200 members of CSPG put procurement best-practice first
The Charity Sector Procurement Group (CSPG) are an independent group of professionals supported by the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) and the Crown Commercial Services (CCS)
The group aim to promote procurement and supply chain management within charity and not-for-profit organisations.
We gained exclusive access to CSPG’s Chair, James Whitfield, Procurement Manager at World Animal Protection, Claire Smart, Group Head of Procurement for Sanctuary Group, former CSPG Chair and a member of the group for 10 years, and Chris Day, Head of Operational Procurement at Cambridge University, a founding member of the group and former Chairman.
Chris took us through the group’s history, challenges and how they became a growing network of procurement professionals, whilst Claire discussed some of the group’s procurement initiatives and the successes that Ideagen Huddle has helped facilitate.
CSPG developed a sub-group and workspace to discuss joint purchasing and understand government grants that were available. It was a major help, particularly for smaller charities and trusts to make these genuinely life-or-death savings at a time of great hardship.
Who are CSPG?
CSPG was formed in 2002 by four charity heads as a “talking group”. They wanted to raise the professional standards of the charity sector, share professional knowledge and, ultimately, make charity funding go further to support their service users and charitable purpose.
As time has gone on, the group has grown to include two hundred members across the sector and is affiliated with the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) knowledge group. The group represents small, medium, and large charities who work nationally and internationally
The free-to-join professional networking group is open to any individual that is employed by a registered charity, aiming to support the charity sector by:
• Providing a forum for developing, sharing, and promoting best practice
• Providing a platform for networking
• Raising professional standards
• Raising the profile of procurement
• Promoting development and training
• Representing the sector to external networks and partners including CIPS
• Representing the diversity of the sector
Who are CSPG?
CSPG was formed in 2002 by four charity heads as a “talking group”. They wanted to raise the professional standards of the charity sector, share professional knowledge and, ultimately, make charity funding go further to support their service users and charitable purpose.
As time has gone on, the group has grown to include two hundred members across the sector and is affiliated with the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) knowledge group. The group represents small, medium, and large charities who work nationally and internationally
The free-to-join professional networking group is open to any individual that is employed by a registered charity, aiming to support the charity sector by:
• Providing a forum for developing, sharing, and promoting best practice
• Providing a platform for networking
• Raising professional standards
• Raising the profile of procurement
• Promoting development and training
• Representing the sector to external networks and partners including CIPS
• Representing the diversity of the sector
Why CSPG chose Ideagen Huddle
The use of Huddle was suggested by a member of the group who had used the platform before and found it
successful.
Where other platforms didn’t quite hit the mark for CSPG’s needs, Huddle met those requirements.
Something like SharePoint relied on one of the charities in the group to host it which proved challenging. Granting access the platform and folders was difficult and took a lot of time to set up.
Questions were raised about administration and what if that individual left their respective charity. “Would they [the charity] continue to host?
Would they even continue to allow it to be available? That that would [have] been an issue without a shadow of doubt.
Whereas Huddle being centrally hosted and not owned by an individual organisation, an individual charity, means that it would exist beyond any members leaving or moving on.
So, Huddle is that consistent element there for the group that’s important to us because there’s a good history of what we’ve done on there and it will always be there.” explained Chris.
He went on to explain, “Because it was a platform that enabled us to include members by invite only and [you have to] log in to see the conversations, people felt much more comfortable sharing information.”
Why CSPG chose Ideagen Huddle
The use of Huddle was suggested by a member of the group who had used the platform before and found it
successful.
Where other platforms didn’t quite hit the mark for CSPG’s needs, Huddle met those requirements.
Something like SharePoint relied on one of the charities in the group to host it which proved challenging. Granting access the platform and folders was difficult and took a lot of time to set up.
Questions were raised about administration and what if that individual left their respective charity. “Would they [the charity] continue to host?
Would they even continue to allow it to be available? That that would [have] been an issue without a shadow of doubt.
Whereas Huddle being centrally hosted and not owned by an individual organisation, an individual charity, means that it would exist beyond any members leaving or moving on.
So, Huddle is that consistent element there for the group that’s important to us because there’s a good history of what we’ve done on there and it will always be there.” explained Chris.
He went on to explain, “Because it was a platform that enabled us to include members by invite only and [you have to] log in to see the conversations, people felt much more comfortable sharing information.”
[Huddle has been] integral to all success, it’s our communication engine. I’m not sure how the group could work without Huddle.
How do CSPG use Ideagen Huddle?
Members use Huddle to learn from their counterparts and collaborate on procurement documents. Tenders and contracts are uploaded, creating templates for other professionals to use.
Here they see and discuss what has worked well and should be included on an individual’s tender or contract. This helps speed up the production of finalized documents, saving time to focus on other procurement opportunities that are vital for their communities and service users.
Chris noted “It’s not just about having a storage platform for the documents and data we have. It’s the fact that you’ve got that online communication tool, the ability to post Huddle notes that we get notifications about.
[We have] Somewhere to share specialised knowledge, share documents so that those with smaller procurement departments, just one person perhaps, don’t have to create tender documents from scratch, contracts from scratch.
It’s a place where people are asking questions, post stuff, and we get notified. And I think that’s one of the good things about it. I mean, there are many, but the fact that we get those notifications daily, we don’t have to keep thinking about going into it to look for stuff.”
How do CSPG use Ideagen Huddle?
Members use Huddle to learn from their counterparts and collaborate on procurement documents. Tenders and contracts are uploaded, creating templates for other professionals to use.
Here they see and discuss what has worked well and should be included on an individual’s tender or contract. This helps speed up the production of finalized documents, saving time to focus on other procurement opportunities that are vital for their communities and service users.
Chris noted “It’s not just about having a storage platform for the documents and data we have. It’s the fact that you’ve got that online communication tool, the ability to post Huddle notes that we get notifications about.
[We have] Somewhere to share specialised knowledge, share documents so that those with smaller procurement departments, just one person perhaps, don’t have to create tender documents from scratch, contracts from scratch.
It’s a place where people are asking questions, post stuff, and we get notified. And I think that’s one of the good things about it. I mean, there are many, but the fact that we get those notifications daily, we don’t have to keep thinking about going into it to look for stuff.”
The Challenge of Control and Security Before Huddle
Buy-in and security
In the early days, the CSPG existed in a form which did not work for the group. To make it worthwhile for all, Chris and senior members of the previous group wanted to know if there was a better way to do it.
Knowledge-sharing
Charities who have small procurement teams, often just an individual, were creating tender documents and contracts from scratch. Without a central point for them to go to, to see the best way to approach procurement initiatives, this already huge task became even more laboursome.
Dreaded spreadsheets
The group had been using Excel spreadsheets to hold contact details of members and shared sensitive data through email. They were insecure with no way to keep track of who was accessing these details; managing the data manually became another task in of itself.
Facilitating success
Huddle has helped facilitate several successful joint projects for CSPG. A particular success included using Huddle’s workspaces for the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Claire told us, “CSPG developed a sub-group and workspace to discuss joint purchasing and understand government grants that were available. It was a major help, particularly for smaller charities and trusts to make these genuinely life-or-death savings at a time of great hardship.”
Huddle has also helped facilitate the procurement of a travel management company to help charities save as much money as possible when it came to travelling across country and across the world.
Huddle enabled the production and management of geographical policies and creates viability of where in the world travelling members are.
When extreme disasters have struck anywhere in the world, the group have been able to quickly and easily see if any members are in that country for work.
It’s a place to report your safety in such situations which require prompt access. If you have an internet connection you can easily use your laptop, tablet, or phone to make the update through Huddle’s dedicated mobile app.
As well as this, CSPG have been able to efficiently develop and host two national conferences in separate locations, which required a lot of collaboration throughout the group
Facilitating success
Huddle has helped facilitate several successful joint projects for CSPG. A particular success included using Huddle’s workspaces for the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Claire told us, “CSPG developed a sub-group and workspace to discuss joint purchasing and understand government grants that were available. It was a major help, particularly for smaller charities and trusts to make these genuinely life-or-death savings at a time of great hardship.”
Huddle has also helped facilitate the procurement of a travel management company to help charities save as much money as possible when it came to travelling across country and across the world.
Huddle enabled the production and management of geographical policies and creates viability of where in the world travelling members are.
When extreme disasters have struck anywhere in the world, the group have been able to quickly and easily see if any members are in that country for work.
It’s a place to report your safety in such situations which require prompt access. If you have an internet connection you can easily use your laptop, tablet, or phone to make the update through Huddle’s dedicated mobile app.
As well as this, CSPG have been able to efficiently develop and host two national conferences in separate locations, which required a lot of collaboration throughout the group
Peace of mind
Huddle has given the group the ability to securely access documents without the worry of being locked out due to inadequate tech.
The SaaS solution provides government-grade secure access without an individual needing to commit to administering all the initial, time-consuming set-up like other off the shelf products.
By setting up robust folder structures, being able to file request documents that would help with a tender, proposal, or contract and by directly sending tasks, CSPG have been able to work on joint and individual initiatives to progress some of the group’s overall goals: raising professional standards, raising the profile of procurement, and representing the sector to external networks and partners including CIPS.
Chris concluded, “There are lots of ways of doing things out there and if I’m very, very honest, yes, we would struggle without Huddle.
Finding another platform would mean a lot of work and it would disrupt what the group is doing. We would lose the ability to contact each other as easily and simply as we do; we would lose a lot of data, and we’d lose a lot of communication.”
Claire had aligned sentiments, saying, “[Huddle has been] integral to all success, it’s our communication engine. I’m not sure how the group could work without Huddle.”
Peace of mind
Huddle has given the group the ability to securely access documents without the worry of being locked out due to inadequate tech.
The SaaS solution provides government-grade secure access without an individual needing to commit to administering all the initial, time-consuming set-up like other off the shelf products.
By setting up robust folder structures, being able to file request documents that would help with a tender, proposal, or contract and by directly sending tasks, CSPG have been able to work on joint and individual initiatives to progress some of the group’s overall goals: raising professional standards, raising the profile of procurement, and representing the sector to external networks and partners including CIPS.
Chris concluded, “There are lots of ways of doing things out there and if I’m very, very honest, yes, we would struggle without Huddle.
Finding another platform would mean a lot of work and it would disrupt what the group is doing. We would lose the ability to contact each other as easily and simply as we do; we would lose a lot of data, and we’d lose a lot of communication.”
Claire had aligned sentiments, saying, “[Huddle has been] integral to all success, it’s our communication engine. I’m not sure how the group could work without Huddle.”
Create a system for successful procurement in the charity sector
Huddle has been a cornerstone for CSPG’s success; not only as a voluntary knowledge group but also the success of getting procurement initiatives off the ground from start to finish.
Having a network of specialists on hand to help create the best possible procurement documents through Huddle, CSPG have been able to grow and set the standard for best practice across the sector