Level 5 exam — Purchasing & Supply Chain

Exam — fresh questions

12 original questions to validate steering & specialisations: KPIs, ERP & forecasting, lean, CSR and resilience.
Answer everything, then click Check: your score and explanations will appear.

5.1 · Application

1. Why track few KPIs in opposing pairs?

To decorate the report To avoid improving one while degrading the other unseen: the pair reveals real improvement To double meetings Out of tradition

Service/inventory, savings/OTIF, cost/lead time: isolating guarantees perverse effects.

5.1 · Discrimination

2. What does OTIF mean?

A software tool On time only On time AND complete — both ways (suppliers and customers) The lowest price

OTIF is more demanding than OTD; definition frozen once and for all.

5.1 · Exclusion

3. Which practice makes savings credible?

Honest baseline, actual volumes, TCO scope, finance validation Annual double counting Imaginary volume Fanciful baseline (inflated quote)

Rigour (old price paid, volumes actually bought, TCO deducted) avoids communication savings.

5.2 · Synthèse

4. What is the sequence of a successful ERP/WMS project?

Process → data → tool Data alone Chance Tool first

Freezing a fuzzy process and feeding dirty data industrialises chaos.

5.2 · Application

5. Every forecast is wrong: what to do?

Forecast only once Copy the competitor Stop forecasting Measure its error (it sizes safety), build it together (S&OP) and gain responsiveness

The costed error margin feeds safety stock; S&OP aligns the figures.

5.2 · Discrimination

6. Which system steers the warehouse in detail (locations, waves, scanning)?

The till spreadsheet ERP alone WMS TMS

WMS for the fine warehouse, TMS for transport, ERP as single data core.

5.3 · Synthèse

7. What does lean fight first?

Customers The 7 wastes (muda): over-ordering, inventory, transport, motion, waiting, over-quality, defects Profits Suppliers

This whole guide was lean: just need, direct flows, reliability.

5.3 · Application

8. What is the true logic of JIT?

Order in bulk Stock to the maximum Remove all stock as dogma A reliability machine: low stock reveals problems you fix

Inventory reduction results from making reliable, never the starting point; balance with resilience.

5.4 · Discrimination

9. Where does most of a company's CSR footprint sit?

Nowhere Only in transport In its offices In its supply chain: purchasing is the No.1 lever

Hence integration into purchasing processes (scoring, charter, lifecycle) with verifiable criteria.

5.4 · Exclusion

10. Which is a sign of greenwashing?

Transparency on production sites Third-party certification with verifiable number Vague undefined unverified slogan («eco-responsible») Published hard data

With no third-party proof, it is informational void — and soon framed by regulation.

5.5 · Application

11. What is a single point of failure?

A minor delay An element with no alternative whose failure stops everything A high price A normal order

Single supplier/route/site/person: priority treatment target.

5.5 · Synthèse

12. What distinguishes a resilient chain?

Mapped, with single points treated and pre-qualified continuity plans: it stands firm in rough weather With no stock With a single supplier The cheapest in calm weather

Diversify, costed buffering, tiers 2-3 visibility, transfer, consciously accept.

What's next?

Score ≥ 80%: move to Level 6 "In practice" — V3 (cross-cutting cases and hands-on situations, no exam).
Score < 80%: re-read the explanations above — each re-explains the concept — then redo the 48h challenges of the 5 sections.