The approach can be adapted to a manager or commercial employee who combines purchasing with other responsibilities. We focus on a manageable process, practical templates and a small set of indicators rather than a complex purchasing organisation.
You receive an OSAM certificate under the agreed assessment conditions, issued by an eduQua-certified continuing education institution. This operational programme is distinct from preparation for a Swiss federal examination. We confirm your learning objectives and assessment before enrolment.
Yes, where appropriate. We agree the purchasing category, sample documents and intended deliverables before the course. Commercially sensitive information can be anonymised. The programme can include a supplier comparison grid, scorecard and purchasing dashboard tailored to your work.
YOUR CAREER, IN PERSPECTIVE
Depending on your experience and qualifications, this subject can support development in the following professional directions.
Explore Swiss salaries on SalariostatYOUR NEXT STEP
Tell us where you want to go. Together, we will define the learning journey that gets you there.
info@osam-academy.com+41 31 528 01 28