Supplier Delivery Watch
A late delivery you hear about before it stops a job.
A supplier missing a promised date is rarely discovered by the person who placed the order. It is discovered by whoever needed the material, on the morning they needed it, which is the one moment when nothing useful can be done about it.
From promised date to warning, in five steps.
Every outstanding order is held against the date the supplier actually promised, not the date it was requested.
Despatch notes, delivery confirmations, and courier notifications are read as they land and matched back to the order they belong to, so an order closes itself rather than waiting for someone to tick it off.
Dates are checked daily. An order still open as its date approaches is treated differently from one already past it.
A slipped order triggers a polite chase on a schedule you set, escalating only if the previous message goes unanswered.
At the same time, whoever depends on that material is told which job is now at risk, so the week can be replanned while there is still a week.
What changes after we deploy this.
If any of these describe your business, this workflow earns its keep.
When the work cannot start until something arrives, the delivery date is not an admin detail. It is the schedule, and it belongs to someone outside the business.
This only works where a date was actually committed to. Where suppliers quote a vague lead time, the first useful step is getting a date on the order at all.
A single-sourced part is where a slipped week becomes a slipped job. Those are the orders worth watching most closely, and they are usually known.
When a supplier slips, how long is it before the job that needs it knows?
Send us a snapshot of your open orders. We will tell you which are already past their promised date, and which jobs they sit under.
It runs inside the tools you already use.
And 30+ others. If your tool is not listed, ask.
See every integrationThe questions we get before we build.
Still unsure? Ask us directly and we will answer before you commit to anything.
How is this different from chasing invoices?
The chasing mechanism is similar and the job is not. An invoice reminder is trying to bring money in. This is trying to protect a date, which is why the important half is the internal warning rather than the supplier message. Chasing without telling production is only half the work.
How does it know something has actually arrived?
From the paperwork that already arrives with the goods. Despatch notes, delivery confirmations, and courier notifications are read as they land and matched back to the order they belong to, on reference, supplier, and what was ordered. An order that has been confirmed delivered stops being chased without anyone updating anything. Where a delivery generates no email at all, a goods-in scan or a single tick is the fallback, and the workflow tells you which orders it could not close on its own rather than assuming they are still outstanding.
Is this tracking stock levels?
No. It watches open purchase orders against the dates that were promised, which is a different question from how much of something you are holding. It can tell you a delivery is nine days late and which job that affects. It cannot tell you that you are running low, because that depends on consumption it does not see.
Where do the promised dates come from?
Wherever you already keep them: an order book, a spreadsheet, an acknowledgement email. If dates are only ever spoken on the phone, getting them written down is the prerequisite, and usually worth doing on its own.
Will it annoy our suppliers?
It should not, because it only chases orders that are actually past a date the supplier gave, and it escalates rather than repeats. A chase on day one of a slip reads as organised. Four identical emails read as a bot.
Does it decide what to do about a late order?
No. It tells you a date has slipped and which job that affects. Whether to expedite, re-source, or reschedule is a commercial judgement, and it usually depends on things the workflow cannot see.
Does it build a supplier performance record?
Yes, as a by-product. Promised against actual accumulates per supplier, which turns out to be useful well beyond this workflow, including anywhere you need to show how you assess the suppliers you rely on.
Other automations that complement this one.
Where Purchase Order Processing handles the orders coming in, this handles the ones going out. The chasing mechanism is the same one behind Automated Invoice Reminder, pointed at a date rather than at a balance.
Want to know which orders are already late?
Send us your open orders and their promised dates. We will tell you what has slipped, and which jobs are sitting behind it.
Every workflow is a managed monthly service. No credit card, and we respond within one business day.