Managing Compliance in a Remote World

“Compliance” is the measurement of how the club is performing against policies and procedures established by the board and management.

Compliance and “best practices” can be used interchangeably depending upon the process and objective. The club’s protocol for approving invoices and purchases is a component of compliance and a best practice. Selecting which locations and items to count at month-end is a best practice. On the other hand, ensuring buyers are purchasing from the club’s approved and contracted vendors is strictly compliance.

Compliance and best practices vary at each club, however, the way in which it is managed is fairly consistent. Invoices and “Requests for Purchases” are submitted by departments by email or paper which are then viewed, coded, and signed by the department head or routed to management for a tiered approval. Locations are counted at month-end using excel and submitted to finance for entry and inventory valuations.

The way in which suppliers are selected and contracts negotiated are largely left to the chef and department heads in absence of a “GPO” (Group Purchasing Organization). Even when a GPO is in place, managing purchases against the club’s contracted programs and/or GPO is challenging. The question is how can these processes be supported in a better way.