Tracking
Tracking the purchase of environmental products is the most
difficult part of the job. Tracking is complex because products
are purchased using a variety of purchasing systems: purchasing
cards, purchase requests, purchasing agreements, sub-contracts,
etc. We need to gather data from each of these systems.
To gather data from a sub-contract, the requirement for the
sub-contractor to report (what to report and due date) needs
to be built into the contract and purchase agreement.
To gather data from purchasing card and purchase request
purchases, we have two possibilities: suppliers can track
for you or you can track using your organization's purchasing
system software. Both have advantages and disadvantages. When
suppliers track, they will capture accurate data but will
not be able to capture the CAP: the cost, availability, and
performance justified exceptions why your staff were not able
to purchase certain products with the specified attributes.
Also, some small businesses are sometimes challenged to track
and report each and every product purchased. When your organization
tracks, you usually can capture the CAP but suffer from the
"garbage in garbage out" principle. Typically when
the purchaser tracks, it relies on the person (perhaps hundreds
of purchase card holders) to reliably denote whether the product
they purchased contained the specified attribute or not.
When tracking the justified exception purchases (products
your organization was not able to purchase with recycled/biobased
content), be sure to document those exceptions. Such documentation
might be needed should your site be audited for compliance
with environmental purchasing requirements.
This page was last updated on December 02, 2008
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