Best Practices for Success

A key learning from our 2007 Commercial Card Conference was the growing interest in what it takes to ensure a Commercial Card program grows and succeeds. Through various interactive sessions, conference participants agreed it was important to both establish and be reminded on an ongoing basis of the following program best practices.

As a first step, identifying a dedicated program manager is critical. One of the roles this person plays is to facilitate the selection of a Commercial Card team. The team should include members from the various stakeholder departments, including Purchasing, Accounts Payable, Internal Audit, Tax, Treasury and Information Technology. Members should be decision makers and individuals capable of influencing others. Many card programs require us to challenge traditional processes and think 'outside of the box' and a good permanent team is critical to accomplishing this.

The corporate goal to reduce costs through re-engineering processes is typically associated with implementing a change to the purchasing or payables process. It is therefore important to continually align the Commercial Card program goals with corporate strategy.

A clear and concise business case is the mechanism used to achieve necessary management support. Once the original Business Case has been established, it should be revisited on a regular basis to ensure it is being met and to develop program action plans if it is not.

Support from a high-level management champion lends the program greater visibility and promotes timely decision-making. In order for the program to be successful, many levels of management within the organization require solicitation and need to be updated regularly on the program's status. Use of the business case and support from the Commercial Card Team are effective tools in maintaining support from all levels.

The content referred to in this newsletter was taken in part from © National Association of Purchasing Card Professionals 2007.

This article is published or provided by Scotiabank to keep our customers and friends informed of new and important banking news, issues and practices. This article is not intended to provide legal, accounting or taxation advice as individual situations will differ. Prior to implementation, any practices or procedures should be discussed with your lawyer, accountant, business advisor and security consultant.