Why is this global online course important?

Why is contract management important to business?

The leadership team from World Commerce & Contracting, along with other senior executives, give insights into why this course is important, and why reflecting on effective contract management is essential to business.

Watch the video here to see what they have to say.

World Commerce & Contracting – why is this course important?

A transcript of the video is available at the bottom of this step.

Why this course was created

The University of Southampton and World Commerce & Contracting (WorldCC), formerly the International Association of Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM), were approached by the UK government (Crown Commercial Service & Civil Service Learning) to design and deliver a course that focuses on how to build successful customer-supplier partner relationships in business.

The late Sir Jeremy Heywood, former Head of the UK Civil Service thought that a global course like this is important as there is a real benefit in civil servants learning alongside people from different sectors where they can identify best practice and learn how other organisations tackle similar challenges.

Important note: in September 2020, the IACCM became World Commerce & Contracting. We have updated the course to reflect this change. If you spot any mentions of the IACCM please let us know!

Who is this course for?

We’ve designed this course for anyone who wants to better understand what is involved in commercial business relationships, and the process of managing contractual agreements.

Whilst it is suitable for those working in the public, private and third sectors it may also be useful for those considering a new career, who would like to add to their skill set or who are simply curious.

Communicating online

• Comments should be brief and to the point; no more than two or three short paragraphs. This is a conversation, not a monologue – no one wants to read essays!
• Read your comments and replies all the way through before you post them. If you post in a hurry you may regret it later – you can’t delete but you can edit your comments
• Criticise the idea, not the person – and be polite when you do
• Don’t write a reply that you wouldn’t say face to face
• Remember that learners vary in culture, age and experience
• Not all learners have English as their first language, so always try to write clearly
• Explain any acronyms you use and avoid jargon if you can
• If you see a message that you think is offensive click its ‘Report’ flag icon. It will be reviewed by FutureLearn’s moderators and will be removed if they agree with you

Posting your first comments

Share your response in the discussion area. Have a look at other learners’ comments. If you can relate to a comment someone else has made, why not ‘Like’ it or leave a reply? You can filter comments by ‘Following’, ‘Most liked’ and ‘Your comments’.

If you want to see recent activity on the course, click the Activity icon at the top of the step. If you’re following someone, you can filter this list to show the comments of people you’re following, or see if anyone has replied to a comment you’ve made.

When you are ready to move on click the pink ‘Mark as Complete’ button at the bottom of this step. This will update your progress page, and will help you to keep track of which steps you’ve done.