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SV DIXON LTD

The order desk: numbered purchase orders, goods-in sheets, delivery notes matched line by line, shortages queried in writing.

Supplier editionOrders, notes and short deliveriesOrders out Tuesday, notes matched Thursday

Standing column

This week in the office: the orders

Ordering has two fixed days with a gap between them on purpose. Orders leave on Tuesday; notes are matched on Thursday, by which time most of the week’s deliveries have arrived.

The office week as seven columns Seven columns, Monday to Sunday, showing where ordering work falls in the office week. Tuesday and Thursday stand tallest: orders go out on one and delivery notes are matched on the other. Saturday and Sunday are short and pale because the desk is not staffed. The same information is written out in the list beside the strip. MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN

Where scripting is available, the current weekday is flagged on the strip and in the list.

  1. MondayRequisitions from the practice are collected and checked against the approved supplier list. Anything from a supplier not on that list is sent back, not ordered.
  2. TuesdayOrder day. Purchase orders are numbered, raised and sent before midday, and a copy goes to the practice the same morning.
  3. WednesdayGoods received are booked in against their order number. Nothing is put away before it is booked in.
  4. ThursdayDelivery notes matched line by line to the orders they belong to. Short, over or substituted lines are written up and queried with the supplier the same afternoon.
  5. FridaySupplier statements reconciled against the numbered orders. Unanswered queries are listed to the practice with their age in days.
  6. SaturdayNo desk cover. Deliveries are not accepted and nothing is booked in.
  7. SundayNothing is handled. The goods-in sheet stands as Friday left it.

Outward

Raising an order

An order starts as a requisition from the practice and becomes a numbered purchase order at the office. The number is the thing that matters: it is what the delivery note is matched against, what the statement is reconciled against, and what any query quotes. An order without a number cannot be chased, so the office does not place one.

  1. The supplier is on the approved list

    The practice holds the approved supplier list and the authority to add to it. The office checks every requisition against it and returns anything that is not on it, unordered, the same day.

  2. The order is numbered

    A running number is issued and never reused. Gaps in the sequence are visible, which is the point of a sequence.

  3. Lines are written in the supplier’s own units

    Boxes, packs or each — whichever the supplier’s catalogue uses, with its own code quoted. Translating units at the ordering stage is how a delivery of ten packs arrives against an order for ten boxes.

  4. A copy goes to the practice

    Sent the same morning the order leaves, so the practice sees what was committed on its behalf before anything arrives.

Inward

Goods in

Everything that arrives is booked in against an order number before it is put away. The goods-in sheet records the date, the order number, the supplier’s delivery note number and who at the practice signed for it. A parcel that cannot be tied to an order is booked in as unmatched and reported, rather than shelved and forgotten, because unmatched stock on a shelf becomes an argument about an invoice three weeks later.

Where a delivery is sealed and addressed to the practice rather than to the office, it is signed for, logged, and passed on unopened. The office logs the fact of it and nothing about its contents.

Reconciliation

Matching a delivery note to an order

Matching is done line by line and in writing, never by glancing at a total. Each line on the note is set against the line on the order it claims to answer, and one of four verdicts is written against it: matched, short, over, or substituted. The verdict decides what happens next, and the same four verdicts are used every week so that a pattern with one supplier becomes visible.

Worked example: delivery note against purchase order
Order lineOrderedOn the noteVerdictWhat the office does
016 boxes, supplier code A-2206 boxes, A-220MatchedBooked in and closed.
024 packs, code B-1143 packs, B-114Short by 1Shortage written up, queried the same afternoon, line left open.
032 boxes, code C-3012 boxes, C-305SubstitutedHeld unopened; the practice decides whether to accept the substitute.
0410 each, code D-7712 each, D-77Over by 2Reported to the supplier; the extra is not put away pending their answer.
051 box, code E-18—Short, not deliveredLine carried on the open-query list with its age in days.

A note is never signed as correct on the strength of the parcel count. Five parcels can carry four lines right and one wrong, and the one wrong line is the one that is argued about.

Open items

Chasing, and when the office stops

Every open line sits on one list with the date it was raised, so its age is a fact rather than an impression. Queries are written and sent, not telephoned, so both sides hold the same record. A query that has had no answer by the second Friday is listed to the practice with its age, and the decision on what to do next is the practice’s: accept, cancel the line, or go back to the supplier again.

The office does not negotiate on price, does not agree credits, and does not accept a substitute on the practice’s behalf. Those are the practice’s decisions, and the division is set out in full on the taking on a practice page.