Education and training to support economic development in the RAPAD region.

Written by Kathryn Dalley, Senior Account Manager, Local Buy

One of my key roles at Local Buy is to assist councils with onboarding to the Local Buy procurement technology ecosystem and the end-to-end management of the implementation process. I also work with Councils during the implementation process to roll out their procurement technology ‘Hubs’ across Council, facilitate system user training to council staff, and provide ongoing support and engagement to enhance the utilisation of the system.

With the RAPAD region being the first collective group of councils to have fully signed up to our procurement technology Hubs, an initiative that supports regional economic development, we agreed to support council staff by providing appropriate training and information to help drive the best outcomes from their Hubs.

In mid-February, I took the opportunity to visit the RAPAD group of councils located in central western Queensland with VendorPanel’s Customer Success Manager, Bridie McDonald. We hit the road to offer onsite system user training and to provide a refreshed overview of the program to council executives and procurement teams. 

Over the course of a week, we visited several councils including Longreach, Winton, Barcoo, Blackall-Tambo, and Barcaldine. Each visit was tailored to the individual councils’ procurement system needs and to progress them along the implementation journey. 

Unfortunately, we were not able to reach Boulia and Diamantina in person due to road closures from recent flood events, we managed to deliver our sessions to Boulia online from the dry comfort of Winton.

As part of the training and implementation program, we delivered overviews of the technology that council can now access, and the benefits and value that councils are able to derive through optimising the use of the procurement technology ecosystem.  Demonstrations highlighted the data analytics dashboards, local economic impact tool along with council’s customised ‘How to Buy’ Policy Guides.  

System user training sessions were delivered for council officers, outlining how to use the Procurement Hub and VendorPanel’s go-to-market functionalities including how to source quotes from Local Buy Arrangements

It was a wonderful opportunity to meet council teams in person, learn about their regions, their challenges, and have time to answer questions and provide the support needed to ensure that LGAQs investment in this sector-wide procurement transformation program is fully realised. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to each of the councils for hosting and sharing their time with us.

We are excited to report that 80% of Queensland Councils have now been implemented or are in the process of implementing their Procurement Hubs.

As your procurement partner, Local Buy are committed to providing you with the insight, tools, and training you need to ensure the implementation program for each and every council is of value and contributes towards uplifting council’s procurement function. Please reach out via email to discuss your council’s needs and the best way we can help your team.