Supply Chain Strategy & Analytics Certificate
Program Details
- Overview
- Admissions
- Academics
- What You'll Learn
The Supply Chain Strategy & Analytics Certificate prepares supply chain professionals to turn network data into smarter sourcing, planning, and resilience decisions. Delivered in four focused four-week courses, the program moves participants from foundational logistics and procurement knowledge to applying advanced analytics, AI, strategic leadership, and sustainability practices that improve cost, service, and organizational performance.
Through applied learning and real-world scenarios. Participants develop the ability to connect logistics, procurement, and operations, forecast demand, and translate performance data into recommendations leadership can act on. With a focus on practical application and the responsible use of AI, the program prepares professionals to elevate their impact and become the person their leadership turns to for decisions.
The certificate is designed for supply chain professionals working in planning, sourcing, logistics, operations, analytics, or management who are ready to move beyond day-to-day execution and deepen their strategic and analytical capabilities.
Why SMU?
- Over 70 years of experience in noncredit professional education.
- Accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
- Learners earn a digital lifetime credential through SMU CAPE via Credly.
Open Enrollment, no application or enrollment requirements.
Curriculum
Program Overview
Course 1 - Supply Chain Foundations: Logistics, Procurement & Operations
Supply Chain Foundations builds the core skills professionals need to see the full picture, from sourcing to delivery. Participants connect logistics, procurement, and operations, and see how each one drives cost, service, and competitive advantage. The course also explores how digital technologies and global trade are reshaping supply chains, building a foundation in supplier strategy and resilience that carries through the rest of the program.
Course 2 - Supply Chain Analytics and Applied AI
Supply Chain Analytics and Applied AI advances professionals from understanding supply chain data to putting it, and AI, to work. Participants apply descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics to real planning decisions, and get an overview of the analytics platforms and emerging technologies shaping the future of supply chain analytics, such as Power BI, Tableau, SAP IBP, Kinaxis, and Oracle SCM.
Course 3 - Supply Chain Strategy, Transformation & Resilience
Working through real examples such as: the Suez Canal blockage, semiconductor shortages, and Red Sea shipping delays, participants learn to mitigate risk and build the contingency plans that keep a network running when something breaks. The course then develops the strategic leadership skills needed to align supply chain strategy with corporate strategy and lead a team through change.
Course 4 - Supply Chain Sustainability, Analytics and Performance
The Supply Chain Sustainability, Analytics and Performance course focuses on turning dashboards into decisions. Participants learn to measure what matters through performance metrics their leadership will actually read and to balance cost, risk and sustainability across the network. The course introduces the fundamentals of sustainable supply chain management, including the business case for sustainability, core ESG concepts and how to map and evaluate a supplier network. It finishes with a course project improvement plan built for the participant’s own operation.
What You'll Learn
Through four integrated courses, participants will build expertise in supply chain operations, analytics and artificial intelligence, strategic transformation, risk and resilience, sustainability, and performance improvement.
Learners will explore how logistics, procurement, and operations work together to create business value; leverage analytics, forecasting, automation, and AI to improve decision-making; develop strategies to manage disruption and build resilient supply chains; and apply performance and sustainability metrics to drive measurable business outcomes.