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Part 2 of 7 · Packing slip checker series ~5 min read

How the three documents get compared

The comparison happens twice: once on paper, the day before, and once in the doorway. The first one is easy and its entire purpose is to make the second one short.

Key takeaways

  • Match the order and slip on arrival of the slip, not of the goods.
  • Every slip-versus-order difference goes on the check list automatically.
  • Add a rotating spot-check so trusted lines are not permanently unverified.
  • High-value and historically-problematic lines are always checked.
  • Lines accepted without counting are recorded as accepted, not as verified.

The paper match, in advance

How the physical check list is chosen before a delivery arrivesA vertical chain of five steps entered by a box labelled A packing slip arrives, usually by email. Step one finds the order by purchase order number or by lines; a failure exits to No order found, and a person looks at it now. Step two compares line by line on code, quantity and unit. Step three asks whether there is any difference, whether short, extra or substituted; if so it exits to On the check list, always. Step four asks whether the line is high value or has a history of problems; if so it also exits to On the check list. Step five adds one rotating spot-check at random. A note says there are three reasons a line gets counted, and everything else is accepted and recorded as such.AWS ACCOUNTA packing slip arrivesusually by emailFind the orderby PO number or linesNo order founda person looks, nowfailLine by linecode, quantity, unitAny difference?short, extra, substitutedOn the check listalwaysyesHigh value or history?per lineOn the check listalwaysyesAdd one spot-checkrotating, at randomThree reasons a line gets counted. Everything else is accepted, and recorded as such.
Fig 1. How the physical check list is built. The last box is what stops the well-behaved lines from becoming permanently unexamined.
  • App integration
  • Machine learning
  • Management
  • Analytics
  • Front-end & mobile

Why the slip has to arrive first

If the packing slip only appears on the pallet, all of this has to happen in the doorway, and it will not. Getting suppliers to email the slip when they despatch is a small ask that most will agree to, and it converts a ninety-second problem into a next-day one.

Where a supplier will not or cannot, the fallback is photographing the slip on arrival and running the match while the driver waits, which works and is worse. It is worth spending a phone call per supplier to avoid.

The spot-check is not optional

Without it, a supplier whose slips always match the order is never physically counted again, which is exactly the situation in which a quiet shortage would go unnoticed for a year. One rotating line per delivery costs almost nothing and means every line gets counted a few times a year.

It should genuinely rotate rather than being random each time, so that coverage is guaranteed rather than probable. A line that has not been physically counted in six months goes to the top of the rotation.

Accepted is not verified

Why counted and accepted lines are recorded differentlyA horizontal row of five boxes. Twelve lines on the slip, all plausible. Three counted: verified. Nine not counted: accepted. Both recorded as what they are. Later dispute: we know which was which. A note says a system that records everything as received cannot answer the only useful question.TWO DIFFERENT WORDS12 lines on the slipall plausible3 countedverified9 not countedacceptedBoth recordedas what they areLater disputewe know which was whichA system that records everything as 'received' cannot answer the only useful question.
Fig 2. Why the distinction is stored. Six weeks later, whether a line was counted or accepted is the first question anybody asks, and most systems cannot answer it.
  • Database
  • Machine learning
  • Analytics
  • Front-end & mobile

This is a small data modelling decision with a large downstream effect. When a shortage surfaces in a stock count two months later, the immediate question is whether that line was ever physically counted at receipt, and “received: yes” does not answer it.

It also makes the accepted risk visible in aggregate. A supplier where ninety per cent of lines are accepted on the slip is a supplier you are trusting a great deal, which may be entirely reasonable and should at least be a known fact.

Substitutions

A substituted product code is always on the check list, because a substitution is a decision somebody at the supplier made on your behalf and it may or may not be acceptable. The check is not just quantity; it is whether the thing that arrived is usable for what it was ordered for.

That question cannot be answered by the system and should not be attempted. The line goes on the list flagged as a substitution, the person looks at it, and the answer is recorded as their judgement.

Next: the ninety seconds.

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