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Procurement Data Crash Course
Procurement Data Crash Course
  • About this course
    • Course introduction
  • Module 1: How the public procurement process works
    • 1.1 Understanding the public procurement process
      • ❓Why the public procurement process exists
      • ⚖️What rules govern the public procurement process?
      • ⚙️RFQ or RFP? An introduction to the different types of tender
      • 📋The key stages of the procurement process
        • 📑Stage 1: Planning
        • 🚴‍♂️Stage 2: Initiation
        • ✔️Stage 3: Selection & award
        • 🤝Stage 4: Contract
        • 🏗️Stage 5: Implementation
      • 🛡️Why monitoring the procurement process is important
      • Test yourself: Understanding the public procurement process
    • 1.2 What does procurement data look like?
      • 💰Budgets & IRPs
      • 📃RFPs & RFQs
      • 🏆Awards
      • 📖Annual Reports
      • 🏛️The Auditor General's report
    • 1.3 Where is public procurement data published?
      • 🔍Where to find procurement data
      • 📚Maintaining your own library of procurement data
    • 1.4 Procurement oversight and monitoring for NPOs and media
      • ✋Procurement oversight guide for CSOs
      • 📺Procurement oversight guide for media
  • Module 2: Working with procurement data
    • 2.1 Whey we need machine readable data
      • Important data formats: CSVs, Excel and Google Sheets
    • 2.2 Turning websites and PDFs into machine readable data
      • Scraping data with Tabula
      • Simple web scraping with Google Sheets
      • Web scraping by inspecting network traffic
  • Useful resources and libraries
    • 3.1 Procurement data online resources
      • Importance reference resources
      • Online data repositories
  • Course testing & feedback
    • 🎓Extended course exam
    • 📝Surveys & feedback
    • ⏱️Quick course exam
  • MODULE4: Explore the OCPO procurement dashboard
    • 4.1 A walk through the OCPO COVID-19 reporting dashboard
      • Summary and Supplier page of the dashboard
      • Find supplier information from external sources
      • Navigating COVID19 Item Spend Page
      • Navigating the Transactions List Page
    • 4.2 Keep the Receipts Tool
      • Background and Introduction
      • Download data from Keep the Receipts
    • 4.3 Using KeeptheReceipts and Google Sheet for Procurement Data Analysis
      • Infrastructure Order Analysis
      • Mask Price Analysis
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  1. Module 2: Working with procurement data
  2. 2.1 Whey we need machine readable data

Important data formats: CSVs, Excel and Google Sheets

The most common data formats that you will come across are CSV (.csv) and Microsoft Excel (.xlsx). These are not the only ways to store data, however.

  • .xls and .xlsx can be opened with Excel, Google Sheets or any other spreadsheet software. Excel files are a proprietary format though, and can only be read in spreadsheet applications.

  • .csv and .tsv are structured data formats:

    • “comma separated values” and “tab separated values”:

  • this means each value in the dataset is separated by either a comma or a tab, and that the data itself is stored in a plain text format. This means CSVs can be read in a text editor and are at less risk of file corruption or misreading.

  • Data can also be formatted for database software, such as the popular SQL format.

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Last updated 2 years ago