Certification

At the ISM Board meeting in August, the Certification Committee provided recommendations on the future of the A.P.P. and C.P.M. programs. Among other things, the BOD accepted the Committee recommendations to: 1)End the A.P.P. program, 2) Continue with the study to determine the content/focus of the C.P.M. program before determining what changes will be necessary to position the credential for our customers in the future. ISM has already taken action to notify people that the A.P.P. program will be discontinued.

I think the plan to update the program is a good idea, but I also think we need to keep in touch with those plans and provide our suggestions and ideas. I recommend every person concerned about the C.P.M. program: 1) Read the committee recommendations, 2) review the ISM actions described in the latest NewsLine, 3) discuss the topic among your peers 4) provide feedback and comments to the certification committee.

You can find the latest NewsLine in the members only section of the ISM web site at: www.ism.ws/MembersOnly/Newsline/Newsline1004a.cfm
You can find the Certification Committee recommendations in the members only area of the ISM web site under association governance. It's Appendix G to the August BOD meeting minutes: http://www.ism.ws/MembersOnly/MinutesReports/BOD081904Appendices.cfm

Education

Kudos to NAPM Alaska for hosting the 61st Pacific Northwest Purchasing Conference. I heard some awesome speakers, had excellent food service from the hotel, had a lot of fun at the dinner mystery theater and saw some wonderful scenery. Who'd have known we were in the wild frontier?

Anthony S. Nieves, C.P.M., CFPM ISM BOD Chair, gave us a lot of insight into the complexity of managing the supply process for Hilton Hotels.
Ben Beard, our very popular speaker on the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), gave us some insight into the latest plans for developing a International Terms for electronic transactions. The UN Committee met in Geneva this month to draft a set of terms which should be available for comment later this year. Ben (who is one of the ABA representatives to the committee) was hoping the new draft will mirror some of the provisions of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA).
Why do I care about international terms? Read a previous article on the subject: http://www.mltweb.com/tools/buytrain/Incoterms.htm Link here to the UN International Trade Law Committee
The UETA has now been adopted in 48 jurisdictions (notably one of the holdouts is Washington State). UETA does a lot to protects buyers and consumers in electronic transactions. The other act under consideration (UCITA) is more insidious and favors software companies. (hmmm wonder who is blocking UETA in Washington State?) What are these ACTS? Read some of my previous articles on the subject. E-Commerce Legal Update E-Commerce Update (they are a few years old, but good for getting the basics).
The hotel manager for Marriott presented a fascinating program on hotel safety for travelers. Among other things he provided a lot of tips about guest security. I think this would be a great topic for all conferences and dinner programs. Major hotel chains send their managers to hotel safety conferences on a regular basis. Let's give them a chance to share some of that knowledge by asking a hotel manager to be our speaker. Here are two examples we heard in Anchorage:

For your security, front desk clerks no longer shout out your room number when checking in. This so that miscreants hanging around the lobby won't know where to look for you laptop when you leave for dinner (or worse).
Hotel staff should know and point out emergency exits as they guide you to your room. I think this is a great idea and I plan to help spread the practice by specifically asking each hotel staff person about emergency exits, so they will get in the habit.

I updated my Negotiation Tips and Tricks workshop. The handout is posted online; item one at http://www.mltweb.com/seminars/index.htm. Also as part of the preparation for the workshop I added several new negotiation web sites to the Purchasing ToolBox

Personal Development

Do you get involved in Federal Contracting, or are you a prime contractor to a Federal Agency. If so, here is an online forum which has discussions and questions about many federal contracting regulations. Where in Federal Contracting

While we are talking about the Fed.... Ever get into a discussion about how the Fed allocates money to your prime contracts? Here is a new resource that might help. The GAO has just released the 3rd editions of their Principles of Federal Appropriations Law www.gao.gov/special.pubs/3rdeditionvol1.pdf

Am I an employee worth keeping? What makes a great employee? (hint: It's more than just showing up for work on time... Companies use personnel resources to accomplish goals and meet objectives. Just like the commodities we purchase everyday, personnel resources have to be the right quality, meet company needs, add value, etc.) Watch future newsletters for some thoughts and articles on this topic.

ISM News

These from the latest ISM NewsLine www.ism.ws/MembersOnly/Newsline/Newsline1004a.cfm

Affiliate Support Council and Leadership Workshop volunteer positions are
available. This is your chance to volunteer and get involved.
ISM Affiliate Support is in the process of revising the Volunteer Management Online Courseware Packets Such as: Identifying, Recruiting and Training Leaders. For links to the Volunteer Management Online Courseware Packets, visit the Members Only area of the ISM Web site. Select the link to Affiliate Support, and then click on the link to Courseware Materials Available From Affiliate Support. Another option is to use the following
URL: www.ism.ws/MembersOnly/CoursewareMaterials.cfm
ISM's Certification Department has recently concluded a fact-finding investigation into alleged impropriety regarding the C.P.M. Exam and a review class. If you present C.P.M. review classes, I highly recommend you read the investigation report!
The Institute for Supply Management (tm)) (ISM) has announced a change to one of two professional designations available to eligible candidates. After February 28, 2005, ISM will no longer accept new exam registrations for the Accredited Purchasing Practitioner (A.P.P.) designation. Those individuals who have registered prior to March 1, 2005, will have up to one year to take their exams. If they are interested in securing A.P.P. Original/Original Lifetime accreditation, they will need to apply by February 28, 2007. Individuals already holding the A.P.P. designation may still apply for reaccreditation.
The decision to cease issuing new A.P.P.s received the support of ISM's Board of Directors. Beginning in March 2005, ISM will reallocate credentialing resources to activities of greater interest and benefit to supply management professionals.

In the next year, the Certified Purchasing Manager (C.P.M.) designation will be reviewed and updated. The A.P.P. will still be recognized and honored within the supply management profession. ISM encourages individuals who have achieved the A.P.P. designation to continue citing it as part of their professional identity and consider acquiring the C.P.M. designation. ISM will send communications to all A.P.P. professionals, and the ISM Web site will continue to offer detailed information on all Certification resources at www.ism.ws/Certification/index.cfm Contact ISM Certification at certification@ism.ws mailto:certification@ism.ws or 800/888-6276, extension 3027.

Hotlinks

This article gives a small-business owner an overview of how to build a system for accepting online payments at an e-commerce site.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010429381033.aspx
Are you overdue for a backup? This article shows you how to back up your computer files using the Windows XP Backup utility. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=996759
I copied the following article below from an email newsletter. www.langa.com I highly recommend everyone take the time to read this entire web page referenced in the article !!!!!!!!!!!! It's the best collection and explanation of email scams I've seen. Get a cup of coffee first, it's a long one, but take the time to read it at least once. I'd also suggest making it required reading for other members of your family who use your home computer.
- Hello Fred, As part of a class I teach on "Protecting Your Computer," I put up a web page with sample "bad" emails (those containing viruses, phishing, hoaxes and SPAM) along with some advice for dealing with them. http://www.michaelhorowitz.com/bademails.html On the theory that a picture is worth a thousand words, it might be useful for people not yet aware how dangerous email can be. I realize that readers of your newsletter probably know this already, but they may have friends and relatives that do not. --- Michael Horowitz
After reviewing a recent meeting presentation on spam, I wanted to add one more suggestion. In the presentation, Lew made the point that responding to email spam is pointless and probably makes the situation worse (you'll get more spam once they know somebody is reading the email).

For those of you using Outlook you should also check your Outlook settings to make sure that AUTORESPONSE is turned off. You don't want Outlook sending read-receipts to the spammers....For those of you using other email software, I suggest you check the help files to see if the program processes response requests somehow. One other thing I do to help mitigate this issue is to download all my mail and disconnect from the internet before reading anything.. That way none of the spam can never "phone home".

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Provide Feedback and suggestions for future newsletters at any time. I'll try and use what I can.

I really do appreciate those of you who take the time to write and comment on this newsletter!

TTFN,

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	MLTWEB is assembled and maintained by Michael L. Taylor, C.P.M.
	Materials and articles prepared by Mike may be shared for purchasing education provided that this source is cited and no fee is charged. The rights for any other use are withheld.
	Copyright; Michael L. Taylor, C.P.M.
	Last Updated: 10/06/2006