Order-by date approaching on an unplaced quote
Every quote with an in-hands date has a last safe day to place the order. This Watch works that day out and warns you before it passes. In Settings → Workspace → Watches it sits under Supplier Integration as SI-6.
What it watches for
- An open quote or an unplaced order whose order-by date is inside your warning window — or already past it — along with what waiting another day costs: the rush charge that becomes necessary, or the date that becomes impossible.
- A supplier lead time that moved while the quote was open, whether it was published, stated in an email, learned from past orders, or caused by a factory shutdown calendar.
The order-by date is arithmetic, not a hunch: the in-hands date, less the supplier's lead time, less transit, less a production buffer.
Why it matters
Distributors do not usually miss dates because production was slow. They miss them because the customer took eleven days to approve a quote that only had nine days of slack in it, and nobody was counting. By the time the purchase order goes out, the only way to make the event is rush production plus air freight — which either destroys the margin or gets passed to a customer who will remember it.
This Watch books as Avoided on the Found ledger: the rush charge that was never needed.
What it needs connected
- Required: a mailbox. The quote, its parts, its quantities and the requested in-hands date are read from the document your rep emailed the customer.
- Helpful: a supplier feed, a CRM. The supplier feed is where published lead times come from; without it Scout uses the lead times stated in supplier email and what it has learned from your own past orders.
What the point looks like
A point is one item Scout raises with the proof behind it. This one arrives in the Inbox as a recommendation:
The Paws Point Rescue banner quote has to be ordered by Friday — Paws Point Rescue · in-hands Oct 8
Nina Okafor asked for October 8 in-hands. The supplier's published lead time is 10 business days, ground transit to the ship-to is 3 days, and the production buffer is 2 days — so the order has to be placed by Friday, September 19. That is four days away and the quote has been open since September 4. After Friday the only way to make October 8 is rush production.
Evidence: the sent quote in Gmail with its in-hands date · the supplier's published lead time, with the date it was read · the order-by calculation.
The setting that tunes it
Warning window: 3 days, 5 days or 7 days. The default is 5. It is measured against the order-by date, not against the in-hands date — so at the default, a point appears five days before the last safe ordering day.
When it arrives
This is a second-wave Watch. It is not raising points today — its row in Settings reads Coming soon. You can turn it on and set the warning window now, and the panel confirms that your choice is saved for when the Watch launches. We do not publish a date for it.
Good to know
- This Watch is about quotes that have not become orders yet. Once the order is placed and in production, a moving date belongs to SI-3, production delay.
- It calls the freight and transit estimator to get the transit half of the arithmetic — see SI-7.
- Stock is a separate question on the same quote: SI-4, inventory short.
- Scout does not place the order, and it does not chase the customer on its own. The point tells you the clock is running; what you do about it is your call.
- A quote with no in-hands date in it cannot be checked this way. Asking for the missing date is FO-3, PO pre-flight.