Purchase order confirmations: how to get suppliers to confirm dates

A purchase order confirmation is the supplier’s answer to a simple question: will this line arrive on the date and in the quantity we asked for? Most small manufacturers and distributors get one when the order is placed and never again, so the due date in the ERP slowly turns into a guess. This guide sets out a confirmation routine a small purchasing team can keep up: what to ask, when to ask, which lines come first and what to do with the answers.

Why confirmed dates matter

Every planning number downstream depends on when supply really arrives. Reorder points, safety stock and the decision to expedite all assume the open orders arrive when the ERP says. When a date slips quietly, the first sign is often an empty bin. A confirmed date gives you the warning while there is still time to act: expedite, split the order, move stock from another location or find a second source.

What to ask for, line by line

• The date the line will ship or arrive (say which one you mean).
• The quantity they will deliver on that date, so a partial shipment is visible.
• Whether they can supply it at all, so a line that is not coming is not counted.
• A short note for anything else, such as a part number change or a price question.

Ask about each open line, not the order as a whole. A supplier can ship most of an order on time and still be late on the one part that stops your line.

When to ask

• When the order is placed, to acknowledge the date and quantity.
• Again a set time before the due date: for example two weeks out for most suppliers, and earlier for long lead times or ocean freight.
• Whenever your own plan changes in a way the supplier needs to know, such as pulling an order in.

A fixed rhythm matters more than the exact timing. A weekly confirmation round on the same day is easier for both sides than chasing whenever something looks wrong.

Which lines to confirm first

A small team cannot chase every line every week. Start with the lines where a slip costs the most:

• Items that would run out before the order arrives if it slipped a week or two.
• Single-source parts, where there is no quick alternative (see single-source supplier risk).
• Long lead-time and high-value lines.
• Suppliers whose recent deliveries have been late.

Make it easy for the supplier to answer

Suppliers answer faster when answering takes a minute. Send each supplier one message with all of their open lines, give three clear choices per line (confirm, new date or quantity, cannot supply) and ask for one reply. A table they can fill in beats a thread of separate emails. A short message is enough:

Please confirm the open purchase order lines below. For each line, reply with Confirmed, a new date or quantity, or Cannot supply. If anything else has changed since we placed the order, let us know here too. Thank you.

Put the answers where planning can use them

A confirmation that stays in an inbox does not change the plan. Record each answer against the purchase order line: the confirmed date, the confirmed quantity and when you heard. Then update the promised date in the ERP, so reorder points, MRP and the shortage list work from the confirmed date instead of the original one.

Act on the answers that matter straight away. A confirmed slip on an item that will run out calls for an expedite, a split order or a call to a second source today, not at next month’s review.

Measure it

Two numbers show whether the routine is working: the share of open lines with a current confirmation, and how often suppliers deliver on the date they confirmed. Bring both to the monthly purchased-parts review, and use them when you decide where to diversify suppliers.

Doing this in the Statadventure Lab

The Statadventure Optimization Lab runs this routine for you. Supplier confirmations list every open line by supplier and make one link per supplier, which they answer with no account. The answers go straight into the replenishment plan and the shortage forecast, and the Action center lists the confirmed slips that would cause a run-out and the suppliers to chase. Read how it works.