ARCHIVED - Professional Development and Certification Program for the Procurement, Materiel Management and Real Property Community: Learning Toolkit

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Program Curriculum

The goals of the Program Curriculum are two-fold:

1. to ensure that functional specialists and line managers across government departments and agencies have a common exposure to:
   • the context and challenges of procurement and asset management in government
   • the core functions that support the life-cycle management of assets; and
2. to provide a foundation for a common, standardized knowledge base:
   • core and specialized knowledge and skills modules on topics identified as highest priority pertaining to procurement, materiel management and real property.

Core Knowledge and Skills Topics

The topics will combine theory and practice and focus on the "must-have" core knowledge and skills common to all three functions and related to:

• an overview of the three functions that make up the community, 
• understanding the Legal and Policy Environment in order to make appropriate decisions, 
• the fundamentals of working in the government context,
• Business Perspective,
• Leadership and Management,
• the Personal and Interpersonal skills required to successfully interact with others and serve clients.

Target Audience

New Employees

All new employees will need to take all or most of the required courses.

Experienced Employees

Experienced employees will need to renew or update their knowledge and skills, given the continually changing and ever-increasing complex environment.

Line and Operational Managers

Some of the modules are intended to be taken by internal clients—operational managers who must knowledgeably access the services delivered by community practitioners, and who may be responsible for, involved in or directing the delivery of these services within their departments.

Core Knowledge and Skills Topics

NB: The Specialized Knowledge and Skills modules and topics as they are currently grouped may change when they are developed into courses and other learning solutions. This chart will be updated electronically as the Program evolves.

Specialized Knowledge and Skills Topics

The objective of the Specialized Knowledge and Skills topics is to provide opportunities to develop function-specific knowledge and skills relevant to the business of each area: procurement, materiel management and real property through:

• the existing Continuous Learning Courses and new topics to be developed
• Departmental Courses, Workshops, Seminars, etc.
• Alternative Learning events, such as e-learning, Business Television (BTVA), etc.
• learning opportunities offered by recognized external professional certification organizations and by professional institutes such as the Materiel Management Institute (MMI) and the Real Property Institute of Canada (RPIC).

Target Audience

New Employees

Many of the courses offered as part of the Specialized Knowledge and Skills will be required by new employees to carry out their responsibilities. Discussions with your manager concerning the learning gaps identified through the Core Competency Profile Assessment, as well as personal and organizational priorities, will help to determine which courses you should take first, and which ones you should take later.

Experienced Employees

Experienced employees may have already completed some of the existing Continuous Learning Courses listed in the Functional Specialty Streams. New courses continue to be developed that should be taken as required. Like new employees, decisions about which courses to take will be based on the results of the Core Competency Profile Assessment, personal and organizational priorities, the Competency/Learning Solutions for the Program Curriculum and discussion with your managers.

Operational Managers

Some of the courses are specifically for internal clients—operational managers who must knowledgeably access the services delivered by community practitioners, and who may be responsible for, involved in or directing the delivery of these services within their departments. These courses are highlighted in the course and seminars list.

Knowledge and Skills Topics

NB: The Knowledge and Skills modules and topics as they are currently grouped may change when they are developed into courses and other learning solutions. This chart will be updated electronically as the Program evolves.

Alternative Learning Solutions

e-Learning

e-Learning uses web-based and other technologies to provide employees with cost-effective learning that is accessible anywhere, anytime. It provides an alternate approach to and complements the traditional, instructor-led classroom training, allowing learning to be "just-in-time".

Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS)

An electronic performance support system can also be described as any computer software program or component that improves employee performance by:

1. Reducing the complexity or number of steps required to perform a task,
2. Providing performance information an employee needs to perform a task, or
3. Providing a decision support system that enables an employee to identify the action that is appropriate for a particular set of conditions.

Electronic Performance Support Systems can help an organization to reduce the cost of training staff while increasing productivity and performance. It can empower an employee to perform tasks with a minimum amount of external intervention or training. By using this type of system an employee, especially a new employee, will not only be able to complete their work more quickly and accurately, but as a secondary benefit they will also learn more about their job and the business. Examples of EPSS include Automated Buyer Environment (ABE) at PWGSC and MA&S Desktop at DND.

Job-Aids

Job-aids refer to tools that improve work performance by making it easier to perform tasks by providing access to information, procedures, policies, and example and include, step job aids, worksheets, arrays, decision tables, flow charts, and checklists. Correctional Services Canada's Reference Grid to Procure Goods that combines a decision diagram with glossary of terms is an example of job-aid.

Conferences, Seminars, Workshops

Community members have access to numerous relevant conferences and learning events including those offered by their own departments, Training and Development Canada, The Canadian Centre for Management Development, the Materiel Management Institute, the Real Property Institute of Canada, and external professional associations such as National Institute of Government Purchasing (NIGP), Building Owners Managers Association (BOMA), International Facilities Management Association (IFMA), Purchasing Management Association of Canada (PMAC) and Canadian Professional Logistics Institute (CPLI).

Assignments and Secondments

Providing employees with opportunities to work in a range of related jobs can be an effective way to improve their knowledge and skills and increase their flexibility and marketability.

Core Competency / Learning Curriculum

Refer to a map of core competencies to existing courses and other learning methods.

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