CPSM Exam 2 study plan
CPSM Exam 2 · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Cross-functional collaboration and integration of supply management with finance, operations, and quality management & Supply chain risk mitigation, compliance management, and legal coordination
Map how supply management interfaces with finance (cost of goods sold, working capital, payment terms), operations (capacity, lead time, make-or-buy), and quality (cost of poor quality, supplier qualification) into a one-page integration diagram
Distinguish the financial levers a supply manager can influence from those owned by finance, and write two worked examples showing the cash-flow effect of payment-term and inventory changes
Identify the legal instruments in a typical supply relationship (NDA, master agreement, statement of work, purchase order terms, warranty, indemnification) and match each to the risk it mitigates
Build a personal glossary of 25 exam-critical terms spanning cross-functional integration and legal coordination, each with a one-line definition in your own words
Your checkpoint
A one-page integration diagram plus a 25-term glossary file, both self-quizzed once without notes
Cross-functional collaboration and integration of supply management with finance, operations, and quality management & Supply chain risk mitigation, compliance management, and legal coordination
Trace a single purchase from requisition to payment and annotate every handoff where finance, operations, or quality can stall the cycle
Explain how total cost of ownership differs from landed price and compute TCO for a hypothetical item including quality, freight, inventory carrying, and switching costs
Classify ten supply risks (single source, currency, regulatory, geopolitical, cyber, quality escape, capacity, logistics, financial distress, contractual) and assign a mitigation tool to each
Draft the compliance checklist a buyer should run before onboarding a new supplier, covering sanctions screening, anti-bribery, conflict minerals, and data protection
Your checkpoint
A completed TCO worksheet for one hypothetical item and a 10-row risk-to-mitigation matrix
Strategic sourcing implementation across organizational boundaries & Cross-functional collaboration and integration of supply management with finance, operations, and quality management
Sequence the strategic sourcing steps from spend analysis through category strategy, RFx, evaluation, negotiation, and award, and state the decision criterion at each gate
Perform a spend analysis on a fabricated dataset of 40 line items, segmenting into categories and flagging the three highest-opportunity areas
Build a weighted supplier evaluation scorecard with at least six criteria and defend the weights in writing
Describe how sourcing decisions must be socialized with finance and operations before award, including the business case format each function expects
Your checkpoint
A category sourcing strategy for one fabricated category, including spend segmentation, RFx plan, weighted scorecard, and business case summary
Strategic sourcing implementation across organizational boundaries & Supplier relationship management, performance measurement systems, and continuous improvement methodologies
Draft a complete RFx package (scope, requirements, evaluation method, terms, timeline) for a fabricated requirement and critique it against a self-built quality checklist
Apply three negotiation preparation tools - BATNA, reservation price, and issue trading - to a role-played supplier negotiation and record the outcome
Design a supplier onboarding and transition plan covering qualification, ramp-up milestones, and exit contingencies for a new award
Define the KPIs that will govern the new supplier relationship and link each KPI to the contract clause that enforces it
Your checkpoint
A full RFx package plus negotiation prep sheet with documented BATNA and target/reservation positions
Demand forecasting collaboration, inventory optimization, and logistics coordination & Supplier relationship management, performance measurement systems, and continuous improvement methodologies
Compare forecasting methods (moving average, exponential smoothing, causal regression, collaborative consensus) and select the right method for three fabricated demand patterns
Compute safety stock and reorder point for a fabricated SKU given demand variability and lead-time variability, and explain the result to a non-technical stakeholder in plain language
Diagnose bullwhip effect causes in a fabricated supply chain and propose three dampening actions with expected impact
Build a supplier scorecard combining delivery, quality, cost, and responsiveness metrics, with scoring rules and a review cadence
Your checkpoint
A forecasting and inventory workbook for three fabricated SKUs with method justification, safety stock calculations, and a supplier scorecard template
Demand forecasting collaboration, inventory optimization, and logistics coordination & Supply chain risk mitigation, compliance management, and legal coordination
Design a sales and operations planning cadence that links demand forecast, supply plan, and financial reconciliation across monthly cycles
Map Incoterms to cost and risk transfer points and select the appropriate term for four fabricated shipping scenarios
Identify logistics coordination failure points (carrier capacity, customs documentation, mode selection, warehousing) and write a contingency for each
Assess supply chain disruption exposure using a fabricated multi-tier bill of materials and propose dual-sourcing or buffer strategies with cost estimates
Your checkpoint
An S&OP one-cycle calendar with inputs and outputs per meeting, plus an Incoterms decision table for the four scenarios
Supplier relationship management, performance measurement systems, and continuous improvement methodologies & Cross-functional collaboration and integration of supply management with finance, operations, and quality management
Apply DMAIC and PDCA to a fabricated supplier quality problem, writing the problem statement, root cause hypothesis, and countermeasure plan
Distinguish corrective action from continuous improvement and design the escalation ladder a supplier moves through on repeated nonconformance
Explain how supplier development programs are justified to finance using cost-of-poor-quality and total-value data
Build a relationship segmentation model (strategic, leverage, bottleneck, routine) and assign governance intensity to each segment
Your checkpoint
A supplier improvement case study write-up using DMAIC structure with quantified before/after cost of poor quality
Cross-functional collaboration and integration of supply management with finance, operations, and quality management & Strategic sourcing implementation across organizational boundaries & Supply chain risk mitigation, compliance management, and legal coordination & Demand forecasting collaboration, inventory optimization, and logistics coordination & Supplier relationship management, performance measurement systems, and continuous improvement methodologies
Consolidate all prior deliverables into a single indexed study portfolio and identify the three weakest areas by self-test score
Complete two timed 75-question practice sets under exam conditions and log every missed item by domain and error type
Rewrite the twenty most-missed concepts as one-sentence rules you can recall cold
Rehearse the calculation types (TCO, safety stock, reorder point, weighted scorecard) until each is completed correctly twice in a row without reference
Your checkpoint
A timed practice score report by domain plus a one-page 'rules I must recall' sheet covering the twenty most-missed concepts
Milestones
Week 2: Can explain, without notes, how a supply decision flows into the income statement and balance sheet, and name the contract clause that addresses each of the ten risks on your matrix
Week 4: Can walk through the full strategic sourcing sequence from memory and justify every weighting in your supplier scorecard; RFx package passes your own quality checklist with no critical gaps
Week 6: Can compute safety stock and reorder point for a new SKU in under five minutes and correctly assign Incoterms for unfamiliar shipping scenarios
Week 8: Timed practice scores are at or above 75 percent in every domain, with no domain below 70 percent, and all calculation types are reproducible without reference