Logistics is where an organisation's money turns into goods, so logistics panels are built around one worry: loss. Loss through fraud, loss through poor records, loss on the road. The panel usually has the logistics or supply chain manager, someone from finance and someone from HR; at NGOs and UN agencies often the compliance or audit officer too. They score three things: whether you know the steps, whether you follow them when nobody is watching, and whether your paperwork lets an auditor trace any item two years later.
- Clear step-by-step processes: an approved purchase request first; thresholds by value (for example one quotation under 500 USD, three quotations up to 5,000 USD, a tender committee above that; the numbers differ, the idea is the same); a waiver only in writing, with a reason, approved above your level.
- Honesty and fraud prevention: quotations from real, separate suppliers; conflicts of interest declared; gifts refused and reported; segregation of duties, so the person who orders does not also receive or pay.
- Stock accuracy: stock cards updated the same day, FIFO or FEFO on the shelves, monthly counts, damaged and expired items recorded on a form rather than hidden.
- Safety on the road: a pre-trip checklist, an approved movement plan, check-in times, speed limits, no unauthorised passengers or goods, and security clearance before any new route.
- Documentation: purchase request, purchase order, waybill, goods received note (GRN), stock card, issue voucher, vehicle logbook, fuel log. The rule the panel wants to hear: if it is not documented, it did not happen.
The process depends on the post. Procurement and supply chain officers usually sit a written case of 60 to 90 minutes: “You have 12,000 USD to buy 20 laptops; describe every step and every document”, or an Excel sheet of quotations to compare and a mistake to find. Warehouse posts get a stock-count scenario: a stock card and a count sheet that do not agree. Drivers get a practical test with a pre-trip check, city driving and reversing into a bay, often with a short written test on road signs and the vehicle policy. Fleet assistants may be handed a fuel log with one impossible number in it.