Occupational Skills Standard

Occupational Code: 24-03-07-09

Product Selection and Procurement Specialist

(2024 Edition)

Formulated by Hong Kong Supply Chain Management Certification Association

Product Selection and Procurement Specialist

International Occupational Skills Standards

(2024 Edition)

Explanation

With the rapid development of digital technology and fast-changing consumer demands, the product selection and procurement industry is facing unprecedented opportunities and challenges. To adapt to the new requirements for talents in this field under the new situation, standardize practitioners' professional conduct, comprehensively enhance employees' professional skills and practical abilities, accelerate digital transformation, and build a high-quality team of product selection and procurement specialists, the Hong Kong Supply Chain Management Certification Association has collaborated with several well-known enterprises in the industry to develop the "International Occupational Skills Standard for Product Selection and Procurement Specialists (2024 Edition)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Standard"). This Standard, based on extensive research and in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, has been carefully compiled over two years.

1. This "Standard" is based on the relevant occupational classifications of the Hong Kong Supply Chain Management Certification Association. It strictly follows the international occupational skills standards, and takes "orientation towards occupational activities and focus on occupational skills" as the guiding ideology to construct a scientific, systematic, and internationally leading occupational standards system for product selection and procurement specialists. The "Standard" is rooted in the practice of product selection and procurement work, comprehensively covering key business aspects such as merchandise planning and selection, procurement planning management, supplier development and management, product quality control, logistics and warehousing coordination, and procurement data analysis. It concentrates on reflecting the professional, systematic and complex characteristics of product selection and procurement work, meticulously describes the typical work tasks and occupational activities of practitioners, and clearly specifies the theoretical knowledge and professional skills that practitioners at different levels should possess.

2. The "Standard" adopts a grading system, dividing the product selection and procurement occupation into two levels: Product Selection and Procurement Officer and Product Selection and Procurement Specialist:

-Product Selection and Procurement Officer: Master the basic knowledge and skills of product selection and procurement, able to use digital tools to conduct basic work such as product selection and procurement execution under the guidance of superiors, basically complete daily procurement tasks, and possess a certain awareness of data application and continuous learning ability.

-Product Selection and Procurement Specialist: Systematically master the professional theories of product selection and procurement, skillfully use digital systems to optimize key businesses such as merchandise planning, supplier management, quality control, and logistics coordination, able to independently complete complex procurement projects, formulate scientific category procurement strategies, identify procurement risks, promote digital transformation of procurement, and possess strong demand analysis, negotiation and decision-making, project management and innovative change capabilities.

The two levels are distinct and clearly positioned, providing a stepped career development path for the growth of product selection and procurement talents.

3. The "Standard" consists of three major parts: basic requirements, work requirements, and a weight table:
The basic requirements put forward basic requirements for product selection and procurement practitioners' digital literacy, professional ethics, and physical and mental qualities, with special emphasis on the cultivation of key qualities such as digital application ability, innovation awareness, collaboration and communication, and responsibility.
The work requirements comprehensively detail the six core work areas of product selection and procurement, namely merchandise planning, procurement management, supplier management, quality control, logistics and warehousing, and data analysis. Each area is specified in terms of work tasks, skill requirements, and relevant knowledge, reflecting the complete workflow of product selection and procurement, while highlighting the assessment orientation of digital tool application, data analysis application, and innovative method application, embodying the concept of ability-based and integration of learning and application.
The weight table scientifically sets the assessment weights of theoretical knowledge and professional skills, emphasizing both theory and practice, and detailing the assessment weights of each skill, fully reflecting the scientific, advanced, and operational characteristics of the Standard.

4. The "Standard" was jointly developed by several leading enterprises in the domestic industry, condensing the cutting-edge concepts and successful practical experiences of outstanding enterprises at home and abroad, representing the highest standards and levels in the current field of product selection and procurement. During the development process, the Standard extensively solicited opinions and suggestions from various stakeholders, conducted large-scale industry research, expert demonstrations, and multiple rounds of revisions and improvements, striving for the scientific, advanced, applicable, and forward-looking nature of the Standard's content, setting a learning benchmark and evaluation criterion for product selection and procurement practitioners.

5. The official release of the "Standard" fills the global gap in standards for the field of product selection and procurement, and is of great significance for regulating the professional conduct of practitioners, accelerating the building of a high-quality team of product selection and procurement talents, and promoting the digital and intelligent transformation and development of the industry. The Hong Kong Supply Chain Management Certification Association will take this opportunity to work with industry organizations to jointly build a talent training system for product selection and procurement, create an open and collaborative ecosystem of value co-creation for product selection and procurement, and boost the global supply chain management into a new era of digital intelligence, injecting new momentum into the prosperity and development of the global economy and trade.

Product Selection and Procurement Specialist

International Occupational Skills Standard

(2024 Edition)

1.Occupational Overview

1.1 Occupational Title

Product Selection and Procurement Specialist

1.2 Occupational Definition

Versatile talents who use digital technology means such as big data analysis and artificial intelligence to carry out work such as merchandise planning and selection, supplier development and management, procurement plan execution, product quality control, supply chain collaboration, etc., to promote the digital and intelligent transformation of procurement business and achieve refined operation of procurement management.

1.3 Occupational Levels

According to skill levels and scope of responsibilities, this occupation is divided into two levels:

-Product Selection and Procurement Officer

-Product Selection and Procurement Specialist

1.4 Occupational Environment

Mainly indoor office work, requiring frequent use of computers and long working hours. Often need to go out to survey markets, negotiate business, and frequently communicate and coordinate with suppliers and across departments. Fast-paced work with considerable work pressure.

1.5 Occupational Ability Characteristics

Digital application ability, data analysis ability, demand insight ability, negotiation and decision-making ability, quality control ability, and supply chain collaboration ability are the core occupational abilities of product selection and procurement specialists. In addition, they also need to possess key qualities such as overall awareness, risk prevention awareness, innovation and change awareness, and fast learning ability.

1.6 Basic Educational Level

Associate degree or above, with preference for relevant majors such as supply chain management, commodity science, and data analysis.

1.7 Reference Training Hours

Adopt a training model combining online and offline, integrating theory and practice. Among them, the training hours for product selection and procurement officers shall not be less than 80 hours, and the training hours for product selection and procurement specialists shall not be less than 100 hours.

1.8 Occupational Skills Assessment Requirements

1.8.1 Application Conditions

Product Selection and Procurement Officer: Obtain an associate degree or above, or have worked in procurement-related jobs for 1 year.

Product Selection and Procurement Specialist: Obtain the occupational qualification certificate of Product Selection and Procurement Officer and have worked in procurement-related jobs for 3 years; or obtain a bachelor's degree or above and have worked in procurement-related jobs for 2 years.

1.8.2 Assessment Methods

Adopt a combination of theoretical knowledge examination and practical skills assessment. Among them, the theoretical examination adopts a computer-based test, with a duration of 90 minutes, 100 single-choice questions, comprehensively examining the basic professional knowledge of product selection and procurement; the practical assessment adopts methods such as scenario simulation, case analysis, and on-site operation, focusing on examining key skills such as digital tool application, merchandise planning, supplier evaluation, procurement negotiation, and logistics collaboration, with a duration of not less than 120 minutes. The theoretical examination score should reach 60 points to pass, and the practical assessment score should reach 70 points to pass.

1.8.3 Ratio of Invigilators and Assessors

In the theoretical examination, the ratio of invigilators to candidates shall not be lower than 1:15, with at least 2 invigilators in each examination room. In the practical assessment, the ratio of assessors to candidates shall not be lower than 1:5, with at least 3 odd-numbered assessors in each group. The ratio of senior assessors to assessors shall not be lower than 1:2.

1.8.4 Requirements for Assessment Venue and Equipment

The theoretical examination is conducted in a standardized computer-based examination classroom, equipped with a digital examination system, anti-cheating monitoring equipment, etc. The practical assessment is conducted in a digital product selection and procurement training room, equipped with digital office equipment, procurement management software systems, big data analysis tools, VR/AR equipment, etc., supporting digital simulation operation of the entire procurement business process.

2. Basic Requirements

2.1 Professional Ethics

2.1.1 Basic Requirements for Professional Ethics

(1) Uphold national laws and regulations, abide by professional ethics, consciously resist commercial bribery, and treat all suppliers fairly.

(2) Adhere to an objective, impartial, and neutral professional conduct, and eliminate any form of discrimination. Strictly maintain the confidentiality of commercial information and proactively avoid conflicts of interest.

(3) Be loyal to one's duties, diligent and dedicated, strive for excellence, continuously learn new professional knowledge, bravely innovate and break through, and be determined to promote industry progress.

(4) Adhere to the concept of openness, transparency, and collaboration, actively promote close coordination between upstream and downstream, internal and external, and be good at integrating resources from all aspects.

(5) Practice the concept of green development and social responsibility, guide suppliers to improve their performance in environmental protection, labor rights, etc., and work together to build a responsible and sustainable supply chain ecology.

2.2 Basic Knowledge

2.2.1 Product Selection and Procurement Professional Knowledge

(1) Retail Commodity Science. Commodity classification and characteristics, commodity sensory identification and quality evaluation, commodity marketability and competitiveness analysis, etc.

(2) Consumer Behavior. Consumer psychology and behavior characteristics, consumer trends and demand insights, key factors influencing consumption, etc.

(3) Category Management. Category role positioning, category structure and layout, category full life cycle management, category performance evaluation, etc.

(4) Procurement Management. The strategic position and value of procurement, procurement organization and process design, procurement model selection, procurement performance management, etc.

(5) Supplier Relationship Management. Supplier development and evaluation, supplier grading and control, supplier collaborative development, procurement negotiation and contract management, etc.

(6) Supply Chain Management. The network structure and operation mode of the supply chain, supply chain cost optimization, supply chain risk management, supply chain collaboration and integration, etc.

(7) Logistics and Warehousing Management. Procurement logistics planning and optimization, warehousing operation process optimization, lean inventory management, distribution management, etc.

(8) Quality Management System. Construction of procurement quality control system, incoming material inspection and quality control, supplier quality management, nonconforming product management, etc.

(9) International Trade Practice. Interpretation of common international trade terms, inspection and quarantine of imported goods, customs clearance procedures and documents, trade compliance, etc.

2.2.2 Big Data Analysis

(1) Data Preprocessing. Collection, cleaning, integration, transformation and reduction of various types of data, etc.

(2) Statistical Analysis. Descriptive statistical analysis, hypothesis testing, correlation analysis, regression analysis, etc.

(3) Data Mining. Association rules, clustering, classification, anomaly detection and other common data mining algorithms.

(4) Data Visualization. Data visualization chart design, data big screen display, self-service data analysis, etc.

(5) Business Intelligence (BI). Use of BI modeling tools, custom report development, etc.

2.2.3 Artificial Intelligence

(1) Machine Learning. Mainstream machine learning methods such as supervised learning, unsupervised learning, reinforcement learning, etc.

(2) Deep Learning. Deep learning models such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN), etc.

(3) Computer Vision. Image classification and recognition, object detection, image segmentation, face recognition, etc.

(4) Natural Language Processing (NLP). Text classification, sentiment analysis, named entity recognition, knowledge graph, etc.

(5) Speech Technology. Speech recognition, speech synthesis, intelligent dialogue systems, etc.

2.2.4 Digital Tool Application

(1) Office Software. Advanced application and secondary development of office software such as Word, Excel, PPT, etc.

(2) ERP System. System operation and process management of business links such as sales, procurement, inventory, etc.

(3) E-procurement Platform. Function application and interface development of mainstream e-procurement platforms.

(4) Mobile Application. The application of mobile tools such as mobile APPs in procurement scenarios.

(5) Business Process Management (BPM). Use of BPM tools, business process sorting, automation and continuous optimization.

2.2.5 Innovation Methods

(1) TRIZ Theory. Practical application of contradiction matrix, 40 invention principles, 76 standard solutions.

(2) Six Sigma Management. DMAIC improvement process, Statistical Process Control (SPC), Design of Experiments (DOE), etc.

(3) Lean Management. Value stream analysis, 5S site management, kanban management, flexible production, etc.

(4) Agile (Scrum). Product Backlog, sprint planning meeting, daily stand-up meeting, sprint review meeting, etc.

(5) Design Thinking. Empathy map, brainstorming, low-fidelity rapid prototyping and other innovative tools.

3. Work Requirements

3.1 Merchandise Planning (20%)

3.1.1 Develop Merchandise Plans (10%)

(1) Tasks

Collect and analyze consumer trends and market dynamics, assess the current state of category development, forecast future market demand, develop medium and long-term merchandise development plans, and clarify category positioning, goals, and strategies.

(2) Skills

① Data analysis ability: Collect various data and use statistical analysis, data mining and other methods to analyze category development trends.

② Market insight: Pay close attention to consumer trends and competitive trends, and gain in-depth insights into consumer needs.

③ Strategic thinking: Based on data analysis and market insight, propose strategic ideas and plans for category development.

④ Document writing ability: Write planning documents in clear and concise language to accurately convey key planning points.

(3) Outputs

① Category market analysis report

② Category medium and long-term development plan

③ Category positioning, goals, and strategy documents

3.1.2 Optimize Category Structure (10%)

(1) Tasks

Combine merchandise planning, balance benefits and risks, optimize SKU quantity and purchase frequency. Continuously track product structure, optimize the proportion of long-tail and short-tail products, and increase the share of hit products.

(2) Skills

① Category management knowledge: Use category management theory to reasonably divide core products, seasonal products, long-tail products, etc.

② Data analysis ability: Analyze historical sales data and evaluate the revenue contribution and inventory risk of individual products.

③ Negotiation skills: Negotiate with suppliers to strive for favorable procurement conditions and control procurement costs.

④ Planning and execution ability: Develop category optimization plans, push forward implementation, and track effectiveness.

(3) Outputs

① Category structure optimization plan

② List of hit products and marketing plan

③ Long-tail product liquidation plan