For more information on PMAC education and accreditation programs offered in British Columbia or to register, please contact BC Institute PMAC.

Changes in the distribution of PMAC program materials

Greetings to all our current SCMP designation program and Supply Management Training candidates,
Recently, you have been advised by your Institutes that a significant change is taking place in the distribution of materials for your programs – effective January 2, 2012, the association is transitioning to electronic distribution of all program materials, with full transition to be completed by September 2012.

The association has made this decision for a number of reasons:

• Sustainability is an important consideration for all businesses today, and the avoidance of printing large documents that could be referenced by computer instead is an important step that many large organizations and academic institutions are taking. Some of the program candidates themselves were questioning why this was not the delivery mechanism of choice, and that PMAC should be leading by example on this issue. Laptops and notebooks are now commonplace and could be utilized by candidates in class.
• Providing candidate materials in electronic format has already been piloted for some courses, including the 2011 In-Residence Week with substantially positive feedback as a result.
• PMAC materials are regularly reviewed for updating as part of a continuous quality improvement process including investment in a professional edit of the program taking place over the next three years. The process includes consideration of participant, instructor, institute, and other stakeholder feedback from across the country.
• Participant input is most directly achieved through the evaluation surveys conducted for each program component completed. If there is not enough room in the free form fields for comments, please attach any additional comments to the survey when submitting them to your institute. This will help inform our process in future revisions to the program benefitting those who follow.
• Electronic distribution ensures that every candidate has access to the most up-to-date version of the materials, rather than waiting for existing inventories of printed materials to be used up.
• Electronic distribution has only just now become realizable without having to send candidates to multiple web-sites, based on the copyright and royalties arrangements that PMAC has been able to secure with all the related publishers.
• There are ongoing increases in costs to all aspects of the delivery and administration of PMAC's programs. Electronic delivery was one method to avoid having to raise prices accordingly to cover those increased costs, at least in the very short term.
• Our programs will continue to evolve into the future for both content and format. This is seen as the next step for PMAC to transition the overall course delivery itself into an on-line format, particularly for our current self-study candidates. Utilizing electronic technologies for program delivery is an increasing trend within the professional association community, also appearing in executive academic programs, and there are a couple of PMAC Institutes across Canada already piloting this approach as the program continues to evolve.

It is always hardest when such changes are implemented for candidates who are part-way through the program, and that is the reason that we did put forward a transition period from January to September of 2012. If for any reason this transition would prove a significant hardship for you, please contact your local Institute and we will determine what accommodation, if any, can be made.

Cheryl Paradowski
President and CEO