Recording order progress as an agent

Why your dates matter

Every order the buying company places through you shows its stages at the top of the order page, and again as a row on the PO journey board. Each stage shows its date and who recorded it. When a stage passes its target, it turns red on the board and shows how many days late it is.

Without your dates the buying company only sees two things at your end: the day the order was sent to you and the day the goods left. Everything in between is invisible, and a delay looks the same whether it happened at the supplier, at quality check or at handover. With your dates, the stages show exactly where an order is, and a late supplier is visible weeks before the goods were due to ship.

Once you record the first date on an order, the next ones are expected. If a stage's target passes and you have not recorded it, that stage shows as late, even if the work was done. A missing date looks exactly like a delay.

The dates you record

Clean Hand Over, stage 5

Clean Hand Over is the moment your work on an order is done. What it means is set for each agent:

• Ready for the next container (China, Indonesia). The stage is done by itself once every item of the order is on a shipment. There is no Handed over button: you record the goods with goods receipts, and they ship when their container is dispatched.
• Sent to the shipping agent (India, Nepal). You record Handed over on the day the goods reach the shipping agent.

A dispatched shipment always completes the stage. The buying company may also give a stage its own name for you, for example "Sent to forwarder": it shows on the order with that name.

Stages go in order. Record each date on the day it happens. A date more than a day in the past, a stage recorded before the one before it, or a date you clear asks you for a reason. The reason is kept in the order's history, with your name, so the buyer can see why.

What the buying company records

Some dates you cannot enter, by design:

• Sample approved. The buyer approves the sample. New products only; reorders have no sample.
• Approved ready date. The buyer approves your proposed date. From then on it is locked, and it sets the targets: quality check is due that day, and the clean handover within seven days of it.
• QC passed. The buyer confirms it, usually from your quality evidence. Approving the QC releases the balance payment: until then, paying the balance asks for a reason.
• Compliance pack complete.

Your Clean Handover Score is calculated from these dates and from the handover date you record. The handover date is yours to record, so record the day the goods actually reached the shipping agent. The buyer sees who recorded it and when, can check it against the shipping agent's receipt, and can correct it; a correction is kept in the order's history with the reason.

Your unit expense on each line

While an order is submitted or confirmed, you can type your own Your unit expense on each line, in the Items tab of the order. It is per unit and in the currency of the order. The expense of a line is your unit expense times the quantity ordered, and Agent expenses on the order is the sum of its lines.

• A line where you type nothing uses the buying company's estimate for that product.
• Empty the field to go back to that estimate.
• A new line for the same item on your next order, in the same currency, starts with the value you used last time, so you only edit what changed.
• The buying company sees your value on the line, but cannot change it.

It is an estimate for budgeting only. It is not paid to the supplier, not included in the order total and not used to cost the stock.

When the supplier changes a price

If a supplier asks for a new price before you confirm an order, do not confirm at the old price. Open the order, find the product in Items and click Supplier changed the price on its line. Enter the price the supplier asks, per carton as shown, and a short note if it helps, then Ask the organisation.

The buying company is notified and answers on the line: it accepts the new price, keeps the old one, or sets another price. You are notified of the answer. Until every price question on the order is answered, Confirm stays grey. If the buying company keeps the old price and the supplier will not sell at it, cancel that line before confirming.

When the supplier changes the quantity

If the supplier cannot supply the quantity ordered, or sells only in larger lots, ask the buying company before you confirm. Open the order, find the product in Items and click Ask for another quantity under its quantity. Enter the quantity, in the level the Items tab shows (cartons, SKOs or units), and a short note if it helps, then Ask the organisation.

The buying company is notified and answers on the line: it accepts the new quantity or keeps the old one. You are notified of the answer. Until every quantity question on the order is answered, the order cannot be confirmed.

Good habits

• Record on the day. Five seconds on the day saves an argument about a red stage later, and a reason to type.
• Propose ready dates you believe. A realistic date you hit is better than an optimistic date you miss.
• Tell the buyer early when a date will slip. A new approved date agreed in time keeps the order on track; a slipped date nobody agreed shows as late.