PO not acknowledged — or acknowledged differently than ordered

You sent the purchase order. Did the supplier receive it, and did they write down what you actually asked for? This Watch answers both questions. In Settings → Workspace → Watches it sits under Supplier Integration as SI-1.

What it watches for

• A purchase order that left your shop — by email, from your quoting system, or through a supplier portal — with no order-status record from the supplier inside your acknowledgement window.
• An acknowledgement that never really happened: a sales-order number that reads "N/A", or a status still sitting at Order Received days later.
• An acknowledgement whose details differ from what you ordered — line quantities, the expected ship date, the expected delivery date, or the ship-to address.
• The same purchase order acknowledged twice, or split into several factory orders, when you only sent it once.

Why it matters

An unacknowledged purchase order is the quietest way to lose a date. Nothing looks wrong: the order is out, the customer thinks it is in production, and the clock is running against the in-hands date. By the time somebody notices, the only fix left is a rush charge or an apology. A mismatch is worse, because the order is in production — just not the order you sold.

This Watch books as Avoided on the Found ledger: the rush fee that never had to be paid, the date that did not slip.

What it needs connected

• One required: a supplier feed or a mailbox. Either can carry the acknowledgement — the supplier's order-status record, or the confirmation email with the PDF attached.
• Helpful: a CRM.

With a supplier feed the point tells you which supplier was checked and when. Without one, the mailbox path runs in its place and the point says so.

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:

Alpha Apparel has not acknowledged the Camp Canine bandana PO — Camp Canine · in-hands Aug 10

The purchase order for JOB-2214 (600 bandanas) left on Monday at 9:12 AM. Two business days have passed with no order-status record and no confirmation email. Alpha Apparel locks art on Friday at 5:00 PM for an August 10 in-hands date.

Evidence: the sent purchase order in Gmail · the supplier check with its timestamp · business-day math against the acknowledgement window.

Prepared by Scout: a short nudge to the supplier rep, ready for you to copy and send.

Where the acknowledgement came back different, the point lists every difference side by side — ordered quantity against acknowledged quantity, your ship-to against theirs — and prepares a correction note naming each one, so a single reply fixes everything.

The setting that tunes it

Acknowledgement window: 1 business day, 2 business days or 3 business days. The default is 2. It is counted from the moment the purchase order left, whichever way it left. Shops with tight in-hands dates usually want 1; shops working two weeks out are comfortable at 3.

When it arrives

This is one of the launch-wave Watches, and one of the four built on Scout's supplier engine. It is not raising points today — its row in Settings reads Coming soon. You can turn it on and set the acknowledgement 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

• Scout reads purchase orders; it never places, changes or resends one. The nudge and the correction note are drafts you send.
• Not every supplier publishes an order-status service. Where yours does not, Scout says so for that supplier and reads the mailbox instead.
• A duplicate acknowledgement is worth a look even when the dates are fine — it is usually a double-entry at the factory, and it is much cheaper to catch before production than after.
• The chasing side of a supplier hold belongs to SI-2, supplier is waiting on us; a date that moves after the order is confirmed belongs to SI-3, production delay.