Expediting (Order Tracking)
Step 1: The Order Acknowledgment
Most design firms have at some point expected delivery of an item, only to find out that the vendor never received their purchase order. So the first step to ensure that the purchase orders you send to vendors is acknowledged.
DesignSmart offers 2 ways to track orders that have been acknowledged.
- Unacknowledged PO Tracking Report - This report lists all POs that have not been acknowledged for all projects. Read the Unacknowledged POs Report section for more information
- The "Not Acknowledged" column on the Active Project Status layout shows an icon for each project that has one or more unacknowledged POs. Go here for more information.
When you place an order online be sure to set the switch in the Purchase Order Preview panel to indicate that the PO you are entering does not need to appear on the Unacknowledged PO reports. This is when you place the order online the vendor will immediately acknowledge it.
Step 2: Enter the vendor's acknowledgment and the "follow-up" dates
When the vendor sends back an acknowledgment, it is important to record this in DesignSmart. Doing this will mark the PO as acknowledged, and usually, the vendor will provide estimated ship dates. Entering the estimated ship date and your best guess of an estimated arrival date will play crucial roles in the order tracking process.
You can also enter a follow-up date so that you'll be reminded on that date to contact the vendor, shipper, or warehouse as to the status of that order or delivery. For more information about PO Tracking click here.
Step 3: Monitor projects using the Active Project Statuses Dashboard
The most efficient way to ensure that your firm is managing all of your projects as efficiently as possible is with the Active Project Statuses Dashboard shown below. You can view it by selecting Active Project Statuses from the View drop-down on the Project List View.
The icons that appear on this dashboard signify that some type of action is required. With regard to Order Tracking, the four columns on the right are relevant:
| Column Name | Icon | Icon Significance | Required Action |
|---|---|---|---|
Not Acknowledged |
Clipboard | One or more POs in the project (the row with the icon) have not been acknowledged. | Click on the icon to see the relevant purchase orders, then contact the vendors to confirm that they have received your PO. If not, you can resend the PO. |
| Follow UP | Binoculars | One or more POs in the project have been marked for follow up, but have not been followed up by the required date. | Click on the icon to see a list of the POs that have been marked for follow up. Contact the vendors or shippers and update the PO status as appropriate. |
| Late | Calendar | One or more POs in the project have scheduled ship dates that are later than your requested ship date as shown on the PO you sent the vendor. | Click on the icon to view the respective POs. You will either need to extend your accepted scheduled ship date to match the vendor's date, or you will need to cancel the PO. |
| Alert | Exclamation | One or more POs in the project have items that should have arrived by now but have not been recorded as having arrived. | Click on the icon to view the respective POs. You will need to contact the receiver to confirm that the items have arrived and update the PO with the appropriate dates. Or you will need to change the estimate arrival date in order for the alert icon to not appear. |
You should expect to see some icons on this layout everyday. Your goal should be to click on each icon and take the appropriate action so by the end of each day there are no more remaining icons on this layout.